Her Forbidden Billionaire

Raina felt her cell vibrating in the right pocket of her coat. She immediately knew who it was. Who would call her except her best friend Veronica?

Veronica was truly everything she could ask for, but was sometimes too pushy. They had been friends since childhood and held their connection tight even now, more than ten years later. Her light brown skin and her hair always braided, Veronica never missed a chance to put a smile on her friend’s face. She was the one who had urged Veronica to start dating again, but due to her busy days at work, Raina couldn’t find time for love.

“Hey, V. What’s up?” Raina spoke in the phone, finding her way on the sidewalk which was full of people milling about with their own morning duties on their minds.

“Nothing much. Guess what?” Veronica’s high-pitched voice came from the other side.

“What?” Raina said, her brain searching for possible answers.

“I set up a blind date with a hot guy. He works in an IT company, dark hair, African American, super smart and super hot indeed. He comes with a six pack free.”

“You have to be joking! You’re insane if you did that! I told you I have no time for that.”

“I’m joking indeed,” Veronica said and the both of them burst into laughter. “At least I made your day lighter, didn’t I? Admit it.”

Raina was still chuckling whole-heartedly. Her best friend was absolutely a one-of-a-kind girl who you wouldn’t find anywhere else.

“You’re crazy. Did anyone tell you that?” Raina joked.

“Yes. You. Every single day.”

Again they laughed some more on the phone.

Raina composed herself, clearing her throat. “Oh, come on now. Let’s get serious. Something happen or you just phoned to tease me?”

“As a matter of fact something really happened…”

“Oh, you leave me at a cliffhanger, V. You know I hate that,” Raina said, shifting the cell from her right hand to the left in order to evade hitting a gentleman who was obviously very late to work. She felt her guts tie into knots. What could possibly occur right before Christmas? She dearly hoped that it was something good. More bad news couldn’t be handled.

“It’s best for you to come to my place. I don’t want to tell you over the phone. In four eyes is better.”

“Oh my God, please tell me if it is something good or bad? You are killing me.” Raina’s impatience and anxiety grew with every second.

“My place.” Veronica’s voice was sad, she noticed. She hung up. The girl was so stubborn.

Raina waved for a cab and in an instant a yellow car stopped before her. Her legs hurt and the will for going home on foot was gone with the speed of light. Fortunately, Veronica was living close by, so she could walk from her home to her place. She only wondered how she would endure that short trip with anticipation burning in her stomach.

She uttered her home address and the cabbie obeyed. A half an hour later, Raina was looking at the entrance door of her apartment building. It was a nice, cozy building and her apartment even nicer and cozier. The structure was typical American architecture – tall buildings that housed up to a hundred families without any fancy arches or other decorations the ones in Europe had. However, she liked it. Here she felt home and here was where she belonged.

The nervousness shaking every ounce of her body didn’t let her go up to refresh herself and change into something warmer. Raina just sprinted to Veronica’s apartment and she didn’t know how fast she was running. The only thing she knew was that the outside scenery of the loud city turned into stairs and then into the familiar red door of her best friend’s crib. She knocked thrice and there was Veronica’s face before her eyes. Her look was sullen. The one that bore horrible news.

“Talk.” Raina was trying to catch her breath.

“Enter, please. We will talk. The whole day is before us.” Veronica showed her in. The living room was incredibly minimalistic with white walls, one sofa, a couple of drawers and tables and that was it.

Raina sat on the crimson sofa, rubbing her sweating hands across the fabric of her pants. She gravely looked at her friend.

“If you don’t tell me right this moment, I think that I will explode or pass out. There is no third option,” she said as a weary smile broke on Veronica’s face.

“Okay…” She took in a deep breath. “Your only family, your mother who is basically a stranger to you and your stepfather… These two cruel people who had the decency to leave their child alone here in this concrete jungle have never celebrated Christmas with you…”

“V, why are you bringing them up? I don’t want to hear anything about them.” The words evoked bitter memories. Raina felt bile rising in her throat. Those two people were truly awful parents.

“I am sorry for that, dear Raina. The only thing I thank them for is that they left space for me to spend more time with my best friend. You were my Christmas companion for so long. Remember the parties we threw for the two of us and the dinner we prepared and the old classic movies we watched on the TV and the loud music from the squares we listened… These scenes are what means Christmas to me and I will hold them in my heart forever. Do you remember that Christmas when we burnt the whole meal and we had to order some pizza?”

“Yes!” Raina exclaimed. “We did and there came the pizza delivery boy and he was such a lonely soul and we invited him over. He gladly accepted and we spent the whole Christmas Eve with him. He even cried because of his cheating girlfriend.”

“Yeah… He was such a dear. I believe Stephen was his name?”

“Stefan,” Raina corrected her with a smile. When her thoughts cleared she wondered why V was saying all of that to her right there and then. She voiced her worries. “But why are you telling me all of this? Did something bad happen?” She could see her reflection in Veronica’s eyes.