Billionaire’s Side Attraction

Lula Lopez

It had been a long drive, and honestly, I didn’t expect to meet anyone at all on my way. Imagine my surprise when I met not one but four people on the road. Wasn’t that a pleasant surprise? I thought to myself. I wondered what they were out there in the cold as I lowered the car window and asked, “Need help with that?” I nodded toward their car, and one of them gave me an apologetic smile. I immediately recognized the faces that belonged to Mateo and Rosa. Their features were so striking that it was easy for me to recognize them, especially because I had met them before. I only had one question for them, though: what were they both doing out here? I noticed the other two people who were with them too.

I could not quite put a name to their faces, but the guy offered me a half smile as he kept staring at me. Either he thought I was dashingly beautiful or he thought I looked like someone he had seen before. But last I checked, I hardly went out on my own so my best bet was that he had seen my face on a billboard or a flier.

I just smiled at them and asked one more time. “Need any help?”

“Yeah, sure, My car broke down, and I’m just trying to get everyone back to the city.” I looked at their car again and noticed a couple of the tires were badly burst. I wondered what happened. “Sure, get in; I was going to the city anyway,” I said with a smile still on my face, and they all smiled back and happily came in, with the guy whose name I didn’t know, choosing to seat right in front, next to me.

The only person who didn’t enter the car was Rosa, and I was wondering why she was still standing there. Wait a minute! Was she expecting me to beg her to get in? No way, there was no way. I was already doing her and her friends a favor. Was she expecting special treatment right now? I shook my head in pity; this girl still hadn’t learned her lesson. When will she realize that the world doesn’t revolve around her? “Aren’t you getting in?” I asked. She only folded her arm and nodded towards the three of them. “Tell them to get out. If you want me to get in, then tell them to get out.” I scoffed at her statement. She never ceased to amaze me. Rosa had always been a crafty and selfish creature, and even in the middle of nowhere, stuck with no means of escape, she was still downright crafty and selfish.

I couldn’t help as a chuckle escaped my lips, and before I knew it, I was giggling. She noticed this, and out of annoyance at the thought that I was making fun of her, she kicked my tire, asking, “What’s so funny? You think I am joking, right? I’m dead serious here; if you want me to get in, then you better tell these three to get out first.” That only made me burst into laughter because, if I understood her correctly, she wanted me to kick her three friends out.

After I finally sobered up from the laughter, I asked her again. “You want me to kick these three out?” She nodded her head in response, saying, “Yes, that’s what I said before. You heard me correctly.” I tilted my head to the side a bit as if thinking about what she said when in truth this was a no-brainer situation. There was no way I was risking the safety of others for a lady like her.

“Well? What’s your choice?” she asked, getting impatient from waiting for my answer.

I simply smiled, throwing a glance at the handsome stranger, whose tempting abs were peeking out at me through his very tight shirt. I politely refused and said, “Oh, darling, I am not your boyfriend, and so I have no obligations whatsoever to indulge your whims at the expense of others. If you are not going to get in, then you might as well freeze from the cold out there.” She looked at me, shocked by my statement, but I just kept a smile on my face. I bet she couldn’t believe her eyes at the moment. “Whoa, are you seriously not going to do what I said?” she asked in disbelief, testing my patience. I scoffed at her before saying, “With all due respect, Rosa, I won’t. If you have nothing better to say; I am rolling the windows up. It’s getting a bit chilly in here.” I attempted to wind up, but she stopped me.

I looked at her in a questioning way. But she didn’t say anything; she only bit her lips, showing that she was thinking about something else. “Why can’t you kick them out? Is it because of him? You and I have known each other for quite a while now; are you not going to do that for me?” I heaved a sigh. When will she get it into her thick skull? I am nothing like her; I am not an inconsiderate person who does stuff to inconvenience others. “I already told you, no. I am not going to do that. And if you are not getting in, then suit yourself already.” She huffed and stepped away from the car.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

I gave her one last smile before rolling up the windows to zoom off. I was watching her from the rearview mirror as she threw tantrums; she was certainly acting like a child right now, and I couldn’t care less. I simply could not believe how stubborn she was, blatantly refusing to get into the car. I had no intentions of indulging her which is why I didn’t think twice before I drove away, leaving her to think of the consequences of her actions all alone on the road.

