Obsess With Him

Love is a feeling of strong or constant affection for a person.

...

"Get out of my sight!" As she splashed hot soup on the waitress's white shirt, a woman in her sixties yelled. "You don't respect an elderly person." She continued, frowning.

Instead of looking in their direction, Claire Hutton stared down at her stained shirt, tears streaming down her face. When she finally got a job at the posh Hotel deLuxe, she was bullied by an older wealthy woman who wasn't happy with her order and told her she didn't have respect.

What had she done to earn such a fate? She pondered this question and excused herself to use the restroom. She found herself crying in front of the mirror, and a lady about her height with black hair handed her tissue paper to clean herself up. The lady straightened her hair and adjusted her makeup.

"You can cry all you want; this is a safe environment." The lady mumbled and then walked away.

Claire wiped the stain out of her blouse under the water, but it wouldn't come out. She walked into the restaurant after drying her clothing. She noticed a white pause on the ground in front of the exit door and chased down the owner, who was about to enter her black car.

Claire called after her as the woman turned to face Claire. She was the focus of the woman's attention. Claire's clothing had a stain on it, which she had noticed.

She was in her forties and was holding a black Louis Vuitton handbag and matching shoes. Her hair was parted to the side and her outfit was white. She wore a standard lipstick shade. She took off her sunglasses.

Claire Hutton had seen her before. The billionaire retired supermodel and well-known stay-at-home mother Loren Cohen stood in front of her.

Claire kept her excitement contained as she continued, "Your purse ma'am." She doesn't want Loren to know she was a weird number one fan.

Loren took it from Claire and smiled. She said, "Thank you...Claire Hutton."

Claire's expression showed her surprise. "How did you..."

"Your barge." She spoke up before Claire could complete her sentence. "Your name is prominently written on your barge."

Claire examined her barge as well as Loren's. "Mrs. Cohen, it was great to see you face to face. I am pleased to be your biggest supporter. Is it possible to get your autograph? Perhaps a picture?" Claire had asked.

Claire had admired Loren since she was a youngster, watching all of her fashion presentations on the runway and wishing to be like her when she grew up, but her fate altered when her brother had taken all of her father's money following his death. Her mother was sick and she had tried everything she could to get extra money so that she could send her sister to school.

Loren collected Claire's phone and took a picture with her. She removed money from her purse and handed it over to Claire. "I'll pay you for finding my handbag."

It was turned down by Claire. "I didn't hand up your purse to you because I was short on cash. I would have done that to anyone and not only rich people." Claire said this as she pushed Loren's hand back toward her.

Loren returned her gaze to Claire's ruined shirt. "How did things go down there?" Claire stared down at the stain as she pointed. "That was done by a wealthy woman. She claimed I was impolite since I only gave her what she asked for and she dumped boiling soup all over my body." Claire exhaled deeply. "I need to go or I'll be fired." Claire gave Loren a friendly smile. "I'm glad I got to meet you in person." She murmured this as she approached the door, but Loren stopped her before she could enter.

"Please take this." Claire received a card from Loren.

"My son is looking for a new manager, and there will be a lot of competition for that post, so I recommend that you submit your resume as soon as possible."

Claire retrieved it. "How come you're doing me such a tremendous favor?" Loren giggled when she asked.

"Claire, I've taken a shine to you and hope we can hang out when you obtain that job. I wish you all the best." As she got into her car, she said. The automobile sped away.

Claire stood there watching the automobile drive away. She examined the card. "Cohen Fashion industry?" She stroked it with her fingertips. "You are an angel, Mrs. Loren Cohen, and thank you for dumping hot soup on me, aggressive old lady." As she walked into the restaurant, Claire grinned.

Louis Batty, the owner of Hotel deLuxe and an old friend of Claire's, had stopped her on her way into the kitchen. He always smiles whenever he sees Claire. Her face was as innocent as a dove and he liked seeing It.

