Chapter 19
Chapter 19
Chapter 19 Arianna drops off from the cab; she is at the address Oliver had given to her. She looked around and marveled at the sight before her, it was paradise, a heaven on earth. The short barricade that served as a gate was made of glass, she wondered why it was even there, they should have left it open because that thing would not serve for any sort of protection, it won’t even cover you from prying eyes. But that was just her thinking like the poor, the gate was just a design, and there was already the main bullet proof gate at the entrance of the estate. The Gomez family needed no protection, and the entire estate belongs to them, so who were they hiding from? Every other house in the estate was vacant, apart from the one in which Sammy stays. Arianna hit the electronic bell on the wall and not up to five seconds later, a man appeared from a corner. He was dressed in white all through, with a black sneakers that made Aria want to chuckle. A part of her believed he was the gateman, but another doubted because of how good he looked, oh… apart from the funny sneakers. “Hello, how may I help you ma’am?” He queried, with a solemn expression on his face. “Um… I am looking for Mr. Stark Oliver Gomez, I was invited” she replied, while her eyes explored the mansion. The man stared at her for a few minutes, like doubting her words, then he brought out a cell phone and made a call. Arianna barely heard what he discussed with the person over the phone because he moved away from her. Few minutes later, he walked back to her with a smile. “I am sorry for the delay Ma`am, please come in,” he said and rolled the gate away. Arianna walked into the large compound and paused, she looked around not knowing where to go. The mansion was really wide, there were two paths from the gate to the house, those were meant for cars, and side walk on the left side. The large compound was surrounded by beautiful flowers at all ends; they were all clean and well trimmed. There was not a single leaf on the floor and that made Aria wonder if someone picked them
up the moment it fell. Just then, the butler approached her, with a smile on his face. “Welcome ma, please come with me,” he requested. Arianna found that strange, the man was older than her and yet he called her ‘ma’. She waved her head gently and followed him. The man led her to a large door designed with diamond stones, he opened the door and signaled that she should proceed by making a slight bow and pointing to the inside with his right hand while clutching tight to his hand towel. Arianna noticed a bald spot in the centre of his hair and she almost chuckled, but then she remembered it was wrong to laugh at people’s condition. She walked into the building and that moment it filled like she had walked in from hell to heaven. The place was so cold that all the heat she had accumulated from her workplace to here dried up in seconds. She walked into Oliver`s large sitting room which was the first room she met after walking down the little stairs at the threshold. There were so many large couches and she wondered if she had come to the right place. This looked more like a presidential suite than a private house. The large flat screen on the wall caught her attention and she gulped. ‘Perhaps this wasn’t a regular television, maybe it had other features’ she thought. “Arianna, please come in,” she heard Oliver`s voice and she was startled. She looked to her left and saw him standing beside a long couch, he was there the whole time and she did not notice. Damn it! Now she felt awkward. She walked towards him with her face down, while Oliver had a smile on his face, he was really happy to see her. Arianna approached him and he ushered her to sit on the couch which she did, then he sat beside her but made sure to give her a little distance to avoid making her feel uncomfortable. “I hope you didn’t have a problem finding this place?” Oliver queried. “No… not at all, it’s only that…” she suddenly paused.
“That what? Did something happen?” he queried. “Um… No, it’s nothing,” she replied, waving the incident off. What had actually happened was that the cab driver had thought she was insane when she gave him the location, he asked her silly questions like ‘what would a nobody like her be doing in green pastures’; the estate where she was visiting. She had been embarrassed and decided to find another cab, the next one also looked at her awkwardly but decided to carry her after he confirmed that she had money on her, which was really embarrassing for her. “Alright, so what would you like to have?” He queried. “Nothing for now Oliver let’s just get straight to the point,” she replied. She still found it awkward calling him Oliver, I mean, he was one of the world’s richest men after all. “Alright, I … I wanted to know if you had thought about my request yesterday, have you come up with a reply for me?” He asked nervously, scared that she would give the negative reply. She was quiet for a while, at that moment Oliver`s heart was beating, then she blushed and that lifted his spirit. He already knew her answer but he just wanted to hear her say it. “Yes,” she finally replied and his face lit with excitement. “Thank you!” he yelled and hugged her in sheer joy “Oliver, you are squeezing too tight,” she muttered and he let go immediately, then moved back, trying to control his happiness and not do stupid things. “I am sorry,” he said almost in a whisper and smiled, revealing his wonderful set of teeth. “Its… it’s alright, I am fine,” she replied and smiled shyly “Forgive me, but this calls for a celebration,” he uttered and snapped his fingers. The butler came running in immediately. Arianna was surprised to see how happy the information had made him, was he that desperate for her friendship? And what does this mean for their future. “Hey Zach, get us a tray of fresh cookies immediately,” he instructed. “Alright sir,” the butler nodded and walked off. He was happy to see his boss this happy. “Aria, I have one more request,” he said, and she crumpled her face, watching him with scrutiny.Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.
“Um… what is it?” she queried. “Can I listen to the baby’s heartbeat?” He asked while making a puppy face. Arianna burst into laughter and threw her hair back. “What? Come on, you are not some sort of a doctor, are you?” she smirked “Nope, but please… I would be gentle,” he pleaded. Aria was quiet for a while, blushing, and then she looked at him and nodded. “Alright, but only for two minutes, nothing more,” she replied with a smirk “Really? Thank you!” He replied and came closer to her. She pulled up her top slightly to expose her baby bump and Oliver placed his right ears against it. She couldn’t believe she was doing this, how could things move so fast between them. Oliver raised his head and smiled. “She is a very strong girl; I bet she would be stubborn like her mom,” Arianna wrinkled her eyebrows, “wait, how do you know that she is a girl?” “Well, my mom didn’t have a daughter, so she made me promise my first child would be a girl.” He smiled, and then his face suddenly went sour. Arianna realized that his mom must be late, so talking about her must have brought painful memories. Until now, she never thought that the rich suffer, or the care about stupid emotions. At the same time, she was also excited to hear him say his first child, she just had no idea why “I… I am sorry,” she replied. “No, it’s nothing, you don’t need to be, that was in the past,” he replied, trying to hide his feelings. Just then the butler arrived with another servant who served the cookies under his supervision. Well that was literally his work, supervising the other servants. After they had served the cookies, they turned around and left immediately. Oliver brought the table closer and grabbed a cookie. “Can I feed you?” “No,” she replied and looked away, blushing. “Pleaseeee…” he whined in plea and she giggled. “Fine, I thought I was the only stubborn one,” she muttered and they laughed.
He brought the cookie closer to her mouth and she hesitated for a while before she parted her lips. He poked the cookie in her mouth and she bit off it, while removing what was left of it, he accidently rubbed the chocolate cream on her right cheek, very close to her lips. He stared at it for a while, an idea came to his naughty head, it was a risky one, and then he decided to take the risk. He brought his lips closer and took the chocolate off her cheek with it, in other words, gently kissing her. Arianna`s heartbeat froze that very moment, and so did her body. She just paused, staring into those beautiful grey eyes.