Chapter 4

Athena got up in the morning, she heaved a deep sigh and remembering she was not in her house nor in Frank s, she sat up immediately and looked around the room, she was lying in the bed and it was the most comfortable bed she had ever slept in. She had fallen asleep immediately her head touched the pillow. Fred had been kind enough to give her the bed and took the couch, even though she was the intruder. She climbed out of the bed and readied her things; Franks should be back from wherever he went to, right? She thought and walked out of the bedroom to find Fred still sleeping on the couch. She approached him gently and didn t know if he would be angry that she woke him up from his sleep but she really has to go and it would be wrong if she left without telling him, he was a kind soul and she would never forget that. After staring at him for a few minutes, she finally cleared her throat and his eyelid flickered before he opened them to stare at her. "I-I-I m sorry to wake you, is j-just that I should leave now. I don t want Frank looking for me when he gets back." Fred yawned and sat up on the couch, he rubbed his hand on his eyes before ruffling his hair with his fingers, looking up to her, he said, "good morning, slept well?" Athena looked away and nodded softly, "yes, thank you." Fred stared at her and sighed, looking away from her for a moment, "you are more than just someone he wants to help, right?" "I don t understand," she answered. Fred thought about it, what s his business? If they are more than friends, it has nothing to do with him, right? He has done his part, gave her a place to sleep in and his bed. He sighed and stood up, "never mind. I m sure he will be home by now, just don t knock and use the bell so that he could hear you. It was nice knowing you…" "Athena," she filled in. Fred smiled, "great name, rare but great. You can call me Fred," he offered, "see you some other time, Athena, hopefully," he added before making his way into his bedroom, he still need some more sleep after sleeping so late last night. "Yea," Athena nodded and walked to the front door, she turned back to look at the beautiful living room filled with different kinds of art, smiling, she opened the door and left. The door closed gently behind her and she heaved a deep sigh before walking to Frank s door. She took Fred s advice and pressed the bell. It took three minutes for the door to open to reveal yawning Frank, he was rubbing his eyes and his hair looked disheveled. When he finally took in the person in front of him, he was surprised, "Athena, you-you-you are here," he looked back into the house and then at her, "I thought you were gone. Where were you last night?" "I-I waited till late in the night but you didn t come back and then your neighbor came over and offered me to stay in his place, so…" "What?" Frank interrupted with a scowl, "you came to find me and you slept in another man s house, really Athena, is that how it is?" "N-n-no, I waited but you weren t coming back, it was cold out here and I didn t know when you would be back, that was why I left with him." "Is that so? Why couldn t you wait for me, Athena? Do you know how worried I was? It s not like there is any way I could contact you. Do you have any idea how worried sick I was? The only hope I gave to myself was that maybe you went back home and it turned out that you slept with my neighbor?" "I didn t sleep with him, I only slept in his place," Athena rushed to defend herself. Frank placed his hand on his temple and pretended to be calming down, "so you are trying to tell me that two grownups of opposite sex, slept together in the same room, under one roof and nothing happened? Really, what do you take me for, Athena, a fool?" "No, why can t you just trust me? I will never do that. Listen, if you don t believe me, we can go over and ask him, he is right there," she pointed to Fred s door. "Oh yeah, like he would just tell me, what if you two planned to make a fool out of me?" "Frank!" Athena called in disbelief, her eyes had already welled up and it wasn t long the tears started falling. Frank sighed, "listen, why don t you wait for me downstairs, I will dress up and come meet you. You are leaving today aren t you?" When she nodded, he continued, "good, we can grab breakfast together and then I will see you off. I need to go to the office as well." Athena only nodded again and he sighed, "great, I will be done in a few," he said and with that he closed the door. Athena stared at the closed door and sighed, he wouldn t even let her in, she wondered why but stopped herself, maybe it s because he needs to dress as soon as possible and wouldn t need the distraction, yes, that has to be the reason. She lowered her height beside the door and hugged her knees to her chest; she would prefer waiting there for him then going downstairs. *** Frank took Athena to the restaurant that was just opposite his building, when they got in, he led them to a booth at the far end sight of the