Hired To Be Mine

Chapter 9

"Finally you decided to show up, huh?" said a cold, arrogant voice as soon as Salim entered the penthouse in Manhattan. He ignored the coldness in his friend's voice and followed it.

As soon as he walked into the library room the door shut close and the silhouette of the man sitting behind the wooden desk appeared. Eugene was a lover for classics. Where Salim was all for Class and style, Eugene loved the ancient, Victorian style coupled with adventure and excitement. His house bared with no servants was a perfect replica of his lonely life, which he tried to hide behind his arrogance.

"How are you buddy?" Salim asked as he casually walked the distance from the door to desk and sat opposite to Eugene.

"Don't call me that" he flinched and leaned on the desk. As soon the dim light fell on his face, Salim took a good look of his friend's face. It's been a long time since they both met. Long time? Who was he kidding? It has almost been an year, since he saw his friend. And Salim noted that not much has changed since then. "Buddy sounds like you're calling a dog or worst... a kid" Eugene said with disgust. Salim chuckled at his friend's expression.

He looked up still chuckling, as he saw the scar, which permanently titled him as 'The Scarred Billionaire'. It was... ugly, but still it looked good on Eugene. He looked handsome, with the dangerous vibe coming from his scar.

"You were trying to reach me?" Salim asked looking away from the scar, which Eugene pointedly hated when someone stared at it.

"Are you kidding? I was trying to reach you for over 9 months now. What's her name.... your secretary..." He trailed off,

"Kelly?" Salim chipped in,

"Yes" Eugene cried hitting the desk with both his hands. "She has been ditching my calls and fuc*ing avoiding my demands to see you, as if I'm your stalker and not your best friend"

"She was just following my orders, Gene" Salim said, to which Eugene waved off ignorantly. He wanted to ask Salim why the hell he was avoiding him, but he didn't. He couldn't. He knew that Salim was just trying to get over Anya, which was why he was avoiding the rest of the world. He hasn't been the same since she came into his life and left. It would be safe to say that Eugene hated Anya with his guts. For the way she left him, for the stupid reasons she left, and for being a coward.

"Anyway, now that you are back, let's talk about business, and this time", he pointed a warning finger to Salim and said, "No more backing out".

Salim groaned loudly. He knew his friend so well. If he is warning him not to back out, then he had definitely schemed something big, which is gonna be the death of him.

"No more Gene! I am tired of all those fake sexy smirks and flattery dialogues which you write down for me to say. Come on, who the hell smirks all the time man? I like to smile and laugh like normal human beings!" Salim yelled exasperatedly and the door to the library opened suddenly,

"WHAT The-" Eugene stopped mid-curse, as he saw who entered his house.

"I'm sorry Mr. Winston" Richard said, with no trace of regret, "I just had an important phone call for Mr. Salim" he said and walked to Salim and handed him his cell.

"Oh, don't be sorry O' Connell I know you don't mean any disrespect, after all we were in the army together" Eugene smirked and Richard flinched slightly.

"Eugene!" Salim said in a warning tone, asking his friend to back off. He was aware of the fact that Eugene and Richard went way back, as Richard O Connell, his bodyguard was ex-army just like his best friend Eugene. But he didn't know about their unfinished business. Richard never liked talking about his Army life and there was no use in asking Eugene because he wouldn't say anything. It was a touchy subject for Richard and for some unknown reason Eugene always picked him on it.

"Yes Kelly?" Salim asked into the phone,

"Zara Khan is here to see you" Kelly said in a panicky voice. Salim frowned wondering what the super model Zara Khan was doing in his office at this time of the day. "She is demanding to see you. I told her to leave, but she wouldn't budge" Kelly said in a sorry tone.

Salim sighed, "Just ask her to wait in the board room. Don't let her near my cabin, okay? I will be there as soon as I can" he said, "By the way, is Nicole there yet?" he asked, hoping against hope that she wasn't. And when Kelly answered in negative, he heaved a sigh and hung up.

