Chapter 7: Chapter 7

Cole slowed his Range Rover Discovery just in front of the coffee shop and sighed.

He was tired of this routine, mundane life.

He checked his Rolex Submariner wristwatch. 9:30 am.

His secretary had called him twice, reminding him of the meeting he was going to have by 10:00 am. It was a forty minutes drive to the company, but he had to stop at the coffee shop for a cup of coffee. He was working overnight and didn't get any sleep.

He was so engrossed with work, he didn't realize it was morning until rays of sunlight began peaking into his room windows. If he didn't take any caffeine, he could go unconscious while driving.

He sighed and hopped out of the car. He readjust his costume-made suit.

He walked into the confectionery and found a seat at by the window side.

Immediately he took his seat, he whipped out his phone, trying to finish off some more work before he'd reach the office.

"Good morning, sir. What would you like to have-"

"Coffee. No sugar. No milk. Steaming hot. That's all," he pointed out without even bothering to take a glance at the waitress.

"Coming right up, sir. Give us a minute," she said and went back to into the kitchen.

He was so deep in the work he was sorting on his phone that he almost jumped out of his seat when a notification came up on his phone.

He sighed and collected himself. He took a quick glance at it. It was a text from Shantel.

He rolled his eyes and swiped the notification away into oblivion and continued what he was doing.

It was up to a minute before another text message popped in. It was from her still.

He did same thing he did to the previous one and continued working.

Another popped in.

And another one.

And another one.

It kept coming relentlessly.

Still, he didn't bother to check them. He kept swiping them away.

It wasn't until the screen changed totally, and his ringtone came on.

She was calling.

He groaned in frustration. Why did it have to be now that he was working?

He stared at the phone, hoping the ring time would expire, so he could go back to work. But it kept on ringing. It didn't want to end. For a moment, he contemplated ending it himself, but he wasn't ready for her drama.

He picked and placed it on his ear.

"What do you want?"

"What do I want?! What do I want, Cole - is that what you're going to ask me?!! What kind of stupid question is that?! You haven't spoken to your girlfriend for the past three days, and you don't feel bad?! You don't miss or what?"

I didn't bother to answer. I knew it would aggravate the matter but I didn't care.

"Are you playing dumb with me, Cole?! Why are you not answering my questions?!!" She yelled over the phone.

"What do you want me to say? I picked your call, and you just started ranting. What do you want to hear?", I questioned at her, getting pissed by her nagging.

"Did you just say I'm ranting, Cole? Well, I wouldn't be ranting if you'd just reply my fucking text messages. So what's your excuse this time? Or you want to lie to me that you didn't see it?"

"I saw it. But I was busy. I was working with the phone-"

"Of course! Of course, there's an excuse! Your girlfriend is thousands of miles away from you, and you have an excuse to not reply her text messages. You can do better, Cole!"

"Look, did you have a reason for calling me? If you do, please go straight to the point! I'm too busy for this back and forth", he begged her.

"So, I can't call my boyfriend to check on him and ask how he's doing-"

"Shantel, please. You're being this dramatic because you need something and I didn't attend to it on time. There has been no time you checked on me genuinely. That being said - what do you want?", He asked her again.

She went silent for a couple of seconds before clearing her throat.

"I... I need a million dollars for shopping", she said in a low voice.

Cole kept mute for a while, and suddenly cracked up in hard laughter.

"Why are you laughing, Cole? What's funny?!"

"You should leave this modelling career and go try comedy. I have a lot of connections so it won't be too hard for you. It's a business advice I'm giving to you", he said curtly when he got a hold of himself.

"What are you trying to say, Cole? Are you insulting me?

"You're one of the biggest models in the world. You're earning big money, every week. What happened with your money?"

"What's your business with that?" She retorted.

Cole bit his lip hard, not to lose it.

"What about the money I gave you last week? I gave you half a million last week - what happened to it?"

"I spent it all, Cole! Is that what you want hear?!! I spent it all in a week!! I'm broke right now, and I need some money for shopping. Is that so hard to ask from you? You have the money, so why are you being this stingy?!"

"So you think the money grows on trees, because it's there whenever you want it-"

"Cole, are you giving this money or not?"

"No. Find a way to sort yourself out!" He said and cut the call without waiting for her response.

He sighed and continued what he was doing, bit he was boiling inside. He knew the customers would be staring at him like he was a mad man, but he couldn't help. Every conversation with Shantel made him run mad.

"I ordered coffee fifteen minutes ago!! Does it take fifteen minutes to make coffee?!! Where the hell is my coffee?!!" He banged the table in anger and yelled at the waitresses at the counter.

"It's here, it's here!!", Came an answer from the direction of the kitchen.

The sweaty waitress rushed to Cole with a tray of steaming coffee in her hands.

On reaching him, she was about to slow down, but there was spilled water on the ground and she was too quick to see, so she stepped on it and it caused her to lose her balance.

"Yelp!!" She screamed as she fell and let go the tray to save herself, consequently splashing all of the tea on the customer.