Chapter 1
[New York University]
The hallways were full of laughter and chattering as the usual college students scurried around. Aaron scrambled up the steps to his university almost half an hour late to his and Fadime’s promised time to meet.
As he rounded the corner he heard, “Is Jessica not here yet?”
Not bothering about anyone else’s business, he rounded the corner to find Fadime leaning against the wall, waiting for him patiently.
“What’s with I’ll be on time tomorrow?” questioned Fadime, looking up from her watch.
Aaron’s mouth opened, then he paused, wondering if he should tell her the reason.
“If you’re going to do this again, I won’t meet up with you again,” Fadime threatened.
“I didn’t mean to do it. I really didn’t. My dad forgot some of his papers at home last night, so I was up all night looking through a bunch of folders for him. I’m sorry, I know you don’t like business matters,” Aaron reasoned without taking a breath of air.
Fadime smiled and leaned forward, grabbing onto his arm, “I was just joking. It’s a routine waiting for you every day…but you should really stop bothering with your dad’s business. After all, you’re just a university student.”
Aaron laughed and scratched his head as he started to walk her to class, “Well, I am his heir.”
-_-
[New York Airport]
Jessica Sanders jumped out of her car and rushed into the airport with her favorite tennis shoes on. Last night, Sven had given her a romantic dinner, he sang her a song, and cooked her favorite food for her, yet he had not said anything about leaving. Jessica hated him for that. It was only in the morning when her father had mentioned it.
“Sven will be going to study in Germany. From now on, don’t look for him anymore,” her father had told her in the morning during breakfast.
“Don’t leave yet…wait for me,” Jessica pleaded over and over in her head as she ran throughout the airport searching the flight schedules.
Jessica pushed her way through a massive crowd of tourists and finally stopped in front of the gates. She looked at every face, at every man, but there was no Sven. Her heart pounded heavily, and she was starting to feel weak.
“Flight 281 to Germany will be departing in 5 minutes. All passengers, please hurry to gate 51,” Jessica heard over the announcements.
“No…don’t go…” Jessica ran forward toward the gates, but the guards held her back.
“Ma’am, you can’t go through without a passport,” they said.
“My boyfriend’s on the flight. Please get him off.” Jessica shouted.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t let you through. Can you please step back?” the guard questioned.
Jessica bit her lip and stepped away from the guards. She didn’t care about how many stares she got; all she wanted was to get Sven back. She couldn’t let him leave her like this…how could he be so mean? So cold? What an idiot he was. Jessica stared out through the window at the airplanes.
“I will wait for you to come back…I will,” Jessica promised.
-_-
[New York University]
Throughout class, Danson found that he could not concentrate on anything. When class was finally over, he pushed his way through, not noticing that he had run into Aaron and Fadime. As he raced for the stairs, Jessica was just making her way up.
“Jessica,” Danson shouted, running toward her.
Jessica looked up at him with red eyes, “He’s gone, Danson. Sven’s gone for good.”
“What do you mean? Was there an accident?” Danson asked worriedly.
Jessica shook her head, “My parents sent him to Germany. How could he leave? It’s not fair.”
Danson quickly looked around and found that no one was paying any attention to them. He turned back to Jessica, lightly hugging her as she cried against him.
“Let's go out for lunch,” Fadime suggested while clinging to Aaron’s arm.
“Yeah…ok,” Aaron agreed.
He couldn’t help but glance over at the two people hugging by the staircase.
“I wonder what happened,” Aaron wondered.
“Maybe she got dumped,” Fadime suggested. “But oh well, there are plenty of guys out there anyway.”
As they headed down the stairs, Aaron glanced around once more to look at them.
-_-
[Sanders Enterprise – Mr. Sanders’s office]
Through the large window behind his desk was the beautiful view of all of New York. The busy streets, the restaurants below, the buildings next door, and the advertisements high up in the air.
“I’ve received a call from Chairman Wright,” Mr. Sanders told.
