Chapter 6

It s been two weeks since the day Frank pushed her away and the night with the mysterious gentle stranger, Athena had tried not to think about it but even though she had tried to live like it never happened, he had haunted her dreams, his face, his hazel eyes, the feel of his hand on her body, the taste of his lips. One might say that as it has been fourteen days and she was drunk when it happened that she shouldn t have so much detail of it, but that wasn t how it was, every single night, she dreamt of it and the more she dreamt of it, the clearer and more detailed it became. She had downed herself in alcohol during the first few days to forget about both the man and his touch but it was never possible, it had also been her reason for not going after Frank since then, although she had wished that he would miss her and would come for her, telling her that he didn t mean what he said but that wasn t the case, she didn t see neither heard from him and coupled with her guiltiness for cheating on him, Athena was lost. Standing in front of his building, she heaved a deep sigh, she had decided the night before to come find him and tell him everything, maybe once she did and got his forgiveness, she would stop dreaming about the mysterious man. Heaving another deep sigh, she stepped into the building and walked straight to the elevator, then pressing his floor number, she relaxed on the wall, trying to get her fast beating heart to calm down. He might throw her out after hearing what she has to say but she has to tell him, it s the only way she would find her peace. The elevator dinged and she stepped out and marched to his house, she stood before the door and let out a deep breath through the mouth before reaching up to ring the bell. She waited for an answer but none came and she rang the bell again, still the same feedback. She knocked on the door and rang the bell as well but no one answered. "Athena?" She heard behind her just as the elevator finished dinging, she turned sharply to see Fred who walked up to her hastily, "what are you doing here?" He asked with a faint smile. "Hi Fred," she gulped, "I-I just wanted to see Frank and have a little talk with him." "Oh, I see," he nodded and looked behind her at the door, "I don t think he is home." "Oh, then I can wait for him." Fred smiled, "you are more than who he wants to help right?" Athena frowned, he had asked almost the same thing the morning she woke up in his house and she didn t understand him neither did she now as well, "I don t understand." "Frank told me you are only someone he wants to help but I m having every reason to believe that that is not true, right?" Athena closed her eyes to keep in the pain, so he had shouted at her for sleeping in Fred s house when he had told him that she was just someone he wanted to help? What does this mean? Could it be that he really wants to get rid of her and it wasn t because of how she dressed to that fashion show? She sniffled and looked up at Fred, "d-do you know when he would be back?" She tried to keep her tears out of her voice. Fred sighed, "he won t be back tonight that s for certain, Brand s CEO is throwing a party tonight and all of their artists would be there, so of course Frank would be there since he is on the hunt for clients." Athena nodded, "do you know where the party is holding?" Fred stared at her, "what are you thinking? Athena, not everybody attends Brand s party, it is the biggest entertainment company in Chicago and the family home to all those top actresses, actors, models, musician s, name them all, that you know, there is no way anybody could just show up and will be allowed inside." "But you said Frank would be there." "Athena, Frank is Fashionista s youngest designer; of course he would be allowed to go since Fashionista is the clothing brand that makes if not all the clothes for Brand s artists." "But really, Fred, is there no way I could go?" "You have to have an invitation to go and believe me," he chuckled, "Brand s invitation card is the hardest thing to come by your way, do you know how many people that wants to be in their parties or even be their artist? Talk about the fans of their artists who would do anything to meet their idols." Fred shook his head, "I will not advice you to go there." Athena was silent for a while, "Fred, please, I don t mind waiting outside for Frank to be out so I could see him, I really must see him today, I might not have the courage another day." Fred stared at her for a long time, then he sighed, "well, I could just give you the address, you just have to hope the bodyguards won t throw you out," as he was speaking, he fetched out a writing pad from his pocket and using the pencil that is often clung on the back of his ear, he wrote out the address for her and tore out the sheet to hand to her, "be careful." Athena smiled and happily took the piece of paper, "thank you so much, Fred, you are God sent." Fred smiled and when she turned to walk away, he stopped her, "I will advice you dress into something more party like, at least it would leave you inconspicuous to the securities and also," he sighed, "please take my advice, if a man doesn t want you, don t try giving him the reason to, you just walk away and there is someone out there for you. You are beautiful, Athena, there is a man who would truly love you, take it from me." Athena sighed; she closed her eyes and whispered to him, "thank you, Fred." "Anytime," he smiled and walked ahead to his flat while she entered the elevator, since he asked her to dress, that means she has to go back home and put on something more beautiful, hopefully Frank won t be embarrassed to see her like the last time. *** Athena stood in front of the biggest house she had ever seen, her eyes had widened when the cab had stopped in front of the house, people were going inside but they always stopped in front of the door to hand something to a very huge man. She gulped, taking in her surrounding, never in her life had she dreamt of stepping into a house that big, there were different types of cars parked around and everyone going into the house all dressed so beautifully that she had taken another look at herself, but having decided to come over, she wasn t going to let anything discourage her. She entered through the big open gate and walked straight to the line which has thinned down by then. Soon it was her turn and she stood face to face to the big man who