Alia felt a bit relieved knowing that Blaze was intentional about protecting her even from a far distance. This simply ant she didn't have to worry about the strange caller at the mont.
Nevertheless, she felt trapped and piqued by her lack of privacy. If Blaze had all her phone lines tapped, it ant he would be listening to all her conversation and there was no hiding from him. This was really irritating and they had to draw the lines when he returned.
Carefully putting away her gun in her handbag, Alia hurriedly got ready for work.
At the office, the hour slowly passed by with a lot of papers to sign and scheduled Zoom etings to attend. She got so calls from so of her friends including Tina, asking her to et at their favourite handout. But she declined all the offers under the pretense of being very busy.
As the day drew to a close, Alia felt physically exhausted and ntally burnt out. She packed up her stuff, hoping to briefly stop by the pharmacy to get so aspirin before heading ho. She had just gotten into the elevator when she received a call from Maria.
"Hello Alia, have you closed work for the day?" Maria asked in her usual friendly voice.
"Oh yes, I'm currently on my way out of the office," Alia replied smiling to herself well massaging her aching neck.
"That's great because I'm waiting for you outside your office."
"You are?" Alia abruptly stopped what she was doing, her eyes widened. She tilted her head towards Pascal who was obviously listening to her conversation.
Ding!
The elevator door opened and Alia gestured for Pascal and Clay to go ahead of her so that she could talk freely with Maria.
"Maria, why are you waiting for ?" Alia asked, while scanning the busy reception hall for a quiet place to talk.
"I sent you a ssage earlier informing you that I wanted to take you out for dinner. And I said I was going to pick you up by 6:00 PM. Didn't you read my ssage?" Maria asked jovially.
"Oh no!" Alia's face pald her forehead. She hadn't checked her ssages for the past two hours.
'What would she say now?' She pondered, massaging her aching temple. How would she fix this ss? She would give anything to be in Maria's company right now but the timing was wrong. Soone out there was planning to hurt her and she recalled Blaze asking her not to et up with any of her friends, probably for her safety.
"Alia, are you still there?" Maria's worried voice pulled her out of her reverie.
"Yes...umm...I'm sorry, Maria. But I umm... didn't see your ssage on ti. Please forgive . I'll have to turn down your offer."
"Oh dear, I've already made a reservation and I was hoping we could hang out. But it's fine. I'll cancel and go ho."
Maria's disappointed voice cut Alia deeply.
"Wait! Don't cancel yet. Just give a minute. I'll be with you shortly."
Alia hung up and dialled Blaze's number. But for so awkward reason, her calls were diverted to an answering machine.
"How odd!" Alia thought. This was the first ti her call had been diverted. Probably he was busy and didn't want to be disturbed. Waving off every contradictory thought, she sent him a text ssage informing him of her decision to dine with her new mature woman friend, specifying the woman in block letters.
Afterwards, she joined Maria, who was patiently waiting outside her car by the driveway They both exchanged pleasantries and hugged briefly before each got into their separate cars.
Forty-five minutes later, Alia and Maria were seated opposite each other in a VIP private dining room of a five-star restaurant.
The round table for four was filled with assorted and mouth-watering delicacies, varying from local to continental dishes. The soft lighting in the room reflected over the blend of gold and white interior decor, creating a calm soothing atmosphere for small talk and relaxation. With serene background music evoking a sense of tranquillity, Alia felt in sync with her environnt and the kind-hearted woman seated across the table from her.
They were chatting spiritedly and enjoying each other's company when a decently dressed waiter in a bow tie walked into the VIP room holding a bottle of one of the oldest and most expensive wines in the world, De Rosa Blanc 1942, worth over half a million dollars.
"Good evening, ma'am." The waiter greeted them with a bow, distracting Alia's attention from the two gentlen who just entered the room, undetected.
"Who is this from?" Maria asked sweetly staring at the waiter.
"That would be your son, mom." Blaze ca into view, taking an unsuspecting Alia by surprise.
Alia, who was in the process of eating another scoop of her delicious spicy beef stew froze at the sight of Blaze, her hand hanging in mid-air.
Blaze strode purposefully towards their table, like a dangerous mafia warlord about to claim his prey. He was closely followed by Henry, who was still left in the dark about Blaze and Alia's relationship.
"Blaze is Maria's son and Henry is his friend?" Alia echoed in her erratically pounding heart.
Suddenly, it felt as though soone had just lowered the temperature in the room, causing Alia to tremble as she brought her hands down. She watched in complete horror as Blaze walked over to Maria and kissed her on the forehead.
"I hope, I didn't keep you waiting Mom," Blaze spoke in the softest and sweetest voice, ignoring Alia as if she was invisible.
"You ca right on ti," Maria replied stroking his cheek lovingly while turning to face Alia.
Hello Alia," Henry playfully sauntered over to her, taking the seat beside her, his eyes glimring with so much love. "We et... Alia, are you all right?" He was shocked to see her looking so pale as though she had seen a ghost.
"Alia..." Maria also noticed her pale and trembling look. "It's sothing the matter."
"Alia, how nice to finally et you again." Blaze finally locked his vicious and spine-chilling gaze with her, a devilish smirk dancing at the corner of his lips as he took the fourth seat between her and his mother.
"You know her?" Maria shifted her attention to her son.
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