“Oh my God! You ordered from MacDonald?” Kiara asked as she arranged the meal on the dining.
Stan only nodded his head and walked to sit down, directly opposite her.
“I craved for McDonald’s today, and I’m glad you were able to get me what I wanted to eat”, Kiara said as she walked to Stan and placed a kiss on his cheeks.
“Thank you babe”, she added and walked back to her seat.
“It’s fine! Can we just eat without talking so much?” Stan asked as he picked up the hamburger and munched on it.
“This is good!” Kiara exclaimed as she stared at Stan, whose mind seemed to be far away.
“Stan?” She called out as she dropped her burger and gave him a stern gaze.
“What is it, Kiara?” Stan questioned as he dropped the burger and peered into her eyes.
“Something is off with you and I don’t seem to like it”, Kiara said as she folded her hands to her chest while wearing a frown.
Stan stayed mute and focused his attention on the food on his table. He was exhausted, and Kiara’s presence seemed to worsen it.
“You know what? I would just head back home and tell my dad that you’re acting up and ignoring me!” Kiara said angrily as she stood up and made to barge out of the living room.
“Wait, please, don’t do that”, Stan pleaded as he held her wrist, peering intently into her furious eyes.
Kiara huffed and glared at him, shrugging slightly and trying to decide.
“Come, let’s eat together”, Stan pulled her back to the dining table, trying so hard to put a smile on his face.
He had been in a relationship with Kiara for almost a year.
He made the decision after witnessing the struggles of Carissa and her family. At that point, there was nothing he could do other than to leave and find a way out of his financial crises.
Usually, his heart ached him to the core whenever he heard Carissa’s mother lamenting while making reference to how he couldn’t help with the bills.
It was a massive decision and one he took with the last strength he had in him.
Somehow, he got what he wanted as he stands in line as the next CEO of Kiara’s father’s company; a role he got because of how much he had to prove that he loved Kiara.
He needed no one to tell him that he would be in great trouble if the truth comes out, and they realize that he has been faking the love he has for her all along.
“You shouldn’t tell your dad about our little fight today, okay?” Stan said to Kiara as he placed a piece of meat into her mouth.
“You know how much I love you, Stan. I do not want you to ever leave me, can you promise that?” Kiara asked while Stan gaped at her as though he had just seen a ghost.
His fists were clenched, and his heart thumped rapidly.
This was not his plan and at this point, he required no one to tell him that he was stuck in something more than he had thought.
***
Ethan sat on the chair in his office as he rolled on it while smiling in satisfaction. He had just struck a massive deal with a company and the account of his company was booming with money.
“Can I come in, sir?” He heard a voice outside the door and almost immediately, his door opened and someone barged in.
“I didn’t say that you could come in!” Ethan barked angrily as the secretary walked into the office with her head lowered to the ground.
“I’m so sorry sir, I couldn’t stop him from coming in”, she said apologetically while Ethan gestured for her to leave the office.
“You should apologize for barging into my office that way. I’ve told you severally, if you want to meet me, then do it responsibly”, Ethan said sternly while Wilson smirked and broke into loud laughter.
Wilson was a friend of Ethan and the direct assistant to Ethan’s father. They had gotten separated after Ethan and his family moved into another city.
However, luck shone on them the moment they realized that they had gotten jobs that would ensure they meet each other more often.
Wilson was smart and considered a nerd in high school. He paid less attention to the series of insults he got from classmates.
After a while, he became a figure that every rich and successful man wanted by their side. His brain and the way he developed solutions to problems got him mingling with different people in the city. That was the means through which he met Ethan’s father, a well-known billionaire in the country.
“If you aren’t going to apologize, then you should leave”, Ethan said defiantly as he returned his gaze to the laptop on his desk.
“Have you ever thought of why your father asked you to take a wife really soon?” Wilson asked calmly, staring at Ethan keenly.
Ethan sighed deeply and kept mute, clearly not in the mood to have a conversation with Wilson.
“If only you had an idea”, Wilson said, and dropped a newspaper on the desk.
“Rich men and rich troubles, isn’t it?” He said with a smirk and gestured on Ethan to go ahead to read up the headlines.
“I’m not in the mood”, Ethan mumbled and shoved the paper aside.
He pondered over what Wilson had just said to him and deep down, he figured out that he wasn’t far from the truth.
His father had called him one day to inform him on the need to take a wife.
“The society is looking at you and trust me when I say that you want to give them what they want and in the exact way and manner they want it”, his father had said to him with a smile that didn’t get to his eyes.
“Take a wife and show them how responsible we are in this family”, his father had said to him in conclusion.
Without giving it so many thoughts, he bounced on the offer and decided to make Carissa his wife. To him, Carissa was someone who he could always reach to without issues. She always succumbed to what he wanted, and he was certain that she wouldn’t say “no”.