The ride was a quiet one, or rather, I wanted it to be a quiet one. But the girl, whose name I still didn’t know, kept disturbing me and worrying about Rosa, who I was sure could handle herself out there. “It’s dangerous for her to be out there all on her own in a deserted area like that.” I took a deep breath. I chose to ignore her, but she took it as an avenue to try and convince me.

“Look I know you don’t know me, and I don’t know you either, but I’d appreciate it if we could go back and help her, please,” I said nothing but kept driving. She sighed, not accepting defeat. “Please, Rosa can be a handful, but we can’t leave her like that, let’s go back for her. What do you say, Mateo?” Mateo, who was on his phone, only looked up briefly. He must have noticed how tense the atmosphere was, so he just went back to his phone, making use of his earphones to listen to music.

I would have laughed out loud if not for the situation I was in. Why was this lady worrying so much while Mateo, and this guy, whose name I had not yet learned, weren’t worried? They weren’t, so why was she worrying so much? I let out a sigh when she opened her mouth to speak again. I cut her short by asking. “What’s your name, young lady?”

“Jenny, my name is Jenny, and I’m her best friend; please, will you help her?” She said all at once. I responded by saying, “Why do you want me to help her anyway? I mean, you saw how stubborn she was, telling me I had to kick you all out before she could come in.” Jenny sighed and bit her bottom lips as she was thinking about her response. After what seemed like forever she said “I don’t mind; let’s just please go back for her. I’ll force her into the car if I have to,” she said. I just shook my head in disagreement, saying, “Nah, yeah, no, I’m not doing that. Rosa is not stupid. She would call someone to pick her up.”

It was then and only then that Jenny finally calmed down and stopped pestering me. Shish, I could finally concentrate on my driving. I felt so happy about the little freedom Jenny was giving me that she and Mateo almost caught me smiling, and I had to cover it up with a quick cough. There was no way we were turning back when we hadn’t even gotten halfway to our destination yet, and Jenny wanted me to turn back for just one person who was being adamant and stubborn. Yeah, no, I was not doing that. The fact that she didn’t enter while she had the chance was a no-no for me.

.

“It’s alright, Jenny. I’ll give Alex, her driver a call. Just to be sure he is going to pick her up,” said the voice next to me. His voice was the sweetest thing I had ever heard. I was suddenly curious as to what his name was. He looked like a Thompson or Daniel. He looked too good to be true, and with the muscles I saw earlier, I couldn’t stop the nasty thoughts that went through my head. Urgh I am such a pervert. I couldn’t believe I was thinking of him in such a way when I had just come out of a relationship.

I stretched my hands out to turn on the radio, and at the same time, he stretched his hands out to do the same. My face immediately flushed red, especially because of what I was thinking about earlier. I withdrew my hand immediately as he apologized. “I’m sorry if I startled you. Do you still want to turn the radio on? I mean, it is your car.” I just pulled the hoodie over my head before saying, “Err, no, no, it’s okay, you go first; you can connect your phone to it and play something from your phone.” I concluded by clearing my throat.

Minutes later, the song came up, and I was lost in it. It was not English, that’s for sure. I was going to quietly enjoy the song as it played, but curiosity got the best of me, and I had to ask, “What? Ummm, whatcha listening to?”

“Oh, it’s Borracho y Bohemia. Pepe Guerrero. Do you like it?” He asked, and I just smiled in response. I hope he took my smile as a yes because I did not know it was a Mexican song. To be frank, I was not a fan of Mexican music that much. I just listened to it out of patriotism because I was born and raised there. It took a while because it was a very long drive, but we finally arrived back in the city at 1:00 p. m. The sun was high, making me regret wearing a hoodie.

I only had a singlet underneath, so I didn’t feel comfortable pulling off the hoodie. “Here we are, back into the city safe and sound,” I announced after parking my car at a random entrance. I got down from the driver’s side and went to open the door for them since they were taking their time. “Thank you so much for the ride; we appreciate it, miss.” I smiled, knowing he wanted to use my name, but he didn’t know it. “My name is Lula Lopez. What’s yours?”

“Javier Lorenzo… You have a beautiful name, by the way.” I smiled in appreciation, heading back to the driver’s side. I was about to open my door when he stopped me. I paused and looked at him. “Where are you going?” he asked, and I replied, “I’m going West.” Jokingly, I added, “You want to come along?” He looked at me as silence enveloped us. Jenny and Mateo were looking at us in silence, wondering what Javier would do. After a minute or two, he entered my car at the same time I did. I couldn’t believe it; we were going to the West together.