Forty

Forty
Katy

Eve hasn't been herself since she began dating that bastard Charles Herman. I always feel like something else is going on that I'm not aware of, but each time I try to bring it up, she waves it off as ridiculous.

Even though she and Charles seem all too cozy and look as though they're deeply in love with one another, I still find it far-fetched how her deep-rooted hatred for Charles suddenly turned into love.

When I brought up that Charles’s brother texted me and wanted to meet up, Eve looked terrified, which made me more curious and suspicious.

Like, why would she be scared that I'm meeting up with her boyfriend's brother?

I had already made up my mind that I would meet up with Charles’s brother, whether Eve liked it or not.

But she called me this morning and told me to meet up with him but clearly warned me not to mention her and Charles.

So, here I am, walking inside the restaurant where the meeting was set up.

As soon as I walked in, a man approached me.

“Are you Miss Katy Johnson?” He asked in a polite voice.

“Yes,” I replied, glancing around the place for anyone that might appear to me as Finn Herman, but I didn't find one. “I'm supposed to meet Finn Herman here.”

He gave me a polite chuckle, “Right, right. Mr. Herman is waiting for you. Now if you please would follow me…”

“Lead the way.”

He led me to a corridor, and we got into an elevator, which took us to the top floor, which I heard was for the VIPs only.

This restaurant is one of the top three restaurants in town, meant for wealthy, powerful people, and I heard you need to be a certain kind of wealthy to get on the VIP floor.

As rich as my father was, he couldn't even get the VIP floor.

The VIP floor was everything that I imagined. I never thought that I'd finally make it to this floor.

Unlike the floor downstairs, this floor had numerous private rooms, where anyone can do anything they want without people's prying eyes.

The man led me down the long corridor to the last room.

He rapped twice, then three in a row.

The door automatically opened, and he stepped to the side and gestured me in. He looked a little uneasy as he adjusted his spectacles, which made me feel uneasy too.

I walked in and found a man in white shirt and dark pants, whom I believed to be Finn Herman lounging on one of the sofas in the room. The room was large and exquisite with a king-sized bed, a table, two chairs, and all accessories that made me wonder if this was really a restaurant or a hotel suite.

“Hello, there!” He sprang to his feet and advanced towards me, taking a puff out of his cigarette and blowing smoke into the air.

I had seen photographs of Finn Herman all across the Internet. He's the first child of Adam Herman and is widely believed to be the one to take over their family franchise.

I don't know him well enough to form an opinion of him, but I believe my dad's company had once collaborated with him on a project, and if my memory serves me correctly, my dad described him as ruthless, an overachiever, and sharp-brained.

I haven't met him up close yet, but now seeing him made me wonder why he's so scary in person. The aura around him is perceived as dangerous, and I didn't quite like the way he was looking at me.

Now, I think I see why Eve gave that reaction when I brought him up.

He's creepy.

Even though I think Charles is a bastard, I'd pick him over this one.

“Hi,” I responded in a husky voice. “You're Finn Herman.”

“In the flesh, baby.” He sauntered over to the bar on the sound of the room and regarded the bottles thoughtfully. He turned to me, “You drink champagne?”

“No, thanks. I don't drink.” I declined politely.

“You don't drink?” He sounded surprised, “You don't know what you're missing. I guess I'll have one for myself then.”

I do drink champagne, but no way in hell was I losing my guard in his presence.

He picked out a glass, popped the champagne and poured for himself. “Sean? You mind getting our food?” He said to the man who had brought me here.

The man looked a bit scared as he stuttered out a “Y-yes, sir.” and was about to walk away.

I think I'm having second thoughts.

Maybe, I shouldn't have come here.

“Um, I don't think that would be necessary,” I said, stopping the man called Sean in his tracks, “I have another appointment in a few minutes, so I think we'd better be quick.”

“An appointment?” Finn queried, his voice dripping with skeptism as he regarded me with those eyes of his that made my stomach churn. “Really?”

“Yes.” I answered firmly. “Now, shall we?”

A smirk appeared on the side of his lips, “Okay. Sean, leave us.”

Sean disappeared immediately and Finn walked up to the table and pulled out a chair, gesturing me to sit, “Ladies, first.”

I sat down on the chair and he sat opposite me, puffing his cigarette and drinking his champagne.

I swear to God, he makes me so uneasy.

“Now, I wanted to meet you, because I have a question.” He began.

“Yes, about the date with your brother, right?”

He frowned, “Call him Charles.”

Huh? Isn't Charles his brother?

“And to answer your question, yes.”

I tried to relax on the chair but I just couldn't, “As you already know, I didn't go. I ditched the date.”

“Yes, I know that.” He said, “But that's not what I wanted to ask you.”

“Then, ask away.”

“Did you pay someone else to go on the date in your stead?” He asked, regarding me intensely.

“No. I didn't.”

“Hmm. Is that so?”

“Yes.”

“Well, it appears someone else came to the date instead of you, so I assumed…”

“Someone else came?” I cut him off, not allowing him to finish, feigning surprise, “I had no idea.”

“You don't?”

“This is just my finding out.”

“Hmm.” He sipped his drink, nodding his head. “The maitre d’ of that restaurant told me that the lady that came on the date said she was you. If you don't know her or didn't send someone to go in your place, then how did she know that Charles was meeting with a Katy Johnson?”

“Like I said,” I tried to keep my tone flat and my face as impassive as I possibly could, “I didn't attend to the date, and I have never met your brother.”

“His name is Charles.” He gritted, swirling his drink in his hand, “Call him Charles.”

“Sorry.” I apologized. “I have never met Charles.”

“Alright.” He rose to his feet, went over to the bed, and returned with some photographs he picked from the nightstand, then handed them to me. “Have you seen the lady in that picture before?”

As I sifted through the photographs of Eve and Charles, I could feel his eyes on me. He was probably waiting for a sudden twitch from me, or a movement, or anything that implied I recognized them.

“No, I'm afraid I haven't.” I handed them back.

“Oh, that's so sad then.”

I rose to my feet, “I’m afraid I couldn't be of help.”

“No, that's okay.”

“Then I better get going.”

“Of course.”

I turned and headed to the door.

Why does he have photos of Eve and Charles? Is he spying on them? What on earth is going on here? Oh, my God!

“You must be wondering why I want to know who this lady is, don't you?” His voice made me stop at the door.

I turned and forced out a fake smile, “Of course not.”

“Well, you see, Charles suddenly started dating the lady in those photographs.” He went on to explain, regardless, giving me a smile that set my teeth on edge. “And you know why? You might think he's in love, but that's not the case. He's dating that girl because he wants to ruin me. So that's why I need to find out who that lady is. She's an obstacle, and obstacles need to be removed. So, if you perchance happen to know who she is, you better tell her to disappear, or I will make her! But, sadly, you don't know who she is…” He paused and smirked at me, a smirk that told me he knew I was lying, “...right?”

The room suddenly became suffocating, and I felt like a helplesss prey staring into the eyes of its merciless predator.

“R-r-right.” I stammered a bit, swallowing the lump on my throat.

“Goodbye, Katy.”

“G-g-goodbye.” I spun around and hurriedly scurried out of the room, my heart pounding so hard, my throat so dehydrated that I might pass out if I don't drink water any minute.

Oh, Eve… what have you gotten yourself into?