As soon as he observed the stain on her shirt, he called her. He grew enraged.

"Was that the ruckus from earlier this evening?" He inquired. "And you couldn't have told me about the woman who bullied you and poured soup all over your body?" As he approached her, he yelled at her.

Instead, Claire gave him a kind smile.

"After being bullied like that, how could you smile?" He inquired of her. "That woman needs to be taught a lesson. Nobody has the right to treat my friend badly, even if they are wealthy." He sprang for the kitchen door, but Claire intervened.

"You must not become enraged, Louis. Following the soup mishap, the woman did me a favor. Loren Cohen gave me a business card and told me to submit my CV as soon as possible because her son needed a new manager. I hope I am chosen because she was so lovely and nice." He shook his head as she smiled warmly at him.

He collected the card from Claire. "Do you mean I won't see your face every morning?" He inquired.

Claire began to chuckle, and he joined in. "That is if I am approved. Is it possible for me to leave early today? Before it's too late, I need to create and submit my résumé." He handed her the card, which she accepted.

He made a shooing motion with his hand while nodding. "I'll make an effort to function without you. Anyway, a happy birthday to you."

"You remembered." Claire came to a halt and stared at him.

"Certainly."

"I appreciate it." As she stepped out the door, Claire smiled.

You are my heart, my life, my only thought.

~~~

Elijah Cohen studied the rectangle of white that gleamed in the doormat. It looked like an envelope. Who would have slid this under his hotel door?

He heard a knock on his door as his best friend Louis entered with three chefs behind him. He made a motion with his hands inspecting the chefs as they entered the room and placed the tray of food on the table.

Elijah looked at Louis as he stepped on the white envelope. "I didn't know people still send messages through handwriting letters," Louis said as he picked it up.

"Hey bud, I never said you could enter my room." Elijah faked a frown on his face as he collected the letter from Louis and turned the envelope over.

He read the printing at the back of the envelope and it was addressed to him by Mrs. Cohen.

"Why would Mother send a message through handwriting letters and not a phone?" He asked as he opened the letter in front of Louis who was already sitting comfortably on the couch.

Elijah frowned. "It's blank but..." He noticed a shiny substance and opened the paper completely. Glitters fell to the ground and immediately he knew who the letter was from.

"Mrs. Cohen sent a blank letter to you with glitters. She sure loves to play." Louis commented as he opened the food to eat.

"The letter was from Britney. She is the only person who uses glitter in everything she does and besides, don't you think you are too comfortable in my suite?" Elijah questioned as he continued. "Just because this is your hotel doesn't mean you could come into my room without permission every time I come to your hotel to spend some alone time."

Elijah's voice was calm as he spoke. Louis had always been like that to him right from childhood and he just won't change.

His parents and the popular Cohen had shared a tight friendship from the very beginning of building their career and Louis had always been a brother and not just a friend to Elijah. He had always been there when Elijah needed him.

Louis ignored what Elijah said and smiled at him instead. "Why would your sister send a blank letter with glitters? Did she do something to piss your father off again?" Asked Louis.

Elijah sighed. "I guess so. The last time she needed money, she wrote on my car and ruined it just because she doesn't want her father to trace her number to mine. Britney is so dramatic." He said as he sat down next to Louis on the couch. He opened the food. "Dad must have blocked her card again."

"She hates staying home that much?"

"Father does this thing every time. He loves intruding into our private lives and now Britney is not ready to have that conversation with him. Maybe he is scared she won't listen and turns to follow the path Abraham followed." He laughed and Louis joined. "I guess that was why Abraham left home and now he is loaded with money, but trust me, Britney won't call him and ask him for money."

"He does illegal jobs and he is one of the youngest mafias and I still wondered why your brother is not in jail for selling drugs," Louis said.

"Father always saves his ass every damn time."

"Will you help your sister?" Louis asked. He opened the bottle of water in front of him and he drank all in one goal.

