Away to love

Chapter 3 Scene 3

True, she loved them, but the moment her father disowned her, a few years ago, she found it very hard to completely forgive him. The memories were still there and the wound was still fresh. Besides, she was not looking forward to falling in love with anyone from her country. If she wants to be with a man, it must be someone bold enough to complement her weak nature. It must be someone strong enough to catapult and move her career. It must be someone better than Josh.

“Hey sis”, Sweden called. “ I will be excusing myself to the bathroom for some time. There are some things I need to sort out that may require me to speak in private. Make yourself comfortable. I will not be gone for long, okay? Nina looked at Sweden and nodded as she ordered another cup of lemon flavored iced tea with some bagels by the side. As her order was coming up she looked down at her phone, anxiously scrolling through it, particularly looking at nothing.

Immediately Sweden left the table, a very handsome man approached Nina and sat by her side. Nina was too engrossed in her phone to see that someone had come to sit by her side.

“Hello,” He said.

Nina shockingly looked up. The baritone in his voice was so deep. She was surprised. For a moment she thought it was Josh, keeping to his promise of finally hanging her down and dealing with him. She looked up. It was not Josh. This must be him, the gentleman Sweden had been raving about. She was too stunned to speak. She just sat there and stared. The gentleman looked at her as he removed his glasses and kept them on the table. Nina could not help but notice the Christian Dior logo that was on the side of the glasses. “This is money!”, She whispered under her breath.

“You look very beautiful, I’m Vincent, and I’m French”, he said as he introduced himself to Nina.

Nina stared hard. This time around, the cat got her tongue for real. This man was worth the hype Sweden gave him. He was cute, he was polished. Gosh! Look at his tanned skin. She eyed him. She could not help but notice the sharp jawline. Even as he sat, he looked huge, he looked tall. His hair was well taken care of. It looked full, and it shone brightly even in the café. His watch, Jesus Christ, was a Phillipe Patek watch that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. This man was rich. He was not just rich, he had a great sense of style. She looked at his teeth. It did not look real.

Those must be veneers, she thought. So he has spent thousands of dollars getting his teeth right because they look like porcelain. His teeth did not have any chips on them. They were well arranged, and they were white as f**k. She also noticed that he was vain, as vain as Josh. She did not want any vain man. She did not want vanity. She wanted humility and she wanted simplicity. If any man was going to walk up to her. Then he needed to be very humble in his doings. He needed to be very down to earth. Nina believed that for a man to pay this much attention to his personal looks, he was vain as hell, and she did not care to listen to whatever it was he had to say. She had her fair share with vain men. New York was the home of so many billionaires. She met and bumped into them from time to time and there were many of them that did not care about the vain things of life.

“I get it, it’s not unusual for people to stare at me that way,” he proudly said.

‘What?,’ She thought.

“Excuse me sir,” She bluntly replied to him.

So he is not just handsome, but also apparently a very conceited person! Why did she keep attracting men that were so full of themselves? She needed a break.

She wished she was bold enough to talk to the man and ask him to leave her table. She wanted to stand up and walk away to another table, but she did not want to cause a scene.

Nina had seen it all. She had experienced luxury till wealth no longer moved her. As much as she craved stability, she was not going to fall into the arms of another conceited man! Never! All these thoughts kept pondering in her head. Little did she know that this conceited man that sat next to her at the tea café would be the best thing to happen to her. She did not want to give him a chance. She was tired of these elite New York men. Josh had it all. Everything this man has or thinks he has that makes him this bold, she has seen and experienced it. The luxury watches, cars, clothes, accessories and jewelry.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a young male voice. He looked like he was in his mid-twenties. He bent to the side of Vincent’s ear and spoke. “ Boss, we need to leave. My Yuchan wants to see you. Your meeting with him was scheduled for 2pm, and you are already running late. ”

“ I’ve heard from you? Could you please excuse us? Give me five more minutes. I need some time with the young lady, ” Vincent said.

