The first sight

Chapter 1: The first sight

"I will be back in the office tomorrow. Mail me my schedule.. Thanks." Silas Fitzgerald cut the call and leaned back in the back seat of his car as he looked at the passing London streets and the blurred city lights. His one hand was holding the phone while the other had an alcohol bottle. 

The soft glow of the streetlights cast gentle shadows on Silas's face, highlighting the sharp angles of his jawline. His features were sculpted with an almost unnatural precision—high cheekbones, a straight nose, and lips that often rested in a firm, unreadable line. His deep-set blue eyes, striking yet distant, reflected a life of solitude and carefully maintained detachment.

"We will reach the mansion in another 10 minutes sir" The driver informed as the car came to a halt at the signal. 

Silas just nodded and kept drinking. The familiar burn of alcohol down his throat kept him both conscious and lost at the same time. He was absentmindedly looking outside when his eyes fell on the bus stop on the left. More specifically, his eyes were stuck to that one girl in white, waiting for the bus holding a file in her hands.

He didn't know what captivated him, but he lowered the window glass and coincidently the girl too looked back at him. Her black orbs stared into his blue ones, and as if a current passed through him, his heart skipped a beat, he forgot to breathe, time ceased around him and his soul felt awakened. 

His hand went to his heart. He had never seen such clear eyes. The brief moment of eye contact made him more alive than he was in the last 8 years. 

Silas frowned when a bus blocked his view. He thought of getting down from the car but the engine roared to life as the signal turned green and then he saw the bus stop empty as the bus moved forward.

"Follow that bus," Silas said hurriedly to his driver. His gaze never left the bus. The driver did as he was told without any questions. 

They followed it for the next 10 minutes when the bus drove into the King's College.

"Sir, do you want me to drive in?" The driver asked when Silas finally snapped back. He hesitated. It was late at night, and he had literally no business in this university premises. 

"No. Let's go back to the mansion" he said and started gulping down alcohol again. But those doe eyes and black orbs were imprinted in his mind already.

"Sir, we are here."

Silas looked outside with his hazy eyes and saw the familiar grand mansion of his. He stumbled a little as he got down and walked in while unbuttoning his blazer. As usual, the mansion was dead quiet, just like his life. 

"Young master, Miss Rose is here. Should I send her in?" The butler asked politely from the outside of the room. 

Silas thought for a while. He still hasn't changed out his formal suit with which he got onto the plane to fly back here from the US. 

"Send her in"

He sat there in deep thoughts when the door opened and a slender figure walked in. Rose's red body-con dress tightly hugged her perfect curves, making her look irresistible. Her blonde wavy hair gave her a soft girl aura which will make anyone pamper her.

"Hello handsome. I missed you." Rose flirted as she sat on the opposite chair facing Silas. "Did you miss me?"

Silas chuckled as he twirled the bottle in his hand. Rose was taken aback looking at his expression. He was lost as always. But he was drunk-lost before, but now it seemed a little different. 

"My dad once told me this.." Silas sat properly and put away the bottle as he smiled to himself. "When a person looks into your eyes, and your soul dances, my son.. love has touched you"

Rose stilled. The fierce, enigmatic, and notoriously untouchable Silas Fitzgerald… talking about love?

"You still haven't finished your first bottle. Who is that lucky girl who got you so drunk already?"

"Don't know. I don't know." Silas stopped talking and looked at the busy city and skyscrapers through his floor to ceiling window. 

He pictured the girl again. The innocence in her eyes, the waves of her dark black hair, her gentle tapping on her folder, tightening the scarf around her shoulders to keep her warm and that slight tilt of her head when she looked at him. 

'Did she also feel this pull?' He mused.

"Mr Silas Fitzgerald, who can get anything with a snap of his fingers, is thinking so much about this girl? Just call your secretary and let him find out about that girl. She will be here with you tomorrow" Rose shrugged as she poured herself a glass of wine. 

