CHAPTER 8

VALERIE'S POV

"Good evening dad."

"Good evening Princess. How was school?"

"It was fine. Let me go get changed."

"Alright dear." He said, eyes still fixed on the laptop's screen, "By the way, did you hand over that parcel to Mr Moore?"

"Yes, dad."

"Thank you princess." He smiled at me with a gaze that lasted for half a minute, as I made my way towards the stairs.

"Annie would help you with dressing up for tonight's party. I've already ordered a dress for you." The words fell off his lips absentmindedly, as he seemed too focus on whatever work he had going on in the laptop.

"Really?" Stopping halfway on the stairs, a wide smile on my face.

"I hope you like my choice though." Maybe he realized this was the time to be a father, as he smiled at me, without returning his gaze to the laptop.

"If it caught your liking, I'd love it for sure."

"Go get more ravishingly beautiful, my love." He teased with a chuckle.

"It's sounding as though you want to marry me off tonight..." I teased, but the smile he had was suspicious.

"...or do you?" My eyebrows were raised, but it only made him let out a long laugh.

"Maybe I just might. And guess who would still be there?" He said amidst the laughter.

"The air just became too stuffy."

"Stop being a child, Val." He yelled at me who was already half way up the stairs.

"He's the annoying jerk, not me!" I yelled back.

I don't know why but being wealthy and powerful makes you crave more power and wealth, and the best way of achieving this is through unification of two powerful families.

The Gonzalez, just like the Anderson's, are among the top ten wealthiest and influential families in New York State, and according to my dad's stories, the families used to be neighbors in the same neighborhood back when they still struggled to find their feet in the business world.

Naturally, which is stupidly foolish if I'm allowed to say, they decided to strengthen their power and affluence by joining their children in matrimony. Fortunately for me, the older sons of the Anderson's were already ripe for marriage and could not wait for a child to grow into a woman before eventually making her their wife. The marriage talks eventually died down, and I was allowed to innocently be friends with Damien, the last child of the Anderson's who was just two years older than I was.

He became the only friend I had and grew up with, and as I had no siblings, it was comforting to always be around him. Things, however, changed with mum's death and the first move, before eventually settling in this house mum had picked online as her dream house.

Damien was a good kid but puberty must have hit him wrongly as he became extremely rude and proud, insignificant to other's feelings around him. He became an annoying rich brat but the elders of the family seemed to condone his excesses with flimsy excuses like he'd get better after getting married to the right woman.

And unfortunately for me, the marriage talks were revived again, but this time, with Damien as the prospective suitor, as I appeared to them to be the right woman.

WRITER'S CORNER

The live band were giving it their all in their performances, as they tried stealing the attention of the great men and women of power gathered; a great performance equals more gigs and more gigs equal more money.

Ramsey's gaze were suddenly captured by a dainty figure adorned in a stunningly beautiful dress, or was it the woman wearing the dress that made it stunningly beautiful?

Taking a sip of red wine from his wine glass, which turned out tasteless, his gaze never left the first woman that just caught his attention since he stepped into Albany.

As she descended carefully down the stairs, hand locked into the hand of the man he presumed to be her father, he could see how the dress outlined her hour glass figure. Her smooth textured, bright and plump skin sparkled under the lights, with her golden brown hair styled in a teased chigaon with tendrils. Her full lips curved in a courteous smile as her father introduced her from family to family.

Never has he been so mesmerized by a human beauty since his existence. He had seen beauties but there was something different pulling him towards her.

He needed to speak to her at least, but how was he to start the conversation?

"Hi, my name is Ramsey?" Nah! That's awfully bad.

The father soon left the daughter, who went over to the bar, to probably get herself a drink. This was his chance to have a chat with her, and so his feet slowly took him towards her.

Standing behind her, he could hear her heart beating softly, the gulping sound of whatever she was drinking and how her blood flowed through her body. Though these sounds were usually scary as he was in a public place, but he was already well fed and he had his beast under leash.

