75

Old Man Alden chuckled at the sight of her mouth open. This man really matched his arrogant and boastful niece's attitude.
Khloe, not knowing what to say, sighed. This was all too new and confusing to her.

“I will be on my way, Mr. Alden, and thanks for the tea. ”

“Khloe will show you the way out. Go ahead, Khloe! ”
He nudged her to go and show him off as a punishment for her rude character.

“Sure. Let us go ” She agreed and went to the entrance. She shut the door close and leaned on the wall.
She watched him as he walked to his car, turned the key inside the car lock and opened the car door.

“Miss Smith, it was nice meeting you. I hope you do honor my dinner treat. Tonight right?”

“I will think about it!” Khloe rubbed her shoulders and sarcastically responded.

“Hmmmmm........ Hand me your phone ” He came out from the car, collected her phone in her hands and dialed in his phone number. “Now you have my number, call me whenever you feel like having dinner with me ”

“That is if I care. ”

“I hope to see you again,Miss Smith....” He entered the car, stepped on the brake, reversed out of the gate and drove away.
Khloe watched the car drive off and walked back into the house. She sighed, poured some lemon tea in a cup and sipped it.

“I think you feel different about him right?” Uncle Alden chortled and changed the channel of the TV to News.

“Me..........? No I don't. Uncle Alden.....I have a favor to ask of you ”
Khloe played with his fingers while making her puppy dog eyes. Being the only child of her father, she was given the most attention and everything she needed was at her feet.
She did not need to struggle to find a job as the company was awaiting her.

“Go ahead.......” He reluctantly said before giving up. Arguing with her was not the best idea, especially not now he was not feeling too good.

“Do you by any chance have Ray's number? I have tried millions of them, yet, it seems like that number does not exist. ”

“You mean Mr. Hudston?”
He chuckled. So his brother was actually right about his niece's obsession for the big boss.
Of course, Who would not want such a handsome and hardworking man as a suitor or husband?
Investor Alden felt that this obsession was just really creepy for a young girl like her.

“Yes......My father forbade every connection with him. He deleted his phone number from my phone, cut all contacts I had with him and even had the guts to tell Jimi not to allow me to set my foot in the LR group. I just can't help but hate him!”
Khloe expressed disdain towards her father. Her mother was out of town for the meantime and staying alone with her dad made her go crazy.
He never treats her like how others did to her and instead, he insisted that she worked and proved herself worthy of the chairman position or she would not get it.

“I agree with him to some extent, Khloe, you are already twenty three and not a young girl anymore. You refuse to go on blind date with my rich colleague's son, yet, you chose someone who did not take any sort of liking towards you!”

“Uncle Alden, why do you sound like my father? Anyway, he has not seen my full charm, that is why he doesn't like me, maybe he is just too shy. I promise, Ray likes me!”
Khloe pouts her lips adorably. Her mentality was simple, she was beautiful and she had suitors when she was three years old and she thought no man would be an exception.
But Suddenly, it did not go as well as she thought. There was only one man that defiled her rule of love, and that was Ray.
The more he rejected her love confession, the more she was determined to make him hers.

“That is what you have been saying for the past eight years. I hope you do not realize the truth too late.”
He crossed his legs on the chair, picked up his unfinished tea and drank it up. Khloe stopped the phone she was pressing, raised up her head to see what they were talking about and widened her eyes in shock.

“Lies! All lies!” She refused to believe such news.
The newscaster went on about the wedding photo which got the whole of New York talking.
She scrolled to her Twitter account, logged in and scrolled through the photos. They were all real! All fucking real.
Her hands were clenched tightly to her phone. Her brows furrowed together in anger as she gritted her teeth.

“Alexa!” She yelled out in fury smashing her phone on the floor. Uncle Alden turned back to look at her and continued the television he was watching.
As if he knew that Khloe chasing after Ray would not bring a happy ending to both of their lives.

In The Car.

Felix tuned up the music, tilted his head to the left hand side, and swiped his phone.
He held his phone on the left hand and the wheels on the right driving and pressing the phone at the same time.
His phone beeped with so many messages and notifications that he could not help but wonder what it was about.
He clicked on his Weibo account, stepped on the brakes with force and drifted the car to the left.
The car stopped with force crashing into a tree. He held his panting chest, took his phone into his hands once more again.
The news was indeed shocking to him. He came down from the car to see if anything was spoiled, coughed out and waved his hands to free his sight from a pool of choking smoke.

