04

“He’s coming. Duck!” All three of us hid under the receptionist’s desk as Mr. Kingston entered the building with his secretary by the side.

Three days passed and so far no problems. For the past few days we had been tracking every movement of Ian Kingston. His time of arrival, time of leaving, where he goes for lunch, which department he usually visits, who he meet with etc.

We made notes of everything so that I could use them to avoid meeting him in the future. I began coming half an hour earlier than him and left half an hour after him.

I wasn’t sure if he remembers me but better be safe than sorry.

“What are y’all doing?” The receptionist frowned at us. “Get out of my desk”

“Shh” Brian kept a finger to his lips and hushed her.

The receptionist, who had a thin line of patience, stood up from her chair and looked down at us furiously. “Either go to your floors or I’ll call the security”

Brian groaned and peeked over the desk at the lobby. “He’s gone. We can go now”

We all came out of the desk and Lexi took her notebook out to write the new found information. “So now we knows that no matter how late he sleeps, he always arrives on time”

Oh yes we know everything. We knew he had a late dinner with Mr. Wills, the chairman of ENCOM last night. We knew at what time he came out of the restaurant, we knew at what time he went home.

And yes, we became, Kingston’s crazy stalkers.

Not a proud title but very satisfying knowing I had a chance of ‘not getting caught’.

We took the elevator and went back to our floor to find a glowering VP. “Mr. Scott, Miss Evans and Miss Benson, you were late for the morning speech!”

Oops.

“Next time you come late, I’ll report you to the chief” She threatened and stormed out of the room in fury.

“As if chief would listen to her” Brian muttered as we sat down.

“So” I turned to Lexi. “Show me the notebook. What did you gather?”

She gave it to me and I flipped through the pages. Lexi had somehow managed to get hold of Ian’s schedule and it was a blessing. Now I could use it to avoid going to events where he would be present.

I dragged my finger down the calendar inside the notebook and stopped at one date. “What is this? Fiancé announcing day?”

She nodded. “Mr. Kingston is going to announce his fiancé to the public at the company anniversary party”

“He has a fiancé?”

“Yeah” She shrugged.

“I mean how- when did it happen?” I asked in confusion.

“Well everybody’s talking about it but you obviously live under a rock, so you wouldn’t know” She said mockingly and I rolled my eyes.

“Anyways, weeks ago the story about Mr. Kingston having a fiancé got leaked to the media. And the public went nuts. You know, he’s the hot handsome bachelor billionaire that everyone wants to marry” She said with a slight frustrated tone.

“I mean Mr. Kingston is handsome. Like very. But Daniel-“ She fanned herself. “He’s the hottest version of hot hot”

“What does that even mean?” Brian scowled.

“Back to the story Lexi” I said impatiently.

“Fine. So the media kept pestering the Kingston family asking who she is. And Mr. Kingston’s mother said that her son would introduce her at the company anniversary party”

“Damn. How can someone so scary like Ian has a fiancé?” I asked in disbelief.

“I know right” Lexi sighed. “Wait” She turned to me. “Did you just call the CEO by his first name?”

“What?” I shrugged. “No one heard”

“I heard” Alan said across the table.

“Uhh” All three of us groaned at the same time.

After studying the CEO’s calendar we went back to working. And it was nearly lunch time when I got up to go to the washroom.

I was washing my hands when a woman came crashing out of a stall, bawling her eyes out. She grabbed a bunch of tissues from her purse and wiped her face but the tears wouldn’t stop falling.

Her make up was smudged and her hair was a mess. At the moment she looked like a monster from hell that it took me almost a minute to recognise her.

It was the same woman I saw at the executive’s meeting. The woman with red hair. The woman who called Ian ‘darling’ yuck.

She took her phone out and started dialling a number. As the other end picked up, she began crying to the phone. “You promised me. You promised me I could marry him. You promised me!” She wept horrendously.

“But your son doesn’t want to marry me. He hates me. He doesn’t even look at me. He always tells me to fuck off” She took more tissues out and blew her nose.

Whoever was on the other end said something that ticked her off because suddenly she started screaming. “NOOO I WANT TO MARRY IAN SOON. I CAN’T WAIT‼! AAAHHH I HATE YOU”

She screamed so loud that I staggered back to the wall, looking frightened. Jesus this woman scared the shit out of me. She’s definitely from hell.

“No, I’m coming tomorrow also” She said, determined. “I’m not stopping. I’ll come to his office early in the morning. I’ll have him soon” Then she cut the call and stormed out of the washroom, not caring who else listened to the call.

Example – me.

Wait.

Did she say Ian?

Oh my god. My eyes widened. She’s the fiancé. Shit, I gotta tell this to Lexi and Brian.

I sprinted out of the washroom and ran to our desk, almost knocking Lexi out of her chair.

“What the hell Hailey? Calm down”

“No time to calm down. Listen” I told them the entire story and with each second their eyes kept getting bigger and bigger until I feared it would pop out of their sockets.

“This is so awesome” Lexi squealed. “Brian let’s arrive one hour earlier. Who knows, we might see her tomorrow”

Brian nodded with a huge grin on his lips. “Hailey, you coming with us?”

“Hell no” I shook my head. “I need my beauty sleep. I already come half an hour earlier to avoid the devil. That’s my maximum capacity”

…

I looked up at the towering building above me and stretched my arms up. “Ahh I’m so sleepy” I yawned and bent my hips to the sides, doing my morning exercise routine in front of the ATC entrance.

The security frowned and I gave them the army salute. “Good morning gentlemen”

Their frown deepened and I laughed before walking inside.

It was the next morning and I arrived here alone today since those two buggers came early to see a fiancé. How nice.

I took my phone out and gave them a call. “Found her yet?”

“She lied” Lexi spat. “She didn’t come. We searched the entire building. I mean if you fight for a man, at least do it right. She should’ve held on to her words” Lexi complained. “I lost my sleep ahhh”

I laughed. “Good thing I didn’t come. I’m at the lobby now. Wait for me at the elevator”

“Okay, your highness”

I snorted and tucked the phone inside my handbag.

As I walked to the elevator I saw it’s doors closing. “Wait” I ran.

“Wait for me” I ran and put my hand through, preventing the doors from closing.

The doors began opening again and I looked up with a smile.

But it quickly faded away.

Because I was looking directly at Ian fucking Kingston.