With the glass still in hand, she turned to leave but bumped into something, or was it someone? The remaining contents of the glass pouring all over the clothes of this person, as she gasped at the ruin she had made of his blazers.

"I'm so terribly sorry."

"It's okay actually. It's nothing." He chuckled softly, as she immediately pulled out an handkerchief from her purse to try removing the stain somehow.

"It's not coming out! What should I do?" She was already at the brink of tears, as she didn't know who this guy was. And if he or his family were not on good terms with her father, she just made things worse.

"I'm sorry. I'm not usually this clumsy and I'm really sorry about this." She whispered softly, still attempting to get the stains off with any means possible, when he caught hold of her hand, as she stared at him for the first time with a pair of almond shaped emerald eyes with flecks of green as a hue of new spring's growth, warm and soft.

"It's okay. I'm serious." His voice deciding to betray him, as the words came out as an audible whisper.

"You sure?"

"Yeah. All I have to do is just take these off and it'd be like nothing ever happened." He replied, taking off the blazer to reveal a well tailored cotton dress shirt.

"I'm really sorry."

"How do I look? Better than before right?"

"Yeah." She chuckled for the first time, taking out time to have a look at the man in front of her, who seemed rich and extremely gorgeous looking but his eyes were what held her attention.

"Were those artificial contact lenses?" She wondered, as she had never seen a pair of eyes so red before.

"We've met some minutes ago..." He lied, hoping she'd believe it was the truth.

"I- I don't really recall exactly when though."

"It's okay. I saw how uninterested you were with the introductions earlier on." Ramsey's face curved in a smile of his own.

"Oh!" "I'm sorry."

"Instead of apologizing, why don't we redo the introductions?"

"Sounds perfectly fine by me. I'm Valerie Gonzalez."

"Valerie" he said softly, jealous of the words that just caressed her strawberry lips.

"That's a really beautiful name for a really beautiful woman." He complimented, still taking out time to admire her features, as she tucked a loose curl behind a beautiful pear shaped ear.

"Thank you." She smiled shyly.

"I'm Ramsey Delacour but most people find my last name relatively hard to pronounce so I just go by Ramsey."

"You have a really nice name as well and it's nice meeting you." She offered a handshake, one he took eagerly in his warm hands.

"The pleasure is all mine."

"So, do you reside in Albany or live nearby?" She asked, breaking off the lingering handshake.

"My family was thinking of having one of my siblings settle here and I'm suddenly thinking of being that sibling."

"And why is that?"

"I met a goddess who's making me change my stance about New York as a whole and I want to be closer to her."

"Well, I..."

"Valerie!!" A voice yelled, as Valerie turned around to find an angry looking Damien headed for her.

"Damien."

"What are you doing here? I've looked everywhere for you?" He tried desperately to speak softly, but the anger and jealousy he felt were behind his control.

"Well, I've been right here." She replied, turning towards Ramsey again, as Damien walked towards Ramsey, standing right between the both of them.

"Ramsey, meet Damien Anderson, a close family friend..."

"...Is that all I am to you?" Valerie felt the hurt behind those words but she was too upset about his making a scene in front of Ramsey to mind his feelings.

"And Damien, meet Ramsey Delacour..." She continued, smiling at Ramsey who smiled back, "A new friend of mine."

"It's nice meeting you, Damien." Ramsey said as nicely as he could to the man he was going to fight over for this woman's heart, extending a hand for a courteous handshake which Damien was compelled to take.

The battle of cold stares was interrupted by the vibrating sound of Valerie's phone.

"Come with Damien to the Balcony. There are some important guests looking forward to seeing you both." The text, from her dad, read.

"Uhmmm Ramsey it was really nice meeting you but I have to go now."

"I'd see you around Valerie Gonzalez."

"Damien let's go." She said, pulling Damien by the hand away from the bar.

"Who was he?" He whispered into her ears.

"None of your business." She replied coldly, not sparing a second to silence.