Alena: Story of The Coquette

Chapter 2

"Congratulations, Alena. Your book, The Red Lady has officially become one of the best seller. Soon enough you will be able to hold a book signing event on your own."

The man smiled as he showed her the list of best-selling book where her book was placed first on the weekly ranking.

"Thank you." She replied shortly.

Alena took a sip of her tea and gently placed it back on the table. The manager saw her lack of enthusiasm and wondered why she was not happy about the news.

"Is there anything wrong? Why do you look so down?" He wondered.

She lifted up her face and stared at him with her piercing onyx eyes.

"Evan, why is everything getting boring? I feel like lately there hasn't been much excitement in my life. How can I live like this?" She asked back.

He was confused with her statement. It felt like she was talking to herself instead of him.

"What do you mean? Your career has just taken off, you have gained a large number of fans in the past three months and you've just launched your new masterclass, right? Your life is at its peak, you should cheer up a little." The brunette older man reminded.

Instead of replying, she stared out from the window of the café where a lot of people were passing by.

"Do you see these people, Evan? Right now these people are nameless strangers to us. We don't know their story. We don't care if they die and vice versa. People only care about things they know by heart. Human lives are so complicated. Even know I still don't understand everything." She sighed.

Evan tilted his head in curiosity as his gaze followed hers. He did not see anything interesting.

Evan Spears was a realist, he never tried to understand things she said because most of them were irrelevant to him, but sometimes her words intrigued him.

"Ah, Alena, I think you're getting a bit tired. It's time for us to head back. I will drive you back home." He called the waiter and paid the tab before standing up about the head out when he realized she was still sitting there.

"Alena, come on, we have to get back now. It's getting late. I'm sure you'll have plenty of things to do at home today" He persuaded. Eventually, after taking a deep breath, she stood up from her seat. Her red puffy dress creased against the edge of the table as she moved away.

Evan still could not get himself used with her mysterious personality sometimes. Even though he had been her manager for over a year, he still did not know much about her.

"Do you want to have anything you want to get before we head back? Any take out dinner or wine maybe? We can get some grocery if you want." He offered as soon as they started to drive away from the place. She shook her head with a poker face on.

"No, let's just head back, I'm tired, I want a warm bath tonight." He sighed and nodded.

The manager drove her back to her new home in West Vancouver area. She managed to bought it by the end of last year thanks to the sharp increase of her book sales.

It was a comfortable two floors three-bedrooms house which might seem too big for her to live alone, but she has always been a mansion lover, so the home was just perfect.

Besides, it was in a quiet and safe neighborhood. She was able to write without any disturbance and could wake up to stunning view every single day.

"Thank you for driving me home." She thanked him shortly before entering the house. As soon as she reached the door. He opened up the car window and shouted.

"If you ever need anything, you can always call me." She stared at him for a few seconds before entering the house. Once she was in, she could hear his car driving away and she took a deep breath.

"That man is so troublesome." She muttered underneath her breath as she removed her shoes and placed it back on her daily shoe rack. She walked to her bedroom and changed to her home dress and started preparing dinner.

She felt like having something hearty so she settled with some salmon with broccoli and potatoes on the side. She ate her dinner in silence and walked back to room and removed her clothes.

Once naked, she walked into the bathroom and ran warm water on her tub. As she waited for the tub to be filled, she lit some lavender and sage scented candle and grabbed a pack of bath salt and sprinkled them all over. Once the tub was filled over halfway, she turned off the tap and submerged herself until her entire body including her face and hair was all wet.

"God, that feels good." She smiled as her muscle began to relax. She inhaled the calming scent and let herself be in the present moment.

Bath time was a sacred time for her. No one was allowed to disturbed it. It was her little self-care ritual she had developed since the day she lived on her own.

Twenty minutes later, she was done with bath and get herself clothed in her silk night gown. She jumped on the bed and played some calming music while reading a book.

At first she was going to go straight to bed afterward but something in her was telling her to check her email and she was the kind of woman who would always trust her intuition. So she opened up her phone and checked her email from there.

As expected, there was a new email that swiftly caught her attention. It was an invitation email from an unknown sender. The person who sent it used an anonymous disposable email to send it to her but it was not a junk or spam mail either because after she checked it, she realized the content was legit.

"Dear Miss Svanski,

I hope you find my email delightful,

I would like to personally invite you to meet me at Monte Carlo, Monaco where we could spend a few days together and get to know each other better.

You do not have to worry because I will pay for all of your expenses during the trip. I have also attached a two ways flight ticket from Vancouver to Monaco for your convenience.

I cannot wait to meet you. I will be waiting for your arrival.

Sincerely,

Your secret admirer."

The email came as quite a shock for her. She had received a few similar invitations before but the sender would often disclose their identity. It was the first time someone sent her a completely anonymous invitation.

Alena was curious and checked the attachment folder. It was true, there was an attachment for online flight tickets on folder. She clicked on it and decided to confirm the authenticity of those tickets and found out they were legit.

It could have been a prank email but somehow, her heart was telling her the email was real and there was a stranger out there waiting to meet her.

A smirk escaped her lips.

How interesting.

She had never had such excitement in a while, everything around her had somehow become a mere routine and a quick trip to Monaco might be the cure she needed all along.

In other circumstance, it was dangerous for her to trust a random message like that. However, she did not care, even if it was fake, she still had enough money to spare for the trip.

She closed her phone and laid down on the bed. Closing her eyes, she tried to cast away any unnecessary thoughts from her mind and focused on her breathing.

She had done enough for the day and felt really tired. All she wanted was some sleep.

It was then when the words from the letter returned to her and she opened up her eyes. Her heart was beating rapidly and she did not know how to calm it down. As she stared into the ceiling, a piece of thought escaped her lips.

"I have a feeling this is a beginning of something crazy."