by BWWM Club
“I would love to stay and chat but my wine guy came through,” Athena said as another waiter walked in carrying another case. “Plus I have to go back to work.”
“Chat later then,” Carla called after her.
Athena was walking out as fast as she could but the truth was she was trying to hide her pain from everyone around. She hated that Carla had brought up what she had spent months burying. She walked as fast as she could across the foyer and even when she got outside, she didn’t stop. She went on walking past the valets until she got to the parking lot.
Her heart was beating hard and fast as she leaned against one of the vehicles there. She had a tightness in her chest that she just couldn’t understand but she had felt this way before and she was almost too certain that she was having a panic attack. Tears were rolling down her cheeks and everything felt tight: her dress, her shoes…she would have done anything to strip down at that moment. She sunk down to the ground as she began crying hysterically. It seemed as though the more she tried controlling herself, the harder she cried.
She was so engrossed in her self-pity that she never realized there was a male voice nearby, Evgeni’s voice.
*****
Evgeni had been hell bent on not handling any business that evening especially since he had not really wanted to go to the benefit to begin with. It was one of those decisions that he was sure he would regret before the evening was over especially since after going to almost a million or so of such events, he knew for a fact that he would not enjoy himself since he was going to have the same conversation with twenty different people. And there was also the risk of meeting the one aspiring actress or singer that would most probably stalk him for the better part of that year.
And that was exactly what happened. He had already talked business with Lucas Maines the biggest name in financial management, had a drink with Sarwal Singh, a known hotelier from India who was looking to set up some kind of Taj Mahal in New York and in less than two hours, had been hit on by two different women, both of whom were not his cup of tea. The evening was playing out exactly how he thought it would, at least until he saw Athena Davis. There was something about her that just seemed to call out to him. He was not sure whether it was her beautifully flawless dark skin or curvy body but as soon as he saw her, he knew that she was not like the rest of the guests at the event. He had watched her as she walked up and down the place and gave orders to the servers and he could almost see the graceful halo around her. The height of his evening came when he finally mastered enough courage to talk to her and sure enough, she was different from everyone at the party. He had been sad to see her walk away when duty called but seconds after she did, he got a call. In a perfect world, he would have ignored it but it was important. It was a call from Moscow, from his business manager Viktor.
He exhaled loudly and walked out to the parking lot.
“Da,” he said when he picked up the phone. “I hope you have good news.”
“Mr. Markovic, things might be more complicated than we had initially hoped for,” Viktor said.
Evgeni rubbed his temple gently. That was definitely not what he wanted to hear.
“What is the big deal? Why can’t I have what I want?”
“Mr. Markovic, we cannot have this discussion on the phone. I would much rather talk when I come over to your American offices,” Viktor said. “It is a long and daunting discussion as it is.”
“What about the Dubai business? At least tell me that you have that settled.”
“All your assets are tied up in the one investment you are trying to liquidate, Mr. Markovic. I don’t think we can make anything work without causing waves,’ Viktor said and Evgeni exhaled again.
“Fine. Get on the next flight to Virginia and we will talk when you get here,” Evgeni said before he hung up.
“Damn it!” he cursed silently as he began making his way back.
As he made his way back, he could not help but hear the distinct sound of a woman’s sob. A part of him wanted to ignore it but the sobs seemed to grow louder as he slowly made his way back to the Aquarium. As he got closer and closer to a white Range Rover, he saw the familiar print of Athena’s dress. He had been watching her long enough for the print to register in his mind.
“Athena?” he said in a soft voice as he rushed to where she was. He had not known her long enough but seeing her sad, tears flowing freely down her cheeks made him feel something that he hadn’t felt in a long time. “Athena, what happened?” he asked as he knelt next to her. He held the side of her face and used his thumb to brush off her tears.
“Athena please, tell me what is happening,” he said again but she didn’t answer. There was a fresh flow of tears rolling down her cheeks. He pulled her into himself and held her close as she sobbed into his shoulder. He did not remember the last time he felt this helpless and sad.
Chapter 2
Athena hated that she had to be driven home by a complete stranger and one she found so sexy to make it even worse. She had tried talking Evgeni out of driving her home but he wouldn’t hear of it.
“I would not be able to live with myself if I left you alone in this condition,” Evgeni had said.
“I’m fine Evgeni,” Athena had tried convincing him but another tear rolled down her cheek. He took her hand and smiled at her.
“Show me to your car,” he had said in a warm voice. “I know that I am still a stranger to you but that doesn’t make me any less of a gentleman.”
“But I am still working,” she said in a soft voice.
“It’s already a half past midnight which means that the benefit is almost over. Plus,” he slowly led her to the Aquarium’s entrance. “Look at that. If that is not a sign of a job well done, then I don’t know what is,” he added as he pointed at a huge LED screen that showed how much had been raised
“We only expected to raise twenty million,” Athena said smiling, and it was a genuine smile too. The benefit had surpassed the twenty million mark and hit fifty seven million and change.
