Alpha's Amore

CHAPTER 7 – Appreciation and invitation

CHAPTER 7 – Appreciation and invitation

Hazel’s POV

I am so screwed now. I am dead, Hazel you are finished! I saw him winking at me as he headed to the microphone to give his speech. How could you not Google about your chief guest? Are you that stupid, Hazel? How could you be so careless and irresponsible like this Hazel? Xavier Duncan was a famous multi-billionaire that could make the world dance on his fingers. I bit my lip anxiously as tension crept into my shoulders.

I snapped out of my train of thoughts when I heard his voice, “good morning dear Principal ma’am, Mr. Mayor, my dear teachers, and my lovely students.”

I noticed that he looked directly when he said ‘my dear teachers’. My throat went dry and my whole body became numb. Sweat beads were forming on my forehead and upper lip, making me dab them away with a tissue continuously.  was certain that he would punish me for my entire life due to this mistake, but I was still puzzled why he acted like he was Mr. Kendrick. Why didn’t he correct the mistake I was doing?

“I know that this is a special day for all of us, but I never thought that this was going to be the most remarkable day of my personal life. To be honest, I wasn’t planning on attending your prize-giving ceremony. I had some important meetings, but at the last minute, I changed my decision and here I am.” Mr. Xavier stretched out his arms towards the students.

The main hall erupted with applause, especially from the students. I was aware that all the girls were eyeing him greedily like they were looking at their favorite food, ready to eat it.

“I’m glad that I came here. In fact, I got to know what people really think about me, especially since there are still some people who don’t know me,” he said the last phrase while looking at me and I immediately looked down, knowing that he was directly hinting at me.

“I realized that I have to work more to connect with those who don’t know about me,” he continued with a smile. All right enough mocking now, I will die here with panic.

“Actually, a wise person once told me that I must be here to motivate the students who are rewarded today to reach their goal and for the students who are not rewarded today to remind them that they too can beat the rewarded ones one day.” My eyes bulged at him and my heart almost stopped with shock after hearing his words

This is a surprise! I knew that I had told him that just a while ago when I led him to the restroom. Why is he saying this? Mr. Xavier turned to look at me and flashed a charming smile. Oh my god! What a smile! But deep down I knew that he was very charming and that all the girls definitely wanted to sleep with him. I responded with a fake smile and looked down again.

“Thank you all of you for listening to my speech and remember the sky is not the limit!” he declared and once again the main hall was filled with thunderous applause.

“Sorry, one more thing. I brought small gifts to all the teachers who are here behind this true winning of these students. Mr. Kendrick, would you please start giving them out,” he nodded at the crowd and headed down the stage, stopping near me.  

I looked at him and he looked into my eyes directly, his gaze and aura were so strong that it made me really uncomfortable so I looked away and he returned to his seat. Mr. Kendrick started to give flower bouquets to all the female teachers and tie pins to male teachers. Finally, he came closer to me and was about to give me the beautiful flower bouquet when a voice stopped him.

“Not to her,” Mr. Xavier voiced out. All the teachers and students gasped in disbelief. I knew that he would punish me. He was now humiliation me and purely taking revenge for what I said to him previously. But is this a good platform to insult me?

“It’s okay, Mr. Kendrick,” I replied to him with a smile. My mom taught me to face every difficult situation with a smile so the difficulty will be ashamed of itself.

I saw Mr. Xavier said something to Mr. Kendrick, maybe he asked him to kick my a**.

I looked down and headed to a lonely corner. I happily applauded every student who got prizes and I was amazed to see that all the classes’ top students got high marks for my subject. They flashed me a thumbs-up sign from the stage when they received their prizes. The prize was given by the Mayor and Mr. Xavier, who when students who flashed a thumbs-up sign to me, looked at me each time. Eventually, the prize-giving ceremony came to an end. Finally, Mrs. Horthone made her appreciation speech and ended the function.

“Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention please?” I was about to turn to leave the hall when I heard Mr. Xavier’s familiar voice through the speakers.  