room. She slid into the chair and he took the one opposite her, "how are you?" He asked. "I m fine, and you?" She asked. "Great, everything is great," he answered, picking up the menu and handing it to her, "order what you want, we have to be fast, I can t afford being late to work." Athena nodded and made her orders when the waitress approached them, "don t you want anything?" she asked when he made no order. "Don t worry, I m okay, I will get something to eat in the office." "Oh," she looked down at her fingers, heaving a deep breath and letting it out slowly. They stayed silent for a while until she spoke up, "I m sorry for sleeping in your neighbor s flat, I should have waited for you. I was wrong, will you forgive me?" She looked up at him. Frank heaved a sigh, "it s alright, I was unreasonable earlier, it s not like I should expect you to just sit in the hallway and wait for me till I m back, so…it s okay." "It won t happen again, I m really sorry." "It s alright, Athena," the waitress brought her order, "eat up." She nodded and began eating. After the breakfast, he took her where she would take a bus to her place and left her with only a few dollar bills to pay for her transport. Athena didn t read anything into it, he had told her that they hadn t start selling his designs yet so he hasn t start receiving his percentage and that once he does, he would give her more money and she could also stay with him in the city. She could only wait for such day and meanwhile, he had mentioned that they would be a fashion show in a week s time and his designs would be among the dresses that would be showed off, he is hoping on making great sells after that and she couldn t be more proud of him. *** A week later, Frank was talking with some models outside the hall that the fashion show was taking place, when one of them scowled in disgust, "who the hell is that? That dress is so outdated, in fact, I don t think I have ever seen such." "My goodness, you don t think she is attending the show, do you? I mean, dress in that?" Another said, her face and tone no different from the first model. Hearing the ladies words, Frank was forced to turn around and he froze when he saw the brunette who just got down from a cab and was looking around the place. She was dressed in a pitch pink dress which he recognized as her mother s, her hair was let down on her shoulders and she was putting on a white two inches heels, he was with her the day she had bought the shoes but he never realized how ugly the thing looked until now. She smiled and waved when she saw him and he woke up at that moment as he heard one of the model s words, "my gracious, is she waving at us?" "It can t be, where on earth would we know that kind of person?" The other model retorted. "But she is coming over, can t you see that?" The first one insisted. "Ladies, ladies, have you forgotten who you are? You are intentional models, maybe she is just a fan who is passing around and saw you, then wanted to say hello. You never can tell," Frank said with smiles, "now come on, if we go inside, maybe she would understand that we don t want to talk to her, there is no where she would be allowed inside, of course." "Yeah you are right, but really, I wouldn t want to have her as my fan, even if she is, then I will definitely not want her approaching me," the second model said as they turned to go into the building. "Frank," Athena called, all smiles, she had been preparing for this show that she had even spent some money to have her hair washed and highlighted in a salon. She just wanted to stand beside him and offer her support in a day like this. "What the…?" The second model turned to Frank, "do you know her?" "I don t think so," Frank denied. "But she just called you," the first said. "You sure?" "Frank," Athena called again, running to meet up to them. "Yep, now I am sure, she called you and by name," the model said. "Oh, maybe she is not your fan but mine and now I think I will have to know what she wants, you know how these fan-girls can be, I wouldn t want her pestering me the rest of the day. So why don t you beautiful ladies go on and I will catch up with you soon." "Alright then, but be careful, she looks like the obsessive type," they chuckled and continued on into the building. Frank turned to Athena then and growled at her, grabbing her hand, he dragged away from the building to the back of it, beside a car. Athena was trying to catch up with his pull, she thanked her stars when they finally stopped and that she didn t fall and ruined her dress. "What the hell are you doing here?" He bellowed. Athena who was still catching her breath from the short run gasped at the tone of his voice, "I-I only wanted to support you. Look, I even had my hair down, just the way you like it and I had it washed in a salon. Gina was more than happy to help me with it," she giggled, "do you like it?" She asked, looking up at him with dreamy eyes. "Did I ask you to come? Why do you want to embarrass me?" "Huh?" Athena