was dressed in black suit, with dark eyeshades, something like an earphone with a white wire was attached into his ear and the wire inside his suit. She gulped and stood straight, trying not to look intimidated by him, even though she was scared to pee on her pants. "Invitation," the man said, his voice just as intimidating as his looks. "I-I m sorry, I-I don t have one," she choked out. The man looked at her from head to the shoes she was putting on, then pressing on the stuff in his ear, he said, "Dodger, we have another fan here, come handle it, I have other guests to attend to." Athena looked around her and she saw people who were waiting behind her to go inside but they didn t seem to notice her or how she was delaying them as they kept on chatting among themselves. She looked back at the man and he was staring at her or it looked like he was staring at her since she couldn t see his eyes because of the dark shades. "Step aside, ma am," he said to her and the tone from his voice made her tremble that she didn t know when she moved. Soon, another man dressed like him came to her, "this way," he ordered. "I-I m sorry but I really…" "Sorry, no fans allowed," he interrupted. "But I am not a fan." "That s what they always say, follow me," he stood behind her, urging her to move forward with his intimidating presence. Athena had no choice but to walk out the same way she had come. "Don t come in again, or I will be brutal," he warned before turning back and going into the compound. Athena stood outside, she watched as all the guests went in and the man blocked the door with his body, she felt his gaze and walked to the side, hoping to be blocked by the fence, maybe he won t come out to throw her out, she hoped. An hour passed, it was getting chilly outside and she rubbed her hand on her body, hoping the friction would keep her warm, but the warmth didn t last for long and she knew that if she doesn t leave the place soon, she might catch a cold. No one had come out or goes in and she wondered when the party would end so that she could see Frank. She was almost giving up when a bright headlight flashed on her, she blocked the rays with her hand and the car drove into the compound. She was surprised at what she had seen written on the vehicle, plus, it was the only SUV she saw in the compound. She peeked from her spot and saw people getting out of the car but unlike the other guests; they were dressed in pants and shirts. They opened the trunk of the SUV and started unpacking everything out of the car, it was then that she realized that they were the catering service, she watched them getting out a white apron and chef hat from a bag and an idea came to her immediately. She waited patiently until some of them had carried one or two things inside the house but not through the front door with the big man, and she found herself hoping, if they are using a different door, maybe she can pull it off, she doesn t know how but she would still try. The remaining staff outside where busy cross checking what they have with them and she took a deep breath, hopefully the man won t see her entering the compound. Luck was on her side for the man was speaking with a woman who had come down from the SUV and his attention was on her. Athena hastened her footsteps to the car, she lowered her head in the midst of the staff that were busy and she quickly got out an apron and hat, she tied on the apron and put on the hat just as one of them turned to look her way but he looked away almost immediately. Athena heaved a small sigh of relief and hastily bent over and carried something, she didn t bother to check what, all she knew was that she was carrying something and she walked on to the door she had seen the other staff went in. She tried so hard to keep her footsteps steady so that she won t draw attention to herself. A staff walked out of the door just as she was about getting to it, she froze when she saw him but he seemed to be already angry at someone he was talking to on the phone and just walked past her. Another sigh of relief and she continued on her quest. Finally inside the house, Athena couldn t believe she made it, she actually pulled it off? She never believed she could, she had expected someone to jump out of nowhere and frighten the shit out of her but she actually did it? She is really inside? She could hear the music playing and people were bustling around. She finally took a look around her surrounding and realized that she was in the kitchen and it was the biggest kitchen she had ever seen. No one seemed to know she was there or if they did, they pretended not to for all their attention was on what they were doing. Athena was still worried, she didn t really believe she actually pulled that off, she placed what she was carrying on a table and looked at everyone, wait, she actually did this? A double door opened and a man dressed in a black pants and white shirt with a black bow tie, carrying a tray, entered. She followed him with her eyes as he walked straight to a table filled with trays of drinks. He dropped the tray he was carrying and glanced at the label on another tray before carrying it and walking out through the double door as well. Athena noticed that whenever he opened the door, the music get s louder and she had the thought that the door would lead her to the party. She warily removed her apron and hat and quietly made her way to the double door so as not to alert anybody, when she pushed the door, she found herself staring at what looked like a fairytale party. Couples were gliding around the smooth floors and looking exquisite, some were chatting in twos or groups. She did it? She entered the house! Athena wanted to squeal but she didn t want to draw attention to herself either, so she contained her happiness and joined the party. But what she had no idea was that everything she did was witnessed by a man who was relaxed in a room and following her through the many screens in front of him and with a smile playing on his lips. He should fire his securities for not being on alert enough that someone had sneaked into his home and for some reason, he wanted to leave the room and go to her, first to shake her hand and compliment her for successfully averting his high trained securities and joining his party then he would pull her into his arms and ask her why she had ran away from him and waited until after two weeks before showing herself to him again.