“Well, that proves that your work here is done,” Evgeni said.
“But the clean-up crew and…” she started before he shook his head.
“I am going to walk you in there and you are going to get your stuff, alright?” he said in an authoritative tone. “And then I will take you home. Understand?”
Athena forced out a smile and nodded.
“Yes sir, Mr. Markovic,” she said before he led her into the Aquarium.
When she walked back out, she pulled her keys put of her purse and handed them to Evgeni who seemed a little confused.
“You didn’t valet?” he asked and she shook her head.
“I was not a guest,” she said as she led him to where she had parked. She looked at him in gratitude when he opened the car door for her and then climbed in. She fastened her seat belt as he walked around the front of the car to get into the driver’s seat.
“So, what’s the address?” he asked when he started the engine.
“19 Broad Street, Richmond,” she said as she leaned against the window, hiding yet another tear that was rolling down her cheek.
“I’ll get you home, Athena,” he said in a soft voice. She took a long deep breath and closed her eyes as she felt her cheeks sting.
*****
When they got to Athena’s building, Evgeni got out of the car and then walked over to her side to open the door for her. She had expected him to leave as soon as he dropped her off but he wouldn’t hear any of it.
“But you are here all alone,” he said.
“I’ve been alone for a long time, Evgeni,” she said trying to force out a smile. “I have learned to live with it.” He looked into her puffy eyes and shook his head.
“You don’t have to live with that,” he said in a soft voice. “No one has to ever live with that.”
She shook her head.
“If you knew half my life story, you would understand why I have to live with it,” she told him
as she leaned against the open door. Evgeni took a step closer to her and put a hand on the open door to support his weight. He wanted to tell her that he was willing to listen to her life’s story but he knew that was not what she wanted to hear at that moment.
“Let me in Athena,” he said as he looked at her. “Let me take care of you.”
Athena looked into his eyes and shrugged. She wanted to be alone but having someone there who didn’t know her was probably just as good.
“Fine,” she said as he walked into her apartment. “Can I get you anything?” she asked as she kicked off her shoes.
“Actually, I am here for you,” he said as she looked at him.
“What are you talking about?” she asked as she took off her earrings.
“I was not the one lying down on asphalt with tears rolling down my cheeks,” he said matter of factly and then walked to the kitchen. “I will make you some tea or hot chocolate, whichever you prefer and you will get a nice soothing bath.” He looked around her kitchen and then sighed. “I am really trying to make sense of your kitchen right now but a little help would be great.”
Athena walked to where he was and opened an overhead cabinet.
“You don’t have to do this,” she said as she put two cups on the counter. “I’m fine.”
“At the risk of sounding like some weird sexual predator, I will make you show me to your room and I can run you the bath myself,” he said as he looked up at her.
“I’ll just have a shower. It’s more polite when you have a guest anyway,” she said before she began walking off. “Feel at home,” she called out from down the hall.
She took a long deep breath when she got to her room and began pulling the zipper on her dress down. She did not understand why she felt so comfortable around Evgeni even though she had known him for less than half an hour.
“Brilliant Athena,” she thought as she held her hair back and stepped into the bathroom. “The first man you bring home in two years is the one who found you crying in the parking lot.”
She turned on the water and put on a shower cap. She was starting to think that maybe Carla was right. That maybe she had actually shelved her life for too long. She did not know how long she had been in the bathroom by the time she finally turned off the water and got out of the bathroom. She then put on her bathrobe and then walked to the kitchen.
“That tea smells really good,” she said. Evgeni looked up from his cup and poured her a cup before he carried the two cups to the living room. She followed him to the living room and sat down as she adjusted her bathrobe.
“You have more tea than a Chinese herbalist,” he said as he handed her a cup and she laughed.
“Yeah, I’m not big on coffee. Green tea is kind of my thing,” she said in a whisper as she took the cup from him.
“Well, I tried making the flavor best suited for the mood and I thought that a lemon grass and mint was the best fit for the evening,” he said with a smile.
“Lemon grass and mint is my favorite,” she said as he sat down next to her. “Lucky guess?”
“Not really. My grandmother swore by the relaxing properties of lemon grass,” he said with a smile.
She smiled and took a sip of her tea.
“So, miss Athena,” he started as he looked at her. “Do you mind me asking what the whole breakdown in the parking lot was about?” he asked as he looked at her. She took a long deep breath and began circling her finger on the rim of her cup.
“I don’t think I am ready to talk about it yet,” she whispered.
“I don’t want to sound cliché but I believe a very wise person once said that a problem shared is a problem half solved,” he said. She looked up at him and forced out a smile.
“Let’s just say that long story short, I lost a whole lot in a very short time.”
“That’s a little vague even for someone you just met,” he said and she shrugged.
“It is not that I don’t want to talk about it,” she started. “It is just that I know when I start talking about it I may very well cry.”
“I have already seen you cry, Athena. So that won’t be any surprise,” he pointed out.
