OBLIVIOUS HEARTS

2: Shinning Black

There was complete silence in the car, the roads were desolate and there is practically nothing but the trees on either sides and the smooth sound of a travelling car.

There are four people in the car, Loli and Stephano sat on the back seats, the driver and Mr Stephano's personal assistant HARRY PARKER were on the front seats.

Harry has a giant build just like the rest of Mr Stephano's men, he is a very tall man, he has blonde hair and ocean blue eyes, he is generally a handsome man and contrary to his fierce look, he is a total sweetheart.

He is in charge of most of Mr Stephano's dealings so he's been the closest to Loli since they've had to work on many things together.

His boss wouldn't allow anyone else to get close to Loli anyways.

Three of his best men were allocated to Loli and they weren't even allowed to make any unprofessional conversations with her.

Harry knows of all Mr Stephano's plans for his daughter and he felt guilty for organizing everything.

Loli doesn't have any friends to confide in and knowing her, she was the least deserving of her upcoming fate, the most exceptional girl he'd ever come across.

He believed Gilberto Evans would eventually come to realize that he is the luckiest man ever in view of the fact that if their plans tonight worked out, he'd be married to a one of a kind lady.

The drive from the Mora mansion to the city normally took 2 hours but it was covered in an hour and a few minutes, there was some delay by traffic in the city but it wasn't long before they reached their main destination, maybe it isn't the main one but it is a major start.

The one hour drive felt like a flash to Loli, she was glad they didn't take the helicopter, it would have been even faster.

Soon they entered into a very posh neighborhood, only the richest could afford houses in this area.

All the mansions were designed exquisitely and lavishly, living in this neighborhood is a thing to brag about, it was named the K banks

pertaining to it's designer who had long passed.

The Moras owned a mansion here as well which is where Mr Stephano lives, he rarely goes to the county side mansion and left it in the care of Mrs Garcia.

Loli has been here on many occasions and would stay here when her father needed her to do some work and at times it was just too late to travel back home so the bodyguards would drive her here.

Their immediate neighbor to the left is the world renowned GIBSON KEYS' mansion.

He is a middle aged man who doesn't acknowledge his age and he is a very close friend of Mr Stephano.

Gibson is a very famous fashion designer, his designs are the talk of every grand occasions, he is specialized in both feminine and masculine outfits but his main venture is the most marketable which is the female wears.

He is known for starting up on his own and working up the ladder over the years to become the best designer that he is today.

He went from specializing in only a clothing line to footwear, skincare and he recently started his own makeup line which he has been promoting world wide.

Gibson is always travelling so his mansion is practically empty aside from the help maintaining it.

His designs are in high demand and they are so expensive that only the elites and celebrities wear them.

The ones he personally makes are practically impossible to get because he doesn't make that much clothes anymore, he's diversified and has a busier schedule now.

They gates to the mansion opened and the convoy drove in directly.

Two guards from the front car quickly got out and opened the doors for them.

This mansion was more modern styled but much smaller than the countryside Mora mansion. All the security lights were on so the whole compound was so bright .

Loli got out of the car and followed her father towards the main door, the door busted open and a child like grown man jumped out passing curious glances before setting his eyes on Loli and gasping with joy.

He hurried over to her pushing Mr Stephano aside but he didn't seem to mind, such behavior is typical of Gibson Keys.

Harry who now stood next to Loli could only scoff, Gibson got infront of Loli and acted like a fish out of water , aside form his silly hand movements, no words came out of his gaping mouth.

Loli is used to his antics, Gibson always exaggerated everything, he pulled Harry to his side .

" do you see how this masterpiece, this piece of fine art is rocking these rags?"he asked gesturing at Loli's outfit.

he gave her those rags.

Harry couldn't agree more but he didn't want it

to seem obvious so he laughed it off.

" I see that but we don't have much time, the boss has gone in, come on"he played it off, if left at it, Gibson would describe every single angle of Loli for the whole night.

" I can't wait to put my feminine touch on this... glorious..."he dreamily studied her face but Harry wasn't having it, time was running out and there were a few preparations.

Gibson held Loli's tiny hands and pulled her along with Harry following behind since the bodyguards wouldn't be needed right now.

He'd always be around her in areas were bodyguards were too extravagant or only one of them would stick around either way there are strict rules never to leave Loli unguarded.

Gibson had been dying to work on Loli for some years now, his god daughter has grown up to be a very beautiful woman and he wanted to spoil her to the fullest.

