4 A little scare

"Maa-rrriii-aaa..." 

Jeremy called in a sing-song voice, causing the woman to stop walking and turn around to look at him. 

When she saw him, a smile lit up her face. Jeremy was dressed in a navy blue trim suit with his hair tied in a low bun. He held a bouquet of blue roses in his hands as he approached her while smiling. 

"When I heard a handsome young man came to watch my program with pretty flowers, something told me it was you." She said while still smiling. 

"Congratulations. That was a wonderful lecture you gave back there. These are yours." He handed her the flowers, which she received gladly. 

"You should stop doing things like this. Rumours are starting to spread that I am dating a younger man." She said lightly. 

"Really? That's unbelievable. How can anyone think you'd date someone like me?" He asked, obviously shocked. 

"And what's wrong with you?" She frowned. 

"Don't you know who you are? You are far far and very far above my class. I feel honoured that rumours like that are spreading about me even if it's crazy." 

Maria let out a loud laugh, not minding the eyes watching them or the ladies who were obviously checking Jeremy out. 

"You don't want to let Chloe hear that. How are Chloe and Ellie, by the way?" She asked as they began to walk towards her office. 

"Ellie is doing well. She wanted me to say hi to you and let you know she'll be spending a weekend with you soon because she misses you."

"She is so sweet. I'll get a room ready for her. Let me know whenever she is coming." 

"Sure." 

"And Chloe?"

He sighed, "She doesn't want to talk to me. It's been 3 days."

"Why?" Maria asked curiously as they both entered her office. 

"Well... it's a complicated issue." He touched the back of his neck and looked down. 

"What have you done this time?" Maria asked suspiciously as she took her seat in her office chair.

"What? Why do you think I am the one at fault every time?!" He grumbled.

"Because you are always the one at fault. Prove me wrong..." she challenged. 

He sat across her and looked at her quietly before he rolled his eyes. "Fine!" 

"Haha! I knew it. Would you like a cup of coffee or snack?" She asked, trying to page her secretary but he shook his head. "I'm good." 

She relaxed in her seat and folded her hands across her chest. 

"So, what did you do?" She narrowed her gaze on him. 

Jeremy didn't have many friends. His closest friend was Mia, who had been away for a while now. His mother was dead and he wasn't in a good relationship with his father's family. Just like most people, he wanted to have someone to share his issues with, but at the end of the day, he could only find Ellie and Chloe. He had to be a big brother to his nine years old sister, not sharing his burdens with her, and he did not want to bother Chloe because work had been stressing her out lately. She had diversified from running just a mall to other businesses in just a year. She had a strong entrepreneurial spirit. 

He made a friend a few months ago. It was a guy at work, almost the same age as him. But they hadn't gotten to that point where he would be sharing his problems with him. Who was the best person to share his problems with if not his Godmother? 

"Jeremy?" Maria called softly. 

He sighed, "Well... Chloe is pissed because...." He touched the back of his neck again and blushed. "She wants us to take the relationship to... you know... the next level, but well..."

"Eww. I don't want to hear about your sex life!" 

"But you asked me!" He defended with a frown, causing her to laugh. 

"So you don't want to? You just had your first dating anniversary last month. I thought kids these days liked to... you know..." 

"I DON'T KNOW!" 

"What don't you know?" She raised a brow. 

"I mean... we do other stuff, it's just..." He looked down again. 

"Just what?" 

"I AM SHY!" He blurted out.

Maria quietly looked at him for a few seconds before she burst into laughter.

"It's not funny, okay?" 

"I... am... sorry..." She said in between her fits of laughter. "I just couldn't help it." 

She looked at her watch and stood up immediately. "Sorry, but we have to head out now. I have an interview scheduled to take place in 30 minutes. Any moment from now, Ashley would come in here to remind m—" She hadn't finished talking when a knock came on the door, causing the two to laugh as Jeremy stood up. 

Ashley entered and was about to remind Maria about her meeting when Maria nodded. "I'm leaving now. Stay here and take care of the rest." 

Ashley nodded and disappeared.

"So... what are you going to do? You should tell Chloe." Maria advised Jeremy as they walked out of the building. 

"Tell her what? That I am shy?" He asked in horror. 

"Yes."

"NO! Besides, she doesn't even want to see me. I've been visiting her office for the past 2 days but she doesn't let me see her. What if she doesn't like me anymore?" He asked, suddenly feeling unsure.

"Come on, you know Chloe likes you." She assured him. "I don't want to get involved in your relationship, so I would advise you to handle this yourse—" 

Maria stopped talking and ignored her driver who had parked the car in front of the building, waiting for her to get in. Instead, her eyes were looking at the building opposite them. 

"You said Chloe loves your hair, right?" 

"Yea. What does that have to do with anything?" He asked curiously? 

Maria smiled mischievously before pointing at the building opposite them. 

"Give her a little scare. Maybe she'll meet you?" 

"What?" He asked in confusion.

10 minutes later, he was sitting inside a hair salon with his hair untied and an apron around him. He looked at his phone again to be sure he sent the message to Chloe. 

He had taken a picture of himself looking like that and captioned it, "Cutting my hair to atone for my sins. I hope you forgive me after seeing my sincerity. PS: I'm at the salon opposite Maria's new office." 

"Are you ready now?" The male hairstylist asked him. 

The saloon was unisex and had both males and females there. The ladies kept glancing at him, but he didn't even take notice of them since his eyes remained on his phone. 

"Uhm... give me a min—" He paused when he realized Chloe had read his text. His heart began to beat faster when he saw her typing.

"YOU WANT TO DIE?" 

He almost jumped out of his seat when he read her message. 

"Why is she so scary?" He asked himself but had a smile on his face. So she could text him after all? "Cute." 

He placed his phone on airplane mode and folded his hand across his chest. 

Five minutes later, the stylist returned again.

"Are you ready, sir?" He asked, almost sounding impatient. Jeremy had been sitting there for the past 20 minutes, causing a distraction for all the women, including his female stylists.

"MOVE!"

The stylist heard a low commanding voice behind him and turned around. 

Jeremy also turned to look at the person behind the stylist. He was a little surprised to see her, and trying not to show his excitement. 

"You are—?" The stylist asked. 

"Leaving." Chloe answered before taking out some cash from her purse to give him.

She eyed Jeremy and pulled the apron he was wearing, tossing it to the floor before she turned around to leave. 

Jeremy quickly stood up and grabbed his jacket before following her out. As they left, they could hear the ladies inside the salon sighing dejectedly.