His Scent Lingered On Me

POV: Selina
Caught in the heavy downpour, I was forced to take a taxi back to our apartment. The bus takes a different route from where I live. I alighted at the bus stop that is a few blocks away from my apartment. If it wasn’t raining so heavily, I would have walked the little distance to my shared apartment with Amara.
“Where the hell have you been, and why are you so wet?
Jeez!
You are messing up the floors I just cleaned. Didn’t I see you leave with the umbrella, what happened to it?
You are not the forgetful and careless type. I’m pretty sure you didn’t misplace our only umbrella. Did the wind blow it away?” Amara asked me when I finally arriving with my clothes soaked. This is one of those day when I regret having a roommate. Ever since we became roomies, Amara questions me about ever damn thing as if she were my mother. I know she won’t stop asking until I respond to her with a good explanation.
“Damn!
It must be raining like bell out there. How did you get home under such heavy downpour?
Now see how wet you and cold you are right now. I’m sure you used our umbrella as an offering at the gravesite. Did Nana love the umbrella gift?” she said humorously, laughing at her own joke. I ignored her and went into the bathroom because I don’t know how I’m going to tell her that I gave out our only umbrella to a billionaire who has a car to move around with. It sounds so stupid, and yet that is what I just did.
Amara followed me around the house as I took off my clothes and ran into the bathroom immediately. I was still hearing her ranting about the umbrella as I turned on the hot shower. This is what I get for making the bank to kick me out of Nana’s house after I defaulted on payment five times.
After taking a hot shower, I step out of the bathroom with my towel wrapped around my chest. As soon as I step out of the bathroom door, í came face to face with Amara and her suspicious look. She was holding my wet clothes that I’d left lying on the floor. When I saw her face and the clothes she is holding, I knew I was about to get a lesson on personal hygiene and putting away your dirty clothes to keep the room neat.
“No lectures about hygiene please, I’m putting the clothes away right now.” I begged her. I reached out for my clothes, but she moved them out of my reach whilst still giving me that suspicions look.
“Who is he?” she asked curiously, her eyes lighting up with excitement.
“What are you talking about, who is who?” I asked in confusion.
“You have his perfume all over you and I can tell it’s an expensive perfume, a branded perfume. You must have spent the whole morning with him to be smelling this good. So quit stalling and tell me who he is?” she asks excitedly. I squinted my eyes curiously and grabbed the clothes from her.
“I have no idea what are talking about.” I told her as I took the clothes to my laundry basket. But before I throw it in, I sniffed own clothes and my eyes widened in shock as I realized that she is right after all. She wasn’t lying when she said that she detects a masculine perfume on my clothes. She laughed at my nervousness around her, she wouldn’t stop teasing and accusing me of having a secretive encounter with a man.
“If he is wearing such an expensive perfume, then he’s supposed to have a car. Remind me why you came back drenched in the rain again?” she asked me.
I tried to brush off her questions, but she wasn’t ready to back down. She waited for me to get dressed so I don’t catch a cold. But the moment put on my clothes, she pulled .e down on the couch and demanded answers to all her questions. I had no choice, I began by telling her about my past encounter with a man at a banquet and how he turned out to be the strict and weird billionaire Felix.
“He’s the same guy I ran into at the gravesite. I have no idea why I keep bumping into the guy. Before the banquet I know nothing about him. But now I think he is everywhere I turn to, he is just all over me and it’s choking me.” I told her honestly.
“Come on, girl!
Can’t you see that the guy is in love?” she asked me yeasingly after I told her all about our coincidental meeting at the gravesite. She thinks he truly likes me and she us hoping and speculating about a romantic scandal between us. She is forgetting about the social gap between us.
“You do know that even if he likes me, his family will never accept me, right?” I asked her jokingly.
“Who cares about his family and their rules. By the time they decide to separate you two, the news about your relationship with him would have spread around the city like wildfire. With the fame and recognition you will get from hanging out with him, your career will kick off to a great start. And soon, everyone in this city will be talking about your jewelry designs. This is your chance to be rich and famous, Selina. You need to grab this opportunity and use him to climb up the social ladder.” She advised me.
I almost laughed out loudly at her overactive imagination. She has no idea what this guy is capable of. I really can’t blame her because she has never been around him. So she doesn’t understand why I can’t be around him.
“You don’t know him like I do, Ama. You have no idea what you are talking about. That guy is nothing but trouble, he would destroy all my plans for my life if I get involved with him. On the outside, he looks calm and nice. But that just a cloak he is using to hide his mean attitude. When I’m with him, I have no freedom to do as I please. He’s just too protective and possessive. He is the kind of nan you see and run the other way, trust me.” I told her.
“That’s not true, Lina. You just don’t understand his way of showing affection. Go close to him and you’ll see that he is as sweet as any billionaire bachelor out there. Have you seen the number of girls throwing themselves at his feet everyday?
If I were you, I would make good use if this opportunity and get rich and famous. I could leech off your fame when you get famous.” She joked, making me laugh. In a way, I thing she is right about him. I’ve only seen him twice and our encounter was too short to get to know him. Who knows, he may not be as bad as I imagined?
Her words brought to mind the moment we had both fallen down in the bathroom and the time we shared an umbrella under the rain. It felt nice to be so close to him, I loved his close proximity, I love the feel of his skin against mine. It felt nice, and now I feel like running back to the laundry basket to sniff his perfume on my clothes again.