FALLING FOR THE MARRIED BILLIONAIRE.

HEART PREP.

Lori, still in deep thoughts, briskly walked out of Sunnyside. She was now armed with both her bags, stuffed with her new clothes. She was told that the official office wear was black trousers and an ocean blue long long long-sleeved shirt. That was mostly what she purchased, excluding some fancy clothing that caught her eye.

Catching a direct feel of the Sunday afternoon sun, made her fatigue increase, not to mention, her sweat. She didn’t feel the positive effect of Sunnyside’s air-conditioner, until she was condensed with the harsh weather. She had the urge to take a glance back to verify her fears, that Clay was behind her, the bastard at being at the cook-off after all. It was 3:23 pm, the train station wasn’t that far away, it was a five minutes’ walk from where she was located. One of the perks of using her mother’s car was avoiding the very action she was about to take, to walk.

A few minutes into her journey, just as she was about to take the stairs down the subway station, she walked past a car. She didn’t take notice of it until she heard it horn sharply at her, forcefully drawing her attention. Lori turned around and noticed a dark blue sedan neatly parked by the side of the road. She didn’t immediately rush to it, not until Johnny cupped his head outside the window and waved at her.

‘’you were sent from the gods,’’ Lori teased with a funny facial gesture as she camped inside the passenger seat.

Johnny sniffed, wearing a smirk, ‘’wear your seatbelt.’’

Lori obeyed and began admiring the car, ‘’last time I checked, you drove a rickety-ass Camry,’’

‘’get out of my f*****g car, if you insult JoJo.’’ Johnny teared lightly, turning on the ac. It seemed like he too had just got into the car.

‘’shut the f**k up, if Jojo was such a cheer, you wouldn’t have dumped her for this expensive beauty,’’ Lori scrutinized the car’s interior some more, ‘’what’d you name this one?’’

‘’Carolina’’

Lori chuckled, ‘’dickhead,’’ she sighed, ‘’where’s Jojo?’’

‘’probably parked in some old Macdonald’s farm inside town.’’

Lori appeared surprised, ‘’you sold Jojo?’’

‘’had to make room for Carolina,’’

Lori paused for a while before saying, ‘’I see Heart’s paying you well,’’

‘’as they will to you soon.’’ He prepped to start the car.

Lori sat up, ‘’what got you out of the house today,’’ She turned her gaze to the closed windows to get a see outside,

‘’had a meeting with someone, but he never showed up. ‘’ Johnny’s countenance fell.

Lori arched a brow as what she saw around their surroundings were a flower shop called ‘LA VENISA’ and a gay restaurant by the name of ‘MEN’S MEET’. She strongly doubted the fact that Johnny would have a meeting with someone in a flower shop. She slowly returned her shocked glance at Johnny and saw his sad state. She was pushed to have a conversation with him about his ‘meeting’, but she wasn’t a fool. It was a delicate topic and she wasn’t about to shock him with the fact that she now was aware, especially if he wasn’t prepared to tell her himself. She remained silent and changed the topic.

‘’I met Clay at Sunnyside.’’

‘’well, thankfully, you start earning enough to leave that wretched hole.’’

Lori exaggerated her stance, ‘’you sold Jojo,’’

‘’you guys talked?’’

‘’said he was at the cook-off live.’’

Johnny minted his eyes, ‘’why?’’

‘’I asked the same thing.’’

‘’hopefully, that situation doesn’t happen again. I told you about keeping it cool at work.’’

‘’I don’t have a restraining order, he’s free to move.’’ She chided.

‘’you know Beth, she could turn the company into a Jerry Springler show.’’

‘’Johnny, you give me a little respect.’’ She lifted her brows.

‘’that’s not it, I’m looking out for you. Beth’s been at Heart for about a year, you, my friend, are a newbie,’’

Lori listened keenly to figure out Johnny’s endgame, ‘’from a strategic and slightly emotional point of view, should in case something happen, the company would rather keep Beth. ‘’ He glanced at Lori, ‘’I’m sure you’re following,’’

She was, she merely nodded.

