CHAPTER EIGHT

WRITER'S POV

The morning sun met with Marcus getting dressed, hurriedly and noisily. He stops for a few minutes, mutters a few words to himself and immediately resumes getting one missing clothing item or the other. He seemed disorganized, a trait which was far from the Marcus everyone knew; calm and always having everything figured out.

The previous night's events were still engraved clearly in his mind and as much as he tried shaking them off, he just couldn't. During those few seconds of pausing in his search, his mind immediately wandered back to the kiss he had shared with Sophia just right outside her house. He hadn't seen her for a really long time and although he had felt angry for a good half of the time they spent together that night, he was still happy to finally see her face again. Her voice still echoed in his head, as though a bell was ringing nonstop, and her lips…

He gently licked down on his own lips as his mind took him back to the moment Sophia placed her lips on his, kissing him passionately and deeply. He hadn't hesitated in returning the kiss and as it intensified, he could feel the sudden urge to rip off the clothes from her body, burying himself in the warmth of her womanhood; but he didn't. He was the first to break free from the kiss and as he stared reassuringly at her, he urged her (Sophia) back inside her family home.

Looking back, he sort of hated himself for sending her in and not bringing her to his own apartment; but deep down, he knew he should also be considerate of how she was feeling at the moment as well.

"What are you doing up so early?" A voice broke through his thoughts; it belonged to his best friend and roommate, Robert.

"I have somewhere to be?" He replied a few seconds after recovering from the shock.

"You're going to work this early?"

"Not to work."

"Then where?" He asked, rubbing his eyes, rather roughly, with the back of his hands. Marcus remained quiet and continued fiddling with the buttons of his shirt, choosing to dress up rather than answer Robert'a unending questions.

"Did you meet Sophia? Is the rumors true?" Robert, still being his inquisitive self, decided to change the direction of his questions.

"Yes." Was his short response.

Obviously not willing to back down, "Yes to which of the questions?" he fired back, now fully awake.

"To the both of them." He said through clenched teeth, hoping Robert would take the cue and just leave him alone.

"What?" Robert screamed, a reaction Marcus saw as an exaggeration considering the fact that he, Robert, already had the details of everything.

"What are you going to do now? I mean are you really just going to accept some random guy taking away your girl?"

"Of course not, Rob. You know I'm not capable of doing something as stupid as that." Marcus voice sounded confident but his entire body disposition showed how defeated he felt inside, hence his desire to do something convincing enough to him that he was, indeed, confident.

"So where are you headed to this early?" He asked but before giving Marcus the opportunity to give an appropriate response, "Wait!! Are you going to meet the shameless son of a b*tch?"

"Yes." Marcus replied shortly and bluntly.

"Are you crazy?" He screamed at the top of his lungs, springing up from where he had been sitting down as though he wanted to attack him (Marcus).

"You just said, a few seconds ago, that you are incapable of being stupid but here you are trying to do something recklessly foolish."

"Call it foolishness or whatever title you wish to give it. But one thing is sure, I'm not backing down from my resolve." He said, but deep down he knows that reassuring conviction was directed at himself, more than Robert.

"You want to go meet him and then say what?"

"Ask him why he's unable to find himself a wife and why it must be my Sophia he wants?"

"And what do you plan to get from doing that?" Robert was visibly upset at his friend's decision and was doing absolutely nothing to show his disapproval. To his question, Marcus had absolutely nothing to say.

"Exactly, nothing. So stop with that nonsense going on in your mind."

"I'm not changing my mind, Rob." He was stubborn and that stubbornness only further infuriated Robert.

"People like us don't challenge people like them." He cried out in a desperate attempt to appeal to his sense of reasoning.

"And how do you know people like them?"

"C'mon! Before I told you about it all, I already did my investigations. The guy in question doesn't even know if student loans exist, or even a two hundred and fifty dollar meal can actually be good. He is a f*cking billionaire and there's nothing you can say to make him-"

"It doesn't mean I can't try. I'll try."

"Marcus!!" Jeff yelled but he was already out the door, into the lobby and walking towards the elevator.

With a push of a button, the doors slowly slid open, allowing him access into the elevator, whose doors closed after a few seconds. It was a gradual descent down to the ground floor, and soon Marcus was out of the apartment building and into the busy streets of New York. He glanced at his wristwatch to see the time was already 7am and the "what are you doing up so early?" question from Robert ran through his mind, causing a smile to form at the sides of his mouth.

Not wanting to be too late for his "meeting", he boarded a taxi straight for the Smith's construction company at Manhattan; the headquarters of the chain of businesses and from where both Marcus and his father work.

