ALL ROAD LEADS TO LOVE

Chapter 3

“Your call came in at a very unexpected time, Mr Liam, I must say.. I'm keen on what you have to say.”

The following morning, Zayn was welcoming the interim chairman of his father's company, Mr Liam Pearson, to his home.

The man was a trusted partner of Zayn's father who was merely holding the seat until a mainstay chairman would be elected.

Mr Liam was in a suit and had been let in by one of Zayn's helpers.

Zayn had come down the steps in his pajamas and was meeting with him in his living room. It seemed Mr Liam had something important to say.

“Young Zayn,” Mr Liam started, “I spoke with your father yesterday..”

“He's enjoying his vacation in Milan and didn't want to be disturbed, but I needed to know if he had any advice for you. And he made me understand that you check all the boxes to be chairman.. All.. But one..”

Hearing that even his own father believed that there was something lacking which could cost him the seat of chairman which he'd been working towards for almost as long as he'd been alive, he paid instant and rapt attention.

“What could that be, Mr Liam?”

“You see, Young Zayn..”

‘Young Zayn’ was Mr Liam's pet name for him and it was what he always addressed him with.

“.. You have top tier charisma.. A spotless legal record.. Your personal finances are checked and balanced.. You're educated..”

“You've gotten the necessary experience and have bided your time all along, working at various small businesses owned by your father and learning diligently..

“You've taken the time to come up with a powerful manifesto that attracts and intrigues the staff at Papa Jones worldwide..”

“You've improved and further enriched each one of your father's business which you handled, no matter how tight your budget was or how difficult the staff were, so it's safe to trust you with the responsibility of handling Papa Jones.”

“You have all these.. But you lack one thing, still.. The one thing that should cap off the proof of your responsibility and manhood..”

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 taken her to school that day, and now that she was done with her classes and everything else for the day, how to go 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?

And so, Georgina smiled shrewdly at the jackals' before she stepped into the BMW which was way more than twice the cost and repute of the jackals’ Honda Accord.

Watching her go, Jack, Grant and Andrew were lost for words.

“How did you find my school?”

“My boss told me to find your house.. But I thought to go a step further..”

Georgina was now sitting in the air conditioned vehicle and stretching her legs, immediately feeling energized.

“You love your boss, don't you?” Georgina asked, smiling.

“Oh, I do.. And he loves you..” Denis said.

Georgina, on hearing this, blushed and looked out the window.

“And I can see you love him, too..”

Georgina had to laugh, now. The man had a way of saying things and leaving his listeners with no choice but to concur.

“I like him, a little, though..” Georgina said, not wanting to give too much away.

Denis smiled and said, “I can tell.. I was instructed and enabled by my boss to take you shopping for whatever you wanted, but first.. I have to let you know.. My boss said he would like to go out for dinner with you, so..”

Georgina looked at him, wide eyed and very surprised. Zayn Jones, the billionaire, wanted to go out for dinner with.. her?

Seeing his net worth had scared her and saddened her because she had instantly felt that he would never want to get together with a woman who was in such a shambolic, financial state as she was.

She'd concluded that his choice of women would be models and actresses. So to hear that he wanted to go out with her was wild. Thrilling, but still.. wild.

Denis mistook her shock for disapproval and quickly said, “Please don't think he's trying to buy you over because he's not, but it's okay if you don't want-”

“Tell him I said 'yes’,” Georgina cut in.

She didn't need to think. She was sure about what she wanted, and what she wanted, who rather, was Zayn Jones.

***

Hailey and Nancy were at home and snacking on some chicken and chips, chattering about the 'discipline’ Hailey had begun to inflict on Georgina.

“And she walked to the kitchen this morning, looking all eager, expecting to see some food in there, somewhere..”

“When she didn't see any, she was stunned.. You should've seen her face,” Hailey was laughing maniacally at her sister's plight and Nancy was enjoying every minute of it.

“Serves her right,” Nancy replied, “She should learn that no one fends for anyone else in the real world. She can't expect you to do all the working while she does all the eating..”

“I've told her every which way to get some work and make money but she's turned it all down, even going to the extent of criticizing my hustle..”

“Forgetting that it's the one that kees both me and her big ass fed, as well as keeping this roof over our heads.. So I think she needs this lesson.”

Nancy nodded for a while before saying, “And, as a matter of fact, I think you shouldn't stop there; you should threaten to kick her out.. Give her an ultimatum to find some work and support her needs or you'll kick her out..”

Hailey thought for a bit before asking, “You think that would help?”

“Like a charm,” Nancy replied, “It's gonna be the wakeup call her lazy ass needs.”

And so, Hailey connived with her friend to make her own sister's life hell, but little did she know that she would be the one getting a wake-up call.. In a matter of minutes..