CHAPTER 19

 
 
The slim woman in the four-inch heels strode
along the hallway to the head office of Silverton Hotel like she
was parading on a catwalk, her gait sly like a panther stalking her
target. She dismissed anyone who got in her way, only heading
toward her destination, which lay hidden in the private sector of
the hotel. Her target: the young heir of Silverton Enterprises,
Hunter Silverton.
Winton, who was busy dashing between errands
for Anton Silverton, just stood in the hallway, watching her glide
past him, his mouth gaping open in awe as he admired her beauty.
She was a sight to behold all right, with her long, glorious fiery
red hair cascading all the way down to her waist.
Winton didn’t realize he was gawking and
drool was forming on the corner of his lips until she slid past him
toward the restricted staff-only area. Blinking a few times for his
wayward mind to return back to reality, he clamped his mouth shut,
swiped the drool off the side of his chin, and raced to catch up to
the beauty that had caught his eyes.
“Miss, I’m sorry, but you can’t pass this
area. This is a no patron area. Only staff is allowed in here,” he
said sweetly by way of blocking her passage with his body.
The woman gazed at him under her lashes.
“But Fern has someone she needs to see. Can’t you just let her in?
It’s very important to her.”
Winton couldn’t handle being spoken to like
this. He felt his legs turning into jelly. He always had a soft
spot for sweet beauty like this woman here. Especially if she was
referring to herself in the third person.
“I’m sorry, miss, but I can’t.”
“Really?” she asked, her eyes twinkling with
sadness, her lips pouting. And she even batted her eyelashes again
just for effect.
“I… I could get that person for you.” Winton
tried to woo her and stood a little straighter so he could look
manlier.
For someone who was on par with Anton
Silverton, the same age and everything, Winton couldn’t help
feeling inferior to the man. Where Anton was blessed with thick
brown hair, Winton was starting to turn into a silvery grey fox,
what with the silver lining on his temple already. And it didn’t
look good either when there was a potbelly on its way too. He
needed to get those extra pounds off if he wanted to attract any
woman at all. He just needed a beautiful woman to motivate him to
do this. And he just hoped this woman in front of him here would be
his prize for losing all that extra weight.
“I… can’t.” Winton still stood his ground.
“Who do you need? I can call for him. You can just—”
Blue blazes, the woman was winding her arms
around him, and Winton almost peed in his pants. He had never been
this close to a beautiful creature before. He couldn’t even think
straight, let alone react. This was outside the bounds of their
office rules. No sexual conduct in Silverton Enterprises between
strangers or office workers. She was a stranger, but he had no
doubt he’d just broken the rules.
“What is going on here?”
Winton turned to the voice and there was the
CEO of the hotel, all serious-looking, Anton Silverton. Winton
tried unwinding the arms of the beautiful creature, but she was
like a leech, sucking him until he was out of energy.
The woman turned to the man and ran her eyes
down the length of his body. Smiling as she saw the man who
interrupted her, wearing a suit that was not as expensive as this
gentleman with the growing potbelly, she assumed immediately that
he must be the underling of Mr. Potbelly.
“Fern is here to see Hunter,” she announced.
“Are you the secretary here? Please bring Hunter to Fern,” she
instructed.
Anton almost gaped in horror at the sight of
the woman before him. She was like the devil, dressed all in red
with red sharp claws and lips that were so scarlet it hurt his eyes
to look at. And the gall of her to even assume he was a
secretary.
“I…” Anton couldn’t pretend to speak; in
fact, he was that speechless.
“Fern would like to speak with Hunter.” She
came to stand in front of Anton and with her heels, her head was
level with his.
Eye to eye, nose to nose, and lips to lips,
Anton couldn’t help feeling a slight thump in the rhythm of his
heart. There was no denying there was some sort of electric shock
running through his being.
Fern cocked her head to one side. This man,
why was he not having any reaction to her? He looked so serious and
still, like a mannequin.
Anton couldn’t take his eyesight off this
woman; he just couldn’t. So he continued to stare at her, putting
on his serious and businesslike face.
“What in the grasshopper is going on?” came
Clinton Silverton’s booming voice, breaking the two’s eye
contact.
The red-haired woman gracefully turned her
head to look at the old man, which in turn made her coppery mane
sway past Anton’s face, and he couldn’t help sucking in her sweet,
exotic scent. When she saw the man with the silvery grey hair and
the Armani suit, with the round chin and chubby cheeks, Fern knew
immediately who this person was.
“Are you by any chance Senior Silverton?”
she went to ask Clinton, grabbing both of his hands to hold within
hers. “You look just like him in the magazine.”
