Chapter 1 THE FIRST ENCOUNTER

The alarm rang loudly on the nightstand, its regular buzzing filling the tiny, darkly lighted room. Autumn White moaned and struggled to find the snooze button, but she ultimately succeeded. She blinked at the red numbers on the clock, which read 5:30 AM. For a waitress like her, it was much too early to be up so she decided to go back to sleep.

"Wake up Miss sleepy head. It's almost time for work. if you sleep any longer, we would get to work late," a voice said across the room.

Her best friend and roommate, Ruby, walked into the room hands akimbo but Autumn ignored her.

"Wake up now before I smack you Autumn," Ruby warned.

"Let me be, Ruby; it's just 5:30am. We still have a long time before work resumes," Autumn said as she rolled over to the other side of the bed still feeling sleepy.

"Uh...no, it's not; it's 7:30am. it says so clearly on your alarm clock," Ruby said.

Autumn, not believing her friend, turned to face the alarm clock on more time and saw it read 7:30am, which meant she had less than 30 minutes to get ready and be at work. Her eyes bulged out of their sockets as she jumped up from her bed.

"Why didn't you wake me earlier?" Autumn blamed her friend as she rushed into the bathroom to have her bath.

"Well I tried but you my friend was so deep in Wonderland that you refused to be woken," Ruby yelled back at her friend.

"I'll make us something to eat before we go to work," Ruby said, exiting the room.

Few minutes later, Autumn got out of the bathroom and immediately got dressed. She had always been known for coming to work early and she wasn't about to change that. Last night was the most stressful time at work; she went to bed pretty late after closing from work pretty late, which was why she found it hard to get up from bed on time.

She joined Ruby in the living room and they had breakfast together. As soon as they were done eating, they exited their home and made their way to the restaurant, Le Petit Bistro. Le Petit Bistro was a popular and charming eatery tucked between the sparkling skyscrapers of New York.

Autumn loved her job because it made her feel happy and satisfied. She carried out her duties with a smile on her face because she wanted the diners to feel happy and satisfied while having their meal. She had been working there for the past three years and had managed to impress the manager who took a liking to her.

Soon Ruby and Autumn got to their workplace and got ready to open for the day. Other employees joined them as time went on and by 10am, they were fully opened. Customers began to stream into the restaurant/diner that was famous for its delicious delicacies.

Meanwhile in a prestigious company not far from the diner, a Head Manager, Jaxon Wellington was having a discussion with his secretary. Jaxon was a tall, handsome young man, the heir to a great establishment, the Wellington Group, which contained a variety of businesses like hotels, airport, malls etc.

Although Jaxon was handsome and well to do, he was single but was always seen around with different ladies. his parents had pleaded with him to get married but he kept telling them that marriage was not his thing. The board of directors, who were bothered that his promiscuity would affect the business, urged him to find a wife but still he didn't bother doing so.

To him, being in a marriage felt like being in bondage where he wouldn't have freedom to do whatever he felt like doing. Also, he didn't think that being with one woman was a fun thing. His father, Marcus, who was still CEO, was scared to hand over the business to him so he threatened him to either get married or forfeit his right to take over the company.

"And that would be all," Jaxon finally said.

"Okay sir," the secretary replied.

"Do I have anything else on my schedule for today?"

"Yes sir, a get-together with your friends at the Le Petit Bistro by 9pm."

"That's outside of work hours; why did you add it in my schedule?"

"You asked me to, sir. You said you didn't want to forget as it was an important meeting," the scared secretary.

"Oh, that's true; thank you Sweety," Jaxon said to his secretary whose actually name was Sweety.

Sweety walked out of the office, leaving Jaxon to continue with his work. At the close of work, Jaxon went straight home to freshen up and take a rest before meeting with his friends that evening. At exactly 8:30pm, he left his house, casually dressed in a polo designer shirt, a pair of jeans, a pair of the latest Nike Air force sneakers, an expensive diamond chain and diamond Rolex watch. He didn't forget to put on his expensive Cologne.

In less than 30 minutes, he arrived at the restaurant and was led to a table where his friends were waiting for him. they were so excited to see each other as they exchanged pleasantries.

"This place looks nice and cozy," Jaxon said as he looked around the restaurant.

"Yeah, I chose this pace. This is where I took my wife to for our second year anniversary," Jacobi, one of Jaxon's friends said.

"I still cannot believe that you and Harry are married. And you, Kyle, an engaged man?" Jaxon said.

"Yes, marriage is good. you should join the team instead of gallivanting about with different ladies. you could catch STDs or whatever," Harry said.

"I don't just sleep with any woman, Harry. I do my findings first," Jaxon replied with a smirk on his face.

Before anyone else at their table could say another word, Jaxon suddenly yelled.

"WHAT THE FUC...?"