Never Again

chapter 2

I turn around and see the mysterious man from earlier today, looking down on me with a smile on his face. "Lovely to see you again" he says. "Same to you." I reply. "May I ask what you're doing here?" I asked. "I would like to ask you the same thing." Before I was about to answer, Patricia cuts me off by interrupting us. "Oh my Cal, are you going to introduce me to your handsome friend?" she says in her seductive voice towards Maxwell. "Oh, yea, Patricia this is Maxwell, Maxwell this is Patricia." Is all that left me. "he greeted her with a smile and then drew his eye back to me. Patricia was already all over him in the matter of two minutes. "I'll let you two talk." I say while I walk away, noticing him watching me trail off. As my plan was to hit the treat's table, my father took a hold of me to meet some other people. When they left he turned to me. "Callista, were trying to find your sister a bachelor tonight, make sure to give the spotlight to her. This will help with business when she will find a powerful and wealthy man." I sigh. "Yes sir." My father then notices someone that caught his eyes. "Mister Heights! it's so great to finally meet you, I believe I have only met your father." Maxwell chuckles, "I believe so." They chuckle for a bit until my father introduced me, "Oh, this is my daughter Callista." He said confidently. "we've met before." He winks at me. My father looks at me, then tries to find Valeria and Patricia. "Valeria! bring Patricia over here with yourself." My father smiles. The whole time I could feel Maxwell looking at me, not even breaking the contact. Valeria and Patricia walk up with a big grin. My father then introduces Valeria and Patricia. "this is my beautiful wife Valeria and my other daughter, Patricia." They exchange greetings. "So Mister Heights, you should get to know my daughter, she likes to accompany others." Maxwell smiles and turns to me. "I would like that." My father adds, "not Callista, Patricia. Callista is not really interested in others, right dear?" I nod slightly in annoyance. Maxwell looks at me with worried eyes and then back at my father and Patricia, "Alright." Patricia grabs Maxwell's arm and led him outside the room. I then excused myself and left the room. I went to my favourite part of the house to look up at the sky filled with stars, the balcony. After a few minutes, I feel a cold breeze again with that same sweet cologne, already knowing who it was. "Do you like following people, Maxwell?" he chuckles. "No, I just like following you." I smile. I could feel his green eyes piercing through me. I can feel how he keeps on checking me out. "You don't seem like the rest of your family. You're quiet opposite as you stated before." He says in a caring tone. I look at him and laugh, "Yea, they're quiet opposite. They just care about wealth and fortune. And also custom dresses." He laughs. "And what do you care about?" he asks. "Well, I care about my future, not a future where I am a trophy wife, a future where I own and run my own business. It a very hard topic to talk about in this household, you see my father is a very old traditional man, he believes running a business is a men's job, and women's job is raise their heirs. Don't get me wrong, I do want children in the future, but I also want to accomplish something other then getting knocked up and taking care of children." He looks at me. "I hope that happens for you, I'm cheering for you. You should never listen to your father about gender roles. Not to brag but I have more females working in my family's business then men. I find them more productive then men. I believe that women would be better at running businesses because they make smarter choices then us." I look up at him with a smile. From hearing his opinion made me feel more confident knowing not all men think like my father. "I tend to just ignore my father, like usually does. He focuses on Valeria and Patricia more either way, I try to avoid them all the time. I'm usually never home, and I like it that way. I attend university to fulfil my business degree." I explained. "Why does your father treat you like your second place?" I sighed. "He's been treating me this way for ten years after my mother died. I believe I remind him of her and he's hurting. He tries to forget about her, so he treats me like I'm nothing." After saying that, it felt like I let go of a huge weight I've been carrying for so long. But what was odd is I told this mysterious man about my family issues, without even knowing anything about him. "That most be tough. I have also been shut out of my parents' business until I turned 18. I was the oldest heir to the business and all the pressure my father had came onto me. Sometimes I wish I was the second child or even last. Running a business this big isn't the high life. I didn't have a choice to chose. Either taking over or being disowned." I look at him with sympathy. "What was your dream then Maxwell? I asked. "I was really into photography and art in high-school. When ever I was stressed, I would turn to painting or taking photo's, it was very relaxing and made me feel like I was the only one on the planet." I smiled knowing that he struggled like me and that I wasn't the only one with a dream. We starred at the night sky together for a few minutes until we were interrupted. "Hey Maxwell, I thought you got lost!" Patricia said. She looked at me with disgust facial expression. "Mr. Heights, would you like to dance with me?" She asked. Maxwell looked at me and then back at her. "Sure, I'll see you later Callista." He looked back at me with a smile and then got dragged by Patricia inside. After a few minutes. I decided to head back inside because I felt cold from the chilly winds. My father approached me. "Callista, go dance with Mr. Lite, I've seen him looking at you the whole night, so he might have an interest in you. If he does, this could be good for business. Now go and ask him to dance!" my father said demandingly. I walk towards to a man around his mid thirties. He wasn't a bad looking men, just older then me by a decade. "Hello sir, would you like to dance? I asked in a seductive voice to please my father. "I thought you wouldn't ask." He said with a grin on his face. We started dancing slowly to the song that was being played. He slides his hand down my lower back then onto my butt. I jumped a little, being nervous and uncomfortable. I look at my father who was observing me and Mr. Lite dance. He nodded with a grin to me. I felt a burning feeling of a pair of eyes looking at me other then my father. I look around and see Maxwell staring at us. He wasn't dancing with Patricia any more, she was talking to another group of men who found interest in her. I could tell he sensed a bit of jealously while I dance with Mr. Lite. Mr. Lite's hand kept trailing down to the point I pushed him back. "what do you think you're doing?" I asked angrily. "Oh come on, let loose a little bit doll." He said seductively. "Don't you dare touch me that way." I said as I stormed off. I walked out of the room and sat down on the stairs with my hands on my face. Once again I felt a cold breeze with a sweet cologne hit my nose. "May I help you Mr. Heights?" I asked. He chuckled. "I saw you storm off, and wanted to make sure you're alright." I look up at him. "I have been better." He looks down at me with worried eyes. "Did that guy hurt you?" I shook my head, "more like touched me." One thing led to another he stormed off back to the room. After a few minutes, I hear glass breaking and yelling. I ran back into the room and saw Maxwell standing over Mr. Lite. Anger was written all over his face. Mr. Lite was on the ground bleeding, probably being cut by the broken glass. Maxwell then turns my way, and what seemed like anger soon turned to happiness, from seeing him. He looks back at Mr. Lite and scruffs at him before heading my way. Everyone's eyes were already on me and him. My father went to Mr. Lite to help him up, reassuring if he was alright. "Why'd you do that Maxwell?" I asked him. "It wasn't right the way he touched you." He said. "Thank you" was all that left my mouth along with a smile. He smiled back. he looked at his watch and then back at me. "It's getting late, I should probably head home, I have meeting's in the morning." He said. I call him closer to me so I can whisper something in his ear. "here, take this." I had him a piece of paper with my number on it. He looks at the piece of paper and back at me with a smile. "Good night Mr. Heights." Was the last thing I said before I close the door as he walked out. I bite on my lower lip, trying to cover up the urge to smile while thinking about him. Then another thought came over me. "No Callista, father wants Maxwell for Patricia not you." I sighed and walked up my stairs, leaving the party and the thoughts of Maxwell behind.