Chapter 4
1137 Words
Zayn was tense, listening to whatever it could be that he was lacking. He wouldn't care what it would cost to get it; he was going to get it.
Now that the elections were only roughly a month and three weeks away, he wasn't going to let anything ruin his chances after so much preparation and sacrifice.
“.. And this one thing that you lack, Young Zayn,” Mr Liam continued, “Is a woman to call your own.”
Hearing this, Zayn was stunned. Was Mr Liam being serious right now? Being single was going to cancel out all these wonderful qualities that he already possessed? And so he asked:
“But, Mr Liam, why on earth is this going to ruin my chances?”
He was attracted to that Georgina lady, but he didn't even know her well, yet, and he couldn't know for sure if she was the kind of woman he wanted to be married to.
The last thing he wanted was to get together with a woman who was materialistic; a woman who would marry him only to divorce him after a few years or even months to get a massive payout.
He was basically afraid of getting his heart broken by getting into a situation where he'd give all his love and realize that the person he was giving it to never had any plans of reciprocation.
“Because, Zayn.. You need to understand how people think.. Society sees bachelors, especially the ones in your age bracket, as irresponsible men..”
“Now, you may not be one of the irresponsible men, and in fact, I know you're not one of the irresponsible men because I've had time to observe you, but I'm not the one to vote you into that seat.”
“It's the staff who are to vote at the end of the day, and you have to accept and understand that the opinion of the electorate will always be a key determinant in any electoral process.”
“You need the trust and support of the people if you're going to get them to vote for you and the truth of the matter is that you NEED to give them, the staff who are all going to be under you, every reason to believe in you.”
“Right now, the staff's general opinion of you is: Rich Playboy. And you know they will never trust such a person to run the affairs of the company where they work. You need a woman, Zayn.”
“And when I say 'a woman', I'm not just talking about a woman you could go to the cinema with or a woman that you engage.. You need to get married before the elections begin.”
“This way, more of the staff will automatically and subconsciously see you as responsible and more of them will have faith in you. And you know that more faith from the voters equals more votes from them.”
Zayn pondered this for a bit, stroking the hair on his chin, before replying:
“So, it's a matter of urgency, huh?”
And Mr Liam nodded his head in affirmation before adding, “It is, Young Zayn. See, I want you to win this election, I want you to be Chairman of Papa Jones.”
“Your father wants this, your mother wants this and even a percentage of staff wants this. And I know you want this, too.”
“But you need to understand that there are people who do not want this; the ones you're contesting against. So this is an inescapable hurdle. Do whatever is necessary, talk to your mother, figure something out..”
“But you must have a bride.. I have another meeting to attend, so I'll leave you now. And I'll expect your invitation card to arrive any moment.”
And with this, Mr Liam extended his hand for a handshake, which Zayn duly took. Then, the interim chairman walked out, leaving Zayn in the large living room, alone and perplexed.
***
Georgina had just survived another day of laborious studying and catching up, coupled with the fact that the sun was beating down on her skull. Hard.
She had eaten nothing all day, as part of Hailey's acts of 'punishment’ for her harsh words to Nancy. She had apologized severally, but that hadn't stopped her sister from choosing to starve her and also not giving her any money for transportation.
The few dollars she had on her were what had gotten her to school that day, and now that she was done with her classes and everything else for the day, how to return home was the big issue.
She stood by the road inside the campus, confused, stressed, hungry and about to burst into tears when further reasons for frustration popped up.
“Need a ride, Georgina baby?”
A blue, fairly used Honda Accord pulled up in front of her and as soon as she saw the guys inside it, her stomach turned; these guys again.
They were a group of three guys of her own age and in her faculty named Jack, Grant and Andrew. They were rumored to sleep with the same girls at the same time, so getting together with one was basically getting together with all of them.
Being seen with them was enough reason to lose respect, talk more of being in the same car as them.
They'd been on her neck for weeks, trying to get her to date them, probably because they liked what they saw when they looked at her rear or her chest.
“No, thank you, I'm good.”
“Come on, Georgina, it's just a ride.. It's not like we're planning on groping or sucking on those huge jugs on your chest, are we?” Jack, the one behind the wheel said and they all laughed.
Bastards.
And now, she was in a dilemma; go with them and risk harassment or walk to the gate, an estimated twelve minute walk, under the blazing heat of the sun and risk fainting.
What was she to do?
At this point, in her moment of indecision, a familiar BMW pulled up just in front of the car being driven by the three jackals.
Georgina instantly knew that she had seen that car somewhere.
Out of the car came Denis, Zayn's driver, who walked towards her and said:
“Good afternoon, Miss Georgina.. If you don't mind, I would like to offer you a ride home, courtesy of my boss, Mr Zayn Jones.”
After saying this, he bowed his head and opened the door to the rear passenger seat; a royal invite.
Jack, Grant and Andrew looked on in silence and awe; Georgina had a driver?
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