Hi everyone! For those of you who have been following me on my past two stories, the site won't let me post new chapters for some reasons and I've been working on it! I'm dearly sorry for the delay as I know it has been quite some time! But I have not given up on them! But for now, I'd like you to read what I've come up with for the past two months. It's incomplete and I'd like all reviews for it! Thank you so much!
May 27, 2012
I awake again from my nightmares. Fuck! How long must I endure the same dream? What's worse is that they get worse and worse each night. Today is the charity event Helping Hands, which I am forced to attend upon my mother's wishes, just my fucking luck.
I get out of bed and change into my workout clothes, just as I step out of my room I see Taylor already by the elevator, ready for our daily run.
"The usual sir?" He says impassively. I only nod and silence takes us as we head down in the elevator.
Usually we are the only two out in the cold so early at four in the morning, but as we progress, I see a tiny figure jogging just ahead of us, heading our direction. I put my head down to avoid any disturbance and fangirling for the neighborhood, but as Taylor and I come closer to the small figure I feel a pull within me that makes my head shoot up on its own just as a chestnut colored hair jogs past me. I freeze on my spot, my legs refusing to go any further as I am stunned by the beauty who just paid no attention to me. I turn around and I am looking at her back waiting for her to turn around to look at me, but no such luck. She is absolutely breathtaking, I have never seen a woman with such beautiful chestnut hair and her skin looks flawless under the street lights. I wasn't able to get a full view of her face or her entire appearance since she is wearing a sweater that is too big on her and sweats, but even with what I saw, I know she is without doubt, beautiful. Too bad, I won't ever meet her again.
"Sir?" I only now notice Taylor is standing in front of me with concern. "Is something wrong?" He asks.
"No... Let's go Taylor." We head back to Escala but the memory of the brunette woman continues to stay in my mind the entire day like the plague.
Work today was terrible, not only was I thinking the unknown woman that I only caught a glimpse of, but I lost the latest deal I have been working on for the past six months, out of nowhere, the owner decides to give his company to a nobody other than me, Christian fucking Grey. He had insisted that the unknown person just happened to have given him a much better offer than I did. Now here I am pissed off and in a bad mood, in this boring ass meeting and this sorry suck up is asking to get fired by being unable to come up with something useful for me and no one is supporting him, letting him stow in embarrassment alone. I say nothing but stand up causing all eyes on me and the poor man to stop his stuttering and look completely defeated as I leave the room. By the time I reach my office, I get a call from my mother. Great, just what I need.
"Hello mother." I mutter as I look through my emails.
"Christian!" She exclaims, "I need a favor from you, is that alright with you?"
I immediately straighten in my seat, my mother hardly asks for anything.
"Sure uh... Is everything okay?"
"Oh yes it's just that... Oh how do I put it... You remember Elena's ex husband Matthew Lincoln?"
"Yes I remember..." Lincoln... The last time I ever saw him and spoke to him was... Where is she going with this? "What about him mom?" She sighs through the phone.
"Oh Christian, as much as I love Matt and Elena both, Elena totally freaked out when I told her that Matthew has finally accepted our invitation. Can you believe that?"
What?! "You're saying he's coming to the charity event tonight?"
"Yes can you believe it? He finally responded back to me!" She's sounds so happy, Lincoln is not a bad man, in fact, he was very friendly and treated my family with the highest respect, in business though, it was a total different matter, he was ruthless to his opponents, no matter who they are. After the divorce with Elena though, he fell of the grid for nearly seven years. Of course, his company is still up and running and it expanded through the years but other than that, there were no other signs of him. What's more, he had stopped talking to my parents, and I know it was my fault... My parents were close with him, very close actually.. My dad and him were like brothers from another mother and he treated my mother with tremendously high respect, my mother and Lincoln were childhood friends even though she is older than he is. So when he cut all ties with my family, Grace was severely depressed for quite a long time, she always thought it was her fault that he completely shut her out of his life and nonetheless, without a single word but a short letter saying he just couldn't be friends with her anymore and that he was sorry... I always wondered how a great man like that ended up with a woman like Elena, despite his wrath when he found out...