Clinton was a bit awestruck. “Yes, I am. And
you, my dear—cough—beauty, who are you?” he asked, also
struck by her attractiveness.
The woman smiled at the three men before
her.
“This is Fern.” She indicated herself. “And
she is pregnant with Hunter, Senior Silverton’s son.”
Clinton Silverton almost collapsed, Anton
looked so shocked that he couldn’t even utter a single word, and
Winton’s motivation to lose those extra pounds deflated like a
helium balloon.
 

 
“You did what?” Hunter stared at the woman
before him, who was busy giggling on the couch. “Fern, stop
laughing. I’m being serious here,” he yelled.
“Oh, Hunter darling, stop yelling at Fern.
What a way to welcome your beautiful best friend from America,
yelling like that.” She giggled again, brushing him off.
“Best friend my ass. Why the hell did you
tell that kind of joke to my family? You know Dad almost had an
aneurism.”
“Look, Fern is sorry. Stop being mad at
Fern. Are you still upset because Fern wouldn’t visit you sooner?
Hummmm?” She wound her arm around Hunter’s neck, bringing him
closer. “And would you remove your sunglasses? Fern wants to see
you.”
“I’m not upset with you. You’re like my
long-lost sister,” Hunter muttered. “And no, I will not remove my
glasses.”
“I thought so. This long-lost sister of
yours does apologize. Fern didn’t mean to make everyone so upset.
But please do remove your glasses. It’s like Fern can’t even tell
if she’s talking to Hunter or not.”
“You have to go and apologize. And no, for
the last time, I am not going to remove these glasses,” Hunter
said, straightening his sunglasses again.
“Why not?” Fern asked, moving to remove
those glasses, but Hunter backed away fast, preventing her from
doing so.
“Look, would you just go apologize?” Hunter
said, a little upset. “You’ve caused a commotion in the workplace,
and it will not dissipate until you go and apologize.”
“Okay,” Fern said finally. “Fern will go to
apologize. It is to Senior Silverton, is it not?” she asked. When
Hunter nodded his head, she smiled. “Of course, for you, my
darling, Fern will do anything.”
Fern was about midway to the door when
Hunter’s added comment froze her on the spot.
“And Anton.”
“What? No, no. Not that mannequin,” Fern
grumbled, coming back to the couch and sitting down.
“Mannequin?” Hunter asked, wondering whom
Fern was referring to.
“Yes. The mannequin,” Fern said, explaining
her serious dislike of Anton. “You didn’t see it, Hunter darling,
but he was the only man there that didn’t drool or bat an eyelid at
Fern. Even Senior Silverton commented on how beautiful Fern was,
but that mannequin, that mannequin… Fern’s beauty didn’t affect
him. Fern is very disappointed.”
“For the first time, you realize your beauty
will not affect all men.”
“You, my darling, are excused since you are
this beautiful creature’s best friend,” she said while gesturing to
herself, “but that mannequin… I can’t let it go. He hurt Fern’s
ego.”
“You sure have a huge ego, Fern.”
“Not as huge as yours, Hunter darling,” she
replied, then smirked as if interested to see what he’d been up to
since the last time they meet. “Tell Fern, how many have you bedded
lately, my darling Casanova?”
“None,” Hunter confessed, nudging his
sunglasses again.
“None?” Fern uttered in shock. “What do you
mean none? You’re like the number one Casanova from our university
days.”
“I can’t seem to get it up these days,”
Hunter confessed quietly, but Fern had excellent hearing so she was
able to pick it up.
“Really? Why? Wait! Does this have something
to do with why you’re wearing the sunglasses?” Fern asked.
“Well, you could say that.” Hunter began his
pathetic story. “I had this experience with this mysterious goddess
once, and now I can’t seem to sleep with anyone else.”
“Was she really that good?”
“Beyond anything you can imagine,” Hunter
said gloomily.
“Since she’s that good, why are you feeling
so down? Why don’t you ask her to be your girlfriend, then? That
way you can sleep with her every night.”
“I can’t.”
“Why not? Fern doesn’t understand.”
“Because she’s the mysterious goddess,
that’s why. I don’t even know her name or where she is now. Hell,
we had sex once and then she just left me. I tried searching for
her everywhere, but I can’t seem to find her.”
Hunter didn’t want to tell Fern that his
ailment was also due to Clarice, the avocado. Both the avocado and
his goddess were doing his head in.
Fern came to sit beside Hunter and began
rubbing his back like she always did when Hunter was upset.
“Have you hired a private detective? Fern
knows some really good ones, just like Hercule Pirot in Miss Agatha
Christie’s books.”
“I did, but none could help me. Apparently,
they’re still searching for the woman.”