“Look Evgeni,” she started as she shifted her weight. “I really appreciate you driving me here but…I…I just can’t do this right now.”
*****
Evgeni and Athena spent the next two hours talking about everything and nothing in particular. She didn’t know why she found herself so relaxed around him. Maybe it was the fact that he reminded her of someone she once knew, someone she once loved…and maybe she still did.
When Evgeni left, she locked up and then laid down on the futon in her living room. She switched on the TV and flipped through the channels trying to find something to watch but at the back of her mind, she was thinking about Evan Ridley, the man who changed her life forever…
In 2012, Athena knew she had it all, everything she had ever wanted. She was the assistant vice president at Jameson and Klein, a public relations firm in New York and she was engaged to the love of her life, Evan.
Theirs had been a whirlwind romance, something to get Lifetime to make a movie about. They had met in a business convention in Miami, a convention that Athena almost missed. She had been handling a new client who had been key on having his business handled by the best of the best. Something about him not entrusting his millions to a ‘naïve intern’. She had been second guessing herself all the way to Miami and even when she got there, she was not sure she wanted to get out of her hotel room.
“I don’t get why I have to be the one to come all the way to Miami while we could have sent one of the junior associates,” she said as she straightened her hair. She was talking to her boss Harold Klein over the phone as she got ready for that evening.
“I know but we are talking a five million retainer here,” Harold said as she put her straightening iron down. “And don’t even get me started on the billing.”
Athena rolled her eyes and pulled on her black and white dress.
“But Mr. Klein…” she started but Harold wouldn’t hear of it,
“Athena, have you even stopped to think what a five million retainer would mean in terms of your bonus? Plus bagging this client would mean that you add a feather to your already much decorated cap.”
Athena sighed. She knew he was right. Jameson and Klein had near tripled its business since she began handling their business personally. It was something about how she was able to talk to the clients that always sealed her deal.
“Alright, fine,” she said as she pulled up her zipper. “But this trip could have been avoided altogether.”
“I know but Mr. Lee Chang is going to be leaving for a business trip to the Middle East in a few days. We cannot risk him talking to another firm,” he said and Athena sighed again.
“Yes sir,” she said before she hung up. She put on her shoes and grabbed her bag before she made her way out. “I don’t believe I have to sit through a long boring two hour lecture that I don’t need just so I can get five minutes to talk to some arrogant businessman,” she thought as she rode in the elevator.
But what she did not know at the time was that she was walking right to her future. At first, when she met Evan, she thought that he was a little too nice for her taste but after a few months of correspondence, she knew that she couldn’t have been luckier to know him. By the end of the first year, Evan had proposed to her and she was only too happy to accept. The wedding had been set for June 6th 2013 and even though she had convinced herself that she was not the fairytale wedding kind of girl, she knew that she would never have another ‘big day’. She was hell bent on spending the rest of her life with Evan. She could almost picture what their future was going to be like. Their children, their house…everything. Life with Evan, as far as she could tell, was going to be perfect.
On Wednesday June 6th 2012, Athena was over the moon as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was in a pale white, one shouldered wedding gown
with a detailed bottom. Her dark brown curly hair had been straightened and pulled into a side bun and she had on plum lipstick that blended perfectly with her flawless brown skin tone. She was still looking into her reflection when her grandparents walked into the room.
“You are a beautiful sight for sore eyes, honey,” her grandfather said with a smile.
“Thanks grandpa,” Athena said.
“So lovely,” her grandmother, Yvette said as she hugged her from behind. “I might just cry.”
Athena smiled and shook her head.
“Please don’t because if you cry then I will start crying and I definitely don’t want to look puffy eyed in my wedding pictures,” she said in a soft voice and her grandmother rubbed her shoulders.
“Fine but before we leave we have something for you,” Yvette said pulling away from Athena before she walked up to where her husband was. Athena turned around and looked at her grandfather as he reached into his pocket to pull out a bracelet.
“Is that…” Athena started as she looked at the all too familiar bracelet in her grandfather’s hand.
“It is,” he said. “The silver and sapphire bracelet that has been passed down for generations.”
“I used to be so mad when she wouldn’t let me have it in my dress up games,” Athena said in a soft voice.
“Well, now it’s yours, honey,” her grandfather said as he fastened the bracelet around her wrist.
“It’s something old, it’s something borrowed and it is definitely something blue,” Yvette said with a smile. Athena threw her arms around her grandparents and closed her eyes.
“Your mother would have loved to be here with you, honey,” her grandfather said in a soft voice. “You know that, don’t you?”
Athena pulled away from him and nodded.
“I know,” she said as he dabbed her eyes trying hard not to cry. “I would have loved for her to be here with me too but I know that she is with me like she has always been.”
Yvette touched the side of her face and smiled.
“Of course she is,” she whispered.
“Now both of you get out of here before I ruin my damn makeup,” Athena said as she fanned her face.