Silas thought for a while before taking out his phone and dialed his secretary. He described the angel he saw and cut the call. 

"Wow.. I am surprised. You didn't set any price?" Rose asked. This was the typical Silas everyone knew of. Money, drinks, girls. He would get a new girl every night for whatever price he decides. She was no different. But right now Silas hasn't discussed any price. 

"What I felt was priceless"

Silas didn't give any more explanations. He brought the bottle to his lips to take a sip but put it down again. He didn't want anything to overshadow the intoxication he was feeling right now. He didn't want it to end.

Ring.. Ring…

Silas immediately picked up his assistant's call, eager to know about the girl. "Did you find her?"

"Yes, sir. Her name is Ayesha Cloven, 22 years old, a graduate student at King's College. I've emailed her background details to you."

Silas immediately checked his inbox. There she was. The same girl. The same eyes.

Rose quietly observed him as he read her information with an intensity she had never seen before. The usual playboy was gone. Something—or someone—had changed him in a single night.

"I think I should leave now," Rose said, finishing her drink. Silas didn't respond. He was too absorbed in the screen. With a sigh, she walked to the door, but before leaving, she turned back once more.

He never even noticed.

"Ayesha," he whispered. Her name rolled off his tongue like a sacred prayer.

—-----------------

"No mom. I got an internship offer for this summer. I won't be able to go there." Ayesha said softly as she walked back and forth in the corridor of her college housing. 

Her nervousness was evident as she was fiddling with the hem of her shirt. 

"No no mom. Please. I will be busy. And I really want to do this internship. I will still have one week free after my internship. I will go then please." She pleaded to her mom. Her right foot was continuously tapping the floor while her left hand was tapping her chin. 

She didn't want to meet her relatives. She didn't like spending time with them. But her mom kept insisting she spend time with her cousins. She hated having these discussions.

"Yes mom, that's what I am telling you. I will go there after my internship is done. I just want to focus on my internship for those 12 weeks, that's all." Her voice rose a pitch as familiar anxiety crept in. 

Her expressions changed from worried, to angry, to desperation, to defeat in a few seconds. 

"Bye mom. Good night"

Ayesha took a deep breath after she ended the call. 

"Is everything okay?"

Ayesha jerked at the sudden voice behind her. Turning around, she found her roommate Jasmine staring at her. 

"Yes. Yeah.. Everything is good. Just the usual things." Ayesha smiled awkwardly and went in first. Jasmine shrugged and followed her before closing the door. 

"Your fiance sent you something. Here." Jasmine forwarded the package in her hand to Ayesha. She just picked it up from the reception desk while coming upstairs. 

"Oh.. Thanks Jasmine. Have a good night" Ayesha took the package and went into her room. 

She had no interest in what her fiance had sent her. The package went straight to join the heap of similar packages in the corner of the room. Ayesha turned off the lights and went to bed but the bottled up irritation after speaking to her mother wasn't letting her sleep. 

And as if the universe was set on not letting her sleep, her phone beeped with a message from her fiance. 

Hey beautiful. I have booked your flight tickets. 

And the bracelet I sent you has my name engraved on it. Wear it from now on.

Ayesha's grip on the phone tightened. Flight tickets? No more than 20 minutes had passed after talking to her mom and her mom had already decided her fate with her fiance. And she didn't like the tone of that second sentence at all. 

She kept staring at those messages for a long time. She didn't bother replying. She knew her replying or not replying doesn't matter at all. 

Annoyed, she clicked on the flight confirmation. At least they booked it after her internship. Small mercies. But her frustration remained.

Then another notification flashed.

[Internship offer Letter from Fitzgerald Group].

Ayesha gasped.

She had just interviewed today—how did the results come so fast? And at midnight?

Her exhaustion melted away as excitement took over. She hurriedly reached for her laptop, completely unaware that somewhere across the city, a pair of blue eyes had already memorized her name.