Stephano never allowed him to go that far, he didn't want his daughter to attract more attention, not more than the she already does.

Gibson has waited for an occasion like this for years and he was more than glad to come back to the country when he heard about it.

He had also been invited for the grand business party but he had no plans to join it until he had of Loli attending as well.

yah, it's as crazy as it sounds

He wasn't going to miss the chance of designing the most beautiful girl, he wouldn't miss the chance of showing off his god daughter.

He couldn't allow any other designer to snatch this chance from him because there was no doubt that Loli was born to shine and he would make sure of that tonight.

Loli felt like a complete stranger in a familiar environment, the whole place was filled with so many people, Gibson must have carried his whole team along and probably half of his workshop was in here.

It was like a preparation for a fashion show was taking place in the house.

It looked like they were preparing for more than a business party it was just too much yet knowing Gibson, he was always too extravagant.

Everyone people stopped whatever they were doing as Loli and a very giddy Gibson walked into what used to be a living room.

Gibson had gone out to change their whole house into his own studio.

Gibson had been talking about his god daughter for years now, everyone in his team couldn't wait to see the girl who's apparently prettier than all their models.

" hello everyone, gather around quickly" he clapped to gain everyone's attention to himself since they were kinda destructed by something or better yet someone next to him.

Loli was overwhelmed by the sudden attention and felt like a stranger at her house, she pushed closer to Gibson and kept her face bowed.

Gibson only worsened it though by letting go of her hands and stepping aside as he presented Loli by proudly gesturing at her.

He then started his typical dramatic speech

" This my friends is she, the masterpiece, the princess no the queen, our entire focus today and we clearly won't have a lot to do since she is clearly a natural shine"

indeed she is.

Looking back at his staff, no one seemed to have paid attention to his rant, Loli had their entire attention.

Loli felt like they were judging her, they probably expected her to be tall, curvy and have a confident personality.

She has always felt insecure about her looks believing it to be why her father keeps her in the shadows, she thought he was embarrassed of showing her off and pertaining to the number of people and equipment here, she probably needed so much make over to look presentable.

she was so embarrassed wishing the floor would open up and swallow her whole.

Loli's thoughts were completely opposite to what everyone who just saw her was thinking.

Gibson had a lot of work to do, they had a lot of countries yet to visit and since Gibson loved to carry his work with him, they barely had anytime to rest.

They were shocked when Gibson announced about a sudden break amidst all the pressing workload.

The entire trip was brought to a complete halt just to doll a girl up, he even asked to bring the whole team along which was deemed totally unnecessary.

Some people even volunteered to stay back and continue with the projects but Gibson wasn't having any of that.

He didn't care about all the loss he would invite and the various appointments he'd miss, there was even risk of losing the trust of some of his investors.

Gibson Keys is a down to earth guy, always happy and dramatic but all of that changes when it comes to his work.

He was very keen on his career and didn't let anything interfere with it.

Gibson didn't have any family which meant no distractions, no holidays, nothing.

All his staff were shocked because Gibson had been preaching of hard work and meeting the deadlines yet all of a sudden they had a vacation with no apparent date of getting back to the business trip, and they even came two days early.

Theybdid carry some work with them but it wasn't comparable to what they had before.

The whole situation had made every single one of them have their own imaginations and assumptions about the unknown daughter of Stephano Mora.

A whole image was built of Loli Mora, it was so vivid in their minds that they could describe her like they've ever meet her.

A typical spoilt rich brat with caked face, wearing a skimpy dress that exposed everything toppled with an obnoxious attitude and more, that is what they expected.

They had been expecting her for a while now and the delay made them believe she had no respect for people's time and wanted things done her way.

Gibson told them earlier to minimize their conversations and preferably limit communication with her since she is a major introvert but they just thought he was covering up the fact that she is a complete snob who viewed everyone as trash under her feet.

A dady' s girl who wanted the best of best at her disposal just to attend a party so much that they had to postpone their whole trip just for her.

they couldn't have been more wrong about the innocent soul.

The whole team was shocked, the girl infront of them looked like a school girl with features that showed nothing but innocence, purity and she is utterly adorable.

None of their thought so far had done justice to her.

"are you,... am sorry boss ...but hah? your kidding right?"one guy spoke up

" are you sure she's the one?" another one asked.

They all had lots of questions and a heated discussion started off, Loli could hear some of their inquiries and she felt out of place but still kept her head low and remained in her spot.

