Private airport. Lounge. In the luxurious black armchair sat a young woman currently wearing a white dress with violet undertones. She was tall and slim, and yet had more than enough curves required to have a so-called hourglass figure. Her long straight honey blonde hair reached all the way to the small of her back. Her classically beautiful facial features were marred by boredom, as her clear blue eyes staring into the cup of black tea on the desk in front of her.

She was beautiful. Yes, this was an objective fact, and she knew that. Long since desensitized by the attention garnered from both males and females, she still wasn’t blind to all pairs of eyes that followed her wherever she went. Yet, the only pair she wanted to do that, haven’t paid any attention to her for a bit more than a year already.

A familiar ringing sound of a messenger took her out of her reverie. Unhurriedly, she took her smartphone into her hands and unlocked it. Of course, it wasn’t him. She knew that wouldn’t happen, still a small part of her still hoped for a miracle. Every time.

She quickly read the message, a short one from one of her college friends. A simple ‘good luck’ and ‘hope your vacation will go uneventful’. After a moment of consideration, she replied with a smile emoji.

And once more, she was left staring into the screen of her smartphone. Messenger. Once more, a part of her wanted to check, based on an entirely unfounded hope, if he finally decided to read her messages or not. Of course, he didn’t, that much she was sure of. But… What if?

Her finger froze over the familiar contact. It was over a year since he ghosted her, but she still couldn’t find it in herself to, no, not even delete, but even rename it. A simple ‘Darling’. It was still there.

Against her better judgment, she tapped on this icon. Yes, her most recent message, sent three months ago, nor any other messages since a year prior, were read. Nothing unexpected, but the pang of familiar pain was still there.

Oh, she tried to forget him, alright. She threw herself into becoming the best version possible. Exercising, proper nutritional meal plan, beauty routines. She doubled her effort in studying as well. Heck, she even started a business. Her grandpa helped, yes, but the original idea and actual day to day management was all on her. If she couldn’t get him out of her head, then she could do her best to make sure he will regret his decision.

At some point, her grandpa decided to ‘help’ her in his own way, and started introducing ‘upstanding young gentlemen’ to her. All of them were from a ‘good family’, had ‘illustrious prospects’, were ‘cream of the crop’, and were so obscenely boring in her eyes, it wasn’t even funny. Neither of them managed to keep her attention even for a whole date.

Still, it worked somewhat. Everything, coupled with the passage of time, took the edge from her… addiction. If, at first, she spent every free moment waiting for that ‘read’ status, nowadays, it became just a daily ritual. Well, twice a day. In the morning, just after waking up, and in the evening, just before bed.

“You, again with a smartphone,” she heard her grandpa's voice. Then a big calloused hand took away the said piece of tech. She tried to protest, but her grandpa continued. “Should I remind you what our deal was? No contacts with the outside world for the duration of this trip.”

“But it hasn't even started yet!” Even to herself, her excuse sounded pathetic.

“Denied. The only reason we aren’t on the plane yet is that you forgot your baggage,” she could tell that her grandpa wasn’t joking. “Now I will take your toy away and turn it off until we return.”

He didn’t hesitate to do just that, yet, just as the phone OS asked for a confirmation, the messenger pinged once more. She couldn’t help herself, but reached her hand to the phone, only to see how her grandpa, without even an ounce of hesitation, switched it off.

“But grandpa…” she… whined, yes.

“Don’t ‘grandpa’ me, young lady.” His expression and tone was stern. A moment later it softened noticeably, the grumpy old man always had a soft spot for his only granddaughter. “You know I’m doing it for your own good. You notified everyone that you will be out for three weeks, so they know better than to write something important at the last moment.”

That… sounded logical. The only person she didn’t tell was him. Not like that would’ve changed anything anyway, right? As if it could’ve been his message. Especially knowing his habits. It was a Friday evening, for Heaven’s sake. After a short sigh, she concluded that it was infinitely close to zero.

“You are right. I’m sorry,” she apologized.

Her grandpa was, almost, always right. She needed this vacation, and, even if she was feeling curious right now, it will be just three weeks anyway…

***

The vacation itself was a godsend. At least this was how she currently felt. The blue sky, warm sand, and calm ocean helped immensely with her stress relief. The only problem was a withdrawal she felt from not being able to adhere to her daily ritual.

Well, another issue was the lack of distractions. While she definitely needed some rest time, without being busy non-stop, her mind kept returning to thinking about him. It was unhealthy, and she knew that, yet this was her reality.

The time was a great healer, the wise people knew their stuff. Now, a year later, she could finally reflect upon what exactly went wrong. And, to her surprise, the analysis returned her a very weird result. Nothing went wrong, everything was going just fine, until her darling just left… So, this line of questioning was useless. Next.

She decided to start from the beginning this time.

***

Their meeting was… unusual, to say the least. At one of the social events, which her grandpa sent her… to socialize, she noticed an odd pair of guests. Thirty-something woman, together with a man, more like a boy, that looked even younger than herself. Mother and son? Pair of siblings? She decided to keep her attention on the pair through the evening, not like she had anything better to do.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Around half-way through the event, she felt even more confused. The pair clearly was anything but normal. The boy’s hands held his partner in a… not-so-family-friendly places, never too overtly, but always risky enough for the older woman to have a slight blush on her face. So, a pair of lovers? Eh, true love knows no bounds, she decided to stick to this phrase. Nodding to herself, as if she uncovered a hard puzzle, she lost her interest.

Only to become even more puzzled at the next event she attended. A different woman, same boy, similar dynamic. The boy pushed the older woman, who was blushing and giving in to his advances. The same scene happened at the next one as well. And the one after that. The boy, younger than her, kept changing women every time. Even more curious, the women who she had seen with him previously, kept looking at the current couple with poorly hidden envy and jealousy.