It was just then I realized I had dozed off when I hear my mother called my name.
"Christian? Are you there?"
"What mom? Sorry, I didn't get that last part.."
"I said Matt called your father earlier and said he has something he wants to announce at the charity, I hear it was very important..." And then all the sudden, my mother's voice becomes a whisper as if I am right next to her, what she says next shocks me.
"And from what your father told me, Matt sounded very happy and content. Your father has a feeling that there is a woman involved, someone who was able to capture his heart after what happened with Elena."
"I uh... I see." Now I am intrigued, well not really but I do wonder if that's true. He was very head over heels for Elena, hell I don't know why but he was. The very reason why Elena never held a job in her life and was always taken care of; his trophy wife... Well, that was until the divorce...
"Aren't you excited Christian? Oh, you will be coming as well right? I really do wish you can make it, I know how busy you are." The sadness is evident in her voice though she tries to brush it off, I really hate it when I've upset her.
"Yes I will be attending mother. I have to go now. I need to get ready."
"Oh right, the paparazzi. Be careful Christian I will see you soon!"
She hangs up and then I realize that she had forgotten to ask me that important favor of hers. I heavily sigh and run my hands through my hair before calling Andrea.
"Andrea, tell Taylor to get ready. We're leaving."
"Yes Mr. Grey." She replies quickly. "Oh Mr. Grey, a package was sent in for you earlier from Dr. Grey. Shall I bring it to you?"
A package?
"Give it to Taylor before we leave."
"Yes sir."
I hold the tiny rectangular box in my hands and open the lid, inside is a gray masquerade mask, must be Mother's idea. I close the box and check my blackberry for any emails and made phone calls until we reach Escala.
I quickly change into my traditional black attire before locking myself in my office, wanting to finish any deals and whatnot in case Ros calls for me to leave. I know how important these charity events are important to my parents, especially Grace, and I know that I am one of the main reasons she is so determined to help the poor and broken.
I am brought back to reality when I hear Taylor's voice, "sir, we need to leave in an hour or you'll be invaded with the paps."
Thanks to Taylor, I arrive at my parents house in Bellevue before the paps arrived. The place has been decorated with a mysterious theme to it, which it a bit odd as mother doesn't usually dig mystery, but then again, she's always open to be new ideas. I continue to look around until I hear my older brother Elliot's voice.
"Yo bro! You made it!" I bring out my right hand to shake his but instead he grabs it and pulls me into a half hug and pats my shoulder. My family knows to respect my boundaries of touch but I know they're slowly trying to ease in, I always keep a distance with my family, if they knew about my lifestyle then they'll surely be disgusted with me. I know they all love me but still... As we break from our hug I hear a very high squeal, I turn around and am attacked by my ever-bubbly baby sister, Mia.
"Christian! You came!" Her eyes gleams and pulls me to our table where I see my family's name on a card set around, I vaguely then notice that there are two extra cards this time.
"Mia-" she cuts me off before I can even speak.
"Christian! Guess who I saw just now! Mr. Lincoln! Can you believe it?! He is still so handsome and young for an old man!" Mia then goes on and on about Lincoln. I forgot how close Mia was with Lincoln, she had him wrapped around her fingers since she was brought home, then again, she had everyone wrapped around her fingers. There was a time though, when Lincoln became too busy and closed himself off a bit from everyone, even my parents were worried. I remember then that it was two or so years before Elena's infidelity... I guess the affair and divorce really did a number on him.
"So Chris, you're gonna stay for the entire night right? Me and Ana will be playing tonight!"
"Yes I am Mia." I tell her and she squeals like a bird causing the people around us to glare at her.
"Great! Me and Ana are playing tonight! She's a strings specialist and also plays the piano and she is so amazing! Her and her friends are a group of talented people. Unfortunately, their cellist caught a cold so I volunteered to replace her tonight! But anyways, Ana stands out the most! She is so flexible you cannot believe it!" And on she goes again. I don't remember who this Ana person was but I only vaguely remember Mia talking about her a few months ago, a new friend she made along with these other music talents I guess.
