Episode 24
THEME: MEETING HIS MOTHER!
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RIA POV
It was nearly 12 before we got to the Jewelry Store. It was an enormous, old red building that had been renovated with an eye towards retaining the original design. The building was caused into a granite arch above the main entrance and I was curious to know how they came about such structure. Ian pulled up in the private driveway and stopped the car.
I couldnât help but glance around when we stepped into the store.
âWant to check out some stuffs before seeing my mom?â He asked
I assumed he noticed I was looking around with a surprised look on.
âNo..noâ I replied
Why do I need to check anything when I donât plan to buy one.
He nodded and we resumed walking side by side.
Every person we passed in the store stepped to greet Ian..as if he were a prodigal son returning home. There was no need to ask why most people stopped to say hello. He is Ian Bryant! CEO of Lint Corp! He is quiet popular in his world! So they must greet him as the son of the owner of the Store.
âIanâ
I heard a soft voice call his name. He heard it too cause he stopped and turned. I saw a young woman dressed in an expensive knee length gown.
Who is she?
I drank in her features as she walked towards us. She was beautiful. Long wavy brown hair frumed her round face with full lips and large eyes. She had a pointed nose..her alabaster skin shimmered. She is rich noting from her outfit and the way she carried herself..Gracefully with her shoulder up. Ian tucked his hands in his pocket
âLornaâ he called at her
The lady stared at me for a second before looking back at Ian.
âWe need to talkâ she said with a frown on his face
âOkayâ Ian replied
âPrivatelyâ she said again
âLorna as you can see I have a companyâ she glared at me
I donât think I wanna be the one stopping her from talking to him.
âI will just give you some space to talkâ
I said and stepped aside. Away for them to talk privately
My phone beeped. It was Cassidy. Then I looked back at Ian and Lorna before picking up.
âHello Cassidyâ
âHi Miss Riaâ
âHow is school?â
âFine..I just finished class. Are you home?â
âNo..Iâm at Mrs Perla storeâ
She was silent
âIâll tell you about it when we see Cassidyâ
âOkay..see you tomorrow thenâ
âYeahâ i hang up the Call
âIâm sorry for delaying youâ
I heard Ian say behind me. The lady wasnât around anymore
Where did she go?
âIt okayâ I managed to say
Even if part of me wanted to know who that Lady is to Ian
His girlfriend? Or his Ex?
I shouldnât be bothered about it
âLetâs goâ
He said and we continue walking.
We stopped in front of a huge door. Ian opened it and motioned to me to walk in. I did and he stepped right behind me. The lady at the large desk who I immediately recognized to be Ianâs mom,she stood up and met us halfway.
This was our first meeting but weâve spoken on phone thrice while in China through a video call.
âGoof Afternoon Maâamâ I greeted. Ian came beside me and perform the introduction
âMom,this is Ria Robert and meet my mom Mrs Perla Bryantâ
Then we both exchange pleasantries
âPlease take a seatâ
She pointed to a large couch.
Ian and I settled on it
âSon..did you see Lorna?â
She asked Ian
âYeah I saw herâ
Even his mom knows Lorna
âSo how is business Ria?â
âFine maâamâ
âGood to hear thatâ
She picked a blue print file from her side and stretched it towards me. I leaned forward and took it from her
âIt Amber Foundation File. Madam Charity insisted that the seamstress should know about the Foundation and kids tooâ
âIs that necessary?â Ian asked
âMadam Charity insisted on thatâ
I scanned through the files. In it was the number and names of children ranging from the selected ages..6-8.
âWill you be able to make 30 dresses in less than two weeks?â
I have to do it cause I need the money!
âYes Mrs Perlaâ
âHow?â
She asked and I looked up at her. Trying to make sense of her question.
âWill you be the only one to make all those dresses?â
âNo I have someone who is helping me in the businessâ
Ian was busy with his phone
âWhat sort of dress do you want for children?â
âI want a beautiful gownâ
I brought out my collections and placed it on the table.
