"Earth to Zaliyah!" Henry said snapping his fingers in front of my face. I blinked while focusing back to Henry who was sitting in front of me. "What's the point of this lunch meeting if you are not really here?" he said scoffing as he sipped on his Mojito. "Sorry, I have a lot on my mind. Last night we had a family dinner so I am just recalling somethings, anyways what were you saying?" I said trying my best to make my mind not wander to the things that happened last night, especially the kiss. It was our first ever kiss in four years and it was everything and more, whatever I felt for Asher was multiplied because of that kiss.
"How did you ever get married to Asher, wasn't he supposed to be your sister's boyfriend?"
"Well things happened, a lot of things," I said picking up a drumstick. I chewed onto it while Henry stared at me waiting for me to explain, "What things?"
"Like for instance Aria disappeared, we got drunk, did the deed and I got pregnant-"
"You have a child?"
"No- it was a pregnancy scare, false positive."
"Wait- You got married to him because of a false positive?" Henry asked, his mouth agape.
"Imagine, I don't understand what was going on in her mind," Eloise said as she joined us at the table, when she heard that Henry was back she wanted to meet him too. Henry and Eloise had been in contact after Henry left for the states, apparently she saw his instagram page when she was just scrolling and contact him. "Eloise," Henry said as he stood up to give her a hug which Eloise returned. "What happened to further blood tests, going to the doctor e.t.c?" Henry asked.
"Well at that time none of us were thinking straight, Asher was taking over the company, I was still dealing with the fact that Aria had disappeared and I had deceived and betrayed her by sleeping with her boyfriend. It happened so quick," I explained.
"How did Aria react?" Henry asked again. I was about to reply but I realised that Aria never said a word about it, she just came back and was all happy and trying to move on. She never asked me why I married Asher, she never accused me or called me names. She was never angry at me but I was angry at her, still am. I felt the guilt creeping in and Eloise could sense it, "What could she say. Asher and her were not really together," Eloise said.
"I break up with you and this happens? We should have stuck together," Henry said with a teasing smile. I smiled back and tried to focus on my meal, "It doesn't matter anyways, they are getting a divorce."
"You are divorcing? Why?"
"Aria is back and she is the one Asher loves."
"Did he tell you that?"
"He doesn't have to. "
"What if he has fallen in love with you?" Henry asked.
"I...He," I hesitated. Maybe. The kiss, the smiles, the hugs, the care...what if it all meant he was falling in love with me?
"If he did then he is a fool for not telling her and leaving her in this turmoil," Eloise said rolling her eyes. We were all quiet for a moment, "Ugh this topic is so depressing can we talk about something else?" I said. "I agree, sooo Henry, since you are back what are your plans?"
"Nothing much really still trying to settle down and then see what I can do," he said.
"Must be nice to be a rich heir, see what you can do?"
"As if you are not from a well off family," Henry defended. "It's not like I enjoy any of it, the minute I went to college and graduated they cut me off, and when I got married to their favorite daughter's boyfriend they were livid."
"Your life is such a sob story," Henry teased.
"I know but lucky for me I have such a wonderful bestie and an amazing ex," I said as I stood to give them a hug which they both welcomed.
"Eloise is the lucky one, decent family, decent life, decent job. Everyone loves you and you love not everybody," Henry said.
"Not really, my job is so stressful, my boss is an ass."
"Well you can't everything Cinderella," I said chuckling.
'Want to have dinner tomorrow? I have something we need to talk about.'
That was the message I received from Asher. He had something to tell me, did it have anything to do with the divorce or the kiss?
'Okay.'
That night Asher didn't come home, he said he had some important work to complete. The next day I spent my time getting ready, choosing a dress, shoes, styling my hair and doing some self care. Rosy helped me style my hair since she was really good at it, "You look beautiful Madam," she said looking at me through the mirror, "It's Zaliyah Rosy, you are making me feel old and Thank you," I said. She smiled and helped me get dressed, she was a lovely soul to be around. The past four years in this house she was one person who spent time with me, I would cook meals and we would eat them together while she told me about her family and some of her funny stories.
"Mr. Sterling won't be able to get his eyes off of you," she said admiring me. I looked in the mirror and I looked so good I couldn't believe it was me. Gary was the one driving me to where I would meet with Asher, we hadn't talked the whole day but in the morning he confirmed that the dinner was still happening. I was so nervous and a little bit excited about the dinner, thousands of scenarios had played in my mind about what he possibly wanted to say to me. We arrived at the venue and it was a really nice place, Golden Hoops Restaurant. It was brightly lit outside but once inside it was dimly lit, cozy and comfortable. There was a band which consisted of a female vocalist, and a male pianist and male guitarist, the song they were was Flightless bird, American Mouth by Iron and Wine. The female singer had such an amazing and soothing voice.
"Welcome to Golden Hoop restaurant, do you have a reservation?"
"Yes, Sterling," I said and she smiled widely without checking and ushered me to a more private table at the roof which we used an elevator to get to, it was magical and so beautiful. "Thank you," I said as she left. There was a waitress standing with a bottle of wine in her hand and there was a another band but they were not playing anything yet, " Welcome ma'am," the waitress said as she poured me some wine , "Do you have any songs you would like to be played for you?" she asked.
"Can they play any song?" I asked curiously.
"If they know the song, yes they can," she said with a smile. Asher was not yet here and maybe he was stuck in traffic or he was running a bit late. I took a hold of my win glass and walked over to where the band is, "Hi," I greeted and they greeted back. "Can you play 'When he sees me by Sara..Sara-"I said trying to recall her full name. "Sara Bareilles," one of the guys said with excitement in his eyes. "Yes, yes that one," I said excitedly.
"Yes of course," they said and started playing and I felt so nostalgic. "Is what if when he sees me, what if he doesn't like it? What if he runs the other way and I can't hide from it?" I sang along with the band, the nostalgic feelings and the emotions took over for me. When the song was over I cheered because the vocalist did her thing, she sang so well. "I can't believe you guys know this song," I said excitedly. "That was so beautiful," I said clapping my hands. "Thank you, thank you so much," they said. "Since you actually know this amazing song, surprise me. Play me something," I said as I went over to grab a chair but the waitress carried it for me.
I checked my phone and there wasn't any message from Asher, time had passed by. The band started playing and I recognized the song immediately ' I think I'm In love by Kat Dahilla' , "Yesss, oh my word yes," I said excitedly, "I didn't think it could be true Let alone that it would be you I think I'm in love again," The vocalist sang. "You really do know how to hire I said to the waitress with thumbs up. After some songs and getting to know the band ,it sunk into me that Asher had stood me up. I got worried that something might have happened so I tried calling his phone but he wasn't answering, as I tried calling him again Eloise called me.
"Baby girl," she said in a low soft voice.
"Hi Loise," I said.
"Did you see the news?" she asked.
"What news?"
"Where are you?" she asked clearly ignoring my question.
"What news Eloise?" I asked sternly.
"Uhm where are you first?"
"Golden Hoops restaurant, what happened?"
"Nothing, wait for me I am on my way," she said dropping the call. I was confused at what was happening and mostly curious at what she was talking about. I went onto the news app and saw Asher's name trending. I clicked on an article and what I read left me so shocked I dropped the glass I was holding.
CEO ASHER STERLING CAUGHT WITH HIS WIFE'S, ZALIYAH STERLING,SISTER HAVING INIMATE MOMENT. COULD HE BE HAVING AN AFFAIR? OR CAN WE SAY THAT HE IS FIXING HIS MISTAKES FROM THE PAST AND TAKING HIS RIGHTFUL BRIDE?