He rubbed his temples as a small ache started forming in his head. Zara Khan, the Super model was behind him for a long time now. He tried to explain it to her that he was not interested, he even went as far as hooking her up with other men, but at the end of the week or month, she always crawled back to him. What started as a platonic professional relationship, was painted as a hot passionate affair by her, in all the news papers, which became a sensation at on one point of time. He definitely didn't want Nicole to face Zara anytime soon.

"What happened?" Eugene looked at him seriously,

"Zara Khan happened", he said rubbing his forehead. He handed his phone back to Richard and he silently walked out.

"Ah! The Pakistani super model. Must admit, she is hot" Eugene said nostalgically.

"Eww... I don't want to know how hot she is" Salim gave a shudder. "And more over, there is someone else in my life". This caught Eugene's attention,

"Who?" he asked seriously. Salim was aware that Eugene hated every woman with a passion, except when he was f*****g them.

"Someone" Salim said shifting in his seat.

"Oh come on, you really think that I'm gonna sell the news to some newspapers?" Salim gave him a look,

"Let me think" he pretended to think and after a second, replied with confidence, "YES". Eugene narrowed his eyes at him.

"What are you hiding?" he asked seriously crossing his arms across his chest,

"Nothing" Salim shrugged,

"Then why don't you tell me who she is. You know I won't sell you off, you are my friend" Salim didn't know what to say. Eugene was his friend and he trusted him. But Eugene was also a little.... crazily unpredictable. He would do something that will interfere with his personal life and ruin it for a moment, but ultimately, it would do him good.

"There is nothing to hide" Salim said looking him in the eye,

"I don't want names. Just tell me what she is like" he asked leaning back into his chair and interlocking his fingers behind his head,

"She is a single mother of three kids" Salim said in a matter of fact tone. There was silence from Eugene's side which lasted for about five minutes. Both men stared at each other, for the latter to say something, "Well..... Aren't you gonna say something?"

"I'm waiting for the punch line, so I can dismiss what you said as a joke" Eugene said seriously with knitted eyebrows.

"I'm not kidding Gene!" Salim rolled his eyes. There was a moment of silence.

"Are you f*****g out of your mind?" Eugene yelled standing up with such force that the chair he was sitting on fell back.

"This is why I didn't want to tell you" Salim roared seeing his friend's reaction.

"Oh this is bad. This is very bad!" he chanted,

"What's bad?" Salim asked irritated,

"When you were not telling me about her, I thought you didn't trust me enough. I was hurt and that's bad, but this... this woman... this is BAD!" Eugene cried wondering how his friend didn't understand something so obvious.

"What are you talking?" Salim stood up as well as he saw his friend pacing in the room,

"Firstly, she is a single mother. And that too, a mother of not one, two, but three. Three f*****g kids, Salim!" Eugene yelled. Salim felt anger boiling up inside him as he saw his friend badmouthing his kids. He didn't know what came over him but he walked up to him and grabbed his collar.

"Don't you dare take my kids' names in a curse" Salim hissed. Eugene's eyes widened at what his friend said and so did Salim's, as realization hit him. Did he just say 'my' kids? Did he just grab his best friend's collar? And did he threaten him? Did Nicole and her kids become so important to him than his best friend?

"I need to leave" he said as he backed away from a very shocked Eugene.

"You are in love" he paused in his tracks as he heard Eugene's confident declaration and turned abruptly.

"No I'm not" He denied quickly, "She is someone special, and I like her, a lot. But love... I think it's too soon. I mean... I just know her for a month, and... I haven't met her kids yet" he said.

"You haven't" Eugene asked in shock, he shook his head vigorously, "You are so in love, and before you decide to deny it, let me tell you something, time doesn't matter"

"You are talking as if you hold a PhD on the subject" Salim said accusingly, irritated with his friend's behavior.

"Trust me I do" he smirked knowingly and grabbed his black jacket.

"Ugh.. Where are you going?" Salim asked.

"With you of course. You are going to meet her, aren't you? I'm coming with you" he said and walked ahead of the doors. Salim knew him too well to argue.