And then I feel it. That pull again. I scan around the room, looking for that chestnut hair. Mia is drowned out and my attention is all for that chestnut hair when I finally spot it and gasp. I can feel all air leave my body as I look at her. She is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. She is however, back faced towards me, again. Oh turn around, I want to see your face.
"Mia enough! Sit down and be quiet! Christian, have a seat I am so glad you can make it." I hear my mother's voice from behind. Mia pouts but sits down and sulk until she sees a friend of hers and runs off. I turn around and peck my mother's cheeks before sitting down next to her.
"So Christian, have you seen her?" She ask me.
"Seen who?" She can tell from my confused look that I don't know what she's talking about.
"Matthew's mistress! I have not seen her in person but Mia showed me a picture. Oh she is such a beauty! I just found out that Mia had bumped into her and Matthew a few months ago! Apparently, they just came back from London. However, Mia says she is just a few years younger than you... Oh I hope she is not after Matthew's money. But from what I hear from Mia, she seems like a real sweetheart and they seem like the real deal! God, I really am hoping it's true, Matthew deserves it!" Grace takes a deep sigh and looks down, rubbing her temple, something she does when she has a headache or is bothered by something. She then looks up and abruptly stands up, her eyes gleam, I turn and am shocked to see Lincoln beside my father, they both have a huge shit eating grin on their faces.
"Matt! Oh it has been so long!" Grace bear hugs him tightly that I hear him make a yelp. That's what you get for ignoring my parents for seven years old man.
"Oh it really has been too long hasn't it? How is my Grace? I am so sorry for all the years, things just got too complicated. I... I do hope you forgive me."
"Oh! Of course Matt!" I can see tears threatening to come out of my mother's eyes, I then take my cue to step in.
"Mr. Lincoln, it is a pleasure to see you again. How have you been?" I smile at him and he returns with a full on genuine smile plastered on his face.
"Christian! My boy, you have grown up to look mighty fine! This is indeed late of me, but you have done well on that company of yours. Congratulations!"
"Thank you, I really appreciate it." I say sincerely. We are interrupted by the speaker man who asks us to take our seat as the event is about to begin and I see Mia and Elliot make their way to the table and they all exchange weird hellos with Lincoln before seating themselves. Elliot is surprisingly quiet and Mia is bickering more than usual.
"So Matt, when are you going to show me this wench who snatched your heart?" My father, Carrick snickers causing Grace to glare at Carrick, "Cary stop it. I am so sorry Matt," she apologizes.
Upon hearing that, a loud laugh comes from Lincoln, shocking all of us, he rarely acts like this, he was usually to cool and collected. He joked and fooled around here and there but never really let himself go. Where did the old Lincoln go?
"Oh, she's around. She saw a few mates of hers and they snatched her under my nose, but only for a while." He winks and chuckles, giving us a wide proud grin. This is interesting... I bet the woman is just as old as he is. Well, even though my mother just told me she's younger than me.
"And there she is," he stands and looks behind us, giving a small wave to whoever behind us. All of us turn our heads and I gasp as well as others. She's walking this way, no that's an understatement, it doesn't even seem like she's walking, she just flows in between through the sea of people. She is so tiny, probably five one at the most but her heels adds another three or four inch to her small height. And then I look at her face and I see it; her eyes. Oh sweet heaven her eyes are so beautiful. Blue, deep blue. You can see a hint of green in them as purple outlines the iris. My eyes travel down to her plump pale lips, her skin is just like a porcelain doll... But what is the most interesting besides her eyes, is her facial expression, there are no emotions and that's when I notice that she hardly blinks at all. She herself is just like a porcelain doll, alive but completely emotionless. But something about her outfit makes it look naughty. And then I see it, around her neck is a very thin black leather collar! She's a sub?! When...
