The Secret Billionaire: A BWWM Love Story For Adults (9 page)

“
Sorry!”
she said and opened her bag to check her phone. It was her mother.

Vera suddenly
remembered why she was shying away from a good relationship all these
years. “Hello Mom!” she answered the call with a smile,
“Everything okay?”

“
Everything
is fine. I just called to ask how is your date going?” Alice
said.

“
It's
not a date Mom!” Vera covered her mouth and lowered her voice.
“I am just wall climbing with a friend.”

“
Oh
I know what that is. Don’t try to lie to me.” Alice knew
what was really up.

“
Mom,
I will talk to you later.”

“
Just
have fun, sweetheart!” Alice reminded her.

Vera put her
phone back in the bag and looked at Archer, “Sorry that was my
mother. You know how they are.”

Archer just
stared at her and then nodded in a ‘No’ — “I
am afraid I don’t know. My mother passed away when I was
little.”

Vera had no
idea what to say next and so she just stared at him. Archer could see
her face going red with awkwardness.

“
You
want to eat something? I am feeling a little hungry.” he said,
changing the tone and topic of their conversation.

Vera jumped
at this opportunity, “Definitely! Lets get out of here.”

They both
left the club after changing into their normal clothes.

*****

Outside, both
of them grabbed hot dogs and kept walking. The two of them were
exchanging notes on their techniques. While talking to Vera, Archer
realized that he had not explored the trails of his own country. All
his life he had been traveling across the world looking for
adventure. And in this mad rush, he overlooked all the great treks
and trails in his country.

“
I
really want to go to that trail in Jefferson City.” Archer
confessed while taking a bite off his hot dog.

Vera
remembered how beautiful it was years ago when she was there. “I
don’t know how that place is now. I just hope people have not
killed it. You know how young people are.”

Archer
stopped for a brief moment and looked at Vera’s face. He smiled
and said, “You say that like you are old. I am sure you are
also
‘young
people’
.
Don’t sell yourself short.”

Archer walked
ahead after finishing his sentence, but Vera was left fixed in her
spot. In recent years, she had accepted that she did not look young,
but this man could see that spark inside her.

“
What
are you waiting for? Come on.” Archer called her out. Vera
quickly came out of her day dreaming and walked towards Archer. But
something crashed into her, making her hot dog meet with her top.

“
Fuck!”
the short man who bumped into Vera cried.

Archer ran to
pick Vera up, “Are you okay?” he said looking at her.

“
Watch
where you're walking, Missy!” the man lectured Vera adjusting
his bag.

“
Practice
what your preach Mister!” Archer delivered a stern reply to
him. The man looked at Archer’s face and remained fix with awe.
Archer read his face and quickly got out of there taking Vera with
him.

The man stood
there, looking at Archer and Vera until they disappeared in the
crowd. He then quickly took out his cellphone and dialed a number.

“
Hello!
Is this Finch Enterprises?” he asked. “My name is Victor
Cooper, and I am a photojournalist. Could you connect me to Archer
Finch, please?”

He tried to
find Archer in the crowd, but saw only horde of random strangers, “Oh
he is not in the country right now? No problem, I get it. Thanks.”

Victor put
his phone back in his pocket, “I think I know where Archer
Finch is, but who was that lady with him?”

Victor
entered a coffee shop and secured a table for himself. He opened his
bag and along with two cameras and several lenses, a laptop was
neatly stuffed in there. He pulled out his laptop and opened the web
browser.

“
Popular
African American Models.” He typed into the search browser. In
the image section, he kept browsing through all the images, but no
face matched the woman he saw with Archer Finch.

Tired, he
then searched for Archer Finch and to his disappointment, not many
images surfaced. The only images of Archer were of his young age when
he took over his family business. Archer was known to keep a low
profile and despite being a billionaire there were not many pictures
of him available on the internet. Though by looking at the available
resources, Victor was certain that it was Archer whom he saw earlier.
But he was more interested in that lady with him.

Though he
introduced himself as a Photo journalist, Victor Cooper was actually
a paparazzi photographer. Stalking mid level celebrities was his main
job and this was exactly what he was looking for.

‘
Archer
Finch - The multi billionaire with a mysterious girl.’

He imagined
the headline of a tabloid in his head. But the problem was Victor had
no idea where to find the two of them again. And so he channeled the
stalker inside him, “Think Victor think.. what was a
billionaire doing walking the streets of this city. Think!”

And like a
flashback, the scene played in his head where he bumped into that
girl. Victor remembered that underneath her sweat shirt, that girl
was wearing a sports bra. And when Archer came to pick her up, Victor
noticed that he was wearing sports shoes.

“
So
they were there doing something sporty.. what were they doing there?
Gym??” Victor was talking aloud to himself and this was
freaking out the people sitting around him, “Think you idiot,
think!” he yelled at himself, pinching his forehead.

Quickly he
started typing in his laptop. He searched for any place around his
location where people could go for fitness activities. The results
came out with three locations —

1. The Rush
   — an adventure club
   

2. Max Gym
   — a simple gym, and
   

3. Rick’s
   Dojo — a martial arts school
   

“
I
need to check these out,” he said packing his laptop back in
the bag. People were relieved as he left.