She picked one out of three. I was a bit nervous. What if she doesnât like the style in the book?
They are actually dresses I designed myself when I was blind.
To me they are pretty and awesome when I got to see them after the eyes surgeryâŚBut for someone like Mrs Perla Iâm not sure if she will like it.
My phone beeped as I waited for Mrs Perla to say at least say a word.
It was a message.. from Who?
Ian! What did he send me a message when heâs right here with me?
âDonât be nervous.. Your dresses are good and Iâm sure she will like. I have to get somewhere quickly⌠Iâll be back to pick you upâ
I read the message he sent. Ian stood up
âHey mom..â She glanced up at him
âAre you leaving?â
âYes..i need to see someone. I will be back soonâ
He kissed her cheeks and flashed me a bright smile before walking out.
Now way did he leave me alone with his mom?!
And where was he heading?
Mrs Perla cleared her throat and I looked up at her
âYour collections are -â she paused
What was she going to say? Awful?Boring? Old Fashioned?
âIntriguingâ she said finally
And did she just say that?!
âAnd attractiveâ she added
A smile automatically formed on my lips
âDid you make these dresses when you were blind?â
âYes maâamâ
âI must say that this is amazing..â
I have three collections for all my dresses. Andrea put my first collections together in a folder while Mrs Elise put the second and third collections together.
âYouâre creative in this fieldâ
My cheeks flushed at her words
âThanks Maâamâ
âBut you can also do better than thisâ I nodded
âCan you make another design for the dress?â
âWhat type of design?â
âI want something that will amaze everyone at the party..one that when they see it at the event.. They will all be dying to know whoever made the dress. Something that spells professionalism..practically designed by a Clothe Designerâ
And thatâs my greatest dreams! To be a Clothe Designer! It what I wanted to be since I was a kid!
I brought out a notepad and a pencil.
âLetâs discuss about it now..so our next meeting will be at the Amber Foundation to take the kids measurementâ
âOkayâ I nodded in agreement
â â˘â˘â â˘â˘â
IAN POV ?
I let out a handful of breathe before walking into the restaurant. Earlier Lorna and I agreed meet up since she insisted that we need to talk like two matured adults. Speaking of maturity..Lorna is quiet far from it!
I felt like stuffing a bread in her mouth as we were at the store! She didnât take her eyes off Ria while she was talking to me. I just hope that Ria didnât get the wrong idea about Lorna. And i how will i even explain things to her?.
Even Lorna was mad that I didnât introduce her to Ria and that i even acted like she wasnât important to me.
What should I have done?
âRia meet Lorna..the lady my dad wants to me to Marry but i donât loveâ
Does that make any sense?
Hell No!
About the meeting with Lorna in the restaurant.. I have no choice but to give Lornaâs request cause she threatened to tell Ria that I was having an affair with Grace my Secretary.
That wasnât true.. But I had to say yes! Just to stop her from saying those nonsense to Ria.
And Even if it wasnât true Ria will still find it hard to believe me if I try to explain that nothing is going on between Grace and I.
âI thought you wouldnât make it down hereâ Lorna said when I sat in the chair opposite her
âI said i was going to anyway..â I replied
âShe is the reason why you were out of the country for weeksâ
Lorna said and that didnât sound like a question!
She knows something!
âYeahâ
She chuckled
âWhen will you stop paying people to find out things about me?â
âYou caused it Ian. We arenât like this when were kids. We used to be best of friends until you changed up.. And I keep wondering what caused that change between usâ
âYou should find that out -â I shrugged
âBut I donât know Ianâ
Just one thing changed our friendship.. Mason! We were inseparable! Maybe but things changed the day I saw her kissing Mason. What age was that? 15! Yes it was on her 15th birthday!..and I had bumped into them in the dark!
She wasnât dating him then..Lorna told me that herself but she still kissed him.
Was she drunk that day or she wasnât in her right mind?