*******

"Shhh baby, Shhh!" Nicole said as she paced in the living room with a crying Ryan. She was on the verge off breaking down. It was almost noon and her boys were not coming down. The doctor visited them and prescribed medicines for their flu, but couldn't give them anything to put them to sleep.

He did say that they would eventually tire out and fall into a deep slumber but it has been hours and they were fully energized.

"Nick!" she heard Anna calling her from the boys' bedroom. And she hurried there. She saw Anna holding Zion and looking frantically around the bed with her hands.

"Anna! What happened?" Nicole asked worriedly,

"I can't find Ray! I mean, he was here for a second, and then he wasn't" she said holding Zion close, as he started to stir irritably.

"Oh God!" she looked around and bent down to peek under the bed and there he was... "Ray!" she called out. "Come out of there right now!" she said in a demanding voice, but it came out as a request"

"aaaaaa" he started crying as he rolled, under the bed.

"It's okay baby, just come out" she said wiping her tears and holding an already crying Ryan in her arms. Luckily Ray listened to her and crawled out of from under the bed and walked into the open arms of her mother.

"Shhhhh" she said as she held both her kids. Anna was still holding Zion, but he was thrashing and getting irritated.

"This is not working Nick" Anna said in a sing song voice, as she held him tighter and cooed into his ears.

"I know" Nicole agreed in a distraught tone and to add to her misery, the door bell rang. And with the sound, all three boys wailed loudly,

"Who the fish is it?" Anna said irritatingly,

"Whoever it is, is so dead" Nicole said adjusting Ryan and Ray on both her hips and walked towards the door. She placed them on the couch, "What?" she yelled as she pulled open the door.

She was speechless as she saw Salim standing in front of her, with take out lunch in his hands, looking so out of place standing in front of her apartment dressed in a polo shirt, black jeans and leather jacket. All the emotions rushed back to her, their kiss, Anna's advice, her boys falling sick, everything came back at once and she broke down in his arms.

Salim was taken aback. For a moment he was admiring how hot she looked with the bed head and an angry look on her face, and the next moment he was hugging her as she cried her heart out. She buried her face into his chest and cried out, as he stroked her hair. He heard cries from the inside, so he peeked and saw two kids sitting on the couch and crying.

He furrowed his brows as he felt like he saw them somewhere, but Nicole's tears bought him back to present.

"What happened?" he asked as he wiped her tears with his thumb.

"They caught a bug, and they haven't been sleeping since then. They just cry..." and she trailed off, breaking down again.

"Okay, okay, Shh now" he said as he hugged her once again. After a minute, when he felt she was fine, "I've got this" he said with a determined look.

*******

Salim removed his jacket and watch and placed them on the coffee table in front of the couch where the boys were crying at leisure. As soon as they saw Salim taking off his jacket and watch, without taking his eyes off them, they lowered their wailing and stared at him in wonder.

"Dude" Eugene whispered into Salim's ear. And that's when he realized that Eugene tagged along with him, which he almost forgot. "I am not liking this" he said grabbing his hand in a tight grip.

"What?" Salim hissed as he continued staring at Ray and Ryan,

"I hate crying woman, and you know, kids are not particularly fond of me either" he whispered looking behind his shoulder. Salim looked back and saw that Nicole was standing beside a bedroom door and wiping her tears as she stared at him. He gave her a confident smile and turned back.

"Well, you can leave. You wanted to see her which you did. Now you can leave. It's my problem now" Salim said as he picked up both the boys. As soon as they were picked, they started crying in a tone louder than ever,

"Are you sure you got this?" Nicole asked rushing towards Salim. She saw Eugene Winston looking alarmed around the house and she didn't knew if these two men had any clue about handling kids.

"Yeah, Are you sure?" Eugene too chipped in, looking at him like he was handling a granite which was about to set off.

"They need a man, who can show them an order. And that's what they are gonna learn today, to follow orders", he said, giving the two boys a stern look.

They ignored his words and continued crying, "SHUT UP" Eugene roared which startled everyone, including Salim and Nicole. They stared at him in shock and the boys did stop crying, but they looked scared.