Victor first
reached Max Gym. He went to the reception and showed Archer’s
old picture on his phone, “Hi, I am looking for this person.
Does he come to your gym?”

The
receptionist was taken aback by Victor’s in your face attitude.
She looked at the picture and then at Victor. “I am sorry but
who are you?”

“
You
have not seen him here?” Victor shoved the picture in her face
again.

“
Noo!
And please stop trying to reach over the counter,” she warned
Victor.

Victor did
not want to waste his time there and so he walked out. Next stop —
Rick’s Dojo. As he walked inside, he only saw little kids
training in the dojo. A scrawny man with a black belt and karate
outfit came up to him with a big smile, “Welcome to Rick’s
Dojo, May I help you?”

Victory
looked around with amazement. “I don't think so!” he said
and left quickly.

Minutes
later, he was standing at the reception of The Rush. “Hi, I am
looking for this person. Does he come to your gym?” Victor
repeated the same question.

The
receptionist looked at the picture and replied, “We are an
adventure club and not a gym. And we do not share the details of our
customers with general public.”

A big smile
appeared on Victor’s face, “That's all I wanted to know!”

Victor
pocketed his phone and left. Now he started hanging outside The Rush,
every day of the week around the time he bumped into Vera. The
weekdays did not yield any result, but on Saturday, he hit jackpot.

“
Oh
yeah!” he cried with joy as he saw Archer and Vera entering the
club. Quickly he snapped a few pictures of them and noted the time in
his small journal.

“
I
got you Billionaire!” Victor was really happy.

Vera and Archer were
making regular appearances at The Rush. Together, they observed each
other’s climbing techniques and improved themselves. Unaware of
being stalked by a sociopath with a high end camera, both of them had
grown really fond of each other.

“
Hey,
can I ask you something?” Archer said with a hesitant smile.
Vera’s gaze told her that she was waiting for his question.
“Would you like to go out with me?”

“
Aren’t
we out right now?” Vera knew what Archer meant, but she decided
to have a little fun with it. Archer was an expert at sarcasm and he
instantly picked up what Vera was doing.

“
Let
me take you out on a dinner. A proper dinner!” Archer did not
beat around the bush this time.

Vera wanted to say yes,
but her last date flashed before her eyes. She was not sure whether
her mother will unintentionally ruin this date or not. But she did
not want to let this opportunity go. “Can I think about it?”
she asked.

Archer was not expecting
anything other than a yes, and so he was a little surprised.

“
Of
course!” he said while wondering what could have possibly made
Vera have second thoughts about a date.

That day both of them
did not talk much like usual and left the Club a little early. Victor
noticed this sudden deviation and followed Vera like he did every
week. By now, he knew where Vera lived and worked. He was collecting
enough juice to make a compelling story.

That night, Vera talked
to Jane about what happened earlier.

“
You
are supposed to say yes, when a handsome guy asked you out.”
Jane reminded her.

“
I
wanted to, but you know what Mom did when I went out on my last
date.” Vera said.

“
So
you think your Mother will create problems every time you will go out
with a guy?”

Vera could see how
ridiculous that sounded but she had no justification for her
prejudice.

“
I
don’t know, I am not very comfortable. Mom keeps calling me
when I am with Archer. What would she do when I go out on a date with
him?”

Jane presented a simple
solution to her problem, “You know what? You guys plan a date.
And I will accompany your mother that evening. We will watch some
classics on TV. She likes those, right?”

Vera really liked this
idea. She had seen Jane calm down the most irate passengers at the
airline desk. There was no way her mother could outwit and outsmart
Jane. Suddenly, she was able to see her date with Archer coming
through.

“
You
would do that for me? Really!” Vera asked to confirm.

“
Of
course I would do that. What are friends for?” Jane replied in
a warm tone. “Besides, I will need someone to babysit my kids
after I am married. And so consider this as a prep work.”

Vera laughed at Jane’s
scheme, “Your future planning is getting out of hands.”

“
Wait
till you hear about my plans for my divorce.” Jane said.

“
Divorce?
You are planning for your divorce? Who does that?”

“
Hey,
hope for the best, prepare for the worst!” Jane replied with a
smile.

“
I
got you. I got you!” Vera was laughing.

“
So
you call the blondie and tell him that he can have the privilege of
taking you on a date.” Jane reminded Vera.

“
Blondie?
His name is Archer.”

“
Do
you want me to babysit your mother or not?” Jane asked.

“
I
will call Blondie right away!”

“
Good!”

Vera hung up and dialed
Archer’s number.

“
Hey!
Whats up?” his voice cheered Vera even more.

“
Remember,
you asked if we could go out for a dinner..?” Vera tried to
sound innocent.

“
That
proper dinner? Yeah! You said you need time to think about it.”

Vera waited for a second
before saying anything, “Well, I would really like to have that
proper dinner.”

“
Awesome!
You have any recommendations?” Archer was elated.

“
Yes,
there is a restaurant that I really like. If you don’t mind I
would like to show you that place.” Vera replied.

Archer was ready to go
anywhere with this woman, and Vera was so excited about their date.
They decided the time for next week and hung up.