Mark Anthony was in the office busy with the design, he was concentrating in his work then his phone rang, he shouted at Ralph. “I told you to take the message should someone look for me.” Ralph said, “it’s your phone Sir.” He apologized to Ralph, he tried to answer it, but it was too late, and it was a private number. He continued with his work, the phone rang again, he was so irritated, but he answered the phone. “Hello” with a bad tone. “Hello, its Victoria Lewis, sorry to trouble you, are you busy?” Mark was shocked and said, “I’m not busy, how are you?” Ralph looked at his boss dumbfounded, he nearly beat him up when the phone rang, but he now said he was not busy.
Victoria told him she was well and asked him to fetch her today from work at 6 pm. He agreed, Victoria said goodbye and hung up. Mark Anthony was smiling from ear to ear. He wished that he could stand on the roof top and shout. He was no longer interested in work now. He told Ralph that he was going for hair cut but he did the hair cut yesterday. Ralph was speechless. “If you want to go home early Ralph, you can leave.” Ralph’s eyes were big as saucers.
Ralph decided to ask for salary increase, “Sir, may I have 10% salary increase, my family is not doing well.” Ralph was joking but to his surprise his boss agreed. Ralph was raised by a single mother, his father left them when he was a baby. Johnson Group paid his employees well, Ralph and his mother lived a comfortable life. When Mark left his office, it was 1 pm. He went to the CEO office and told James that he was going out and he was not coming back. He asked him about his coming engagement banquet, James said everything was going well, two weeks to go. He congratulated him and left. He went to do his haircut; his hairstylist just wash his head since he did his haircut yesterday. He went home, he soaked himself in the bathtub, he wrapped the towel to his waist. He sprayed the Michael Kors perfume; he went to his closet and chose the best suit. He was extremely handsome.
From his house to the Lewis Group, its twenty minutes, but he left his house at 4:30. When he passed the florist, he bought Tulips flowers. Before 5 pm, he was standing outside his car at the entrance of Lewis Group. At 5 pm the staff started leaving the office, the ladies were so excited to see the handsome man.
Victoria went to the reception to collect her package, she heard that there was a handsome man parking by the road at the entrance of the company. She assumed that was Mark, but it was 5 pm, she went out to look. It was him indeed, she went to him and asked him to follow her to her office because he was causing traffic. He opened his car door, took the Tulips flowers, and gave them to her, Victoria thanked him and told him that he loved them. Ladies were envious of her. Victoria took water from the bar fridge and gave it to him. She excused herself and went to the bathroom.
Her father came to her office, he wanted to discuss something with her but there was a man sitting in the sofa. He had never seen someone so handsome, James was handsome, but Mark was more outstanding. He greeted him and asked him his name. Mark was so scared, he assumed that this man was Victoria’s father. He stood up and said, “Hello Uncle, my name is Mark Anthony, nice to meet you.” Victoria’s father looked at Mark and asked, “Are you related to Timothy Anthony?” Mark smiled and said, “He is my father.” Then Mr Lewis shook Mark’s hand and asked, “are you working in your father’s business?” Mark smiled and said, “I’m working at Johnson Group as a Fashion Designer Uncle.” Patrick was satisfied. “Where is Victoria?” asked Mr Lewis. Mark replied, “She went to the bathroom Uncle.” Mark and Mr Lewis sat down on the sofa.
When Victoria returned to her office, her father and Mark Anthony were talking and laughing. Victoria’s father was satisfied. He didn’t mind having him as his son in law. “Dad were you looking for me?” asked Victoria smiling. “Yes, I was looking for you since you have a guest we will talk tomorrow”. Victoria sent her father off. “Dad I’m leaving please don’t wait for me.” Her father smiled at her and said, “I like your date very much.” Victoria was beaming when she heard her father’s words. She kissed her father and went back to her office. She packed up her things and said to Mark, “we can go now”. Victoria switched off the light and left.
He took her at His Wings restaurant, where they first met. Victoria was very happy; that was her favourite restaurant. “Thank you for taking me to my favourite restaurant and thank you for answering my call, I was so scared that you will reject me” said Victoria smiling sweetly at Mark. Mark looked at her with a smile, “I was so happy when I received your call. You are so beautiful. I fell in love with you the first time I saw you. That day I was with my dad, he wanted me to come back to Anthony Group to become a CEO, I was so upset but you put a smile in my face. Since then, I’m smiling every day, I’m grateful.”
Victoria flashed him a beautiful smile and he was mesmerized; he was in a daze. Victoria said, “You are so handsome; I fell in love with you on that day too. You made me to look forward to the end of my marriage.” Mark was dumbfounded when she heard Victoria’s words. “Why did you marry James”. Victoria hesitated, “my father tried to commit suicide and I was scared that he will do it again, when Mr Johnson approached us, he told my dad that he will cooperate with him provided I marry James.” Mark regretted asking that question. The waiter came with their food, it was her favourite dishes. She looked at him and smiled, she was touched.
Victoria asked Mark about his family, Mark told her that his mother passed away when giving birth to him and he had estranged relationship with his father. He blamed him for killing his wife. He told Victoria that his father tried to reconcile with him, but he was not willing to forgive him. Few people knew that he was related to Timothy Anthony, and he wanted to keep it that way. Victoria touched Mark’s hand and said, “Mark you need to forgive your father for yourself and try to have a relationship with him because we are in a borrowed time, tomorrow is not guaranteed to us.” Mark looked at Victoria and said, “I hear you Victoria, I will think about it.” Victoria told him that she lost her mother when she was eleven years old. His father raised her alone. He sacrificed a lot for her.
The atmosphere was good, they were talking and laughing, and the food was delicious. She had a great time, she enjoyed Mark’s company. While they were eating, Mark’s father, Timothy Anthony came to the restaurant with his Assistant, Deon Adams. He saw his boss’s son Mark Anthony, and said, “Sir, I just saw Mark Anthony, he is dining in this restaurant.” Timothy Anthony tried several times to contact Mark to no avail. “Where is he?” asked Timothy Anthony looking around, when he saw his son, he was surprised to see him with a beautiful girl laughing. He was pleased, he decided to greet them. When Mark saw his father coming, his face became ugly. “What is wrong?” asked Victoria. Mark replied, “my father is coming to our table. If he insults you, I will cut my ties with him.” His father approached Victoria with a smile, “hello my daughter in love. If my son loves you, I will love you more.” He hugged Victoria and kissed her in both cheeks. Mark was dumbfounded. “Hello Uncle, your restaurant is great, I like it a lot,” said Victoria with a smile. Mark’s father was beaming, “call me dad, if you like this restaurant, I will give it to you as a bride gift then he hugged his son, “well done son” and left. Mark was astonished.