Chapter 6

Kelsey glanced at the alarm clock on her bedside again. It printed 11:57. Three more minutes until the deal was off. She had been pacing her room for the past fifteen minutes thinking whether she should call or not.

'It's now or never, Kelsey.' She thought.

Fidgeting with the phone in her hand, she finally decided to make the call. It rang four times and every ring, her heart pounded faster and faster against her chest. It was already on the fifth ring when someone finally answered.

"This is Mason King from King Corporations. Speak." He demanded with a tired voice. Even over the phone, he was indeed bossy.

"H-hi." Kelsey stuttered. "I-it's me, Kelsey Parker." She informed him.

"Ah, Ms. Parker, it's good that you called. So, I'm guessing the answer is yes?" He asked as he suddenly sounded less fatigued.

"Yes, where should I meet you tomorrow?"

"Let's meet at La Mille at downtown, I'm going to bring the contract with me. Remember Ms. Parker, once you've sign the contract, there's no backing out." He reminded her as she rolled her eyes even though she knew he couldn't see her.

"I know how contract works, Mr. King. I'm not stupid!" She retorted.

"I didn't say you were stupid. I was just pointing it out. I don't like people who sign contracts and doesn't keep the end of their work. Believe me, it happened several times before. Anyway, just meet me at the diner. Be there at ten o'clock exact."

"Okay."

"I don't like tardy people so you better be there at 10." He warned.

"Yeah, yeah." She hanged up irritably. "The nerve of that guy to accuse me of being tardy. Out of all the people in the world, me, tardy? And not to mention, he implied that I was stupid! Oh, he is so getting in my nerves right now!" She said to herself grinding her teeth against each other.

~ * ~ * ~

"Are you sure about this?" Ricky asked Mason for the millionth time the next day. Ricky placed the milkshake in front of Mason and sat across from him.

"Ricky, how many times do I have to tell you that I am. I know what I'm doing and the girl knows what she's getting herself into." Mason explained patiently as he played with the straw of his chocolate milkshake.

"All I'm saying is this is bull. C'mon, are you really that desperate to drag this innocent, poor woman into your mess?"

"Ricky, I can't lose the company, okay? I gotta do this. I'm not risking my position just because I don't wanna settle down. This is the only way."

"You know that karma's a b*tch, right? One day, all of these will just bite you back."

"If that's the punishment, then so be it." Mason stubbornly said as Ricky rolled his eyes.

"Why can't I have a normal best friend?" He muttered annoyingly and got out of the private booth and made his way to his office in the diner, leaving Mason alone.

~ * ~ * ~

Kelsey went to the kitchen with her wet hair cascading down her back. She wore white jeans, pink blouse, and her only pair of black flats. She wasn't really dressing to impress, hence the chosen clothes.

Her mother was already sitting on the stool with a newspaper in one hand and a pen on the other. She was doing the crossword puzzle once again. A habit that she did every morning.

"Good morning, mom." Kelsey greeted as she opened the covered to get a red mug.

Hilda glanced up at her and studied her outfit. "You going somewhere?" She asked thoughtfully and turned her attention back to the crossword puzzle.

"Yeah, today's the contract signing." She answered regarding her mother as she waited for her response. Sadly, she didn't utter a word nor made any facial expression. Kelsey made her coffee still waiting for her mother's reply but she was a stubborn woman.

Kelsey let out a sigh of defeat. "Mom, if you don't want me to do this then tell me now. I'd rather decline this offer than have you not talk to me." She said boring her eyes on the coffee mug in front of her.

Hilda once again looked up from the newspaper, only to find her daughter glaring at the coffee mug. She knew that her daughter was on the verge of tears and her heart softened. "No." She firmly replied causing Kelsey to looked up at her.

"Don't decline the offer." She added. "You're right, it is a good offer. A million dollars is what exactly we need right now. For your future and your brothers'. I guess I just didn't want you to hurt yourself." She muttered softly.

"Mom, I'm not gonna hurt myself."

"Yes, you will, Kelsey." Hilda said as she stood up and made her way to where her daughter was standing. "I know you will."

