Chapter 16: Euphoria


    When Chloe got the news of Arie and Denise’s dismissal from the F&K fashionpany through Silvia, she was thrilled. They both rekindled their rtionship. She even invited Silvia to the mansion for a celebration dinner.


    Chloe tried getting in touch with Leon again but she couldn’t connect with him. Feeling disheartened, she decided to ce a call to Mrs. Treshvire. She informed Mrs. Treshvire of all that had transpired between herself and Leon. She even went as far as exaggerating her car ident scene and falsified stories to buy sympathy from Mrs. Treshvire.


    Mrs. Treshvire soothed her and promised to address Leon on her behalf before ending the phone conversation.


    Ivory, who had been eavesdropping on her mum’s conversation with Chloe, quickly sent a message to her big brother, stating everything discussed.


    —


    When Leon got back to his house after dropping E off, he rounded up his work activities and took a cold shower.


    After bathing and dressing up in his silk navy blue pajamas, he settled in a rxed position on his king-size bed. He went through some of the messages he got earlier on his phone, and let out an evil chuckle when he read Ivory’s message.


    .....


    So that was the reason behind his mum’s call, he thought. He was unable to receive his mum’s calls due to a very tight business schedule. He had simply sent her a short text that he would call herter or the next day.


    Leon’s eyes glinted with fury. After Chloe had ruined the reputation of his beautiful E, she had the temerity to call his mum. Leon’s jaw tightened. It was obvious Chloe was digging her grave slowly with a pitchfork. The only luck she had was her family affiliation with his.


    Before going to sleep, Leon sent a message to Lily. He instructed her to cancel and reschedule his appointment for the next day, stating that he would be working from home. He also sent E an apology message for upsetting her with the kiss and promised it wouldn’t repeat itself.


    —


    Arie woke upte the next morning with a mild headache. Although she had slept inte, she was feeling all fatigued and her muscles ached. She tried to remember how she had gotten into bed but nothing came to her head at the moment. Grimacing, shezily came down from her bed and found herst night’s party dress on the floor. She picked it up and put it away properly before going to the kitchen to drink a ss of water. She was about to go to her bedroom when the doorbell rang. She peeped through her window and scowled when saw Denise’s smiling face.


    When Denise stepped into Arie’s house, she winced slightly when she saw E’s appearance.


    “E! Have you checked yourself in the mirror this morning, you look awful!” She scanned E from head to toe with a questioning look. “What if Mr. Rich and handsome show up at your door as we speak? You will end up being embarrassed.”


    “I just woke up, mummy,” E pouted and rolled her eyes at her. “And by the way, it is partly your fault that I look this way. You know I live on a schedule and my morning routine is always nned. But you convinced me to go partyingst night.”


    “Yeah right! Like you were not having so much fun,” Denise sneered. “Did you know you finished three sses of cocktail drinks,” Denise half smiled? “So? How did your night go with Mr. Leon?”


    “I have to go clean up now, we will talkter about that,” E’s face flushed and she felt uneasy as she remembered the previous night’s kiss.


    “Hmm... alright, if you say so,” Denise gave her a suspicious look and went straight to E’s kitchen after returning E’s car keys.


    “What do you have for breakfast, I’m starving.” Denise opened the fridge and raided it for any quick edible food.


    Oh, I have some frozen food in the freezer. Pick your choice and microwave it. I have to go tidy up,” E said and went back to her room.


    She entered her bathroom, looked into the mirror, and flinched at her reflection. Thedy in the mirror looked nothing like her. Her hair was looking unkept, and the makeup on her face especially has eyes were messy.


    E quickly brushed, took a warm shower, and dried up her hair and body, before returning to her bedroom to dress up. Then she wore neutral color leggings, a white light sweater, and fur slippers after brushing and packing her hair.


    She quickly put her room in order before picking up her phone and wasn’t surprised to see lots of missed calls and messages. She scrolled through the messages and saw two messages from Leon.


    The first message was an apology for the kiss and the second was informing her his driver would be picking her up by 10:00 AM.


    She quickly checked the time on her phone and saw she had 20 minutes left before the driver arrived. She let out a high-pitched wince and hurriedly changed her clothes. She wore sky blue fitted denim trousers, a whitece inner top, and a blush pink jacket. Shepleted her captivating look with a pair of white sneakers.


    When she came into her sitting room, Denise had already made herselffortable and was eating spaghetti and drinking some juice.


    “Wow!, E, you look so gorgeous and smart in your attire,” Denise dropped what she was eating and came over to her friend, smiling and scrutinizing her. “You also smell incredible, are you going somewhere?”


    “Yes, I am,” E tried hiding her excitement.


