When Love Happens

Chapter 2

Some of my clients were unfortunately very difficult to deal with and they would find the littlest things disrespectful for one reason or the other and one of them happened to be Mr Anderson who had to be one of my least favourite clients. I only tolerated him because of his influence and also because of the fact that I acknowledge that he's a very intelligent man and he's someone I enjoy doing business with even though he gets on my nerves very often.

My phone rings as I head out of the office and towards the hotel lobby and when I check who it was that was calling, it turned out to be another one of my least favourite people in the world, my mother.

I'm aware that it sounds really weird that I'm calling my birth mother one of my least favourite people in the world but the truth is that, she and I were not exactly the closest people in the world and sometimes, I could not stand the things that she said and the things she did so because of this, we don't get along like normal mother and son and I try very much to keep our conversations very short and our interactions very rare and fortunately for me, she also likes to keep her distance.

"Hello mother," I greet as soon as I pick up the phone.

"I know you don't have that much time on your hands at the moment but I really need you to get in contact with your brother as soon as possible. I spoke to him just a while ago and judging by the things that he said, I'm pretty sure he's about to go get himself into some kind of trouble again and I need you to stop him before it does something absolutely ridiculous this time," she said almost immediately and honestly, I can't even say I'm surprised.

My mother has never been the type to suddenly call for no reason at all. As soon as I saw that she was the one calling, I knew very much that there was something that was happening that she needed my help with because normally, she would never call me at all.

"Mother, you know very well that Derek doesn't exactly listen to me and if he's not picking your calls, then he'd definitely not pick mine either," I say to her, reminding of the fact that my brother and I weren't exactly close.

In fact, I don't think I'm close to any member of my family except maybe my youngest sister who I speak to once in a while. The rest of my siblings are people I don't even know much about and we barely keep in contact except when one of them needs my help or maybe my mother makes me call them for one reason or the other.

"You can at least try to get in contact with him first before assuming that he won't speak to you. You know very well that if he does anything negative, it's not just going to affect our family name, it's also going to affect your name as well. Now, you wouldn't want that to happen or would you?" she hissed and there's nothing I hated more than my mother trying to subtly threaten me.

She knew very well how important my career was to me because I worked really hard to build a career outside my family's reputation and outside what my family is actually known for and she also knows that, I don't tolerate anything that can tarnish my image in any way which is why she's very fond of threatening me with my reputation anytime she wanted me to do something that she knew I would not easily agree with.

"Listen to me mother, I can't keep on babysitting my grown ass little brother just because you can't seem to control him. Derek is old enough to make his life decisions and you don't always have to view everything he does as a bad thing just because you don't agree with it. Should in case he eventually does something ridiculous, it has absolutely nothing to do with me. So how about you do me a favour and stop calling me for situations like this. I'm a busy person," I tell her quickly before hanging up the phone.

The next time she calls me, she's most probably going to remind me of the day I hung up on her but I could honestly care less because the last thing I had the energy to deal with was my crazy mother and my annoying little brother.

Just as I'm about to head back to my room and take a short break before dealing with Mr Anderson when he arrives, I'm approached by a strange looking woman who was wearing a mask and judging by how she seemed, I could tell she wasn't exactly normal.

"Hi, good evening," she greeted hurriedly and just when I'm about to reply to her, she cut me off and kept talking.

"I know this isn't very appropriate but can I borrow your hat? I know it seems weird and all but I promise I'm not a weirdo or anything like that but this is very important to me and I really, really need to borrow it," she said suddenly, taking me by surprise with her sudden request for my cap hat.

I was completely dressed in a very casual and normal looking outfit, a khaki short, a plain white t-shirt and a face cap to hide my face and keep anyone from possibly recognising me and I was sure that most people wouldn't even guess that I owned the hotel or even guess who I was at all.

"That doesn't make any...," I'm about to tell her that her request made absolutely no sense to me and just like she did the first time, she cut me off again and didn't even allow me say what I wanted to say.