“It can not happen!”

“It can not happen!” He murmured, zoomed into the photo and read the hashtags out loud.
He frowned, typed in his secretary number and called him. His phone rang as he picked it up.

“Boss? Is there something wrong with the proposal? ”
Chris asked to get the car to help him along. It would not be a new thing if he got rejected, besides, Alden was a tough but to crack and a hard person to convince.
No matter who convinced him, he never gives up and sticks to one thing, profits. With that attitude, it made him a very wealthy and well known investor in the chain of investment.

“No there is nothing wrong. He refused to accept the proposal and has sent the fine for breaching the contract to the finance department. I encountered a little problem around......... I do not know where I am actually. I will ask for some directions then I will text you back ”
He hung up the phone, put his phone in his pocket and walked around the street. His mind was not at peace. Here he thought that inheriting the company would make him appear more responsible in Alexa's eyes yet he did not even know where he was stuck at. He was such a loser at love!

“Young man, you have been walking around this street for about thirty minutes, are you somehow lost?”
An old woman around the age of eighty years questioned him. For some minutes, she had observed him and his movement, though he appeared he was lost but she could never know!
Felix turned back to meet eyes with the woman who spoke. She was old, wrinkled and a little dirty with farm tools on her head.
He wondered that she might have returned from her farm or somewhere that required her to be dusty.

“Auntie, do you perhaps know where I can find a mechanic? My car broke down at that spot and I am really finding it hard to get a network here. ”

“It is impossible to get a network at this site. The North east side is known for its poor network, but if I may ask, what are you doing at this side of the town? Rich men like you are meant to be in the central wing of California .”
She pointed to his suit. He laughed and itched his head. How was he supposed to contact Chris if there was no network?

“See the thing, Auntie, I went to visit a colleague, Mr. Alden in the south east and somehow got distracted and ended up crashing my car into a wall. The engine is badly destroyed .”
Felix stated.

”Mr. Alden?”

“You know him?.....” He asked curiously.
If this old lady knew something that could be at an advantage to him and a disadvantage to Ray, then he might as well use it. At least, it was not considered wrong using tricks in business.

“Yes, I did work for that old man before I retired last year. He is funny but strict when it comes to money. I guess that is why he got the name ‘Hard Butt ’........”

“................”

“You must be tired, my house is just a few blocks away from here. Would you mind coming in?”

“...................”

“Sure Auntie. ” He rolled up his sleeves, tied his suit jacket around his waist, squatted on the floor and helped her carry the heavy tools.

“You are strong young man. You see, most men at their twenties can not even lift themselves talking less of machines and tools. ”
She continued to chat with him, taking him to her house. She stopped at a bungalow, dropped her basket on the ground and opened the door.

“If you feel uncomfortable coming, I can bring you a seat outside .”

“Do not worry, Auntie. That would be stressful. Let us go in ”
Surprised that such houses still existed in California, he raised his leg and entered the house. The house was not decorated in a rich man style like his house but had this feeling of warmness that hugged him once he stepped his foot into the house.
She switched on the light, went to the kitchen, rinsed a cup and poured out water for him. He nodded and gulped the water down.

“So Auntie, about Mr. Alden.”

“ Oh yes! That old man! What exactly do you want to know about him?”

“Actually, I have not thought about what I want to know about him. Just randomly say anything that you know .”

“That reminds me, The man is really good at playing chess. He plays chess with his niece and I dare to say that she does know how to play chess. That is why she is his only favorite child and no one else. ”

“You mean Miss Smith?”

“It seems you know him more than I do .”

“It is just a coincidence that I met her today.”

“ Yes, he has a niece called Khloe. She has this spoiled character but a really kind and soft heart. I blame her grandfather and mother for not raising her up to be an independent woman.”

“Hmmmm..........”

“He likes golf too and loves nature. He had a wife before he divorced her seeing she cheated on him with another man. That poor old man went through a lot of things ”

“He had a wife? Then what of his kid?”

“He died years back from Kidney stones. The illness was discovered late and when it was discovered, he had pushed out a lot of blood and died. It left the old man devastated. ”

“I do not know if this actually helps you .”