Chapter 3

Frank ran through the dirty streets he had always hate walking on, he stepped into many puddles but he didn t bother to curse as always nor was he worried at the dirt on his pants. A bright smile was clear on his face and his green eyes were shining like never before. When he finally saw their building, he increased his space as he spotted his girlfriend talking with their elderly neighbor, "Athena, Athena," he shouted. Athena turned at the sound of her name, she was shocked when she saw him running and how dirty he looked and for the first time, he doesn t have a deadly scowl on his face for being dirty, what is going on? She wondered before excusing herself from the woman and walking to his direction, "Frank?" When Frank got closer to her, he picked her up and swirled around, Athena gasped and wrapped her hands round his neck to keep her from falling, "oh Athena, my life has changed, my life has changed!" Athena pressed her hand on her chest when he finally put her back on her feet, she breath in and out continuously before looking up at him, when was the last time she saw him so happy, when was the last time he exhibited such happiness outside? "Okay," she took in one last breath, "what is going on?" Frank showed her a paper he was holding, "I won Athena, the CEO of Fashionista chose my design at first glance, oh, I am a designer of Fashionista, Athena, my dream has finally come true and my hard work has paid off." He cupped her cheeks and looked deeply into her brown eyes, "and I wouldn t have done it without you, I wouldn t have achieved this without you, Athena, never. Oh, how I love you," he leaned down and kissed her, when he tasted something salty, he released her and discovered that she was crying, "why are you crying?" "I m happy, Frank, every night I pray to God that you should win so that you will be happy, when you left for the show this morning, I couldn t concentrate on anything, all my thoughts were with you and my heart kept praying. I knew if you win this that you would be happy, but I never knew you would be this happy. It s been a long time I have seen you like this, Frank," she cupped his cheek, tears trailing down her own, "I will do anything to keep this smile on your face forever." Frank closed his eyes and when he opened them, he kissed her again, "thank you, Athena, you are the only one for me and right now, our luck has just started shining." Athena smiled through her tears and nodded, she hugged him and before she could know it, he picked her up in bridal style and carried her inside, with all their neighbors watching and wondering what s with them. *** Three months later, Athena got down from a cab in front of a very tall building, the street was bustling and people were walking around, minding their businesses, it was her third time out in the city, the first time was during her fifth birthday, her father had promised to take her sightseeing as a birthday gift and she had enjoyed it so much. The second time was two years ago when Frank had insisted they watched the fireworks from a park. Now standing before the very tall building, she heaved a sigh and intended to walk into the building when a car horn behind her got her attention, she turned back to see the cabdriver glaring at her, "you haven t paid, ma am," he announced. "Oh, I m sorry, I m so sorry," she apologized and brought out some bill from her purse and handed it to him, she picked up her bag and turned back to the building when he drove away. Gulping, she made her way into the building, there was a black haired woman sitting at a corner and reading a book, she walked up to her, "em…excuse me ma am," the lady looked up and Athena flashed her best smile, "I m looking for someone." The lady smiled, "who is that?" "Frank Jones, he told me that he lives here." "What s his floor number?" Athena brought out the piece of paper she had been showing around the whole day, to the bus driver and the cabdriver and now this woman, "it says 2302." "Oh, just take the elevator and press the number 23, when you get to the floor just search for 2302 on the doors, then you will have who you are looking for," the lady smiled. "Thank you," Athena returned the smile and shoved the paper pack in her pocket and she made her way to the elevator, there was a man standing there already and she just joined him. When the man pressed a floor, she just relaxed on the wall and stared around, it was her first time being in an elevator. "Press the number of the floor you are going," the man said to her and she looked at him. "Huh?" She asked, then realizing what he said, she gulped, "we are going to the same floor." "Oh," the man nodded, then he looked her down, from her head to her toe, at the simple jeans and top she was wearing, probably wondering why he had never seen her on his floor when she says that they are going to the same floor. Athena felt scared at his scrutiny, she clutched tightly onto her bag and using her other hand, she brought down her hair and hid her face with it. She was going through many ways to defend herself when a loud bell made her jump and she clutched her chest immediately. The man glanced at her once more, wondering what was wrong with her but decided to mind his business and stepped out of the elevator. Athena put herself together and walked out too, she followed him silently and he stopped before a door to input his code, he looked at her, "do you mind?" "Oh, sorry," she apologized and glanced away, the man input his code and got in, he looked at her once