Chapter 41

No one recovered from what happened in a blink, Frank couldn t believe it, Athena would rather have three glasses of drink than to kiss him? Is that how much she hates him? How much she distastes him? He remembered how Sean kept looking at her as he took the drinks for her, he can t believe it, is he making their relationship open, in the presence of everyone?
Esperanza was no better than him, she could remember back in the days when they were playing the game, Sean was in the room and she had been dared to kiss one of the tycoons who was old enough to be her father, she had refused and was asked to drink, she had turned to Sean, asking him to please drink for her but he had said that women who turned to men for any little problem are considered weak and that he would never drink for anyone. She had taken the drinks, despite being drunk already and now, he had willingly taken the drinks for Athena, even though she didn t ask him to help.
Everyone was wondering what was happening, first, Sean joined in a game and now he drank for someone, is this night really created differently from the other nights?
Leo smiled and crossed his leg on the other, as Sean walked back to his seat, he nodded at him with a smile and when he sat beside him, he said, "someone broke his rule. I can definitely remember someone saying that he hates it when ladies ask for their drinks to be taken for them and that he would never do that and then tonight, that same person voluntarily drank for someone, isn t this night amazing?" he grinned.
Sean said nothing, when he heard her reject the dare, he was surprised and confused and for some reason, he needed her sober tonight to answer his question and that was why he offered to drink for her, or that was what he told himself.
The game continued and even though Leo said that he and Sean were part of the game, no one prayed for their bottle to point at any of them and when it finally pointed at Sean, the actress that spun the bottle heaved a deep sigh and asked, "Truth or Dare, Mr. Brand."
Sean didn t answer for some seconds and when he finally did, he said, "truth."
The actress looked at her friends and they all grinned before she turned to him, "has Mr. Brand ever been in love?"
Leo threw his head back and laughed, surprising everyone. He cleared his throat after and acted like he did nothing and he looked at Sean keenly, like he was waiting for his answer as well.
Sean took a minute to answer and when he did, it was a simple, "no." Leo laughed softly once more, calling him a liar with his beautiful black eyes which Sean ignored.
"Aw," the ladies cheered and with how Sean answered the question, opened the door for every other woman; they all started wishing their bottle would point at him.
When one of them was lucky, she squealed in happiness before asking, "Truth or Dare, Mr. Brand?"
"Truth," he answered a bit faster this time.
"Among all the ladies in this room, is there anyone Mr. Brand would love to kiss?"
Leo chuckled, deriving attention from everyone briefly again while Sean remained silent; he looked around the room and again answered with a simple, "yes."
The ladies cheered and "who, who, Mr. Brand?" filled the room as everyone wants to know; even the men were interested this time.
"I m sorry, but the bottle has to point to me for me to answer that question," Sean answered and everyone groaned.
The game continued but if Sean wasn t the one that the bottle points at, the ladies would groan and will start trying again.
But even if the bottle didn t point at him, it still pointed at other interesting people which kept the fun flowing. When it hit Leo, he was asked to kiss Gloria and to everyone surprise, he did and even Gloria didn t turn him away and that was when everyone knew that the two might be getting back together. The game fell on Esperanza and she chose Dare and was dared to kiss Sean but before she could even pretend that she doesn t want to, Sean offered to drink and she couldn t be more embarrassed.
Unfortunately for the ladies, the game didn t fall on Sean again and thrice it fell on Athena and thrice Sean drank for her again for she refused to carry on with her dares which were to kiss Leo, take off her gown and be in her underwear for one minute and lastly to kiss Hillary which every lady was surprised that she turned down. Hillary was intrigued, no lady has ever turned down kissing him and that piqued his interest on her and he knew he would be seeing more of her from then on.
Although Leo was enjoying the outcome of the game but he was still not satisfied that he didn t get the time to dare Sean to kiss Athena and when his luck finally came, Sean announced that he was leaving.
He tried to get him to stay back and finish his turn but Sean knowing his friend, refused with no thought of changing his mind and that means he left Leo unsatisfied which he promised to get back at him someday and that the day was coming really soon.
***
When they finally got home, TB said goodnight and went straight to his room but just as Athena wanted to do the same, Sean said, "have a drink with me."
Athena was surprised when she heard that, weren t they coming from a party? Why does he still want to drink? But even though she thought that, she still nodded and followed him into his study which she had only been in twice, first was when he wasn t home and TB asked her to get a wine there which they couldn t find in the mini-bar that was in the living room and now, which he had brought her in himself.
He pointed at the chair opposite his desk to her to sit down while he walked to the bar and brought a drink, it was the same liquor that they had that night in the club, he walked back to her but rather than sit on his chair, he perched on the desk very close to her that his leg was touching hers, "do you know this drink?" he asked as he poured half tumblers for them each.
Athena looked at the bottle but she couldn t remember so she shook her head, "no."
Sean smiled, "have a sip," he handed her a tumbler and she took a sip, from the look in her eyes, he knew she had remembered, "Remember now?"
Athena looked away shyly, "honestly, I just pointed at a drink that day, I didn t know the name."
"I figured," he took a sip, taking his eyes away from her momentarily; "it s a good drink."
"Yes," she answered, not daring to look him in the eyes, she was shy to be in the room with him and also nervous, she didn t know what he want to talk about or if he just wants to drink with her. She was also afraid of what would happen next, the first time they had met each other, they had shared a drink, gotten drunk and ended up in his hotel room, what would happen tonight if history repeat itself? She was already tipsy, having been drinking at the first party before joining him at the second one and she could tell he was tipsy as well.