Tessa

Vincent woke up the next morning with a bit of an headache, maybe his choice to go for a jogging yesterday was a bad one.

He slipped out of the bed and took a look at the time on his phone.

"Urgh… 8:44…"

Sluggishly, he hauled himself to the bathroom and opened the faucet. The sound of running water drowned the silence in his studio apartment for a couple of minutes.

Then he walked out with wet hair and face, took a towel which was hung above the bathroom door and wiped his face.

He placed the towel on his head and moved to open his curtain.

As he was about to touch the grey clothe, a chime sounded from his phone.

Vincent raised a brow. Who could be disturbing him so early in the morning.

He left the curtain and took the phone on the table. With a slightly furrowed brow, he unlocked and went through.

As soon as his phone unlocked, his eyes widened.

"Fuckshit! I forgot about this!"

Vincent quickly dropped the phone and sprints back into the bathroom.

The sound of running water was produced once again, this time retained longer than before.

He jumped out of the bathroom, cleaning his body with speed and hopping into his pair of tracksuits.

The meeting with Daniel was supposed to happen in the morning, they had not slated it for a particular time, but reading the tone in his voice Vincent was so damn sure the King of Mereung would have been waiting at least for an hour for him.

Mereung Central Park was like the center of this vicinity, although the estate where he stayed was a bit thrown far into the waist so it took longer to get there.

He'd have to get a bus at least but for all Mereung south, west, north and east region, they could make it with a twenty minutes jog.

He could make it with a twenty minute ride.

Vincent impatiently waited at the bus stop, swinging his head left and right.

"You must be very late for where you are going?"

A voice came into to intercept his aloofness. Vincent turned to the girl sitting at the bus stop.

He smiled sheepishly.

"Yes, I had a meeting for 8 but now I'm almost an hour late."

"I see… I don't get to see you around here often? Are you a student of Mereung too?"

Vincent raised a brow at her. She had a small stature, blonde hair and scarlet eyes that made her face very gentle, her skin was like a flawlessly smooth porcelain jar.

She wore a tight turtle neck sweat shirt that accentuated her small boobs, they were small but pointy.

And below her waist was a black fair skirt that almost revealed the upper parts of her thigh.

For a young girl like her…

'Isn't her dressing kind of…'

"Hey! Eyes on me. Don't openly harass a lady!"

Vincent vowed ninety degrees.

"I'm sorry."

Her eyes widened with shock, face flushing as she looked at the boy bow before her and apologized sincerely.

A second later, she squeezed out a cute chuckle.

Vincent was scratched the back of his head, his facial features contorted by confusion as her chuckle grew into a soft laughter.

After laughing, the young lady wiped the corner of her eyes and looked at Vincent in the eye.

"My name is Tessa but I prefer to be called Tess."

Vincent bowed his head slightly at her.

"My name is Vincent."

"Oh, Vincent from the Latin word 'Vincentius' which means uhm…" her eyes grew distant for a second, "to conquer! To win… you are a conqueror!"

Her eyes sparkled at him.

Goosebumps suddenly crawled over his skin, making him want to fold. But something about the way she said it just felt different.

The corner of her eyes smiled as she added:

"It was very nice meeting you Mr Conqueror. Do you want me to call my driver for you? I don't think the bus would he coming until 10."

Vincent was at first dumbfounded, he was silent, hesitated then asked:

"You have a car… and a driver?"

The girl nodded.

"Well, I hate to say things like this but I'm kind of very rich."

Of course! Literally everyone that stays around Mereung is very rich. Vincent knew that.

But if she was that rich, why was she sitting and waiting for a bus?

Vincent's look at her practically asked the question.

But she was too clueless to be able to tell or she didn't just catch it.

"What?" she inquired with a cocked head.

"I'm just wondering. If you have a car. Why are you waiting for a bus?"

"Oh. There's a particular man that comes here with a Papillion dog. I come here every Saturday and wait for him so I can touch the dog."

She brought out her phone and began to operate it as Vincent asked again, curiosity tuning with his tone.

"That's even more strange. If you like papilion dogs so much why don't you just get one?"

"Then the fulfillment of purpose will be lost."

Her response threw Vincent off.

She tucked in her phone back in her purse, looked into his eyes and explained further:

"Purpose is not the destination, purpose is the journey to the destination. I love to see that cute dog every morning so I cone here on Saturdays and wait, the thought of anxiously waiting for the dog is what bring a sense of fulfillment. If I go get the dog or even a cuter one like a pomeranian or a Spaniel, where then is the sense of fulfillment I get in waiting to see the dog. I have it, I see it all the day…"

Her voice grew somber.

"...it becomes boring. I don't like boring things."

Vincent's brows drew closer a bit.

'I don't understand a thing of what she's saying.'

She stood up and stood on her toes to bring her face closer to Vincent's.

"I perceive that you are not a boring person. I think if I make you my friend, I'd never be bored."

Vincent allowed an awkward laughter and retorted:

"I don't really know… contrary to what you think, there's nothing fun going on in my life right now."

She repeated his words, leaning closer to him.

"Right now"

Vincent looked at her with a very confound expression.

"Yes… right now…" He also repeated.

She straightened and with her finger, traced a strand of her blond hair over her ear.

"That's fine. The fact that you said 'right now' makes me even more interested in you. Where's your phone?" her hands extended towards Vincent.

Reluctantly he placed the cracked screen, old model smartphone on her hand.

She clicked her tongue and manager to input her number then returned it to him.

"There is my number. Call me anytime, looks like your ride is here."

Vincent looked to his left, a pink Lamborghini sports car drove in and paused.

Then a gaunt, middle aged guy donned in suit came out, bowing.

"Ma'am, I came as soon as you texted" he said, breathing fast.

"Thank you Tyler. Can you help my friend to wherever he wants to go."

Tyler turned to Vincent and grimaced.

"Yes ma'am, I will take him wherever… he… wants."

Chills crawled up Vincent's spine such that his body almost trembled.

"Stop Tyler, you're scaring my friend."

"Okay ma'am!"

Tyler smiled and grabbed Vincent's hand, shaking him forcefully.

"Nice to meet you Vincent." He greeted, his eyes closed and a rigid cord forming on his temple.

"Shall we move now. To where ever you want to go?"

The lady smiled and waved at Vincent as he reluctantly entered the Lambo. She watched them zoom off with a cute smile.

"I like him…" Tess mumbled.