more and closed his door. Athena let go of the breath she was holding and then glanced at the number on the door, 2305. Shit, she must have followed him blindly that she passed her door, she turned back, glancing at the numbers on the doors until she found the one she was looking for. She stopped and knocked on the door, after knocking for a long time, no one opened and she got worried, did she get the floor number wrong? But Frank had written it for her himself a month ago and told her to come today. She had kept the paper in a safe place and she was sure that this was the right place. She continued knocking but the door didn t open and she decided to wait for him. She sat in front of the door and waited. The sound of a door opening after a few hours had passed made her look up but it wasn t the door she was sitting in front, seeing the man from earlier walked out, she hid her face in her hair again so that she wouldn t have to look him in the eyes. When the man passed by her, he was surprised to see her and he looked at the door she was leaning on but deciding to mind his business, he walked on to the elevator. Athena sighed and rubbed her tummy, she was getting hungry and she had no idea how to contact Frank, he didn t write down his number or she would have called him with the phone-booth she saw earlier downstairs. Minutes turned into hours and soon, Athena dozed off in front of the door. The elevator chimed and the man from earlier came out, he stopped, frozen when he saw her sleeping, what the hell? He wondered, he approached her and wiped away the hair from her face, she didn t even flinch and he guessed she was really tired and she should be, it has been ten hours since they got into the elevator together. He fetched his phone from his pocket and dialed a number, when the line connected, he sighed, "em, Frank, I m usually good at minding my business but there is a lady waiting for you in front of your door and it s been hours, you think you can come attend to her?" "Shit, she came today?" Frank asked. "Em, am I supposed to answer that?" "Listen Fred, I am in a party right now and I can t come out, you think you can take her in with you till I am back?" "Frank, I called you to tell you that someone is waiting for you not for you to ask me to babysit," Fred replied. "Then there is nothing I can do, let her stay there, nothing is going to happen to her after all." "She is sleeping on the cold floor!" Fred felt like he should let him know of it, how could he have said that? "What do you want me to do? I can t leave here at the moment, I m trying to earn clients Fred, I am not giving it up just because of her." "Who is she?" "She is just a friend I m trying to help, no one serious. Listen, let her stay there, she would be safe, I need to go now, Hillary just came in and I am not missing my chance of talking to him," he hung up before he could hear a reply. Fred stared at the sleeping Athena and sighed, he had tried his best, there is nothing else he can do, he shoved his phone back into his pocket and left for his flat but when he stood by the door, he looked back at the sleeping girl and sighed once more before walking back to her. He tapped her softly on the shoulder thrice before she opened her eyes, and on seeing him, she sat up immediately. "I don t think he is coming back tonight." Athena looked at the door behind her and sighed, "I can wait." "You are sleeping on the floor," he reminded, "don t you have a place to stay and then come back tomorrow?" Athena bit her lip, "it s already late and besides…" she stopped, she didn t want to admit that she doesn t want to spend too much. Fred ran his fingers through his blonde hair and let out a deep breath, "why don t you come stay with me for the night." Athena felt alerted immediately, she grabbed onto her top and shrink away, "I m fine out here, thank you." "The more late it gets, the colder the floor will be and Frank won t be coming home until early in the morning, you might catch a cold before he does. Don t worry, I won t do anything to you, I promise, I have a girlfriend," he smiled, feeling the need to add that. Athena bit her lower lip and looked at the long hallway, then back at him, she was already cold just sitting on the floor and she knew she would catch a cold by morning so she nodded after a long time and Fred helped her stand on her feet and carried her bag before walking to his door. He put in his code and Athena instinctively looked away. He chuckled softly and pushed open the door, going in first to turn on the light. "That s the bedroom, you can use the bathroom if you want," he pointed at a door. Athena looked around the living room, she hasn t been in a place so beautiful and her face revealed it, the living room was so big and they were many art works on the walls that added a beauty to it. Fred caught her staring and answered, "I m an artist, I love drawing. If you are hungry, that s the kitchen, you are welcome to fix something up for yourself," he pointed to another door. "Thank you," she mumbled, she was really hungry. "You are welcome," he smiled and walked to the corner of the living room where there was a canvas with few sketches on it. He sat down on the chair opposite it and began looking at the paper he had picked from the floor, totally forgetting about her presence. Athena dropped her bag on the floor, she didn t want to place it on the sofas least she dirty them for him, she heaved a sigh and made her way to the door that leads to the kitchen, she was so damn hungry.