Him and I

CHAPTER ONE

James was the type of person who concealed his emotions behind a mask. He had always believed that displaying his feelings and emotions were signs of being weak. This ideology was adapted from his controlling Father, George Lewiston, who was a billionaire social activist and entrepreneur. But here he was, on a date with Shannon Roosevelt, the CEO of Rose Remedies—a multimillion dollar pharmaceutical company.

James and Shannon have been long-term business partners, and had been betrothed to each other since they were little. They both didn't fancy the idea of their families setting them up together.

Shannon for one, had despised James because to her, he was a lapdog for his father. All he was after was the money and nothing more.

"He's such an ass kisser who cares nothing more than what goes into his pockets." Shannon had told her best friend, Stacy, one time during an outing.

They'd been talking about the events of their week when Shannon got a call from her father to meet up with James at De Motel—a motel where they usually conducted their business meetings.

Shannon had been so furious about the set up that she quickly hung up before her father could finish talking.

"Ugh! I just don't understand why my Father is bent on matchmaking James and I. That was a thing that happened in the past, when is he ever going to open his eyes to see that the world has progressed from those historical practices." Shannon groaned, ranting about how her life was owned by her Father.

"You know you could ditch your date anytime you want. You just have to make up a clever excuse to fool them." Stacy understood where her best friend stood in the situation, and how Shannon didn't want to be seen as an ungrateful child by her entire family.

Stacy was also a business owner, however she wasn't easily influenced by the opinions of others about her, and she wanted her best friend to see that for herself too.

"I know Stacy, but you know I can't do that to my father, not after everything he has done for me." Shannon felt dejected from the overwhelming responsibilities expected of her.

She was practically the breadwinner of the family, and also the only child of her father. She was already twenty-eight and unmarried. Her Father was already aging, and wanted nothing more than for his daughter to give him a grandchild.

However, Shannon wasn't interested in romance and the sorts, all she wanted was to live a happy life by herself. She didn't need a husband to feel complete. She could do that on her own. Herald, Shannon's Father, noticed this behavior from his daughter at an early age, and so he set out to have her betrothed to the son of his business partner George Lewiston, who was to be the heir to his father's company.

There was nothing Shannon could do once her Father had made up his mind; All she could do now was to live with it.

"I hate to see you struggle with all these things. Come on, let me take you shopping, at least you have to be decent for your date. You don't have to look like your problems all the time." Stacy stood up, setting a few notes of cash on the table to settle their bill.

"C'mon, let's go." She pulled Shannon away from her seat, and out of the diner.

Although Shannon felt calm while picking out an outfit for her date with James Lewiston, she had dreaded about what would happen during the main date. She knew she wouldn't be able to hold herself back from doing something regrettable.

"How about this one, I think you should go for something with a light colour," Stacy said while holding up a fancy white dress against her chest.

The dress was a silk-like body hug with flamboyant long sleeves. Shannon had other thoughts about the dress, it was too revealing in her opinion.

Despite her age, Shannon had a gorgeous body with smooth olive skin, perky breasts, a cinched waist, and thick thighs. She had a banging hot figure, and she knew it. The dress would definitely accentuate her stunning features for the date, but she had another motive.

"You know considering that there isn't any dress code, I think you should wear something to show how hot you are." Stacy added nudging the dress towards Shannon, who was peeking out of the curtains of the changing stalls.

"I don't need to prove myself to anyone apart from my family, Stacy," Shannon sneered.

"And besides, why would I want James of all people to know how good I look. It doesn't make sense, does it." She said but not as a question.

Shannon moved into the changing stalls after grabbing the dress from Stacy who was still rummaging through the bag of clothes they'd picked to try out.

The dress was a perfect fit considering that Shannon already had a model body. She glanced at herself using the full length mirror at the side of the stall before stepping out for her best friend to analyze her.

Stacy immediately dropped the black body suit she was holding, and moved hurriedly to Shannon.

"Oh my goodness, girl! This is the one. Even though you may not like it, this dress I believe was made just for you." Stacy clapped her hands excitedly, literally gawking at her best friend.

Shannon felt flattered by Stacy's compliment, and turned around for her to zip up the dress. She went back into the stall, but this time to fully take in herself in the outfit.

"What time is the date by the way, I'm sure your dad must have mentioned it on the phone." Stacy asked, looking past the curtains at Shannon.

But Shannon hadn't heard about the time of the date before she hung up the phone. Now she felt ashamed to call her Father back about it.

"I don't know, I hung up before he had the chance to finish talking," she said nonchalantly.

Just then a shrill sound rang from Shannon's purse. Herald was furious to find out that his daughter had not only disobeyed him, but also made him look stupid in front of the Lewistons for leaving her date unaccompanied at the motel for almost two hours.

Shannon didn't realize how much time they had spent in the shopping mall so she quickly glanced at the time on her phone. 7:22pm.

"Okay Father, I'll be there soon…I'm sorry… okay." She spoke in a hasty voice into the receiver.

She had managed to calm down her father's temper, and quickly packed her clothes into her tote bag—which she thought was not very fancy to carry to a date.

"I'm guessing from the way you spoke on the phone that someone's not very happy to be kept waiting." Stacy remarked..

"Don't we all?" Shannon replied, shoving the jumpsuit she had just been wearing at the diner into the bag.

"Even so, it seems the universe wants you to wear that for the evening." Stacy smirked pointing at the white dress that was hugging Shannon's body.

"It seems so yes, but never mind that I need to hurry or else I'd never hear the end of this from my father," Shannon quickly waved off Stacy's smug comment, pulling her bag over her shoulder.

She didn't need to pay for the dress because the boutique was one of her father's investments so she moved quickly out the entrance, stopping for a moment to check if she had everything in her tote bag.

Stacy followed at her heels just behind her. She moved to the driver's side of her Mercedes C300—a birthday gift she had received from her boyfriend—sticking the car key into the ignition, and roared the engine to life. She pressed a button on the driver's side door, and unlocked the door to the passenger seat for Shannon to climb in.