Mrs. Sanders, who was sitting on the couch in the room, sipping a cup of coffee, nodded her head.
“Should you break it to Jessica or should I do it?” Mrs. Sanders questioned.
“That rascal is so stubborn, maybe this way we can get her tamed,” Mr. Sanders said, “she thinks that being the manager of a small quarter of our business means she’s already obedient and free enough to do whatever she wants.”
Mrs. Sanders pressed her lips together, recalling the terrible crash a few years back. They had almost lost both Jessica and Kate.
“I’ll tell her about it,” Mrs. Sanders offered, “she might listen more if you weren’t always using such harsh words.”
[New York University]
After lunch, Aaron and Fadime attended their business class together. The professor continued on with his boring lecture, sharing dozens of transparencies, pointing here and there on the graphs.
“We will be starting a project today,” the professor told after turning the machine off and walking in front of it, “I will pair you up with another student from this classroom. This is a 10-page report due by the end of the week.”
“That’s too soon professor.” someone whined.
“Then how about two days from now?” the professor asked.
No one said anything.
The professor laughed, “By the end of the week. I will start reading off from my list.”
Jessica spun her pen around her fingers, bored while glancing around the room that was about the size of a high school classroom.
“Yes,” Danson whispered. “I’m paired up with Calvin.”
“That’s nice,” Jessica replied, then turned to look at the teacher. “I don’t even want to do this.”
“Jessica Sanders and Aaron Wright,” the professor said.
Jessica frowned and turned around to see a boy sitting at the back of the classroom looking out of it, then turned back around.
“He looks like a kid,” she commented.
“All right. This will be the end of class,” the professor told, “bring your sources tomorrow. Laptops are allowed.”
Jessica packed up her folders, stuffing them into her backpack, and headed out of the classroom with Danson following along. The hallway was streaming with students.
“What do you say about going for a drink?” Danson questioned.
“I have to go to the company. There’s an issue my parents think I should be involved in,” Jessica told. “Besides, you have work, moron.”
“It’s ok to skip work sometimes,” Danson told.
Jessica gave Danson a stern look.
Danson immediately laughed, “I was just kidding.”
“I’ll give you a ride,” Jessica offered as she threw her backpack into her car.
“I came on my bike,” Danson told, “but I’ll race you there.”
Jessica smiled, “I’m not going easy on you.”
“Remember to call me if you can,” Fadime told.
“Alright, bye-bye,” Aaron said, then watched as Fadime ran off.
Aaron turned around and entered his car. He had expected to head straight home, but found that the driver was taking a different road.
“Where are we going?” Aaron asked.
“Your father wants to have a word with you at his office,” the driver replied.
“Am I in trouble?” Aaron questioned.
“I don’t think so, young master,” the driver told.
Aaron frowned and decided to just relax until they got to the bank.
-_-
[Sanders Enterprise – Mr. Sanders’s office]
Jessica walked into the building with Danson.
“Haven’t you played that new Wii game?” Danson asked. “You can throw the remote control around. I bet it’ll let some of your stress off.”
“Is it really so interesting?” questioned Jessica.
Danson nodded his head, “You should come over sometime when you’re free. We can play Mario Kart.”
“Are you really a university student?” Jessica questioned.
Danson cleared his throat and pressed the elevator button.
“But I’m serious, Jessica, you’re just stressing yourself out. You don’t really need to deal with all these business matters,” Danson said. “Besides, you’re going to seem like a zombie staring into the computer 24/7.”
Jessica straightened out her clothes as the elevator took them up.
“If I became a zombie, I’ll make sure you become one too,” Jessica told.
Danson laughed, “Ok I was just joking about that.”
“You'd better run off to your left right now if you don’t want to be fired,” Jessica warned as they stepped into the hallway.
“I’ll see you later,” Danson said and ran off.
Jessica turned to her right and rounded the corner, going into her dad’s office.