“I need another few minutes of your valuable time,” he continued.

“Ms. Hazel, would you please come on the stage,” he invited with a smile.

My eyes went wide and my breathing accelerated. What does he want now? Why is he calling me to the stage? Wasn’t he satisfied with the humiliation he did a few minutes ago? I climbed the stage with shivering legs as my whole body shook in fear.   

“I know you all must be wondering why I didn’t give a flower bouquet to Ms. Hazel, right? Maybe she thought that I wanted to insult her but trust me, I don’t have any personal grudge against her. I noticed that all the students received awards and the highest marks for Social studies, which I guess is Ms. Hazel’s teaching subject, am I right?” he spoke with such clarity before looking at me for confirmation, to which I nodded with a smile.

“So I thought, why don’t we appreciate such a special teacher on this special day. Come on, everyone give her a big round of applause.” As soon as he said the main hall was filled with the applause of each student and teacher, bringing happy tears to my eyes. 

From the corner of my eye, I noticed Mr. Xavier signaling Mr. Kendrick to bring something to the stage. Soon, I saw Mr. Kendrick bringing a huge fresh rose bouquet with a small nicely wrapped gift. I wonder who are those for?

“Ms. Hazel, please accept this small gift from my side as an appreciation for a great teacher and the best person who has handled me during a function till today,” he announced.

Oh my god, are those for me!

“But, no. Thank you, Mr. Xavier, but I can’t accept this,” I refused him politely. I was not someone greedy for gifts.

“Come on, Ms. Forbes. Please take it!” The students started to shout.

“Okay, okay, calm down. I’ll accept it,” I replied, humbly accepting the gift and the bouquet.

“Thank you, Mr. Xavier,” I expressed, looking into his eyes with gratitude. He extended his hand to shake my hand and as soon as our hands touched, a spark ran through my body. What the hell just happened to me? It was like an electric current spreading all over my body, but that wasn’t the only thing that left me in shock. 

His eyes turned chocolate brown suddenly and within a moment it came back to his normal eye color. I shook my head and looked at it once again, but only his normal eye color remained. He didn’t let go of my hand, instead, he squeezed it warmly. I quickly pulled my hand away discreetly, thanked him, and hurried down the stage.

Soon, we were all busy talking to each other and I congratulated all the students who got prizes. I watched as the girls surrounded him, greedily taking photos with Mr. Xavier but his eyes were fixed on me.

Why is he looking at me? What happened to his eyes earlier? Did my eyes deceive me?

“Hey, Hazel! Come, let’s go and have the refreshments.” Elena came to me and linked her arm with mine.

“Oh, yeah! I’m so hungry, girl. Let’s go!” I replied and we both walked towards the hall where the refreshments were served.

We entered the hall to see all the students and teachers chatting happily. Every corner was glowing with happy faces.

All of a sudden, the office assistant approached me, “Ms. Forbes, Mrs. Horthone requests your presence in the special VIP room now.”

“El, I have to go. You just enjoy your snacks and I’ll be right there,” I informed Elena and exited the hall, heading to the VIP room.

I went there and knocked on the door. The door was opened by one of Mr. Xavier’s bodyguards.  

“Hazel, Mr. Xavier wants you to join him for the refreshments,” Mrs. Horthone told me.

“Thank you, Mr. Xavier, but I’m supposed to have my refreshments with the others, only Mrs. Horthone is allowed here,” I replied politely. I couldn’t and didn’t like to stay in the room with him.  His gaze made me so uneasy that I couldn’t even drink a sip of water, what more have snacks in front of him.

“Oh, come on, Ms. Hazel, I personally invited you here. No one is going to say anything to you.” He offered me a seat.

Oh god, what should I say now? I don’t have anything to talk to him about. Plus, I have no interest in business too.  

“Ms. Hazel, I would like to invite you for dinner,” Mr. Xavier offered and my eyes grew wide in shock.