‘’we both know how insensitive and childish Beth is and will be in the future__

‘’I get it,’’ Lori slid in, she now knew the endgame, ‘’I have to play miss tolerant and mature__

‘’don’t forget responsible,’’ Johnny added.

‘’and if she comes at me, I either play it cool or ignore.’’

Johnny heaved a sigh of relief, making also visible, his previous state of sadness, ‘’that’s what I want to hear.’’

‘’you okay?’’ Lori was forced to query.

‘’Clay, how’d he look? Gist me.’’ He changed the topic.

Their previous conversation had changed Lori’s mood, she became sour and looked as though she had a lot on her mind. ‘’told him to stop stalking my mom on social media,’’

The car was now on the move, ‘’I think that’s a little off the f*****g bat.’’

Lori drifted to the vent which produced the cold air, and positioned her face at the front, ‘’He has a daughter, she’s like ten.’’

Johnny’s halt in speech caused Lori to understand his plight, he was busy calculating the timeline, ‘’that’s good for him.’’

‘’if you say so,’’ Lori rang.

‘’met your weekday employer yet?’’

Johnny’s question made Lori recall an undone task, ‘’not yet. Maybe I should later give her a call? What do you think?’’

Johnny cleared his throat, ‘’I think you should start designing a new edible.’’

Lori’s focus became instantly trenchant, ‘’tell me more.’’

‘’you might say it’s too soon, but I say it’s the perfect time to state your ground and define your talent.’’ Johnny saw how intensely Lori glared at him, ‘’everyone was shocked at how you utilized your key ingredient at the cook-off, but you have to even shock them more.’’

‘’I have to make sure to seal my feet, and what’s a more solid time to do so, than the infantry stage, when everyone least expected.’’ Lori’s mood changed; she had begun smiling at the sudden realization.

Johnny nodded, ‘’the edible has to be something never heard of, and fresh to the company. Beth came up with a tea spread called__

‘’utimi,’’ Lori mentioned, ‘’I do my homework,’’

‘’the VIP chefs are a total of 10, you’ve been classified as a member of team B, which has 4 chefs.’’ He noticed Lori’s intent to query him, he beat her to the chase, ‘’Amanda Wilson was the 5th, but she went MIA, opened up space for you.’’ He explained.

Lori slowly nodded, head-filled with information and the knowledge of more dropping in, ‘’I heard about that, she hasn’t been seen yet?’’

‘’that’s the police job,’’ Johnny proceeded, ‘’there will be 4 talented competitions to plunder,’’ He looked at Lori again, ‘’the team’s top chef, Aguero Martinez, a Mexican beast, has deployed three new exquisite culinary within a year, all of which is in the company’s official menu and one won the monthly best customer’s favourite. Second, Fabian Rice, the boss, stole that Canadian f**k from some dump restaurant. That was good and resourceful. Fabian is good. We call him ‘the French guru,’’

Lori, at the mention of French, grew a tender petition, ‘’he’s from France?’’

‘’nope, but he schooled there.’’ They made a left turn, ‘’third, George Alexander, the youngest, but fastest, motherfucker can make and plate five different dishes in less than 7 minutes, made a new cocktail recently, that even got one of the Argon twins tweeting. The boss, once again, fished him out. And finally, our darling Beth, previously the only female standing, until you came.’’

‘’wow,’’ Lori whispered.

During the short moments of silence, Lori’s presumes changed, her gaze was fixated on the air, her right hand rested underneath her chin and her lips occasionally moved, making audible, numb mumbles.

Johnny was concerned, ‘’Lori,’’ The dimension in his tone told his concern, ‘’you cooking up something already?’’

She looked at him with a slowly inputted, dangerous smile, ‘’believe me, I have.’’