Falling for the Secret Billionaire: Part 1 (2 page)

              “Woah sister. What the hell happened to you?!” Keisha excitedly asked.

              “Keisha…. I just met the most gorgeous white man! Holy shit! I was at the grocery store when I dropped a bottle of milk… long story short; he helped me clean up my mess and proceeded to tell me that I was one of the most beautiful women he had ever laid his eyes upon, I turned him down because I was scared that it would just add more unnecessary stress to my life. He ended up getting to the cash register without me seeing and paid for all of my groceries. I didn’t catch him on my way out and I really really wish I did! Oh my god… Keisha what the fuck was I thinking?!! That could have been the Mr. Right you’ve been telling me I deserve!” I practically screamed at her in excitement.

              “Whoa Jasmine, calm the fuck down girl!  It sounds like you met a really hot guy, but hey lady… they’re everywhere! For gods sake you must have ran past ten in your flurried state as you came running a hot sweaty mess towards me! Don’t you worry about it; another one will catch your attention real soon. Don’t fucking worry about it. Sounds like this guy was a little obsessed with you too, maybe he will even find a way to track you down again.”

              I sat down next to Keisha on the couch as I tried to catch my breath. Not only was I beat from running home, I felt like I was out of breath from my interaction with James. It felt like I had been hit with cupid’s arrow and my heart was having a mini spasm inside of my chest. I leaned back on the couch, clutched my heart with my newly manicured hand and sat there smiling at Keisha. I didn’t have to say anything else to her, she knew exactly what was going through my mind and she knew that this wasn’t typical of me to be so infatuated with a man, let alone a Caucasian man.

              I sat there with a straightened spine with my hands neatly folded on my lap. An unusual uncomfortable position for me, but I was feeling as uncomfortable as I looked. Almost worried in a way. Had I just turned away something that could have been magical? When I was younger, I grew up on cheesy Disney films with happy endings. I always dreamed that one day I would meet my prince, run away from reality and live happily ever after with no worries in the world. Even when I was younger, reality had hit though. All of the princesses and princes were of Caucasian decent. The only princess of any other colour was Jasmine from Aladdin. And, of course this was the princess I best identified with. Although she still wasn’t black, we shared the same name, and the same struggles of being the black sheep in society. Although Jasmine never met her Caucasian prince, she fell in love in the end and that’s all that mattered to me. I knew there was nothing wrong with me. I know that I deserved love. And I hoped that love was more than merely an allusion that people only spoke about in the honeymoon phase. I mean… I hadn’t even been lucky enough to reach the honeymoon phase yet. At the age of 24, I was growing impatient.

              Next thing I knew, my phone was ringing. The annoying ringtone of
Can’t tough this
came onto the speaker. Keisha loved to screw with my phone… and sure enough she had applied this ringtone for good purpose. It was my ex-boyfriend Greg calling.

              “Greg, I told you to stop calling me. What the hell do you want this time?” I coldly replied.

              “Jasmine, I’m standing outside of your house. Please let me in! I have news and I can’t share it with anyone else. Please just talk to me. You’re still my best friend.”

              “Fine. I’m coming.” I said with a deep sigh.

              When I finally opened the door for Greg, he was standing in the driveway completely drenched. He looked like a miserable and helpless rat the way his long curls stuck to his face. He looked devastated as he gave me a look of yearning. I was used to this routine of his, he would show up my to house unexpected, sometimes in the middle of the night and beg me to give him another chance.

              “Come on in Greg.” I said as I motioned towards the door.

              He followed me inside and from the corner of my eye I could see Keisha glaring at him.

              He came into the kitchen and sat down at the island counter. I gave him a glass of water and sat down across from him.

              “So are you going to tell me whatsup?” I said trying to sound disinterested.

              “It’s just that…. I don’t think I can go on any longer without you Jasmine. I tried to stay away but I just can’t. I can’t go another day without you in my life. I saw you today talking to a man,,,”

              “Woah, woah, woah… slow down cowboy. What do you mean you saw me with a man today? What the fuck Greg?!!! Were you following me??”

              “Well… not following… I mean I was worried about you. I know that you just started your new job and I wanted to check up on you to make sure you were doing okay. You seemed distracted. I was hoping that maybe you were just upset as I was about the way we ended things in between us.”

              “Greg, I need to clear this up with you. We are
never
getting back together okay? You have to understand that. Our relationship was toxic. We were sleepwalking through life and you know it too. I need someone that can offer me passion, not comfort!” I practically shrieked at him and wondered if I had been too harsh with my tone of voice.

              “Look, I’m really sorry Jasmine, I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. I won’t bother you anymore about our relationship but you have to understand that I’m always going to love you.. and I want to be here to look after you. The man that you were talking today in the grocery store, I don’t trust him at all. He isn’t good for you. I know that you turned him down, but please don’t date a man like that. It will kill me inside to know you’ve moved on to someone who’s only looking to take advantage of you.”

              At that moment, I started tearing up. I knew that James wasn’t looking to just take advantage of me but Greg made me second guess his motives.

              “You know what Greg… just get the fuck out!!! You aren’t welcome here anymore!”

              I grabbed his arm and tried to drag him out of the house. As soon as he had one foot out the door, I grabbed the door and pushed it against him to get him out of there as fast as I possibly could.