"Like this?" Eugene asked Salim in a normal tone with a smug look. Salim was about to say something when

SMACK! It all happened in a blink that Salim didn't even notice when Nicole has slapped Eugene, "How dare you yell at my kids?" she demanded.

She never raised her voice in front of her kids, let alone yell at them. To hell with the billionaire, no one had a right to yell at her kids. NO ONE.

Salim stared open mouthed at the turn of the events. "And you" she pointed her finger at Salim, "If you raise your voice at them, if you even think of doing it, I am going to kill you. Do you get that?" she warned him. He was about to tell her that he had no such intentions of scolding the boys, but instead just nodded.

"Nobody talks to my kids like that" she said looking at Eugene, as if she was gonna kill him.

Salim looked at Eugene and he had his hand to his cheek and his mouth hung open. It wasn't a teeth knocking slap, but just a small slap that her tiny hand could afford, but still it was the fact that he got slapped which shocked Eugene much. "She slapped me" he said turning to Salim with wide eyes.

Salim found it impressive actually and wanted to laugh on his face, but decided against it, "You deserved it" he muttered, "Where is the third one?" he asked Nicole and she pointed to the other bedroom.

"She slapped me" Eugene said angrily as he glared at Nicole. She returned the glare with equal hatred. Salim walked into the bedroom and saw a woman holding a crying Zion and bouncing him on her lap, trying to calm him down.

Nicole looked at Eugene who walked behind her into the bed room. He glared at her, but there was this, 'its okay, I understand' vibe coming from his glare which made her feel a little less scared or intimidated. That ugly scar on his face was a scarer but it held no importance if he tried to use it against her kids.

"Allow me" Salim said as he stepped into the bedroom. A frown marred Anna's features as she heard a male voice,

"It's okay Ana! This is Salim, my boss. And Salim, this is Anabelle Foster, my best friend and nanny to my children" Nicole said standing near the bed when she noticed Anna's frown. As she came to know who the voice belonged to, Anna relaxed understanding very well what was going on. They didn't spare time for 'hello. How do you do's' and got to business.

"Ana! Will you help me take their clothes off. I think they are feeling irritated" He said as he caught Ray and started to pull his shirt and bottoms off.

"Nicole, will you run a bath for the kids? Don't put any lotion or bubbles in it, just some plain hot water" he said, as he got Ryan and undressed him to his undies.

Eugene stood near the door as he watched everything going on in the room as if it wasn't a child's bedroom but an operation theatre, "Who is that?" Ana asked taking Zion's clothes off, as she felt another person's presence. Salim looked at her eyes and her hands, and understood that she was blind.

"Oh.. that.." before he could say anything Eugene interrupted,

"You know me Foster" he said frowning at her in curiosity,

"Eugene Winston!" she said in amazement, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh! Trust me, If I knew there were going to be some crying poop machines in the house, then I wouldn't have come here" he said snarling and looking at the kids in distaste. Salim was about to say something when Nicole beat him to it.

SMACK!

"Stop slapping me, you... you... ugly duckling" he yelled glaring at her. Nicole glared back at him and yelled, "Stop bad mouthing my kids then". She didn't want to slap him, she really didn't. Because she knew when a person really hated kids and meant harm, and when someone was just faking it, like Eugene Winston. She knew he didn't mean it, but all the frustration from her sleepless night and tiredness that her kids caused her were catching up to her.

"Stop it you two" Salim yelled shaking his head. This made them break their small glaring match and turn to the kids.

"She slapped me" Eugene cried, "Twice"

"You deserved it" Anna muttered,

"Anna! Can you bring Zion into the bath for me?" he asked-ignoring Eugene- to which she replied a positive.

*****

Salim sent Nicole and Anna out to have some tea because they looked too tired. He decided to deal with them himself, and placed them in the bath. As soon as the boys entered the tub, they started thrashing the water. Salim grabbed their hands and bought their attention with a small jerk. He gave them each a long stare which made them quit their thrashing and look up at him, "Good. Now listen up. I know you three are doing this for attention. Mommy is gone all the time and you don't have anyone except aunt Ana to look at you. But listen something and listen carefully, your Momma is worried. She is crying and worried sick about you. Do you like to see her cry?" he asked seriously and paused to look at each one of them for a reply, they stared at him with puzzled and guilty looks.