Luckily Harry approached Gibson and whispered something to him.

" I'll be right back darlings and I'll not be answering any questions"

He turned to get Loli but Harry had already beat him to it, he had seen how uncomfortable Loli was, Loli has general fear of strangers and a group of strangers in a setting where she was the main point of interest made it even worse.

Harry led Loli upstairs towards her bedroom, CLARK DAVIS Loli's personal bodyguard was coming out, Clark is the best bodyguard in currently working for Stephano.

Stephano had to go to extreme lengths just to convince him to work for him, Clark joined the army at a tender age and had achieved so much, working as a bodyguard was beneath his qualifications but Stephano is a very convincing and conniving man. He managed to get Clark's weakness and persuade him to quit an honorable position in the army.

Clark expected to be used to perform tasks that matchup to his skill set and abilities.

He had expected that the billionaire Stephano Mora needed someone with excellent skills to perform specific tasks, things that challenged his abilities.

Clark had the biggest shock of his life when he was informed that the great job he was hired to do is to take care of his boss's 14year old daughter.

He was so disappointed and regretted signing a contract so blindly which was unlike him, it just wasn't expected that all the efforts to deploy him were to protect a teenage girl.

The girl didn't even seem to be in any kind of danger, there was nothing to warrant the kind of protection he'd offer.

He believed that the rich girl must be a rude, obnoxious, demanding snob that her father needed to keep in line.

He didn't want to deal with all the teenage hormones and tantrums but he had already blindly signed up for it, literally.

When Clark was introduced to Loli for the first time, he knew there and then that he had a wrong thought about the rich girl.

He could easily read people so it wasn't hard to depict the type of person Loli was and still is.

He understood with just one look at Loli that Stephano Mora wasn't protecting his daughter from a pre-existing threat but from danger her nature would undoubtedly attract.

The situation changed when he believed that what he had was just an insecure father sincerely worried about his innocent daughter so he vowed to protect her with his life and so he has.

" I'll hand her over to you"

Harry said to Clark

" sure, I'll take it over from here"Clark responded and Loli was ushered into her room.

" I'll be waiting outside miss, call me if you need anything"

Loli didn't say anything, she slowly got comfortable on her bed, Clark was used to the silence and could image the battle going on in her right now but he knew he had no power over it, no one could change Stephano's mind and more so when it came to his daughter.

Gibson barged into Stephano's office no manners what so ever like usual.

" listen Steph, for whatever reason you've summoned me, make it fast, I plan to advertise myself tonight for styling the most gorgeous lady in the world and rub it in all my competitors faces that I am still the best"

he bragged, looking up like there was some treasure on the ceiling not seeing the anger in the eyes of the other man in the room.

" how dare you bring so many strangers to my house, a house I bring my daughter to, how did you convince my men to lie to me and why...."

Gibson interrupted him, he didn't care about the apparent anger Stephano had and was used to it by now.

" watch your tongue with me old man" he shouted rolling his eyes.

" you and I are the same age" What Stephano hated most about conversing with Gibson is that he makes him act like a teenager, only Gibson could see this side of him.

" hey, do not associate my baby face with your....wrinkled mess" he said gesturing at Stephano's face like it's some sort of disaster.

Stephano was taken aback but he had more pressing matters.

He jumped out of his seat and angrily approached Gibson pointing at him

" why did you..."his rant was cut short again.

" let me explain my self and please, move out of my personal space, take your fingers out of my face, wipe that attitude off your face and sit down, why did you even stand up were you trying to scare me Stephanie?" he scoffed.

" don't call me that"

" sit down girl" he teased

" your standing"he pointed out

" well let's sit down"

Both of them settled on the couch in the office.

" well, explain this mess you've made in my house"

" I am getting to it, relax man, am just trying to get comfortable and what exactly did you expect, I had to call off so many plans just to be here and am still on my world tour so I couldn't send my staff home, this is just a break in business so I had to accommodate them"

" in my house? without my consent?"Stephano knew that Gibson did a lot thoughtless things.

" this is my house too"

" I don't think so"

" I know so, besides, they don't live here, they live in my mansion nextdoor, your house is just a studio, makeshift work place for the next two weeks, am the only one living here"

" why are you living here, your house is enough to accommodate all of you"Stephano retorted and Gibson dramatically gasped and complained, holding his chest painfully.

