Chapter 2 — How We Met

Blake POV:

You never really know how difficult life really is for anyone except you get to them personally.

My name is Blake Davies. I'm thirty years old and I'm not saying this to brag or anything, but I happen to be the heir to one of the best, if not the best construction company in the United States. I also happen to be well known for my generous contributions to society. I usually donate to churches, orphanages and as many foundations as I could. I actually started my donations as a family tradition that we had but now, it's something I do out of the goodness of my heart. Sounds a bit too cheesy, am I right?

Anyways, being who I am, coming from my kind of family and growing up in the kind of environment that I did, I unfortunately had to grow up to be the perfect son. I was raised strictly to be the perfect role model, the perfect example, and the perfect businessman. I am not allowed to be anything less than perfect. Sometimes, my family seems to forget that I'm only human and like them, I have my own struggles and my own imperfections but according to my father, imperfections weren't allowed.

Unlike most of my peers, I didn't really have the pleasure of enjoying my childhood. Fine, I've always had everything I wanted, and thousands of people would kill to be me at this moment but like I had said earlier, you can never really know what anyone is going through until you actually get to know them personally or live in their place. No human being is actually perfect.

While my peers were having fun going to parties, playing football, and enjoying their teenage years, I was back at home either studying or getting ready to go to church with my parents. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not complaining about being raised as a Christian, but the fact that I grew up in such a religious family did a lot of damage to my self-esteem as a child and because of this, I barely have any friends. I'm socially awkward and can’t openly be myself.

Growing up, I watched my parents constantly curse at homosexuals and lesbians, calling them a sin in the world and constantly trying to make me see reasons why I should also be homophobic and trust me, it wasn't easy listening to them preach to me against what I already was.

Yes, you heard right, I'm gay. I found out pretty early that I wasn't sexually attracted to women and instead, I liked men. At first, I rebuked myself terribly for being the way I was but now, I've finally learnt to embrace the fact that we can't all be the same but unfortunately, I'm not confident enough to come out to the world. I cannot even imagine my parents’ reaction if they ever found out about it.

There's a ninety-nine percent chance that I might actually be disowned by them, and I am not ready for that to happen, and I don't think I ever will.

I'm currently seated at the bar area of a nightclub, trying to drown away my sorrow in alcohol and also think of an actual solution to my problem. I usually only come here once in a while and most times, it's after having a disheartening conversation with my dad. He hasn't stopped pestering me about introducing a daughter in law to him. He even goes as far as threatening to set me up with the daughter of any of his business associates. Can you imagine the old man? I have to constantly remind him that this is the twenty first century and over here, arranged marriages are no longer a trend.

"Sir, do you want more to drink?" The female bartender asks, and I look down at my glass only to realize that I already gulped down all of its content.

"Yes please,” I reply to her, and she immediately pours me another glass of vodka. "Thanks."

"You're welcome, sir,” she replies and gets back to her work.

It's been almost two hours and I still can't seem to think something that would help me get my father off my back permanently. After meeting with him today, he issued his final warning and says that the next time we meet, I should be introducing a woman to him or else, he would strip me off my title as the CEO of D&D constructions. At first, I thought he was only bluffing because as far as I know, I'm the only child he has and I doubt he would want to give out his life's work to just anybody but turns out, I was wrong.

He did mean every word he said. He's actually thinking of replacing me with my cousin, Zack who he believes would listen to him more and so whatever it is he asks. In other words, my stupid is an ass kissing cocksucker.

"Hey, can I ask you something?" I asked the bartender who attended to me earlier since she seemed less busy.

"Do you need something Sir?" She replied.

"I need advice and I need someone to rant to for a while. Can you be that person?" I ask, she scoffs.

"I'm not exactly the best person to give advice to anyone sir and in case you haven't noticed, I'm working right now and if the boss catches me slacking off with a customer, he'll fire me for sure and I can't allow that to happen. Sorry,” she declines immediately and something about how quickly age refused me made me laugh out loud, earning a confused stare from her.

"I don't think I said anything funny,” she hisses in an irritated tone, watching me as I gulped down the rest of my drink lazily.

"You can just ignore me miss,” I say to her, and she looks even more confused.

"Listen sir, I usually don't say this to customers, and I'm not even supposed to, but I think you're having a little too much to drink and I don't think you should keep going,” she advises.

"I would take your advice but unfortunately, I have too much on my mind to stop drinking,” I reply, and she scowls at me.

"Listen to me pretty boy, I doubt drinking till your liver rots is actually going to help solve any of your problems. If you want to come up with real solutions, you need to stay sharp, stay focused and more importantly, stay sober. Drinking isn't a solution,” she advises again and this time, her words seemed to have given me the solution I've actually being stuck on all night.

"Oh my god!" I exclaim all of a sudden, earning curious glances from the people around me. Lucky for me, this is the VIP area and there are fewer people here who might recognize me, although I doubt I'm all that.

"What now, pretty boy? Are you finally losing your mind?" she drawls in frustration, obviously displeased that I was disrupting her work.

"I apologize for disturbing you, but I think I just found the solution to my problem at the moment,” I mutter in a low tone, and at first, she stared at me like I suddenly grew an extra head, but she realizes I'm actually being serious. She frowns.

"I'm not even gonna ask what that head of yours came up with because I have a feeling it won't make any sense to me. You can get back to your drinking, sir, and I'll gladly get back to pouring you more drinks,” she says, bored, before switching her focus back to the other customers.

"I can't believe marriage will actually help me out. Why didn't I think of this before!" I wonder out loud in an unusually loud voice without even realizing that I was actually yelling a little.

"Really, pretty boy? Marriage is the best you could actually come up with? What in the world is wrong with you?" she suddenly starts talking to me again, and this time she looks at me like she pities me.

"You told me you weren't going to mind me anymore,” I remind her in a low tone, and she slaps her hand on her forehead before looking back at me.

"Listen, as much as I hate the fact that I'm still talking to you, I cannot believe that the most sensible solution that head of yours could come up with to solve whatever situation you're in is actually marriage! For fucks sake, marriage never solves anything!" she hisses, obviously pissed.

"Trust me miss, sometimes, marriage can actually solve a lot of problems. I mean, wouldn't marrying some rich guy solve a good number of problems in your life right now?" I ask in order to make a point of why marriage might not be a terrible idea and in the process, another idea pops in my head.

What if instead of having to look for some random girl and asking her to marry me, I start with the girl right in front of me. I mean, all I have to do is explain my situation, promise her a mouthwatering amount of money for simply accepting and then just hope she accepts it. I could tell from the way she looked that she wasn't doing too well financially, and my offer could maybe be her saving grace and I could also use her situation as a means of trying to convince her.

"Well listen to me pretty boy, as nice as it sounds to get myself a rich husband who could solve all of my problems, I'm not a delusional human being. I know life isn't a fairytale so I refuse to delude myself into thinking that miracle might actually happen to me,” she says but something about her tone screamed desperation. She could definitely use some help in her life but she's trying so hard not to make it obvious.

"Sorry to ask you this miss but what's your name?" I ask politely.

"I'm Dana pretty boy and I really think it's high time I get back to work. Good luck planning your wedding,” she replies and turns to walk over to the other side of the bar, but my next words come out of nowhere, stopping her dead in her tracks.

"Would you like to marry me, Dana?" I ask. She deadpans.