While in the taxi, he got a notification text from Robert which reads, "I don't know exactly what you have planned but I know you're on your way to Manhattan. I just asked a friend and he's still in Brookhaven. It seems he came in yesterday. He'd leave for Manhattan though. Good luck."

Reading the message, Marcus' brain was suddenly jerked back into recalling that Sophia had had dinner with him some hours ago. That little bit of information had skipped his mind and he felt grateful to Robert who was clearly not in support but still helping nonetheless. He told the driver of the change in plans and a journey which was supposed to last for two hours was now estimated to be about thirty minutes.

It was a seemingly long and quiet journey, although his mind whispered a million and one things into his ears. If he was being honest, he had no ideas what he was to do when he finally meets with the Damien of a guy, but reluctantly agreed to rely strictly on the adrenaline pump. Things like this, he thought, was beyond a well thought out or mapped plan. Though the means to which he can achieve the desired result is very unclear and unsure, he reassured himself continually, throughout the duration of the trip, that he was never letting any man take away his woman without him having to put up a fight.

The taxi soon came to a stop in front of the huge building complex. He paid what he owed and stepped down from the car. Now, he was in front of what was referred to as a small branch online; yeah, he had checked them up on Google. Suddenly, he felt too small and under dressed for this confrontation.

Allowing himself get comforted with the thought that Damien was just a mere man, exactly as he was, he took the bold step inside. With that step, his blood was suddenly boiling with a mixed portion of anxiety and anger, as his gaze was left mesmerized by the hugeness of the interior. He was too dazed to speak but even at that, workers, still very much busy, continued walking past him like he was an invincible ghost.

It took a couple of more seconds and he recollected both himself and his emotions, as he walked towards the front desk.

"Good morning, how can I help you?" The front desk receptionist asked with a smile.

"Good morning. Please I would like to see Damien Smith."

"Okay, do you have any appointments?" The smile was slowly fading away as she looked him up and down, probably wondering what someone like him had to do with Damien.

"No. I just want to see him. It would be really snappy. Five minutes at the most."

"I'm sorry sir. This is company policy and I can't allow you meet with the CEO without a scheduled appointment, but you can meet with the manager and discuss whatever issues you have."

"And why not the CEO?"

"He's here for specific reasons and doesn't attend to any unscheduled or surprise appointments. I'm sorry." The sound of the landline ringing replied to her statement as she reached for it and placed it on her left ear.

"Front desk. How may I help you?"

"The boss is coming down and on his way to a meeting, make sure to handover those documents regarding the supermarket acquisition." The person at the other end said in a hurried tone.

"Yes sir."

Marcus continued standing, hoping she'd pay him some bit of attention but, unfortunately, he had already exhausted all the attention she could give to him. He then resolved to watching her search through her desks in a hastily manner and with a file in hand, half ran towards the elevator but was met with a man Marcus immediately recognized as Damien.

"Hey!!" Marcus yelled, waving at him as he took big strides towards him. Damien, on the other hand, just stared at him with eyes that screamed "who the f*ck is that?"

"Can I help you?" Damien asked as soon as Marcus walked close enough to hear him talk without yelling.

"As a matter of fact, yes, you actually can help me." Marcus said from a close distance, not wanting to strain himself by looking up at him.

"And with what might that be… sir?" Damien had a sarcastic look on his face.

"With leaving Sophia alone."

"Sophia? Is that a name of a government contract?" At this point, Damien was obviously having fun and he gave no effort in hiding it.

"Since you don't even know her name, why not just leave her the f*ck alone." Marcus yelled, ignoring the hundreds of eyeballs staring holes into him.

"Oh! She's a female human. I had no idea."

"I-"

"If this is about a girl then you should know I am not guilty if these girls can't keep their clothes on when they are around me. No matter how far I run, they find me." He smirked, satisfied with his own reply.

"Is that why you can't find yourself a wife of your own and decide to -"

"If you think you're embarrassing me," he moved closer, whispering softly, "you're mistaken because all you'd end up doing is embarrass yourself in front of all my workers. Do yourself a favor and get the f*ck out."

"Why not give yourself the advice and find yourself a wife. Sophia doesn't even want you."

"Oh! Is that what she told you?" He laughed loudly, "Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but you leave me no choice. Last night in my house, I had your darling Sophia pinned against the wall of my bedroom and -" A loud blow to Damien's mouth arrested the remaining words, but that blow soon became one of Marcus' regrettable actions. He knew he had messed up but still, he wasn't willing to back down from the adrenaline pump he was feeling.

Damien, on the other hand, stood smiling, licking off the drops of blood that were forming on his lips. "Just know now that you single-handedly sent your girlfriend back into my house and arms," he whispered into his ears as he caught glimpse of the officers walking towards them, "and be rest assured I'd send you some really… really good pictures."