The young guy, also wearing black Christian Dior shades, a black top and black luxury cotton pants, excused them and made his way outside. The walls of the café were transparent, so Nina saw when he stood beside Vincent’s luxury car. The man was Vincent’s personal assistant. His car was decent. It was not just decent, but it was luxurious and still, it did not move Nina. She had seen it all. Cars, different types of luxury cars. She and Vincent flew regularly to Monaco to watch the race, and she had her fair share of driving in luxury cars.

They went to Dubai too for holidays and would change luxury cars as they pleased. Josh had promised to get her a Lamborghini. On her next birthday to celebrate. So, there was nothing this man was going to show her that would move her. She had seen it all.

The man reached out for his Louis Vuitton bag and a piece of paper. He wrote something at the back and the front and handed it over to Nina.

“ Hey beautiful, give me a call when you’re a bit free, okay? I’m looking forward ”, he said as he gave her a hug before leaving the restaurant.

The cologne, he smiled nice. She could not like five different designer perfume combos from the hig Vincent gave her. She needed it, the hug. She needed a hug from a man, especially the one she loved. This was what she craved, some love and attention and loved physical touch from a man to show he loved her.

“How cocky,” She thought.

She was intrigued by his boldness. She wanted to tear up the paper and throw the shreds on the café floor, but she stopped in her tracks. She remembered when her dad used to say to never delete peoples numbers or throw away pieces of paper that contained information. “You may never know when you need it.” She remembered his warm and homely voice echoing in her head. She folded the paper and put it in her wallet. It was not long after the encounter that Sweden came back from the bathroom.

“ What’s up, Missy? Did you miss me, ” Sweden jokingly said as she playfully pinched Nina by the ear. Nina wanted to tell her that the man she admired so badly had walked up and tried to have a conversation with her. Knowing Sweden too well, she would probably scream her lungs out. She refused to say anything. She did not want any attention. Not in this café, and not this time. She kept picking at her food and gave her sister a side smile.

“ Where’s our Mr handsome? Has he gone? Omg! He left without even saying goodbye to his wife. What a loser! He is a loser! Ugh! ” Sweden complained as she kept looking around the café, scanning to see if she’d still see Mr handsome.

“He left Sweden, and an even cuter boy was his assistant, ” Nina playfully teased as she looked at her sister to see the expression on her face. “No way!” Sweden screamed. “ I missed all the good. " I missed all the good stuff. What the hell was I doing in the bathroom? " “I'm done with Sweden. I think we should go home. My headaches and I need to rest." Nina complained.

“Hold your horses ma'am, I have to finish my food.”

Sweden ate her food very quickly. They called the waiter, paid, left the café and made their way back home.

Back at home, when Nina was alone in the bedroom, she picked up her bag and pulled out her wallet. Inside the wallet was the note the gentleman had given her. In front of it was his number and at the back of it was a sweet and carefully written note.

I could stare at your face all day. You look like the morning sun. Divine, glorious, radiating, So truly, they are angels on earth,

How about you call, And I'Il have my chauffeur. Pick you up for dinner in the evening. 'Dinner in the evening'. . Must be nice, Nina thought. This was what she wanted. To go out, network and meet people. This was a big opportunity presented in front of her. He wanted them to sit at a high-end restaurant. What if she bumped into her ex-husband as she sat with him? Would he create a scene? Speaking of an ex-husband. Nina needed to file for divorce. She wanted to change her last name and this was only possible if her divorce was finalized. She needed to start putting her life together. She did not want that last name to follow her around, haunting and taunting her. She needed to move on.

Physically, emotionally, mentally and socially as well. She wanted to email a divorce. She picked her phone up and scrolled through it, looking through her brochure to see which divorce lawyer would bethe best. She decided to pick the numbers of two ladies and a man. She went through their LinkedIn profiles and saw their resumes. They were expensive, they looked expensive. The fees, gosh! Nina would need to start selling her designer items to pay these fees. She had expensive Cartier bracelets that grossed tens of thousands of naira. If she sold the two most expensive ones, it would cover the lawyer fees and furnish her apartment nicely.

She would also survive on whatever remained till she had a nice paying job. Sweden entered abruptly into the room. She was in the parlour making a call. She quickly folded the paper and put it back into her bag. Nina decided it was time to go see her parents. Sweden was going to be in New York.