I am pulled out of my thoughts when I see contact between her and someone else. I can feel my blood boil and look to see who touched her and I gape. What the fuck?! The scene before me has everyone around us is completely shocked. The unknown woman who I haven't been able to take my mind off of and Mr. Lincoln are sharing an intimate moment together. I feel a stabbing pain in my chest but I can't move from this spot. I hear my father cough and it stops the two, a blush on Mr. Lincoln's face but her face is still completely emotionless, like she doesn't know how to feel.
"Everyone, meet Anastasia Steele. This woman here, has agreed to be my wife. Rosie, this is the Grey family I told you so much about." He says, never taking his eyes off of hers. My mother is completely shocked of the announcement of Mr. Lincoln and the petite woman, as is my father. Fiancée?! This woman is younger than I am!
She finally breaks eye contact and takes a graceful formal bow before speaking, "It is very nice to finally meet you all, Matty always praise and boast you wonderful folks all the time," her voice is like heaven! So smooth yet sharp. She smiles sweetly but it doesn't reach her eyes. It's an improvement on her face though.
"U-um, Rosie?" My father stutters.
"Rose is my middle name." She answers, her smile is gone and blank is back. "Please, call me Ana."
"Well Ana dear, please call me Grace." My mother smiles at her, and each in turn everyone introduce themselves as do I.
"Anastasia Steele is it?" I ask even though it's so obvious I just simply want to talk to her.
"Yes, and you are?"
"Christian Grey." I inquire. Her facial expression slightly changes but quickly recovers.
"It's so nice to finally meet you."
She takes out her hand gesturing me to shake it. The second we touch, I feel an electric shock coursing through me. I take a look at her and to my dismay, she still has that blank look. That was, until I notice that her mouth twitched. Warmth takes over and I quickly sit back down and pull my index fingers over my mouth to hide my smile from everyone.
"Matty has told me so much about Helping Hands, if you don't mind, may I help in as well? I may not know much about being a doctor, but I would still like to involve myself, help those widen their talents as they learn how to grow as well." Ana asks my mother as she hands her what is most likely a business card. Grace is obviously surprised but quickly composes herself,
"Of course Ana, that would be lovely. If you don't mind my asking, what is it you do?" Grace asks.
"I exercise in various matters, actually, I am receiving my second Masters in a few months." Ana says.
"Oh?" This sparks interest in all of us, how old is she again?
"How old are you Ana?" My mother asks, obviously having the same question in her mind.
"I am twenty-three, however I'm turning twenty-four in September." She states then turns to look at Lincoln who just nods and she gives her attention back to us.
"I never went to school in my life, I was home schooled until college. My twelfth birthday was when I decided my career path and I pursued it, thus gaining scholarships left and right, I worked and earned money from odd jobs that accepted me, surprisingly. I went to college when I was fifteen and took various paths for experience during college while pursuing my career. I did all my studies with private tutors and went abroad for a year but I came back and have stayed since, until recently, Matty and I went to visit an old friend in London and had to practically force ourselves to come back." She quickly glance at Lincoln who gives us a proud goofy grin and she responds with a blush. How fucking cute!
"What is your major Ana?" My father asks.
"I major in both law and entrepreneurship, I also minor in criminology, for fun. Music is a big part of my life, but I've learned that it won't really take me far in life so I pursued the options that will." She states.
"Amazing," Elliot mutters. I look at Mia who is in awe and so are my parents. Grace is utterly shocked and is still clutching to the business card Ana gave her, I wonder what her number is.
All of the sudden Ana stands up and as gentlemen, all of the men around the table stands with her.
"Mia." Is all it takes for Mia to follow Ana to where ever they need to go.
"S-she seems like a sweet girl. But d-don't you think she's a bit too blank Matt?" Grace asks.
Lincoln looks at my mother with a look I have never seen before but it seems my parents have.
"I don't mean anything bad about her it's just... How come we haven't heard from you?"