"I'm so sorry but I really don't have time to explain and I really need to borrow this. I promise I'll return it!" she said quickly before pulling the hat off my head very quickly and running off with it.

I watched from a distance as she put the face cap on and ran into the elevator and believe me when I say that I've met a lot of crazy women in my life but it's been a while since I met this kind of crazy.

I'm pretty sure she was expecting me to go after her and try to get my hat back or something and I probably would have done that or sent security after her but if I did that, I would only end up creating a scene which is the last thing that I wanted. I already made up my mind that I didn't want any attention on myself and if I ran after her, I would only end up calling the very attention that I'm trying so hard to avoid.

I'm again about to head to my room and I'm walking towards the elevator with my head bowed slightly but I'm stopped when Martin's familiar face shows up from behind me.

"What is it you want?" I asked, wondering why he was following me behind instead of making sure that things were well prepared for Anderson's visit.

"Sorry to bother you Sir but Mr Anderson's assistant just called a few minutes ago and he informed me that Mr Anderson's plane has landed earlier than they expected and that he'll arrive here in about half an hour," he explained and as if my day could not get any worse it just did.

I only wanted a few minutes to rest first but now, I can't even have that any more.

"Is everything else ready for him?" I asked.

"Yes sir, everything is ready. I already informed the kitchen of the change of plans and they've already begun to prepare everything for him," he replied and I sighed.

"That's good then. When he arrives, please let me know so I can come greet him myself and should in case I don't arrive early, show him to his room first before taking him to the rooftop restaurant," I said to him and he nodded in understanding before bowing curtly and heading back to wherever he was before while I make my way back to my room to get changed and get ready to deal with a very annoying person that was most definitely going to get on my nerves throughout the night.

###Chapter 3 Things Fall Apart and so do People

Amanda

"You really need to eat something Mandy! You haven't had anything to eat in over three days and it's not good for you!" Cassandra, my youngest sister said to me for the umpteenth time today and I completely ignored her just like I've been doing in the last three days.

After my wedding with Ryan was called off, I haven't been myself at all. I didn't have the appetite to eat anything, I didn't want to get up and get out of bed, I didn't have the energy to see anyone and even drinking water was something I had to force myself to do and it was only because I had to keep myself hydrated and sane.

Every time I close my eyes, I recall the last conversation I had with Ryan and the things that he had said to justify his actions and justify what he had done to me and believe me when I say that the more I remember every word that came out of his mouth, the angrier I get and the more frustrated I felt with myself. I had expected him to say things that would even seem like he was the least bit apologetic about lying to me all these years but what he said instead was more like justifying his actions and trying to make me see the reason why he had no other choice.

Four days earlier...

"Ryan?" I called out in a shaky tone and as soon as I called out his name, I realised that they both panicked.

"Amanda? I...is that you?" he stuttered and a part of me wanted to pull off the mask and the face cap and scream at him as loudly as I could while beating him with the hat and bruising his entire body but knowing very well that I would only end up in an embarrassing situation if I did that and also knowing very well that I'm only going to make me cry ten times more if I removed the mask made me choose to just keep it on and say whatever I had to say and also listen to whatever excuse he had to say to me.

"W...what exactly is going on here Ryan? W...why are you two together and what did I just see you two doing?" I questioned, trying very hard to keep my voice as normal as possible even though it felt as though my entire world had just gone up in flames.

"Listen Amanda, I can explain everything that is happening here. I... it's definitely not what...," he's about to say but I'm very quick to stop him.

I knew that he was about to say something that would probably be another one of his lies and the last thing I wanted at this moment was for him to lie to me once again instead of just owning up and telling me straightforwardly what exactly is happening. Even though I am not going to be very happy with whatever it is he's going to say to me, I prefer for him to be honest with me right at this very moment and for me to be hurt and devastated than for him to try to lie to me again and make me look and feel like I'm an i***t.