"Of course but not like this, if father finds out I gave her money without him knowing, he will be forced to bring grandparents into this. I need to find a way to pass the money across to her."

"Luckily for you, I know someone who goes to Harvard too. She is my friend's sister. She could help." said Louis.

"Please help me give her this money." He said as he wired the money to Louis's account. "I will talk to her later when I see her."

Louis received the money and start to smile as he continued to press his phone. Elijah didn't know what was going on with him so Elijah dragged the phone away from him to see what was making Louis smile so hard.

A girl?

Louis struggled to take his phone back but couldn't meet up to Elijah's strength so he gave up.

Elijah smirked. He seemed interested in the picture he was staring at. "So she made you smile? Who is she?" He asked as he start to smile.

"That's Claire Hutton. The most beautiful girl I know."

"She is pretty," Elijah said and Louis looked at him. He knew his friend was good with girls but this was the first time he would hear Elijah say a girl was pretty and that alone was surprising.

"I know she is. Her smile could turn a dark and moody room to somewhere lively."

"Hmm." Elijah continued to smile as he scrolled through Claire's picture. "And you have a crush on her?" He asked.

"I don't have a crush on Claire. I just fancy her."

Elijah knew he was lying.

"Her birthday is tomorrow. You could wish her. She is a huge fan of your mom and doesn't even know you and I are friends so she would be happy to hear from the handsome and famous Elijah Cohen." Louis winked at him.

"I think I should wish her."

"That's what I said and no no no, don't you think about her that way. What's with that look on your face? She is not like those girls you dated or played with. She is clean and innocent and deserves the world so you should wish her but please nothing more than that."

He took Claire's number from Louis's phone and gave Louis's phone back to him.

Elijah stood up from the couch. "I have some work to do and I might not go to work tomorrow. I need to rest from all this stress."

Louis checked his phone to look at Claire's picture but Elijah already deleted it. "You deleted the pictures?!!!"

"You don't have a crush on her so why keep her pictures?" He asked as he walked to the other room. Louis kept searching and even went to his recent delete but Elijah already wiped the pictures off completely from his phone.

"I wanted to post her picture you asshole," Louis screamed as he groaned loudly but all Elijah could do was laughed silently in the other room.

Louis began to regret having his best friend see Claire's picture. He knew the kind of person Elijah was. A lion but also fragile and dangerous and Claire isn't for someone like him.

She is a very fragile person who keeps on getting hurt and she kept on choosing love over everything else. Oh, he hoped nothing but friendship happened between them even though he knew that was a lie.

Elijah sat on the chair and turned his laptop on as he smiled at Claire's picture on his phone. He had done a wicked thing to his friend by sending Claire's picture to himself and deleting it from Louis's phone but he wasn't feeling bad for doing that. Louis had told him he doesn't have feelings for the girl and he does not want Louis to like her even though Louis was lying to him about his feeling for Claire.

Earlier that day, he had been getting emails from different kinds of people who wanted the manager position but no one met his interest. He wanted someone he could relate to, someone he could communicate with, and the more he read these people's information, the more they just didn't meet up.

He was about to turn his laptop off when the name 'Claire Hutton' popped up.

She had sent a mail which he wasn't expecting.

He clicked on it just to confirm if it was the same Claire Hutton his friend Louis talked about and it was.

The same girl he was about to wish a happy birthday when the time hit noon. The same girl he had fallen for at the first sight of seeing her pictures earlier.

He smiled knowing he had found the person he wanted.

"This Isn't coincidental. It's fate."

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Don't forget to vote and comment, lovies.

Why must it be you of all people?

~~~

It was exactly midnight. Claire's phone beeped as she unlocked it and read the message sent by Louis. She smiled.

She wasn't expecting her 25th birthday to be the best because her 24th birthday had disappointed her and around last week, her fiancé to be backed off from getting married to her.