" do you have to be so rude to me? am your only brother in this life, am disappointed Steph, so you really think I'd put Loli, my own daughter in any kind of danger" he had fake tears by now.

" she is my daughter"Stephano reminded and Gibson's mood changed since he hated interruptions to his dramatic rants.

" dude am talking" he warned and started forcing false tears again.

" I would never bring people I don't trust in your house, I thought you knew me better Steph, I ran a very competitive business where ideas are gold, I wouldn't hire anyone without doing thorough investigations on them heck I could tell you the number of times each of my employees have visited the restroom in their entire life time"

Stephano rolled his eyes at this, he was a little bit relaxed now.

" I should be the one angry right now so stop acting my part" Gibson affirmed.

"and why is that?" Stephano asked in a bored tone.

" did you just ask me that stupid question? you informed me about Loli's wedding just two weeks to it, I need at least 2 years to prepare for things like this and for Loli even more, you haven't even told me who she is getting married to like I don't deserve to know"

Stephano did feel bad, just a little.

" I informed you two weeks earlier, I didn't think you'd want to come here either" he explained.

" Did I just here you right? so you planned to make someone else style my god daughter, on the biggest day of her life and it'd probably be one of my competitors? when I her uncle of ages, the best at this, is still alive and good-looking?"

Stephano knew this really got to Gibson, he had been trying to work on Loli for a long time but he never allowed it, the most he allowed was for Gibson to set her wardrobe, he just thought Gibson was too busy, he also honestly didn't know how he'd explain his plans to Gibson, he would never understand the sinister plan he has and Gibson is way too protective of Loli.

" I wasn't going to use your competitors"

" everyone in this business is my competitor" he yelled.

Gibson was very angry, he stood up and started to walk out.

" where are you going?"

Gibson stopped but didn't look back.

" I have better things to do right now, better people to see" he said and started walking out again.

" I need you to help me get ready for the party"

Gibson didn't stop this time

" you are none of my concern, completely unimportant to me" he opened the door and looked back

" you can ask any of my uninvited staff to help you" he said and loudly slammed the door.

Stephano relaxed into his seat and sighed, he knew that Gibson won't be mad for long but the short time he will be, his going to be a handful and he really didn't need more stress right now.

The took his phone out and made a call.

" In my office now" he said in his authoritative voice.

Harry came in shortly after that.

" you called sir" he said giving his full attention to his boss.

" how's everything?" he asked while distracting himself with some unnecessary documents

" so far so good sir"

"hmm, you can live" Harry saw through his act and prodded.

" so you need anything else sir" Stephano hated being understood it in cases like this.

" yes, get out" Harry was accustomed to the ride behavior, he started to head out.

" listen Parker, I need you to get me mirrors for this office and the one in the company, position them in a normal way."

Mr Stephano was now reading or better yet pretending to read some documents.

" a mirror sir?"he hated it when Harry saw through him when he didn't want him to but couldn't understand simple instructions when he requests him to.

" dressing mirrors parker, dressings mirrors" he elaborated now seeming mad.

Harry as said was used to this side of Stephano, the side that tried to hide who he really is deep inside.

" am guessing Gibson called you an old man again"

" you are fired"

" you have a very large it mirror in your bedroom"

Stephano punched the desk and stood up.

" know your place young man" Harry laughed at this.

" young, indeed I am, but I can only hope to look as good as you in some years to come so stop acting like a child taking nonsense from another child seriously, your no woman to be worried about wrinkles and especially not today"

Harry was well crossing the line but then again he has many times before.

" nobody talks to me like that Parker"

" I know but remember one thing Mr Stephano, I don't need this job, I want it"

" I just fired you"

" you've fired me eleven times this month, you need me and right now, your daughter needs you"

Harry stated this fact and.walked out.

" just get the mirrors boy"

Loli does need him but she needs him for things he knew he wasn't going to do and his face was the last thing Loli probably wanted to see.

Loli was whisked back into the living room and was back to being the point of interest.

Clark was standing close but it didn't help much, Gibson placed her in the middle of the crew seated on a high stool like some commodity on a promotional sale.

" guys, we're working in 30 minutes, she's natural so it's just about accentuating her looks so it's enough time" Gibson informed his team, everyone seemed to agree to this.

Loli has ever heard people complementing her looks but she knew it's common to regard every rich person beautiful, she attributed it to the outfits Gibson prepared for her.

Gibson probably briefed them and warned them to be nice to her.

