Chapter 9

'My secret admirer?" she thought looking at the young, tall, and handsome man. Alexia strained her eyes to be sure she wasn't hallucinating.

The man walking toward her was so familiar. He was so familiar, she couldn't forget that face - ever. She recognized his walking steps, she recognized his smile. She recognized the way he dressed. It was him, she couldn't mistake someone else for him.

'What are you doing here?" he asked.
She stared at him, still lost in thought.

'I should be asking that question." She answered. Dylan smiled and walked closer to her while she moved backward.

'Alexia, can we be friends again?" he asked, his lips tugged upwards.
Alexia listened and reiterated the word that fell from his mouth, she wanted to give him a dirty slap. She wanted to smack him hard across the face. She wanted to kick him in the middle and hit his face against the rails around the waterfalls.

She imagined so many horrible things she could do to him. Staring at him - a smile on his face - Alexia wished she could wipe that smile and turn it to bitterness and sadness.
Earlier, she thought he was sad. She seemed to have forgotten that Dylan was a playboy as well. How could he even open his mouth at her? He had the nerves to speak after everything he had done to her? He could boldly ask her to be friends with him. He had so many nerves, no remorse, it was that easy for him?

Alexia hated the man in her presence very much. She hated Dylan so much that if she were given the chance, she would annihilate him. With spite, she looked at his hand which he had stretched.

'Friends? Are you joking?" she asked staring at him with viciousness.
'Yes, I want to be friends with you." Dylan gave her a smile which made her angrier. She moved closer to him and gave him a heart-wrenching slap. Something she had been meaning to do all this while. After the day she caught him with Kylie, she didn't have the chance to meet him again.

'Keep your friendship to yourself!" She yelled at his face and walked out angrily. Dylan watched her retreating figure, he moved his jaw left and right to fix it because she had slapped him hard. He watched her until she was out of sight.
'Fuck Dylan, you need to fix these!" he punched the air and turned around.

* * *

Alexia entered her car, she was so angry she threw her phone in the back seat of the car. She rested her head on the stirring wheel, crying. That man was the first man she ever dated.

She promised herself that she would only date a man after college because she wanted to keep herself for the right man. She wanted to be loved by the right man. She wanted her first boyfriend to be her husband forever. She had wished.

She met Dylan at the club her best friend -Kylie - had forced her to go to. He was handsome and nice. and he showed her love. He was there for her every time until she met him sleeping with her best friend. It seemed like a dream, a terrible one.

Her legs shook that day like jelly. Her mind went blank. Her eyes went shut. It was like a horrible dream but she never woke up from it. She couldn't get over it because he had a part of her in him. He had taken a part of her, he was her other half and she couldn't bear to see him with another woman.

He continued to date Kylie without remorse. She knew she had to move on. She thought her pain will reduce with another man in the picture. She thought she would find happiness with another man so she dated the first man that came to her. It was Henry, he was cute. He was nice but he was nothing like Dylan.

He proposed to her after a few weeks and she agreed although she wanted it to be Dylan. She promised herself that the man who took her virginity would be the man she would marry but wishes weren't horses. If they were she would have ridden a thousand of them.

However, it seemed she had bad luck when it comes to love. Henry had left her since their wedding night, he didn't tell her the reason he left. He could have confided in her but he didn't.
Every night, she slept alone without anyone to show her love. She had always been alone since her mother died. Her mother was her best friend but she died and now, she was left alone in this cruel world.

Alexia ignited the car and drove home. Disgust formed in the pit of her stomach every time she remembered Dylan asked to be friends.
Friends? He had the nerves to request her to be friends with him? What an animal, a cruel animal!

She reached for her bag and walked out of the car. When she reached her room, she removed her blazers and heels and then fell on the bed. She drifted off to sleep immediately, forgetting her purpose for going out in the first place.


* * *

After morning breakfast, Alexia walked to her car to get to work that morning. Before driving, she decided to check her mail. However, she couldn't find her other phone. Thank goodness she had two phones; one for work and the other for casuals but it was connected to her work phone. She replied to all of her emails before starting her car and driving to work. She was having a meeting with her friend, Rayden.

She drove into the parking lot of the company, packed her car, and walked out of it. It was the same time another car parked in front of her. She recognized the car so well because it belonged to someone she had once had a connection with. Someone that was once the reason for her happiness. Someone she had always looked forward to seeing every day. Someone who once owned her body and her soul. Someone who because of those reasons broke her; Shattered her and left her pieces to find themselves.

Realizing she was starting too much, she took her eyes away from him as he got out of the car. He looked at way and smiled at her. She could feel his smile and eyes on her body but she chose not to turn around, she didn't want to see his handsome face.

She didn't want her heart to compliment the way he looked so handsome with those smiles plastered on his face. She wished she could wipe those smiles off his face and make him feel the pain she had felt for years.

'It was nice seeing you yesterday," he said and walked away. As soon as his back was turned to her, she looked at his retreating figure.

How can he not even feel remorseful? How can he not feel guilty and beg for forgiveness? How can he not feel bad for what he did to her? She thought.
For years, she had waited for him to apologize but he never did.

Alexia sighed, she sighed sadly because she hated the way she was expectant. Dylan young was a freaking player, he would never feel bad for what he did. He would never feel sorry nor will he apologize to her.

Just then, her phone beeped. She looked at her hand but the beeping didn't come from her phone. She raised her head and saw a flash of light come from her car. Oh right!
She remembered throwing her phone into the back of her car last night. She sighed in relief knowing she hadn't misplaced her phone.

She opened the car door and picked out her phone. She saw that it was a text message. It was from the same unknown number; her secret admirer.

‘Thanks for letting me see you yesterday, you're so pretty. It was nice seeing you yesterday."
She read out loud.
‘It was nice seeing you yesterday."
It was nice seeing you yesterday!
It was nice seeing you yesterday!!
The words were reiterated in her head.

Fuck!
She groaned.
She groaned again.
She looked in Dylan's direction and groaned again.
'It is the same words Dylan said to me just now!" she groaned at the realization.

* * *

Dylan young took the elevator to his office where he began to work almost immediately. He stopped mid-air when he saw her name written on the side of the files, her signature was needed. Indeed, she was the heiress of the company, her signature was needed in everything.

Alexia James!
He groaned as the scene of her telling him her name the other day reiterate in his mind. He regretted everything he did to her, he regretted hurting her that day but he didn't know how to tell her.

Was it pride?
Was it arrogance?
Or he just didn't want to admit that he knows the pain she had felt that day. He didn't want to tell himself that he was hurt - that someone had hurt him. Because the moment he apologized to her, he would be going against every one of his morals and admitting that he knew what getting hurt feels like. And he didn't want to do that because he was Dylan young, no woman born of a woman could hurt him.