“Poor Hunter darling.” Fern hugged her
friend then. “I guess she doesn’t want you to find her. Maybe she
just wanted a one-night stand with you. You know, since you’re all
hot and everything.”
“I guess so but… arrrggggg,” Hunter growled
and ruffled his hair even more in frustration. “I just can’t sleep.
I’ve tried sleeping, but I just can’t. It’s like this woman put a
curse on me. I slept with her once and now I can’t sleep ever
again. I feel if I don’t get to sleep with her again, I might die
of insomnia. And if I do manage to sleep, I dream of her. That’s
why I have all these dark shadows under my eyes.” Hunter tore the
sunglasses off his face, exposing the many bags and bags of dark
shadows underneath his eyes that he was trying to hide.
Fern let out a shudder.
“Oh, poor Hunter baby,” Fern said, then went
to sit on his lap and examined his eyes.
“Ka, you do have bags under your eyes. They
could hold many lollies,” Fern said, trying to cheer up her
friend.
“Fern, my eyes can’t hold lollies,” he said,
getting annoyed. Why must she tease him like back in their
university days? He was starting to get really upset and annoyed.
He wasn’t an immature guy like before. He’d changed. He
thought.
“Fern is very sorry. Please forgive Fern.
She just wants to cheer you up.” She smiled, then gently touched
his eyes. “But still, having these bags, you can’t go around like
this. What happens if someone sees you? You’d be tainted for
life.”
“I know. That’s why I’ve been wearing those
glasses. Then Dad yelled at me to come to the hotel, saying it was
a life and death situation. You know I had to take the back stairs
so no one could recognize me. I feel like a criminal coming to
steal something from my own hotel.”
“Ha-ha. Poor Hunter. It must have been
tiring trying to escape from all the employees who know you.” Fern
laughed. “But it doesn’t matter now. Fern will help you. She has
this eye cream that just came out. Fern will give some to you. You
just need to apply the eye cream on these spots here if you don’t
want to have more ba—”
“Ahem.”
There was a clearing of the throat sound at
the door, which alerted both Hunter and Fern, turning their gazes
towards the sound. There stood Anton Silverton, his eyes sharp as
he took in the sight of his playboy of a cousin and the provocative
woman sitting on his lap with her arms around his neck. Somehow his
heart was beating fast and he wasn’t sure why, but it must be
seeing that unpleasant scene before him.
“Hunter, Uncle needs to see you.” He spoke
sharply, then turned on his heel and left.
“Did you see that, Hunter?” Fern asked her
friend. “That mannequin looked scary and he didn’t even look at
Fern when she was sitting on your lap. He’s really bruising Fern’s
ego here,” she whined again.
“Fern, maybe you should go and apologize to
him,” Hunter said, lifting her up. “I think you should clear up the
misunderstanding. Anton is a very traditional man, after all. He’s
not like me. He doesn’t like to see skin.”
“Skin?” Fern looked at Hunter in
confusion.
“Yes, skin.”
 

 
“Knock! Knock!” Fern said, then opened the
door without permission. “Fern’s here to see Junior Silverton,” she
announced.
“Is there anything you need?” Anton asked
indifferently, surprised when he heard a musical voice instead of
the sound of knocking, followed by the opening of his door.
Fern stood like she owned the place, then
came to perch her elegant bottom on the swivel chair facing Anton.
With one hand underneath her chin, elbow resting upon Anton’s desk,
she glanced at him through her thick eyelashes, putting on her best
seductive smile, and said, “Fern is here to apologize for playing a
joke on Junior Silverton.” She glanced up to observe the effect her
voice had on him.
Anton didn’t even bat an eye. His face was
as impassive as ever before. It looked like he was stone cold. Fern
tried even harder to get the man to react to her beauty.
“Fern apologizes again. Would Junior
Silverton be willing to grant Fern a private audience at lunch?
Fern can buy Junior Silverton lunch?”
Anton would have to react now since Fern had
never had to use this tactic before. In all of her life, she had
never had to lift a finger to get any man to react to her, but this
one was proving to be a challenge. No matter, she could handle
anything. A bit of a challenge was nothing to freak out about.
Anton, who just listened to Fern talk,
couldn’t believe she had the gall to ask him out. He disliked this
kind of woman. What was his cousin thinking hanging out with a
woman like that? But the more he looked at her, the more he
couldn’t suppress his beating heart.
But he hated her. He hated the way she
behaved, the way she wore that flimsy material that barely covered
her skin. He just wanted to grab a blanket out of the first aid
cupboard and wrap it around her. Even if she died due to the
suffocation, at least it was better than to die with the
humiliation of having that much skin exposed for the male species
to feast their eyes on. Even he, Anton Silverton, who was usually
unaffected by anything, was starting to feel a niggling sensation
running up his spine. God help him, but the more he looked at her
form, the more she resembled a fiery goddess out to seduce all men
on Earth. But Anton vowed to himself that he was not going to be
one of them.