"I was in a bad place Grace. Forgive me, but unlike you and Cary who have the perfect life and family, I wasn't able to make Elena happy... Meeting Ana, has made me see things in a new light. I realized that I never loved Elena, it was just a duty I felt I need to do as a husband, to make her happy and content. But it was never love." He pauses and changes the subject, "Ana, tonight she's performing a solo, Arioso by Bach. It was the song she first laid eyes on and what she first practiced. She truly believes it is one of Bach's most beautiful music." He turns to look at her and so does the rest of us. She's examining the Grey's piano, the one my mother bought me, with content in her eyes and I swear I saw a small smile splattered on her face, but it is quickly replaced with her blank expression before I can get a second look.
"Matt... I," before my mother can finish, Lincoln interrupts her.
"Gracie, I know you mean well but please, I really do care and love this woman. I know our age difference makes things bad for her image but, she doesn't care about my money, that's not her. Believe me, she even has her own company that she runs. She doesn't need nor want my money at all. She gets upset when I spend my money on her." He chuckles to himself, I am sure he's thinking back on a fond memory of the two of them.
Grace was about to say something when a noise from the speakers rings loudly.
"Sorry about that everyone!" shouts Mia. I look to see her with a bunch of strangers I do not know. There's a tall strawberry blonde woman who's standing next to Ana, they're talking about something while tuning their instruments. There are three men around them, and I hate to admit, they are all pretty good looking, nicely built too. I can feel my blood boiling at the thought of them being so near and close to Ana, even though she's not mine...
"Our first piece today is a String Quintet in C Major D. 956 by Franz Schubert! I hope you all really do enjoy this! It's going to be awesome!" Mia practically screams into the mic, causing it to ring loudly and Lincoln laughing hysterically, making a comment of how he missed her enthusiasm.
After a few more pieces, all I did is stare at how beautiful Ana is. She looks so calm and poise as she moves along with the rhythm. The last piece is Ana's piano solo. I and of course everyone else in the crowd watch her fingers glide effortlessly through the keys. The entire time she plays her piece, her eyes have been closed and yet she still manages to play every single note right! At the end of the song, she takes a slight pause before hitting the last note and takes her stand, her eyes finally opens and she bows towards the audience. Everyone of course claps and quite a lot of cheers were heard. I glance at Grace and Carrick and they are both at awe, as well as Elliot to my surprise he actually paid attention the entire time without falling asleep.
"And with that, everyone, please enjoy the rest of the night!" Mia exclaims. Just a tad later, she and Ana make their way back to the table and while everyone talks to one another, I stay quiet, answering and butting in here and there, while viewing the sight before me. Ana's attention is all for Lincoln, she basically hangs onto his every word, never missing a thing that is said. So attentive.
"Matty." Ana quietly yet sharply voice. Lincoln looks at her and then turns his head back at us and smiles.
"Ladies and gentlemen, it's about time Rosie and I head off home now. It's been quite a long day and we both have our jobs that requires our full attention in the morning. Grace, it's been so long... I'm so happy to see you again. I, uh, actually need to chat with you for just a tad before we leave, is that okay?" Grace nods and they walk away outside to talk about whatever.
"It was really nice meeting you, Ana. I've never seen Mathew so happy like this before, I thank you so much." Carrick tells her.
"'Tis has been a pleasure of mine to meet you all as well, I am somewhat sadden that Matty kept me from you wonderful people for so long." They both share a laugh and begin talking about law stuff when Lincoln and Grace comes back to the table.
I can feel someone staring at me when I look up to giant deep blue emotionless eyes, "I'll see you again, Christian." And I swear I heard myself gasp and feel my heart quicken at her calling me by my name. Lincoln takes Ana by the hand and they both bid us farewell. The entire time I just look at her back as they walk towards the main doors, waiting for her to turn around, and this time, her head slowly turns to her side and I swear she was looking at me when she smiled showing her perfect teeth, a real genuine smile.
Again, I would like to thank you for reading this!
I know this is totally different from what you all wanted but I've been trying out different kinds of stories and different types of Ana and Christian. I know you guys aren't really happy with how it turned out but I promise it'll be good!
Reviews are highly recommended!
**I do also promise to work on my other stories for those who have been waiting for them. Once the problem is gone, I will be posting up the chapters you have been waiting for!