606 Long-distance Relationship
The moment Tom woke from his timed hour-long nap, he sighed when the first thing he did was look to his side for Lucy.
He missed her terribly. Tom admitted to himself as he got off the bed and headed for the shower.
Now was not the time to think about missing her. He had work to attend to despite the fact that he was still feeling pretty exhausted and needed to sleep some more.
When he arrived earlier, he had gone straight to the conference room for a meeting with the staff that had lasted for hours which was much longer than he had planned and had ended with him asking a majority of them to clear their desks.
The state of the hotel was a mess, and he was very surprised that both he and Harry had missed it in the reports. It was even more surprising that this place was still running.
There were a lot of complaints about the Hotel management, which had not been reported to the headquarters the whole time, and they had only deemed it fit to report it now that the issue was out of their hand and the government of the country was at the verge of shutting the place down.
Once he got out of the shower, it occurred to him that he did not check his phone, so he walked over to his phone and picked it up. He noticed he had missed a call from his mother while he slept and smiled when he saw a text from Lucy.
[I hope you're getting enough rest. I'm about to go to bed. Send me pictures of you when you can. I miss you.]
Although it was just past 8 p.m. in his location, he knew it was past midnight over there in Ludus, and she had sent the text barely forty minutes ago. He knew she must be fast asleep now, but despite the time difference, he decided to send her a selfie.
That way, she would see his face when she woke up even if he doubted they would be able to talk until she was at work the next day, that was if there was enough to be to talk.
Not when he had to meet with the state's authorities. He also needed to meet with and appease the guests who had filed various complaints against the hotel.
Not minding the fact that he was still dripping wet and only had a towel around his waist, Tom took various selfies with his phone and sent them to Lucy.
To his surprise, his phone rang almost immediately, and his brows pulled together in concern as he received the call from Lucy.
"Did I disturb your sleep?" he asked when he heard her yawn.
"No. I was actually hoping to hear from you before going to bed. Are you free now?" she asked hopefully.
Even though it was past 8 p.m., he already had a meeting scheduled for 9 p.m. at the club.
"No. I'm getting ready to leave for a meeting," Tom said, and Lucy sighed in disappointment.
"Have you had something to eat yet? Did you sleep?" she asked with concern.
"Yeah, I did," Tom said, not bothering to tell her he had been able to sleep only for an hour and had only had steak all day.
"You should go to bed, Lu. It's late, and you have to go to work tomorrow," Tom suggested.
"Will you call me when you get back?" she asked hopefully.
"No. I wouldn't want to disturb your beauty sleep," Tom said, and she frowned.
"It wouldn't be a disturbance," Lucy protested with a yawn, and Tom smiled.
"I can't promise to call you, Lu. I have no idea when I will be back. And I might be too exhausted to make that call. But I will make sure to call you before noon," Tom promised, and Lucy sighed.
"Alright," she said, trying not to sound as sad as she was feeling.
"You will be back on Friday, right?" Lucy asked hopefully.
"That largely depends on the outcome of these meetings. But I hope so. I really want to see you in that dress," Tom said, and Lucy smiled.
"Do you like the selfies I sent?" Tom asked as he glanced at the wall clock in his room.
He was going to be late for his appointment if he didn't hang up now. He planned to give Harry a call while in the car on his to the club since he knew Harry wasn't a deep sleeper and would receive his call at any hour whatsoever.
Apart from discussing business with him, he also remembered Harry's date with Jade and was curious to know how that went.
"I haven't viewed them yet. I dialled your line the moment I received the text," she explained with a pout.
"Alright, love. I really need to run now, or else I will be late for my meeting. Don't fail to send me pictures, okay? And if you miss me too much, send texts. I will respond when I can," Tom promised.
"Alright. You too. I love you," Lucy said, and Tom smiled.
"I love you too. Take care of yourself," Tom called back before hanging up.
Tom quickly dressed up, and a couple of minutes later, he was seated in his car and dialled Harry's line as the driver took him to the club.
Harry, who had just gotten off the phone with Jade after informing her he had gotten home, received Tom's call immediately after he saw it.
"Hello, baby!" Tom greeted, and Harry laughed heartily.
"I've missed you. I was beginning to think you were never going to call," Harry said as he sat on his bed.
"You have no idea how busy I have been. Things are a mess over here, Harry. I can't believe this place was getting run down without our knowledge," Tom said, and upon further inquiry from Harry, he explained the whole situation to him.
"Shit! I can't believe the director never said a word about any of this. Not even when he was here for the meeting on Monday or when he called yesterday requesting our presence," Harry said irritably.
"I already asked everyone in charge to clear their desks...."
"You fired them already? Including the director?" Harry asked, slightly surprised.
"Yeah."
"But we don't have anyone to send over there right now and...."
Tom laughed, "Don't worry. I won't ask you to go over there. I will handle things over here, and once everything is running smoothly, I can return...."
"What do you mean handle things over there? You're supposed to be back here by Friday," Harry cut in with a frown.
"Yeah. I will make it back in time for the anniversary dinner, and after that, I will put everything in order over there and return here. I have to handle this...."