“Well? Junior Silverton? What do you say?
Would you grant this beautiful Fern a lunch with you?” she asked,
staring at him alluringly.
Anton turned away but accidently caught her
sight, in turn, locking their eyes together for a split second, but
by God, he almost suffocated from the lack of oxygen in his lungs,
just from that gaze. But he composed himself. His ideal type of
woman was Clarice Mason. She was the epitome of beauty, sensible
and unique. She would make a splendid mother to his baby and a fine
wife for him. He’d already made up his mind to woo her. This
reminded him that he must phone her for the meeting since it had
been a week already since he’d gotten back from Queenstown.
Regarding this fiery woman though, sitting in front of him, smiling
like she was about to seduce him, he had to control himself. And so
he said, “Sorry, but I have a meeting.”
“Well, how about dinner? Fern can wait,” she
asked sweetly.
God, that musical voice. It was driving him
insane.
“I have work to do,” he said.
“You’re so busy, Junior Silverton. When are
you going to have time for Fern so she can apologize to you
properly?”
“Listen. I accept your apology. So can you
leave when you’re done?”
“Is Junior Silverton asking Fern to leave?”
she uttered in surprised. No one had ever asked her to leave
before. NO ONE. This man was proving to be more than a challenge,
but she must venture forward if she were to save her face and
regain her ego.
“Yes.”
“Junior Silverton?” Fern came around to sit
herself on Anton’s desk, right beside where he was typing on his
computer, her short skirt riding up so high it exposed her bare
legs. Anton couldn’t help but fidget in his chair when his eyes saw
her sitting in this position.
Fern was smirking and decided to up her game
a bit more so Anton would come begging for her forgiveness. And so
she draped her arms around his neck and said, “How can you treat
Fern like this? Fern is wounded.”
“Look!” Anton shouted. He’d had enough of
this nonsense. He shoved her arms from him and stood up to his full
height. He was definitely sure now that he wouldn’t get any work
done with this creature disturbing his mind. “It’s unrespectable
for a woman of your age to dress and drape your arms around men
like that if you have no designs on them. I don’t care what your
relationship is with my cousin, but to spout out lines like you’re
pregnant with him just so you could surprise him is definitely not
appropriate. I am telling you this as an older brother would. Stop
behaving this way. It’s you who will end up being tainted.”
“Junior Silverton!” Fern stood immediately
to the insult that Anton imparted upon her. “How dare you criticize
Fern’s behavior? She is nothing but true to her feelings around the
people she loves.”
“True to your feelings?” Anton couldn’t
believe he was behaving like this. Where was his quiet and
businesslike demeanor, the one that always uses logical reasoning
to handle everything? He didn’t know, but he guessed his other
personality might have just flown out the window now. This woman
needed someone to kick her in the backside. “You were hugging
Winton when I arrived, and then you sat on Hunter’s lap. And now
you drape your arms around me and tell me your actions just reflect
your true love for the people around you? How is that
appropriate?”
“Fern, Fern…” Fern didn’t know how to
respond. This man was beyond a challenge for her. He was… was…
“And stop speaking in third person. It’s not
proper English,” Anton said.
“Fern… Fern… Fern can speak whatever way she
likes.” Fern lifted her nose high in the air to show she was pissed
off at Anton’s behavior toward her.
Fern was born in Thailand, despite her
parents both being Americans. So growing up in the Thai culture,
she spoke both Thai and English, intermingling the two languages
together, and more often than not, tended to slip her tongue by
speaking in third person when referring to herself, as that’s what
Thai people tend to speak when referring to oneself. When she spoke
to Hunter in her bilingual language, he had no problem
understanding her. So why was Hunter’s cousin making so much fuss
over her speech?
“This is how Fern speaks.” She continued to
challenge him. “So if you don’t like it, don’t talk to Fern.”
“Good, because I don’t find talking to you
amusing either. So if you’re done with your apology, just leave it
at the doorstep and go,” Anton instructed, then went back to his
computer, typing away furiously, his hands shaking at this sudden
confrontation.
Good God, he just had his first verbal fight
with a female and it sure felt good.
“Junior Silverton,” Fern shrieked, but Anton
didn’t give heed to her outburst as his eyes continued to clue to
the screen.
“Ugggggh,” Fern said, fuming by the time she
left Anton’s office. “Fern swears she will make that Junior
Silverton look at her. In fact, even beg for her love. Just wait
and see.”