Claire ran after him and held his hand. She'd apologized to him under the rain because she doesn't know what went wrong but she'd told him she would do anything to make it work out between them.

Micheal had asked her if she could do whatever he asked and the moment he spoke those words out of his mouth, Claire dropped her hand from his. He got angry, he threw the umbrella he was holding to the ground and walked away leaving her alone to cry in the rain.

She tried to get over that but it just wasn't going the way she wanted it. It had always been that way with her and the guys. They always leave and she moves to the next one and it goes on like that.

She was a simple person when it comes to love and once she is over them, she moves on and they tend to come back when she is finally back on her feet which makes her reject them because she had given not one chance but more than five chances to them and they always misuse those chances.

A message from an unknown number popped up on her screen. It happens every year. New people, then they become close then they left. She wasn't surprised. She replied to the unknown number and from there they started a real conversation. She wasn't hoping for something more than friendship from him.

Just yesterday, she had sent a mail to The Cohen industry that she wanted that manager position. She wasn't expecting an answer from the company so early by noon but she had hoped she got the job.

She and the unknown guy exchanged pictures and he had called himself Elijah. They shared their likes and dislikes. The guy in the picture had brown hair with black eyes. He looked 6"1 feet and slim. His jawline wasn't that perfect but it would have swept some girls off their feet.

He wanted to know more about Claire. She was very interesting to talk to and she also wanted to know more about him too. They shared this connection the moment they started talking and she had never had this spark before from any of her exes.

Her phone had buzzed and it was him. They had talked for hours on the phone and she had told him more and more about her life and how she met the celebrity she had admired her whole life and how the celebrity had saved her life by asking her to apply for a job at her son's company.

Elijah didn't tell her anything true about his life. Only his name was true. The picture and everything else was a lie and he hoped they keep up this conversation that way.

He wanted her. No doubt but he isn't sure if she won't end up becoming like other girls. He knew he shouldn't be thinking of something like this but he also wanted her in his bed even though he haven't met her yet.

He wanted to feel her. The way she spoke over the phone, her calm voice as she laughed and sighed and chuckled. He wanted to ask her what she had done to him to make him desire her the moment he set eyes on her photos.

They both talked throughout the night until 5 in the morning before Claire finally dozed off.

***

Claire Hutton got a call around 8 in the morning from an unknown number and when she picked up, a smile curved on her face. She got the job but the person said the director won't be in the office.

She had anticipated meeting Elijah Cohen, the son of the woman she admired. The man who broke the internet two years ago after his first real picture was posted on Instagram and never in Claire's wildest dream had she thought about seeing Elijah face to face because people like her who are always busy with life wouldn't have the opportunity and now that the chance finally arrived, he wouldn't be in the office on her first day.

Too bad.

Claire was happy to receive such news on her birthday. She opened the bathroom door and sat in the tube for a warm bath. She was getting used to this nonfancy life and finally, her dream was coming true. She will have to buckle up and find a way to earn more money to recover Hutton's business even if it means going back to her father's mansion after a long time.

After a few, Claire walked out of the bathroom and she turned on the hairdryer on the side of her bed. She dried her hair as she began to think of her older brother Charlie. What would have happened to her if he hadn't run with the company's money? Would they have found a way to pay off the debts her father owned without thinking of touching his mansion?

She slides her leg into her black pencil heels. Straightened her short black hair and had worn a long black straight slit skirt with a buttoned-up vintage long-sleeve top. Her long legs sold her off and anybody would have noticed. The Cohen industry liked elegant dresses and she fitted right in.

She adjusted her makeup and stood in front of the mirror. She looked at herself over and over again. She took a deep breath.

The director won't be there on her first day but Claire knew she would have work to do. One side of her wanted to go out and have fun since it was her birthday but the other side of her had to work to earn more money to save Hutton's business.

And now she won't back down. She had to be in the office by 10:30 sharp.

When she was done with everything, she picked up her bag. Claire walked out of her apartment and locked the door behind her.