Unexpected

It was 2008, the financial crisis was hitting hard and I had to shut down my company. Overnight I had no employees and was myself unemployed.

I started networking to see if I could find a job where I could use my managerial and business experience.

One day a friend of my dad was in the area, knew about my situation and called me to invite me to a dinner with a group of people. He said the CEO of a very big company was attending and it could be interesting for me to meet him.

I wasn’t feeling well that night but I dragged myself out of bed, put some jeans on, no makeup, hair up and drove to the restaurant.

There were around 8/9 men and me. It was a mixture of middle aged CEOs and businessmen, exactly the type of connections I needed. I had met some of them before, they were friends or acquaintances of my dad. I was introduced to those I didn’t know.

The CEO my dad’s friend meant was actually the son of the president of the company. He was my age, tall, beautifully build, had an exquisite nose, the most charming smile you can picture and very romantic eyes. And money, lots of it. His name was James. Single.

James sat beside me on the table and we didn’t stop chatting during dinner, I more than he. He came across as being a bit shy but that fact only increased his charm. When we finished the meal someone suggested we could go to a club and have some more drinks. I was already feeling better and although my clothes weren’t exactly suitable to go out at night, I joined.

James didn’t let go of me the whole night. Whenever I started talking to someone else, he would come and stand up beside me. I must admit I didn’t mind the attention at all, although it was easy; I was the only woman in the group. But still, James was the dream of any female and he obviously liked me.

That night we drank, danced, laughed and… nothing else. We called it a night at 5am and parted our ways.

Three days later I got a message from James. Somehow he had managed to get my mobile number. He was inviting me for lunch where he lived and worked: Guadomi, a city 700km away from where I was living back then, a coastal city. Guadomi, where I used to live until I moved out when I was 17.

Since the night we met I couldn’t stop thinking of him and I accepted the invitation without hesitation. I started feeling like in a fairytale.

I booked a flight, asked my auntie if I could spend the night at her house in Guadomi and this time i got carefully primped.

James took me to a nice restaurant but not lavish. I liked that. At some point we started talking about our childhood in Guadomi.

At this point I must explain something so that you can understand the full story. When I was a child my parents had money. We used to live in the best part of Guadomi, where the posh people live, on the top of a mountain surrounded by forests and mansions. My parents weren’t fancy-pants, actually more hippies than anything else but they loved the area and could afford it. Me and my siblings went to a government school.

Suddenly James got serious and asked me “What’s your surname?” My surname is very special, it’s probably just me with such a surname in the whole country. I told him and I saw surprise on his face. He said “I kissed you when you were 12 and I was 13”. Over twenty years ago.

Ooopoops! What was he talking about? We had just met the previous week for the first time! I had never seen him before! Yes, I did kiss a bunch of boys in my teens but I knew he didn’t live in my neighborhood nor did he go to my school. I would remember him, wouldn’t I?

I said “You must be mistaken. I don’t remember you nor your name.” James then proceeded to tell me that his sister and me were best friends when we were in middle school. He told me his sister’s name. Still nothing, no bells ringing. At this point I must admit I have a memory problem and I just look forwards, never backwards. I don’t keep friends from childhood, not even from college. I never contact anyone from my past. Only the future counts to me. Obviously this attitude of mine was playing against me back then. He seemed to know who I was but I didn’t have the tiniest idea who he was.

We left it there, finished our lunch and he invited me for coffee in his apartment. I said yes. I wanted badly what was about to come. I had been fantasizing about it for days.

James asked me to kiss him as soon as we were in the car and I did (for the second time in my life?). Wow, could that man with romantic eyes kiss! We barely made it to his apartment. As soon as we were in the lift he pulled up my dress, down my thong and started fucking me with the most perfect cock I’ve ever seen. I received gladly. Where did the shy man go? Holy shit, the ideal gentleman turned into a sex beast! I didn’t expect that at all! In the corridor to his apartment he laid me on the banister and got me from behind. Wasn’t he scared his neighbors could step out their apartments and see us in action? I didn’t give a shit but that wasn’t my community either.

It took us over forty minutes to get from the garage to his bed. We had great sex for hours, as if we had been doing it all our lives, as if we had known each other’s bodies and their secrets like twins do.

Needless to say I didn’t see my auntie on that trip.

Next day I took a flight back home. My brain was a whirlwind of thoughts. I had just met the perfect man: handsome, clever, caring, sexy, RICH! How could I not be in love with him already?

I went to the beach to see if I could find some peace of mind. As I was suntanning I thought of the mysterious sister. Who was she? Was James right and we had kissed ages ago? Elizabeth was her name. Elizabeth in my school… in my classroom? Best friends? And suddenly it hit me! OF COURSE! Of course I had once a girl friend called Elizabeth! We were inseparable for a short while. We became friends because we both were fans of the same singer and we used to exchange magazines, posters and CDs of him. We dreamed of meeting this singer and getting married to him.

And I started to recall everything. Elizabeth was the daughter of a construction worker. Her family lived in social housing located in the outskirts of the city. She wasn’t very popular at school, partly because of her clothes, not very nice and mostly outdated. Children are cruel. We used to spend time in each other’s places and when she visited me in my house she would look at the open space, the furniture, the light coming through the huge windows, my private apartment on the second floor, my family, all that with wonderment.

And yes, indeed, she had an older brother! His name was James! Oh God, I was traveling backwards in time! He was a tall, skinny and rather shabby teenager. Elizabeth thought that the best way for us two to remain friends forever was if I married her brother so she was the go-between. Apparently James was in love with me although we only had met briefly a couple of times.

One day Elizabeth arranged a date between James and me. It took place in the dark, humid hallway of the building where they lived. I don’t think it went on for longer than ten minutes. Before we left he took my waist and kissed me on the lips. Oh God, it was a horrible experience! I didn’t like that boy nor the way he kissed!

From that day on I gradually stopped contacting Elizabeth until she completely disappeared from my life… until now.

But then, if James was a millionaire, Elizabeth also was one! How did that happen? They were fairly poor back then.

I started googling their company, their father, their lives. There was plenty of information about them in the Internet. Their father turned out to be an excellent businessman, a visionary. In twenty years he went from laying bricks to build and sell thousands of properties a year. Life was unpredictable! There was James, the shabby boy turned into a handsome, successful rich young man and on the other side was me, the posh girl turned into a flop entrepreneur, broke and begging for a job.

This was destiny, this was fate. It had to be. He was the one meant for me. The circle had closed. It was so clear to me! I loved that man and he had loved me all his life!

I called James. I had to tell him I knew now who he was, who were his family. The call went to voicemail. I then sent him a long message with the same purpose, of course sparing him the ‘shabby teenager’ part. He didn’t call back that day nor the following day. He didn’t reply my first text nor the others I sent him asking him if everything was all right.

I never heard from James again.