"Answer me" he asked sternly tightening the hold on their hands,

"No", "no" Ray and Zion muttered while Ryan shook his face 'no'. They looked like they would start crying again any moment.

"Then why are you all doing this? How can you do this to her? Don't you love her? She works hard for you so that you can wear good clothes and eat all those chocolates and this is what you give her back? Pain and tears?"

"We lo..ve... ma..mama" Ray said in a hoarse whisper, wiping his face. Salim gave a satisfactory smile. Since the last ten minutes he's been here, this is the first time he has heard one of them speak. And Ray's words immediately bought back the memories of that day in park, where he met Ray for the first time. His smile widened as he looked at the three boys in admiration.

"Good. Now stop crying. Because men don't cry and they definitely don't make girls cry. So now stop crying and stop making your mom cry" He said and bought them out of the tub. He wiped them dry and tied the small white towels around their waists, which Nicole left on the sink.

******

"How long have you been up for?" Eugene asked as he poured ginger tea into three cups and served Nicole and Ana. Ana thanked him and muttered 'Entire night", but Nicole continued looking at him wearily.

"I am sorry, I shouldn't have slapped you, I just.." Nicole said taking the cup of tea which Eugene insisted on making, as guilt started setting in.

"Never mind" he brushed it off with a wave of his hand, "I know you were frustrated with everything, and were just taking it out on me" Nicole gave him a weak smile, as he smirked arrogantly. "And anyway, it wasn't that great of a slap. Didn't even hurt" he shrugged and Nicole smiled ear to ear.

"A slap is a slap. Hard or light, it is still a dent on your ego" Ana muttered as she sipped her tea, Nicole looked at her in shock as she gave a small moan, "This is the best I ever had" she closed her eyes as she sipped it.

Eugene glared at her and Nicole looked at them in confusion. What's there deal?

"Just don't show your frustrations out on Salim, okay?" Eugene's words bought back Nicole's attention to him. "This is just the beginning. As they grow older day by day, they will become more difficult. And it will be more frustrating and tiring, but that doesn't give you a right to take it out on everybody else. I'm just looking out for my friend, that's it" he said as he saw Nicole trying to interrupt.

"I will never hurt him" Nicole whispered honestly.

"That's what she said too" Eugene snorted and replied as a matter of fact.

"Who?" she asked

"Anya" Eugene said. Before Nicole could ask anything further,

"And I present Ray, Zion and Ryan" Salim's voice got their attention and they turned around to look at the boys dressed in their pajama's, looking handsome and fresh.

"They look so handsome" Ana said in an awed tone. Salim and Nicole stared at her, as she continued to look in the wrong direction which made the boys giggle. "oops" she said smiling and turning to the direction of their giggles. Salim looked at Nicole and they shared a look of pity for Ana. She was so beautiful, simple, funny and so good at heart, but her blindness was so unfair to her. They both felt the same, that she didn't deserve it.

"I hate to agree with you Foster, but they are" Eugene said ignoring Ana's mistake, with his hands crossed across his chest and an arrogant smirk on his face as he studied the boys from top to toe.

"Oh no no no... before you get any ideas Winston, leave" Salim said as he saw Eugene's wheels turning.

"What?" Eugene faked a hurt look,

"Leave" Salim said and Eugene huffed.

"Since you got some help, I will leave too honey" Ana said as she slid her bag from the kitchen counter across her shoulders and followed Eugene to the door.

"Come on Foster, I will give you a ride home" They heard Eugene's offer, as they disappeared into the living room.

"No thanks Winston" Anna said with a airy laugh,

"Why? The Scarred Billionaire doesn't deserve to drive the mighty Anabelle Foster home?" and then the conversation faded.

Salim and Nicole turned to each other and stared into each others eyes. There was so much to say, but neither knew where to begin and what to say. "Lets get them to bed" Nicole said and Salim immediately agreed.