That got her curiosity going. She knew those women, not personally, no. But, at least, she heard or read about them. Some even made it to the ‘List of important people worth memorizing’ she got from her grandpa. But she had no idea who the boy was. And nobody she asked knew him either. A mystery! How curious.

Then, a few events later, she noticed that the boy wasn’t there any longer. Neither did he attend the next one. When he failed to show up the third time in a row, one thing became apparent, much to her surprise. All this time, even though her grandpa stopped pushing her to attend, she still did, and the only reason for that being her curiosity toward this mysterious youth.

Which made her feel puzzled once more. They never interacted, yet, out of everyone she ever met, this person, somehow, managed to get most of her attention? She shook her head helplessly

The mystery gradually faded from her memory, as she progressively lost the feeling of interest. But the image of the boy refused to do so. When she asked her grandpa, he laughed and said that it’s normal for young people to have moments of fleeting passion, and it will go away with time. It was a novel feeling to her, everywhere she went, she was trying to find this boy.

After that talk with grandpa, she stopped attending the events, focusing on more productive uses for her time. Like attending the college, another new addition to that mysterious activity her grandpa designated as socialization.

A year went by, and she was completely fed up with this socialization. Every guy she met wanted to get into her panties, frequently doing stupid stuff or spinning tall tales to do so. Every girl had ulterior motives as well. Some of them were chasing clout, some wanted to be near the center of attention, and some were as bad as boys. She shuddered, remembering a few examples. If not worse. And so, completely disappointed in people, she just kept going with the flow of things.

Until, one day, one of her… close, ish, acquaintances came, begging her to be a plus one for something called mixer. From the explanation, she understood that it was a blind group date, and, obviously, she instantly decided to refuse. Only for the girl to double her efforts, promising that she only needed to be there at the very beginning, and that she could leave at any point afterward. If anything, she said, all girls would be glad if she decided to do so, since it would give them more chances to score. Reluctantly, she agreed.

She kept this a secret from grandpa, since she was almost certain he could very well end up with a stroke from being too angry. She even persuaded her bodyguards to do so as well, her puppy eyes worked a miracle, even on females. Deciding that she can, at the very least, put a minimal amount of effort into her appearance, not that she needed that, she did minimal makeup and chose a decent outfit for the occasion.

She felt instant regret, after four girls started looking at her with blame, as all five guys forgot about basic human decency and decided to continuously stare at her. She quickly excused herself, and went outside to call her driver. As she was exiting the café, she, lost in her thoughts, ran into someone. As she was about to apologize, she heard a voice.

“Hm, have we met previously?” How many times did she hear this pickup line? The next line will be, ‘Right, I’ve seen you in my dreams.’ “Ah, you are that kooky girl, who kept staring at me and my clients. Did no one ever tell you it’s rude to do so?”

Her mind halted. She? A weird girl who kept staring at someone? Who does he think he is? She raised her eyes, ready to tell him off, only to recognize the speaker. It was that boy, um, more like a man now. In those one and a half years, he got taller, wider, and his smile became even more roguish.

“Lady, I know I am handsome, but you don’t need to stare like that.” The audacity! “So, are you going in or out?”

“The mixer I got dragged into was a complete disaster, so I’m on my way out.” She answered in unnecessary details, not quite understanding why she did so. “Guys kept staring at me as if they had never seen a woman before. Girls were pissed at me for hogging all the attention.”

“Huh.” She felt his gaze slide down her figure, as if evaluating a piece of art, or meat. She couldn’t quite decide which one it was. “Understandable, you are easily in the top three women I’ve ever seen, and that’s a pretty wide collection. Hm, I have some time to kill and lack company, what about you?”

At least he was direct with his advances. Still, she decided that it was her chance to finally solve the mystery, and, with said mystery gone, grow over the enigma that was that boy.

“We have that in common, I suppose,” she said.

“Well, good luck with your own search then, lady.” And brushing past her, he went inside the café.

“Hey, wait.” She couldn’t help herself but to call out.

“Do you need something?” Followed the question. What was she even doing?

“Since we both have time and lack company, why won’t we help each other out?” She praised herself for her quick thinking.

“Nah, I doubt you can help me with my search, lady,” he still refused her.

The gears in her head froze. He refused her. He. Refused her. Refused. Her. That shouldn’t be possible. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Feeling the urge to prove him wrong, whatever it took, she continued her attempts.

“How do you know? I am a very helpful person to know.” She couldn’t believe herself. Using her status just like that, for such petty reasons.

“Lady, I have no idea what type of game you are playing, but I will play along just this once. Tell me, how exactly are you going to help me with my search for a one-night stand?” He questioned her, an expression of complete exasperation on his face.

She halted. What was wrong with him? How could he just say it outright. To her, no less.

“Yeah, exactly what I said,” he continued. “Not only you won’t be able to help, your presence will have the opposite effect. I doubt someone within my standards would have enough bravery to approach me, or even respond to my advances, facing such adversity.”

Hearing his words, her feelings became even more mixed. This was a clear rejection, yet it sounded like a compliment. And, worst of all, she liked it. Curse her ‘fleeting passion’. Then, her brain finally registered one word she heard at the very beginning. Client.

“Look, I just want to ask a few questions. And I will pay for your time.” She felt utterly defeated while speaking those words.

“Huh, should’ve just said so from the start.” His reply made her want to slap him. “So, have a name to go with a pretty face?”

“Helen.” She answered, once more feeling ashamed for liking the compliment. “Just Helen.”

“Eh, sure, Just Helen. Nice to meet you. My name is Michael Roah,” he introduced himself. “But you can call me darling.”

As if she ever will. Hmph.

***

She felt her face burn from shame. How naive she was. How little did she know…