When she had made it clear that such will never happen between them because she was in love with me.
At some point she said that I made up my mind to fall in love with her. But I changed that decision when I saw her kissing Mason.
And I did tried to stop seeing Lorna as a friend but a girl that I could love..but I couldnât!
So right then I realized that I wasnât meant to see her pass that friendship level.
And Iâm not ready to tell Lorna what made me change! We should just leave things the way they are!
âWe can talk things out -â
âAnd what do we have to talk about?â
âUsâ
âUs?â
âYesâ
âLorna I told you that love canât work out between usâ
âwhat about her?â
âPardon?â
âThe Lady I saw with you..â
âLetâs leave her out of thisâ
How on earth did she always find out things she wanna know? like Lorna eyes are everywhere!
âI didnât have to pay anyone to tell me you were in China taking care of a blind Lady. Piper told meâ
âWhat?!â My jaw dropped slightly
Piper told her about Ria! And how much did she know about Ria? What did Piper tell her?
Nothing is Safe with Piper!
âYeah she told me. When I called to check on you. Ian you werenât picking up my calls and I was worried. So i went to Piperâs officeâ
âWhat exactly did she tell you?â
âA lotâŚâ
âA lot?â
I doubt it! Piper doesnât know anything other than the fact that I paid Riaâs bills and went with her to China. About my plans to set up Riaâs Business..that between me and my mom.
âShe said you paid for her surgical billsâ Lorna said
And that doesnât signify âa lotâ
âAnd she is right Lornaâ
âDo you love her?â
She asked unexpectedly and I stiffed back a laugh
âWhy do you want to know?â
âSo..i wonât keep my hopes high..Ianâ
Keeping hopes high? When I told her years back that i canât love her. So why is she still waiting?
âI want to love someone..who will love me in returnâ she said in low tone
âLorna Iâm not stopping you from loving whoever you want to loveâ
âYes I know â that why I want to get over those feelings I have for youâ
So if I tell Lorna I donât love Ria..she wonât give up on me.
I love Ria I already figured that out..but telling Lorna about my love for Ria will break her..and make her feel bad.
What do i do?
âIan I want the truth. I donât want to keep fighting for what doesnât belong to me. I realized it pointless. So i will understandâ
Maybe I will just tell Lorna the truth so she can move on and let me be!
âYes Iâm love with herâ she nodded slowly
âI knew it..i just wanted to be sureâ
And how did she know I love Ria?
âI spoke with your mom earlier before I saw you. She told about about your feelings for Ria when insisted that she tell me about Riaâ
So sheâs been on the look out for a while now.. Trying to find out if I love Ria.
No wonder my mom asked if I had seen Lorna in the store
âI just want to hear it coming from you. My heart will accept it now that you told yourselfâ
âIâm sorryâ I said to her
âSorry for?âŚnot loving me?â She chuckled
And i have no idea why I said that!
âIan it fine..I accept your decision. Now I know..we arenât meant to be together and thank God one of us was able to sense it before it caused us any harmâ
I gave a short nod!
Now Iâm seeing a different Lorna.
She stood up and Moved closer to me.
âI wish you wellâ she kissed my cheek before walking out.
I stood up seconds later made it out of the restaurant and back to the Store which was just few blocks away.
âŞâŞâŞâŞâŞ
âLove me like you do!â
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Episode 1 Episode 2 Episode 3 Episode 4 Episode 5 Episode 6 Episode 7 Episode 8 Episode 9 Episode 10 Episode 11 Episode 12 Episode 13 Episode 14 Episode 15 Episode 16 Episode 17 Episode 18 Episode 19 Episode 20 Episode 21 Episode 22 Episode 23 Episode 24 Episode 25 Episode 26 Episode 27 Episode 28 Episode 29 Episode 30 Episode 31 Episode 32 Episode 33 Episode 34 Episode 35 Episode 36
Ria story is not complete and is the remaining part of the story going to posted soon? I want to know.