    “Where?” Denise lifted an eyebrow.


    “I don’t know yet, Mr. Leon is sending his driver to pick me up. He wants to discuss some important stuff with me,” E half smiled.


    “W...ow! That’s interesting! Hmm! What a lucky gal you are!” Denise beamed with joy and enthusiasm.


    At that moment, the doorbell rang and bothdies scurried to the window to check who it was.


    A matured looking man professionally and elegantly dressed in a ssic two-piece ck suit, white inner shirt, and ck tie stood in front of E’s door. Also behind him, on the driveway, an exotic ck limousine was parked.


    “E..l..!” Denise screamed in a hushed voice, overly excited.


    “Shhhh...!” E scolded, then she went over to the door and opened it.


    “Good morning Miss Arie, my name is John and I was sent over by Mr. Leon.” John smiled politely and respectfully. “I’ll be your chauffeur for today.”


    “Good morning John,” E extended the same courtesy, “Can you give me a few minutes to lock up? I’ll be out shortly.”


    “Certainly, Miss Arie,” John smiled and walked back to the limo.


    E, stealing furtive nces at her ride, carefully shut the door. When she turned around, she almost jumped out of her skin. Denise was standing very close to her and beaming with excitement like a child who was about to get a gift from Santa.


    “I have to ride that limo with you, E! Please! Please! Please! Please! P...lease!” Denise batted her eyes like a Barbie doll.


    “Denise! Stop!” E startedughing. “Okay! Alright! I will plead with Mr. John to drop you off at your ce.” E couldn’t stop herself from giggling due to Denise’s behavior.


    “Just hurry up with your food” E left to get her bag.


    “What food? I’m full! Let’s get out of here!” Denise called after her as she quickly tidied up and picked up her things.


    Bothdies walked out of E’s house and walked toward the limo. When Mr. John opened the back seat, E pleaded that he drop Denise off at her ce which he willingly agreed to.


    Denise could not contain her enthusiasm. This was her first time riding in a limo. Mr. John informed them to help themselves with the assorted cookies and drinks that had been arranged for E’s rxation. Without wasting time, Denise dived into the snacks.


    On their way, E told Denise about herst night’s encounter with Leon, but she left out the kissing part.


    “Uh...uh!” Denise’s eyes sparkled. “He is such a passionate and caring man. I never doubted for a second when he authoritatively said he was going to take you home yesterday.”


    E smiled and blushed.


    Then Denise started advising her on how to act like ady in Leon’s presence and much more.


    “So you think I wouldn’t be able toport myself in Leon’s presence? Huh, mama bear?” E snickered at her friend.


    “I never said that,” Denise looked serious. All I’m trying to say is, that I know how you treat men who show interest in you. Don’t give him the red g when he does. You are an extremely beautifuldy and any man wouldn’t think twice before asking you out.” Denise concluded andy back to enjoy the ride.


    “I’ll try,” E rolled her eyes yfully and smiled.


    When Denise had alighted at her ce, E suddenly felt alone and a bit nervous. Even though she was hungry she didn’t seem to have an appetite for the snacks in front of her. She tried to clear her head and her mind by looking out the window to enjoy the fascinating scenery. But, she couldn’t stop thinking about the kiss.


    Whenever she thought about the kiss, she had a burning desire within to be kissed again by Leon. She had never felt this way for a long time, not even when Richard kissed her.


    Richard was E’s high school sweetheart, whom she dated for two years. Richard, being a football captain of nwood junior high school in Springchad, – which was E’s hometown and ce of birth, – was thrilled the day E epted to be his girlfriend.


    E was the most beautiful red hair girl in the town. She was also the most popr and brilliant girl in school. She was always getting into trouble, due to her adventurous and curious lifestyle.


    They started the rtionship on a tonic level and as time went by, Richard wanted more.


    They both had big dreams of bing career individuals with E nning to be awyer and Richard, a football superstar.


    Both families were aware of their rtionship and encourage them, as they saw them as the perfect couple from Springchad.


    Towards the end of their high school year, E’s dream of bing awyer started dwindling. She had picked up an interest in fashion and seemed to be pursuing it which greatly pissed off Richard.


    Not only was she pursuing her fashion design dreams, but she also paid little or no interest in Richard’s desire to take the rtionship to the next level.


    Richard had been secretly bragging to his close friends that he had formalized his rtionship with E on intimate levels. Hence, he started pressurizing her which made E more distant from him


    Finally, after prom night, he broke up his rtionship with E after giving her an ultimatum to choose between him and her fashion design dreams. E’s mind was made up. She chose thetter without any hint of apology and they went their separate ways.