The Billionaire's Dilemma

"I must say, you're a fine gentleman." Howard said, "I'll surely be glad to have you as a part of the family." Howard's almost casually spoken words reverberated in Jayden's mind. He had thought that his meeting with his to-be father-in-law would turn out to be a hot mess. His girlfriend, Mila, had painted a rather cruel picture of the affable old man. It took him some time to realize that he had just gotten the go-ahead order to tie the knot with the love of his life. "Thank you... sir." Jayden said, a bit unsure of how to respond to the good news. He put on a smile as he sipped from his wine glass. With his mission for the night accomplished, he could now enjoy the rest of his dinner comfortably. At first, he had been meticulous about everything he'd been doing, even down to the way he swallowed. The steady sound of the clattering of cutlery and the low mumbles permeated the serene atmosphere of the dimly lit classical diner. Making a choice of the venue of the meeting had been one of Jayden's ideas of looking more like the man for Howard's daughter. "So how's it going with business?" Howard asked, looking at Jayden through his round golden rimmed glasses. His bald head gave him quite a classical grandpa kind of look. "It's a cold, competitive world out there, but we stay warm somehow," Jayden said as he swallowed a forkload of meat. "And that's what makes it fun." "I love your business acumen," Howard commented, adjusting his glasses as he took a sip of red wine. "It's hard to find young folk like you these days, and I love the fact that Mila met you." Jayden grinned, "What can I say? I guess I'm just a chip of the old block." "You're the old block itself." Howard said. "So have you proposed to her yet?" "No, I haven't," Jayden said. "Why not?" Howard asked as he looked with a bit of concern on his face. "Don't you have the ring yet?" "No, not at all. I got it right here,though I got it like two weeks ago," Jayden said. "I intend to make it a bit grand and romantic, you know that kind of stuff. I've got this plan to do it next week." "Next week?" Howard said, his eyes glowing with an unexpected surprise which made Jayden uneasy in his chair. "Yeah..." Jayden replied shakily. "Damn, if I had that ring with me for that long, it would sure be burning a hole in my pocket." Howard said, as his rapt attention returned to the plate before him. Jayden stopped for a moment, and touched his left suit pocket, where he had put the ring, as though trying to make sure it wasn't burning a hole there already. Howard's words came with an intensity that made him feel like the ring was already burning up a hole in his pocket. "Damn," he said to himself under his breath. His palms got sweaty. "Were you waiting for my approval or what?" Howard asked with his mouth half full. "Well...sort of." Jayden said, placing both hands on the table, not knowing what to do next. "Pathetic. I thought you had already." Howard's tone rose a bit too sharply. "I think I should get going right now." Jayden's mind had been made up. He suddenly couldn't bear another moment in his breast pocket, and Howard's words made it seem even much heavier. "Of course you do. Go propose to her." Howard said with a slightly mischievous smirk on his wrinkled face. Jayden nodded at that and sprung to his feet, gulping down all the wine in his glass instantly. "Wait!" Howard called back after he'd barely taken two footsteps. He turned to look at the smiling old man. "You're not leaving the bills for me, are you?" ......... Jayden was nearly out of breath as he ran out of the florist shop into his car. He had quickly bought a bouquet as he was a bit out of options on how to make his proposal a bit classical though it was basically on demand. Burning a hole in my pocket...that phrase kept ringing in the chambers of his mind with each passing minute. The cold truth of his unnecessary delay had finally dawned on him. "What on earth have I been doing all this while?" He thought. What next? His racing mind was thinking of something he could add to the instantaneous unprecedented performance he was about to put up. He glanced at his watch, it had been some couple of minutes after 7:30, more than enough time. Music....yes that's it! An imaginary bulb lit up in his mind. He took out his phone and dialed frantically as he stared at the nearly arranged bouquet of roses on the seat beside him. He was soon on the line with Trey. "Hello, Jay what's up." Trey said casually on the line, not knowing the desperation of the current moment. "Can I get your boys over here? It's an emergency," Jayden said forcefully. "Tell them to meet me up at Carlton avenue." He nearly stammered as he mentioned where his girlfriend lived. He still wondered how she lived comfortably alone. "Whoa! Slow down Jay." Trey said. "What's going on? Did someone die? And besides, if they did, what would they need a guitarist and a violinist for?" Shut up, fool... Jayden felt like reaching beyond the phone line and grabbing Trey by the throat. "Well, somebody could if they don't get down here this minute. I'm about to propose to Mila this instant." There was a brief silence, then Trey's voice came , pitching with excitement. "Wow! If that's the case, they're coming right away." Trey's voice sounded a bit faint as he spoke to the boys in the background. "Get your chicken asses down to Carlton avenue." He chuckled a bit over the faint grumblings in the background, then said, "They're on their way." "Thanks man, I owe you a lot." Jayden said, heaving a relieved sigh. "Sure you do, 'cause this ain't free.. Tell me how it goes." Trey hung up "Alright," Jayden said to himself as he started his car, "Let's make this classical." ....... "Hop in the back real quick." Jayden said impatiently to the two male figures standing by the roadside, beside his door. In an eye's twinkle the two guys were in the back as he sped off to Mila's home. He had in his back seat, two of Trey's band members, Grant, a flashy n***o guitarist with okay vocals, and Alex, a short, plump violinist. Both men had their instruments in hand, as the order had come urgently. Moments like these made Jayden feel somewhat grateful for having Trey as a friend. Jayden had his eyes in the road as he spoke, "Hope y'all got a good love song for this moment. I want it to be phenomenal." "Sure we do," Grant said, grasping his guitar as though he was playing some imaginary tunes. "We got you covered. Jayden nodded, taking a glance at the flowers to make sure nothing had been out of place. "Alright boys let's do this." After a couple of minutes, he was soon parked outside Mila's well furnished bungalow. She lived on quite a quiet street, which was quite a polar opposite of her behavior. Her extroverted nature had been the main thing that got him attracted to her. He loved the fact that he didn't have to think of what to say, she could keep going on and on and on. After taking a couple of deep breaths and thinking over his words a bit more carefully, Jayden got out of the car, with the bouquet in one hand. "Show time boys." All three of them got out of the car, making for the front door. Grant strummed some random notes on the acoustic guitar, as though trying to warm up. Alex seemed rather quiet and calculative, he hadn't uttered a single word since he'd gotten in and out of the car. But none of it mattered to Jayden as long as they did their job right. They were all standing on the front porch, as Jayden led the way. It was some minutes before eight, and he knew exactly where to find Mila. She had an evening ritual of cooking, for the fun of it. He'd gotten her a cook book from which she tried a wide variety of dishes. He wondered what she could be trying out at the moment. Jayden had been about to knock when he noticed the hard wooden door had been open. What? She never did that, except it could be fate leading him on to facilitate the entire proposal. It was about to be more of a surprise than he'd planned for. "Follow my lead." Jayden said confidently as he pushed the door open with its knob. The short passage before them would lead to where the living room and the kitchen would be. "Alright, wait here. Get ready." Jayden said to his cohorts as he turned to go in. " I'll tell her to come outside." They both nodded. Jayden shrugged off the anxiety that had slowly built up within him. It was about to be his moment, and he wasn't about to blow it all up. He smiled inwardly to himself as he was sure that he knew how it would all turn out to be. He was soon out of the passage as he thought of what their wedding would be like. "Mila, I-" he was stopped halfway in his Introduction to the act he was about to present, by the sight he had been met with in the kitchen. She had been trying something new in her kitchen after all, just as he had correctly predicted. But not the kind with her naked on her kitchen table, with an almost nude unfamiliar male figure almost completely on top of her.