"sure sir, were used to working on speed remember?" a guy in the team reminded, speed is indeed their speciality.

Everyone had discussed their roles to details but it wasn't much, Loli felt like a single person with a hundred assistants, completely unnecessary.

She was very overwhelmed but tried to keep her composure.

" hmm hmm"

Someone cleared their throat not loudly but just enough to get everyone's attention.

" what is it young man and why are you even here?"Gibson hated the presence of this guy, it wasn't like Loli is in any danger with him around and this guy is a big distraction to his female staff.

" it's just a precaution sir, there are so many people in the house right now" Gibson scoffed at this.

" we don't have time for this, what do you have to complain about now, is the stool too high" Loli felt embarrassed, she was short and had a little bit of difficulty getting on the stool, Clark kept his composure like usual

" your the only male allowed to work on the miss sir" Gibson had a serious look for a second before breaking in a fit of laughter right at Clark's face.

" relax man, I wasn't gonna let this horny fools touch her, Stephie would kill me" he said with a horrified face.

" just take care of yourself as well, I know people who'd wanna eat you whole" he tapped Clark's shoulders and gestured at some of his female staff that were shamelessly starring.

Clark wanted to send some of the people out but Gibson stopped him saying Loli needs to get used to being around many people and handling attention, their was also the fact that he wanted people to see his excellent skills manifested on Loli tonight.

typical

It indeed didn't take long to prepare Loli, she doesn't need a glow up, she has the natural kind, it was just about elaborating her beautiful natural features.

Gibson did her makeup him self, as he said, it wasn't about transforming Loli, it's a courtesy to wear makeup for formal gatherings nowadays, he just wanted to make her fit in yet stand out so he chose a more natural look for her.

Loli has naturally thick eyebrows and long luscious eye lashes that every girl would die for, Gibson did a simple smokey eye makeup and that was all it took, her large brown eyes looked beautiful and everyone could see how excellent the end results of the simple makeover were, she looked way beyond everyone's expectations.

Loli's hair, toes and fingers were worked on as Gibson did her makeup.

Her hair was tied in a plain sleek bun, nothing special and her trimmed beautiful nails were painted brown

Gibson looked at Loli and had a satisfied look, they had gone a few minutes past the planned but the turn out was marvel worthy.

" I look.... glorious" Gibson declared proudly

The brooding guy who was stopped from performing earlier scoffed " you wish" some people laughed loudly and others tried to suppress their laughter.

" you look really beautiful, you always were and now even more" Patricia the nice Lady who did Loli's hair said lifting her chin up a little, Loli didn't say anything and there was no vivid expression on her face but some how Patricia could see the warmth in her eyes.

" what is she wearing tonight? I know you have something in mind, it's getting late and you haven't even gotten ready yet" Patricia asked Gibson who was still admiring his work.

" Relax darling, a girl with looks like this needs to be late"Gibson waved her off with a mischievous look.

" well?" Patricia asked, everyone was attentively to hear this since fashion is Gibson's major speciality.

he loved the attention of course

" two words" he said holding two fingers "shining black."

There were gasps heard when they heard him, the only dress fitting that description is a dress Gibson had been working on for a long time, he didn't allow anyone to help him, preferring to do everything concerned with the dress personally. Each material used on the gown is custom made and some were ordered from abroad.

He finished making the dress some months ago and finally acceded to showing it to them after their constant requests.

Seeing how he dots on Loli, they believed it's most definitely for her.

It's a glowing black gown with so many expensive glittering crystals, it is obvious that so much effort was put in the in every single stich, it was clearly made with someone in mind.

The gown also doesn't fit for a business party, it's more of a ball gown.

Besides, the gown isn't even of Loli's size, it's way to large for her small frame, he must have adjusted it to fit Loli but if he'd made it for her, why wasn't it just designed in her size?

Gibson could tell what they were thinking about.

"guys chill ok, am not talking about glittery sparkles ok?" he sighed "I really need to get a better name for her"

" Then what dress do you mean?" asked Patricia

" I don't have a name for it yet" he answered reluctantly.

" your only dress without a stupid name is the one the you worked on yesterday" Patricia said thoughtfully, Gibson was so absorbed with it yesterday.

" when I said shining black, I wasn't talking about a shining black dress, I meant her"

he said pointing at an oblivious Loli.

" she herself will be bringing out the beauty in a black dress, as regards, shinning black" he marvelled, " she'll own the night for sure"

Does she want that though?