Chapter 77: Dinner with Friends

"I’m free so I’ll go with you," Hayden said as if he’s doing me a big favor.

"No. I mean, you don’t have to accompany me or anything like that…" I said, trying to get Hayden to back off peacefully.

"Why not? I’m free, so I might as well go with you," Hayden said innocently.

Which part of ’I don’t want my friends meeting my mafia creditor’ does he not quite understand?

"Umm…that’s completely ok. I’ll get the men in black to drive me as usual. I mean, they’re supposed to go everywhere I go so…" I said as I smiled a little at him.

I can’t believe I’m actually appreciating having the men in black around me right now.

"Don’t you think you should introduce me to your friends?" Hayden said casually.

Big fat ’NO’.

I could hear alarm bells going off in my head, but I couldn’t think of a way to get Hayden to back off. Should I just be honest and let him know how I feel about this? Would he understand?

Even if he understood me, would he care enough to do what I want him to?

"Umm…to be honest, I think it’s a bad idea for you to meet my friends or anyone that is a part of my normal life for that matter. You know…it’s going to be hard to explain who you are and my current situation if they ask. I would appreciate it if no one found out about my current situation…" I told him honestly.

"I see…" Hayden said emotionlessly.

I guess he understood. That wasn’t so hard…

I was busy feeling thankful that Hayden seemed to understand me that I didn’t realize that he had gotten up from his seat until I heard the sound of the chair scraping against the floor. Wordlessly, Hayden got up to leave. I watched silently as he headed for the door. I guess he’s going out after all.

"Umm…have a good day…" I said.

"You too," he said without turning back to look at me.

The door to the penthouse shut behind him. Hayden was gone.

…

It was close to my appointment time with my friends. I touched up my makeup a little before leaving the house with my men in black escorts. Funny, but I was starting to get used to having them around and driving me around everywhere. I even got used to their silence as we rode together in the car.

We arrived at the restaurant where I was supposed to meet my friend after a ride with light traffic. Getting light traffic at this time of the evening was truly a blessing, usually the roads would be packed tight with cars.

When I arrived at the table booked under my friend’s name, all of my friends were already there. I walked over to them immediately as I waved at my friends to announce my arrival.

"Sorry that I’m late. I didn’t think that I would be the last one to arrive," I said apologetically as I took the last seat that was free at the table.

These four girls are my friends from university. It’s been a while since I’ve last seen them. We are quite close, and I enjoyed their company immensely.

"No worries. We just got here too," Jennie said as she handed me a menu.

"Thanks," I said.

"You should order quickly. I read from the reviews online that the food here can take a while…" Jennie explained.

I called the waitress over and quickly placed my order just as my friend had suggested. Once that was out of the way, I could bring my attention back to the conversation that was going on between the girls.

"We were a little worried when you didn’t reply to the chat. I thought something happened or something," my other friend said with a worried look on her face.

"Oh…I was just a little busy. My grandmother got a little sick…so yeah…" I replied hesitantly.

I didn’t lie or anything, but I just didn’t want my friends to find out about the mafia’s involvement. Who knows, it might put them in danger as well.

After that, we chatted about random things and about university. We all had the same projects to work on and talking to my friends really gave me a good update on what they were up to as well as some inspirations for my projects. I really enjoyed reconnecting with my normal life once again and couldn’t wait to go back to living this life.

Naturally, as time went by the conversation gravitated towards updating on our love life. Sadly, or not I wasn’t sure, but my friends were all still single. Well, so was I.

"I’m as single as can be. If you girls know any hot guys, let me know. He doesn’t even need to be a good guy at this point…" a friend said with an exasperated sigh.

"It’s not so good to be impatient, you know. I’m sure your dream guy will appear soon enough," I said, trying to cheer up my friend.

"What about you? Are you dating anyone right now?" Jenny asked me while the other girls focused their attention on me.

"Of course not. I’m too busy with university work and just taking care of grandmother. I don’t have time for anything like dating…" I replied firmly.

"Aha…" my friends said in unison.

I sensed something weird as I looked at my friend’s faces. Their eyes were wide and seemed to be focused somewhere else. Is there something strange behind me?

Slowly, I turned around…

"May I join you ladies? My apologies that I’m a little late…"

A voice that had gotten unfortunately familiar as of late cut through our conversation. It was my turn to open my eyes wide in shock.

Hayden…why is he here?!

"Why…why are you here?" I asked in shock as I jumped out of my seat.

Hayden was standing there right behind me with his most charming smile on his face. Why is he here? How did he get here?

--To be continued…