"What do you mean?" She asked curiously.

"Kelsey, I just don't want you to come back home one day and regret this decision. I don't want to hear you say that you've fallen for this guy."

"Mom, please, this is not one of those movies or telenovelas you watch." She interjected as Hilda smiled at her sadly.

"I just don't want you to be brokenhearted in the end. Believe it or not, but I'm not ready for your first heartbreak, sweetheart." She said causing Kelsey to laugh.

"Oh mom, I promise not to get hurt, okay?"

"I don't think you can bare the pain, sweetheart."

"Well, we'll never know until that day comes." She said playfully earning a chortle from her mother. "I love you, mom." She said pulling her into a hug.

"I love you too." Hilda replied kissing her temple. "Now go, it's already 9:15, it'll take you half an hour to get there so you better leave now."

"Wait, how did you know we're meeting at 10?" Kelsey questioned pointedly.

"Honey, when you wanna know something, you've got to eavesdrop." She admitted causing both of them to laugh.

"Okay, I'm gonna go now."

"Alright, make sure you read the contract thoroughly. Don't just sign it."

"Will do, mom. Kiss Ace and Kyle for me."

~ * ~ * ~

The bus stopped right in front of the diner, La Mille. Kelsey knew that the owner of it was no other than Richard Hellman, business partner of Mr. Mason King. The building was huge and fancy looking on the outside. It looked more like a restaurant than a diner to Kelsey.

She let out a sigh before entering the diner. The moment she did, her mouth dropped to the floor in process. It might have looked like an expensive restaurant on the outside, but inside... It was not what Kelsey was expecting at all.

It looked exactly like a diner, but maybe a lot fancier than a normal one. It had red booths by the walls, an oval bar in the middle of the room with red stools around it, and ordinary red chairs and tables everywhere else. To Kelsey, it was more of a buffet than a diner, only the theme of it made it look like a regular diner.

Two chefs were in the oval bar cooking away. The sweet aroma of waffles and pancakes wafted in the air. It smelled delicious that Kelsey could almost taste the flavour in her mouth. Many customers were already settled in, eating their breakfast. Kelsey's mouth couldn't help but watered just by looking at the other customers eat.

"Can I help you, ma'am?" A waiter in a red vest and white long sleeves asked her.

"Actually, I'm looking for Mr. King? Is he here?"

"I'll handle it from here, Cal." Ricky's voice interrupted as the waiter nodded and shot Kelsey a smile before he left.

"Nice diner." Kelsey complimented with a smile on her face.

"Thanks, I worked so hard to build this baby." He said causing Kelsey to chuckle as he referred to the diner as his 'baby.'

"Is Mr. King here, Mr. Hellman?" She asked politely.

"Oh please, call me Ricky. Technically, you are getting married to my best friend so might as well call me by my first name." He suggested.

"Alright, do you where Mr. King is, Ricky?"

"Oh, that cold-hearted reptile, yeah, I think I know where he is." He said causing both of them to laugh.

"Not in good terms with him?" She questioned.

"Mason had lots of stupid decisions before, and I think this is one of them." He said straight to the point earning a couple of blinks from Kelsey.

"You don't think this is a good idea?" She asked with furrowed brows.

"It's not that it's a bad idea, in fact, I think it's pretty clever. But I'm his best friend, I want what's best for him. I don't want him to realize one day that he should have settled down instead of playing around the bush. I'm afraid that it'll all be too late once he realize everything." He explained as Kelsey bit her lower lip and nodded in understand. She didn't reply or even uttered a word to him, so Ricky kept walking to the private booth with Kelsey following behind him.

Kelsey didn't expect that there was a private booth in the diner. It was the same booth in a little room with soundproof glass around it. She already saw the jet black hair of Mason from the outside and she suddenly got a little nervous. Her palms were sweating and she quickly rubbed them on her pants.

"You can go in, I just have to greet some of my loyal customers. Good luck." Ricky said his farewell as he left Kelsey in front of the glass door, all nervous and having second thoughts.