Jean softy sighs, "Charles Benally, Mr. Yoon, this is my sister Rocky and her best friend Charlyne."

Charles and Darcy bow at us and I stick out my hand.

Both men just stared at my hand floating in the air waiting for another hand to shake it – my sad hand remained untouched for about 5 seconds. Finally, Charlie shakes it while looking amused. Out of nowhere Mr. Lucas, who is now standing next to Charles, uses this opportunity to talk about Char and her accomplishments. As the two gentlemen turn toward Mr. Lucas, who is now gushing about Char, I take this opportunity to size up our two new male acquaintances.

Both are tall, well over 6 foot. The more handsome of the two is Darcy. His flawless pale skin, light brown eyes, perfectly shaped eyebrows, and strategically coiffed short black hair told me he spent a lot of time in front of a mirror. Is he wearing BB cream? Good grief! His dark blue suit looked immaculate and expensive. It was form fitting showcasing his muscular build. As for Charlie, he was also well put together, but it was Darcy who took the fancy cake. Charlie's shoulder length dark hair gave him a laidback surfer look. He didn't wear a suit but black slacks and a button up maroon shirt with no tie. Charlie also had the normal dark skin tone every native here in Arizona has.

As Mr. Lucas continued his Char praise, Darcy looked unamused and bored, which irritated me greatly.

That's my best friend, how dare you look bored… you pompous fancy cake.

Darcy felt my hard stare and in that instant his eyes shifted to me. All I could do was squint in defiance at him. A look of bewildered confusion crossed his face and I felt the satisfaction of winning the glaring contest with him.

Unfortunately, the fun ruin'er Jean noticed me glaring at Darcy and grabbed my arm lightly pulling me away. "You must be hungry Rocky, let's find a seat."

Now ignoring the pompous giraffe, we sat at a table (away from my mother) and I grabbed a menu only taking seconds to look and quickly flagging down a waiter. I ordered two of the most carb and protein filled plates – I'm starving.

My sister and I had about 10 minutes of "sister chatter bliss" before Charlie and Darcy came to our table.

"Miss Jean, is this seat taken?" Charlie pointed at the seat on Jeans left side; I was sitting on her right. Each round table had seven chairs and our table had 5 empty ones.

"Of course Charles."

"Thank you."

Darcy, the pompous Giraffe, without asking smugly sat in the chair directly in front of me, one empty chair away from Charlie and two away from me. I glared at him again.

"Rocky, what did you order?" Real sneaky Jean - grabbing my attention again so I wouldn't glare at Darcy.

I look toward Jean and arrogantly answer, "Two plates of the Steak and potatoes, why?"

She looks at me horrified. She inches near me and whispers, "That's a lot of food Rocky."

I mock her, loudly whispering, "But I'm starving – my 7 a.m. breakfast digested hours ago." I blow her a small air kiss and hear a snorted stifled laugh in front of me. Before I can glare at Darcy, Mr. Lucas loudly announces that Char needed to sit in between Charles and Darcy. Char looked absolutely mortified. I give Char a sympathetic look.

Darcy better be nice to her or I'll throw one of my steaks at his perfect face.


l*l


Darcy Yoon heard Charles leave with relief. Five minutes ago, he had texted Charles to head to the banquet room without him and was thankful Charles complied without question. Darcy was still rooted in place in front of the huge window in his suite.

I'll conquer this. I WILL! - he shouted in his head.

Darcy's toes were starting to feel tingly, his vision was becoming blurry, his heart was racing which now made his fingers start to tingle. The tingling was a bad sign. His anxiety was getting worse. He glanced down at his suit and wanted to rip if off and didn't care if he damaged the extremely expensive Brioni Vanquish dark blue suit. It had cost him $45,000.

He began to unbutton the jacket and in one swift motion his jacket was off and thrown on his bed. He began to loosen his tie and stopped.

In Darcy's right hand, he was rotating his phone over and over again. He wanted to call Clemson to fix this. Samuel Clemson always knew what to do. His assistant was paid well for the all hour interruptions. Clemson was probably having dinner with his girlfriend right about now in Los Angeles. Darcy glared at the spinning phone he gripped in his hand and when it stopped upright quickly pressed his finger to the "button" that needed his fingerprint. He immediately pressed the contacts icon. To a stranger, Darcy's phone would've looked pitiful with one sole contact, but Darcy purposely wanted it like that. Clemson fixed everything – he dealt with everything Darcy didn't want or need to, which was why Darcy needed no other contact on his phone.

The moment Darcy heard the phone ringing he instantly placed it to his ear.

"Yo!" Clemson's disquiet unsurprising to Darcy was accompanied with what sounded like a mouth full of food and Darcy groaned. Clemson never had manners, at least none that Darcy ever saw. No matter that Clemson was technically speaking with the Boss, Clemson was clueless to etiquette of any kind. What Clemson did have was loyalty, heart, practicality, and bravado, things Darcy valued greatly. Clemson also knew damn well that Darcy would never fire him.

Darcy began to wiggle his toes and he drew in a deep breath. Darcy's eleven-out-of-ten anxiety level went down about 2 notches.

"Kid, I need you to change my flight to one week earlier…and next time pick up the damn phone without food in your mouth. Were you raised in a barn or something?"

"As a matter of fact, I was raised in a trailer park…and if you don't want to hear me eat, I would suggest you quit calling me during dinnertime." Darcy heard the smile that Clemson was probably flashing to his girlfriend.

Darcy let out a dramatic sigh and his anxiety went done two more notches. "Just do what I ask. I would like to leave Monday morning next week." Routine, it was the routine that calmed Darcy. Calling Clemson was routine– if Darcy closed his eyes he could picture himself looking out at his beach horizon view standing in front of his open folding door in his Malibu Colony Beach home.

"But boss, what about Charles?"

"Change of plans Sam. I need to get out of here."

Samuel Clemson heard it this time, the anxiety in Darcy's voice and the fact that he called him Sam.

"You okay Boss?"

Darcy smiled, he always liked the southern Kentucky twang Clemson had. It calmed Darcy for some odd reason. Darcy also knew there was never any judgement from the kid – Samuel Clemson would never judge Darcy's PTSD, his decisions, his appearance, his fortune, or his misgivings. Clemson met Darcy in the Army and even though Clemson was not in Darcy's battalion, Darcy had great respect for Clemson. Darcy knew that he would always be in debt to him…and of course to Charles, and he didn't mind a bit.