Chapter 4

HAMES HENDRIX

"Can I leave now?" Miss Mark asked, obviously looking so stressed out from the day's work.

I glanced at the wall clock. It was 2 hours past working hours. It wasn't my fault I had tons of things to do than close so early.

"Have you planned my schedule for next week?" I raised an eyebrow at her.

"Uh— I'm almost done with it. I'll submit it tomorrow." She said, scratching the back of her neck and avoiding my gaze. I was glad she adjusted to my style of working, or else it was going to be a huge problem if she still continued arguing with me.

"Okay. You've postponed my appointments for tomorrow, right? It has to be a free day for me."

"Yes, sir." She nodded, gripping her bag impatiently.

"Good, you can leave. Ensure you're very early tomorrow. You won't like how things would turn out if you come late, again." I warned.

She swallowed audibly and nodded. "Yes, sir."

I paused to think of anything else she needed to do, but there was nothing left. She had done a lot of things today, and her hard work definitely amused me. She didn't seem like she could do the job of a secretary correctly but a stripper. No offense.

"Is there anything else you'd like me to do before I leave?" She asked through gritted teeth, forcing a smile.

"No." I shook my head at her. "You can leave."

"Okay." A wide grin appeared on her lips. "Goodnight."

I didn't bother to say 'Goodnight' to her because it was clearly not necessary. She turned around and left the office.

Everywhere went silent after that. I finalized my work on my laptop and then shut it. A heavy sigh left me. Gosh, I needed a break at least once in a while.

I rested my head against the headrest and shut my eyes to take a nap, but my dumb phone decided to ring.

Groaning and cussing, I opened my eyes and reached for my phone, answering it angrily without bothering to know who the caller was.

"Hello?" I spoke crankily.

"Hames," Mom's voice swayed into my ear. "What's with the cold tone, as always?" She hissed.

"Oh, it's you." I sat straight and rose to my feet, arranging important files.

"Did you forget? You said you'll pay me a visit tonight."

"Oh, yeah." I totally forgot. I was going to tell Miss Mark to include that in my schedule today, but I had forgotten. "Of course, I didn't forget." I lied.

"Great! So you're coming when?"

"Uh— I'm just leaving the office so I'll be there in half an hour."

"Okay. Love you. I'll be expecting your stubborn-head." She giggled.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I rolled my eyes, ending the call.

I was going to resume work in two days. Free day tomorrow (not exactly). After arranging important files accordingly, I grabbed my car keys and left the office.

The elevator transported me to the ground floor.

"You're leaving now?" Sarah asked rhetorically, getting to her feet and picking her bag from a chair.

I ignored her, left the building, and went to my car. A random man opened the car door for me, and I got into it. He shut the door then my driver started driving the car after I threw the car at him.

"Take me to Trisha's Mansion," I instructed, and he nodded politely.

In a few minutes, I felt myself being called into sleep, so I decided to take a nap.

***

I felt continuous tapping against my shoulder. It was very discomforting and annoying. With my face rumpled, I finally opened my eyes. My Driver was tapping me. I was going to yell at him, but I noticed we had arrived at Mom's mansion, and he had to wake me up.

"We're here, sir." He informed me.

"I'm not blind, gentleman." I replied frigidly and waved him off, stepping out of the car. My eyes felt so heavy due to inadequate sleep.

I sauntered into the house and used my spare key to open the door, entered the house then locked the door.

"Hames!" Mom squealed in excitement as she saw me. "My baby!" Ew! What the hell was that?

I walked up to her. She pulled me into a bone-crushing hug. I was used to that already, so I didn't bother to complain.

"Hey, Mom." I smiled at her. "Wow, you look hot. If you weren't my mother, I'd surely flirt with you." I teased her, earning a smack on my face. "Ow! I'm just kidding."

We both burst into laughter.

"Gosh, you finally paid a visit. I missed you so much. You can't imagine how lonely I've been."

"Really? Why don't you hire an extremely personal Maid or a friend to talk to?" I smirked on saying the next words, "or a man to have a one-night stand with." I waggled my eyebrows at her, earning another slap from her.

"You're so silly." She pouted. "What's up with the good mood today?"

I ignored her question. "You're such a baby. Common, you don't deserve to be so lonely." We had our seats.

"Well, your father is dead." She folded her arms across her chest. "Billionaires like you think you can buy everything with money."

"I'm not a Billionaire." I added, "yet."

"Really? I thought you already were." She looked genuinely surprised. "I mean, you're always busy and working, I thought you own multiple billions now."

"Are you mocking me? I just need a few more Millions of dollars to become a Billionaire and I'll achieve it very soon."

"Aw, I'm so proud of you. I'm glad I left my company to you. You made it grow better than I had ever imagined." She blushed.

"Duh. I'm your only son, who else would you have given it to?" I rolled my eyes at her.

A maid strolled in with a tray in her hands. She lowered the tray to me, and I picked a glass of chilled juice from it, taking a long sip.

"You're my only son but not my only child. I could've also given a portion of it to your sister, Anna." She rolled her eyes.

"Mom, we're both aware of the fact that Anna can't handle the company." I burst into laughter.

"Why not?" A frown etched on her face. "Because she's a girl?"

"No! Because she's a dog!" I laughed again.

It seemed to piss her off further. "At least she's more sensible than you."

"How is that?" I drew my eyes in askance.

"She's my cute daughter, and she's married, but here you're UNMARRIED." She spelled it to my face.

The atmosphere changed at that. My usually cold face returned, and I dropped my glass on the table, crossing one of my legs over the other. "Mom, you know I don't like talking about this with anyone."

"I'm not just anyone, I'm your Mom, you dimwit." She rested her palm on her forehead. "You're 26 already, yet you don't have a damn girlfriend. You've worked for 3 years and boosted the company above my expectation but you don't seem to be interested in a serious relationship with a responsible woman. I also stalked you and noticed that you've stopped having one-night stands with random Women. What is wrong with you?"

"I don't feel the need to be with anyone and stop stalking me! If she comes, then she will. If she doesn't, she won't." I replied gruffly.

"Are you crazy?!" Her eyes became glassy, piercing into my soul. I hated seeing her cry. She had cried too much when I was little, so I couldn't bear to make her cry again.

"Mom, don't cry." I softened.

"You don't understand. I need grandchildren. What if I'll die soon?"

"Mom!" I exclaimed. "You're not dying soon, okay?"

"Hames, if you need me to arrange your marriage, I swear I'll do it." Tears were already rolling down her cheeks.

"Are you kidding me? What?" I couldn't believe my ears.

"I'm desperate." She wiped the tears with her fingers. "Please consider marriage."

"Fine, fine, I will."

"You will?! Do you have someone in mind already?" Her face lit up with excitement.

A smirk played on my lips. "Definitely, I do." Oh, I do.