was shocked at his words, her giddiness slowly died down and her heart thumped loud in her chest, "em-embarrass you?" "Yes, embarrass me, why would you do that? Do you have any idea what my clients were saying when they saw you or how embarrassed I was?" "But Frank…" "Listen, Athena, you can t show up at parties like this, first of all you have to be invited and second, you have to dress for the party." "But…" "Do you know the kind of people that would be here tonight? Do you have any idea the celebrities that would be present today and yet you dressed like this? Why did you even bother to come?" Athena looked down at her feet to hide her face, tears trailed down her cheeks, "I-I m sorry, I only wanted to be around at the moment of your success, I only wanted to stand by your side and support you. I didn t know it would be like this but Frank, I really tried to look okay." "Well, let me burst your bubble, you don t, no, you don t look okay, Athena. If you were aware what those models were saying when they saw you, then you would realize what I am saying. You are dressed poorly, Athena, you look like a beggar on the streets!" "A-a beggar?" She looked up at him, her tears glistening on her cheeks, "Frank…" Frank rubbed his forehead with his hand, "listen, I can t do this anymore, okay, I thought I could, I thought I would be able to handle it, at least, for the things you and your family did for me but I am sorry, Athena, I can t endure this, I can t take it. Athena, I am no longer that Frank you know, I am a designer and I work with a company as big as Fashionista. When I am to introduce my girlfriend, there is a kind of woman they would be expecting and I am sorry, Athena, you are not that woman." "Frank, no, please, don t do this," she grabbed his arm but he flung her hand away, "Frank, we have been through a lot together, we have been together for a long time, don t do this to me. Don t break me like this, please. Is-is it because I came to the party? I am sorry, I am so sorry please forgive me and don t do this, please. Frank I love you." "I m sorry, Athena, but the feeling is not mutual anymore, let s break up." "Frank, please, don t," she grabbed onto his hand once more but he pushed her away, "Frank, I love you, I love you, Frank, please." "Stop, Athena, stop embarrassing yourself and embarrassing me as well." "Fine, I won t embarrass you, I won t embarrass you, Frank, just don t leave me." Frank heaved a sigh, looking at her, he shook his head, "I am sorry, but it s for the best. Please leave, don t come find me again. We are over," he turned to walk away. Athena fell on her knees and hugged his leg, "please, Frank, don t do this, please," she begged but he only kicked her away, strengthen his suit and walked away. Athena lay on the ground and cried, she kept asking for him to come back but he didn t even turn to her neither did her cries touch him. *** Walking through the street when she finally got herself to stop crying, Athena kept thinking of their fun times together, the first time she met him in their school, he was a transferred student and the news was that his parents died in a car accident and his custody was giving to his uncle who after paying his parents debt, doesn t have any much money left and they could only move into the slum. She had fallen in love with him at first and her parents had helped him when his uncle died after one night of heavy drinking and had fallen a victim of an accident. They had been together since then and her parents had even believed that they would end up together and now this, there is no hope or future for them again. Thinking about that, her dried up tears started flowing again. She passed a club and decided to have a drink. Maybe it would help clear her mind and put her in a better shape so that she could go home. Getting to the entrance, the bouncer stared at her but for some reason, he just let her go. Maybe because of her looks, he could tell she really needed a drink. Athena walked straight to the bar, she sat on one of the high stool and ordered for a shot, back in the slum, they used to play a game where the best drinker wins the prize of ten dollars, she was sure she could handle any drink she took. As she waited for her drink, she couldn t shake off the feeling that someone was watching her, she looked behind her and all she saw were dancing bodies and some people who were drinking with strippers giving them a lap dance. She turned back to the bartender and nodded at him, then picking up a shot, she finished it in one go. The burning feeling from her tongue down to her throat and into her stomach, gave her a satisfying feeling and she ordered for more. Before she knew it, she had taken nearly ten shots and she loved the reaction in her. Just as she was about to ask for another, she felt someone standing beside her and soon after, a very deep, yet sexy voice said in her ear, "can I buy you a drink?" She looked up only to meet with the most beautiful hazel eyes she has ever seen.