"What about Lucy?" Harry cut in once again.
"What about Lucy?" Tom asked, pretending not to understand what he was asking.
"How long do you intend to stay over there? What about your relationship with Lucy? Have you spoken with her about this? I could go over there...."
"No, Harry. I will handle this. Besides, you're supposed to be going on your leave, remember? You can let me know when you're ready to do so, and I will find a way to take care of things. I will talk to Lucy about it when I get back. I'm sure she wouldn't mind a long-distance relationship," Tom said easily, and Harry narrowed his eyes.
"Tom, is this a part of your grand plan to win her over?" Harry asked, and Tom chuckled.
"What if I say it is?" Tom asked, and Harry sighed as he wiped his face with his hands.
"I don't know. Distance makes the heart grow fonder, but don't also forget that out of sight could be out of mind. And judging by your history with ladies over there..."
"Relax, Harry. I'm just here to take care of business. As it is, I'm on my way to a club for a meeting right now, and I don't have enough time for chitchat. So enough with the interrogation. Lucy told me about Barry and about you asking Jade to represent the Millers in court. What is that about?" Tom asked changing the subject.
Tom listened patiently as Harry told him everything in detail.
"Right now, it feels to me like we are doing the Miller sisters a whole lot of favour. We ordinarily should have no business with Rebekah and her activities since Anita, who was really our target, has backed out," Tom said thoughtfully.
"Would you rather we turn a blind eye to it all?" Harry asked, and Tom sighed.
"No. Let's just get it all done and fast. Have someone keep an eye on Jade. I can't trust anyone associated with Rebekah."
"I did that already. Just don't tell her about it. I don't think she's going to like knowing she is being followed," Harry said, and Tom smiled.
"Yeah, she wouldn't. I will find time to speak to Barry. How did your meeting with the impostor go?" Tom asked, and Harry chuckled at his reference to Crystal.
Harry briefed him on what Crystal had told him about Sara's visit and that the game was on now.
"Have your men keep their eyes on that girl, Harry," Tom advised.
"Why? You think Sara will hurt her too?" Harry asked in amusement.
"On the contrary, it's not her safety that I'm concerned about. I don't trust her. I'm worried she could ruin everything," Tom said, and Harry considered it for a moment before nodding his head.
Even though Tom had never met Crystal, Tom wasn't one to trust people easily, and the fact that Crystal was a con artist only made it worse.
"We had an agreement...."
Tom chuckled, cutting Harry off, "Who are you kidding, Harry? If she messes this up, we can't get her arrested or take her to court...."
"I could kill her," Harry cut in, and Tom paused.
"Well, we could. But we both know you would rather not. So, let's prevent that by keeping our eyes on her. Give her number to Barry and have him monitor her calls and texts. Sara's as well," Tom advised.
"Why haven't we done that the whole time? That was the first thing I should have done," Harry said with a frown.
"It's not too late to do so. So, how did your date with Jade go?" Tom asked, switching subjects again since he was trying to cover all he wanted them to discuss before he arrived at the club.
Harry smiled, "It was lovely. I took her to the hotel. We had a romantic dinner at the rooftop, just the both of us," Harry said, and Tom smiled.
"I suppose you told her it was yours? Were you trying to impress her by showing off your wealth to her?" Tom teased.
"Well, there was that. And I was trying to come clean with her about what we do there," Harry said, and Tom raised a brow.
"You told her everything?"
"Yeah. You know me, Tom. I don't like lies or secrets. She is a lawyer and might frown at things like that. I don't want her to find out about it later. I had to lay out all my cards on the table," Harry explained.
"How did she take it?" Tom asked curiously.
"She was surprised. Asked a couple of questions, but that was it. She agreed to be my girlfriend. There were fireworks...."
"Fireworks?" Tom asked with a laugh.
"Yeah," Harry said with a grin.
"I thought you weren't down for all that romantic shit?" Tom teased.
"Jade loves stuff like that, so I had to give it to her. And you're one to talk. I saw the note you left Lucy," Harry fired back, and Tom chuckled.
"Anything to make the ladies happy, right?" Tom asked, and Harry laughed in agreement.
"Well, making them happy makes us happy as well, so I guess it's more for us than it is for them."
"You've been in a relationship for barely 4 hours, and you already sound like a married man," Tom said, making Harry chuckle.
"By the way, Tom. I told Jade I'm going to ask her to marry me in six months' time," Harry said as Tom's car pulled into the club premises.
"In six months? You move fast, don't you?" Tom asked with a pleased smile.
"Considering it took us a long time to get here, you can't blame me for being fast, can you?" Harry asked, and Tom chuckled.
"You finally have the balls to admit you've been pinning for her for a long time?" Tom taunted.
"Well, I'm happy you are finally in a relationship. You both deserve to be happy, and you deserve each other. I need to go now. I just got to the club," Tom said before Harry could respond when the driver stopped the car and came around to open his door.
"Let me know how it goes. You can call whenever," Harry reminded him.
"Now that you have a girlfriend ask her to call you whenever. We are done," Tom said hissed.
"Never! You will always be my first love, baby!" Harry called back, and Tom hung up with a chuckle.
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