              I didn’t need this in my life. I already had enough stress on my plate at the moment and I wasn’t going to have someone like Greg making me upset over bullshit.

              “Are you okay Jasmine? I’m sorry that that happened. Greg is a prick.” said Keisha.

              “I’m fine Keisha, I just want to be alone.”

              With that I wandered to my bedroom, shut the door and sat down on my bed. I couldn’t keep myself from crying. I thought about James, and I had wished so badly that I had said yes to his proposal to go for coffee. I was too upset to eat and I hoped Keisha wasn’t angry that I had just left the groceries in the living room for her to put away. I put on my favourite movie
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
, and I drifted into a long interrupted sleep. I was completely exhausted and I was opening the library by myself in at 8 in the morning.

*****

              When I woke up, I felt completely drained. My head was painfully pulsing from crying so much the night before and I could still feel the dried tears on the apples of my cheeks. I threw myself out of bed and took a quick shower. I brushed out my dark, thick curls and applied some light make up to make me look fresh. I didn’t want anyone to know what had happened the previous night. At this new job, I couldn’t show any sign of weakness. I needed to appear strong and independent. Plus, if a man like James had asked me out, Keisha was right; maybe I could catch another fish in my net. I grabbed my cutest dress. Light grey, with a cute black ribbon tied around the waist to accentuate my curves. I grabbed a pair of black stilettos with a matched black ribbon that tied up to my ankles.

              My mother had always told me that whenever you are feeling bad about yourself, the best thing you can do is to dress up. It
always
brings out the best confidence in yourself. And that’s exactly what it did. I felt like I was on top of the world in that moment. Fuck Greg, and fuck drama. I was ready to take on anything at that moment.

              I strutted out the door and onto the street to flag down a cab. In the backseat I could see the cabbie checking my out from the rear view mirror. I paid him a large tip and got out of the taxi.

Walking up the large steps of the library, I had a feeling today was going to be an amazing day. I wasn’t going to let anything bother me. I decided to not let any drama stop me from that moment on. It was time for me to conquer the world.

I reached the door and reached for the keys out of my pocket. I felt like an important person having personal keys to the most beautiful library in the city. If only theses bookshelves could speak. All of the pages that had been flipped through, all of the intellectuals that had the blessing of walking down the aisles, and all of the hot steamy hook-ups that had happened late at night in the hidden crevices of the bookshelves.

As I walked in to the library, I dropped my bag on the ground and my jaw almost hit the ground too. I too a big gasp and lifted my hand to my mouth. The entire library had been decorated in jasmine flowers. Beautiful, small flowers, each intricate in their own unique design. I couldn’t believe it. This was the most romantic thing I had ever seen. Even princess Jasmine didn’t have it
this
good. Who else could they be for? Jasmine flowers for Jasmine… it seemed almost obvious. At the same time, who would have done this for me? All of a sudden, it clicked. This was the beautiful working of James from the grocery store. In the background I could hear a record playing. It was coming from the upper level. With a huge grin on my face, I grabbed a bushel of the jasmine flowers and breathed in the aroma. I walked up the stairs and followed the sound of the music. It sounded like Dean Martin’s
Somebody to Love
playing on our old record player coming from the lounge area. When I reached the lounge area, I found no one. I wandered over to the record player and there was a note sitting next to it labelled “
My dearest Jasmine.
” I scrambled towards the letter and ripped it open. I scanned the letter which was beautifully written in calligraphy.

“
My dearest Jasmine,

I know that we hardly know each other, but you’ve captured my eye and my heart. I think that meeting you at the grocery store the other day was destiny mixed with a little fate. It was no accident that I was there to help such a beautiful damsel in distress. I know you’ve turned me down, and normally I’m a modest man but I had a feeling you’re a hard one to get. That’s why I’ve taken the liberty of decorating your work place in flowers. I hope this is enough for you to at least consider seeing me again.

If you’re interested in seeing me, meet me at the end of the pier at 7:00pm sharp. I’ll be waiting for you there.

-Love,

James.”

              I stood there in a shocked stance. I could feel my heart pounding inside of my chest as my legs turned to jello. I wobbled over to the satin couch and sat down. I looked at the ceiling, even that was covered in flowers. I could practically feel James there. I wanted him so badly. My whole body was yearning for him. I had to go otherwise I would never forgive myself.

              I began to pull the strains of jasmine flowers down off the pillars inside the library when my co-worker Samantha walked in.

“Holy shit…. What the hell happened Jasmine?! Is this all for you?”

“Uh… yeah. I think so.” I looked at her innocently while holding multiple ropes of flowers in my hands.

“Well why are you taking them down? You should be proud that someone would do this for you! Man, this guy must be really special huh.” She said.

“Honestly, I don’t know him that well, we just met at the grocery store, and now all of a sudden this. He left a note telling me to meet him down at the end of the pier at 7.

“So… you’re trying to tell me that a stranger did this for you pretty much? Woah lady, you got this guy in your back pocket. Boy is whipped!”

I giggled and continued to take down the flowers.

“Leave them! We have the janitor coming by later anyways, for now it makes the library have a nice atmosphere. I’m sure the customers will love it. “