Alena: Story of The Coquette

Chapter 3

"I will be heading to Monaco next week." She declared calmly as she took a bite out of her steak. Evan who was seated across her raised his face and looked at her in disbelief.

"You can't possibly be serious about that. Why so suddenly?" He questioned.

The news came as a shock for him.

It was rare for Alena to leave the comfort of her home to travel without monthly planning, because she always made sure to book everything at least a month in advance and would immediately inform him after that.

"Why not?" She replied casually with another question instead of answering his. Evan was getting frustrated with her attitude lately but he could not vent it on her because not only was he her manager, but he also promised himself to never do anything which would make her hate him.

"Alena, you should be focused on writing the sequel for your book and your masterclass session for now. Once you've done at least halfway, we will head somewhere tropical, okay?" He suggested. She found him a bit nosy. Even though he was her manager, sometimes he would act as if he was her father and it pissed her off.

"I already have the ticket. Besides, it's not going to be a solo vacation. I will be meeting someone there." He froze in place as soon as he heard it. Evan placed down his utensils and looked at her straight in the eyes.

"Who are you going to meet?" He asked. She shook her head briefly as she chewed the meat in her mouth.

"I don't know. I just received the tickets on my email. This stranger knows my full name and would like to meet me. So they got me a two-way ticket and I'm heading out next week." Evan could not believe what he was hearing at the moment.

She just accepted a random offer from a stranger whom she did not know. The idea did not sound like the Alena he knew at all. Something boiled inside of him, there was no way he would let her go there.

"No, you cannot go. It's too suspicious and it can be dangerous. You don't even know who the man or woman is. What if you're kidnapped as soon as you're there? It could be a scam. I will have to delete the email later."

"I am twenty-four, Evan. You're not my father. I can do what I want when I want to." She retorted. There was a ten years gap between the two of them but sometimes she felt like he was acting like he was her father.

They met each other a little over a year ago when she just had her book first published. When the sales increased, she started to get plenty of offer from different places and her publisher recommended her to get a manager, then they introduced him to her and told her he was one of the best in the field.

Alena who was a bit inexperienced at the time with having manager and all agreed to it since the commission she had to give him was still decent for her.

After a year or so their relationship dynamic changed slight because there were many times when he was acting like her bodyguard instead of her manager and while she appreciated it, he could get quite strict at times it annoyed her.

"It seems like this time I cannot convince you otherwise. Then I have no other choice, I will be coming to Monaco with you." He looked straight into her eyes as he declared those words. She looked at him as if he was crazy.

"No, you cannot come with me. I will be going alone and that's final." The two of them had a little debate about it. She began to regret telling him about the trip to begin with. She should have known Evan would get in her way. The man insisted on coming with her and asked for the detailed information of the flight and the hotel she would stay in.

In the end, Alena agreed to let him come as long as he did not disturb her plan while she was there. He agreed to the term and after dinner was over, the two of them was about to head back into the house when suddenly a stranger man approached them.

"Excuse me, I'm sorry to disturb you but I am a huge fan of you, Alena. I've read your book and I love it. I didn't think I'd stumble upon you today but I happened to carry your book with me today, could you please sign it?"

The man was a few inches taller than her. He had short curly dirty blonde hair and wore thick square glasses. He wore a plain olive T-shirt and jeans with black and white sneakers. The man looked average from every angle and a bit geeky.

"Sorry, but we're in a hurry." Evan stated coldly to the man, but Alena reacted in the opposite manner. She smiled sweetly at the man as she took the book from his hand.

"Sure, I'll gladly sign it for you, what's your name?" She asked as she signed the book for him. The man beamed in excitement as he answered.

"My name's Kyle, Kyle Morris." She returned the book to him and smiled again.

"Thanks for your support, Kyle. Hope you'll look forward to the sequel." She sweetly said as she walked out from the room.

The man did not even have a chance to reply when she was out of the sight.

Evan quickly followed after her and the man was left there dumbfounded but happy because he could get her autograph.

Once they were inside, Evan turned at her and asked why she decided to sign his book.

"It's marketing, Evan. We should act nice toward the fans so they would continue to support us. Isn't it obvious? Besides the man from earlier seemed like a really sweet guy, probably a nerd but a cute nerd." She chuckled a little as she took some candies from the car's storage and pop it into her mouth.

"Seriously, sometimes I think you should just be an actress, Alena." She was not sure if it was a compliment or not but it didn't matter to her.

"I don't care. Let's just head back home." He did not say anything else and drove her back home once again. However, this time, he also stepped out from the car as soon as they arrived.

"What are you doing?" She turned her back and froze in place as soon as she realized he was not leaving.

"With your permission, I would like to stay here tonight. Since you moved in, I have never once step inside and I thought today would be the right day for me to come over." There was no clear justification from his side. Of course, Alena did not allow it. She refused his desire to stay over because it was too sudden and strange.

"No, Evan, you cannot come over to my house. Just get back in the car and drive your way back home. Besides, you have a fiancee, you have spent more time with me than her due to work but this is the limit, I don't want her to think badly of me just because you decide to stay over out of nowhere." She argued.

It was true, Evan was an engaged man. At thirty-four it was strange if he was single. Besides, he was physically quite attractive for the average woman, he had a stable career and had his fair share of charisma.

Shortly before he started working for Alena, he was engaged to a woman named Wendy. She was not sure of her last name, he never mentioned it but she had seen her picture before and she seemed like a decent woman.

The last thing Alena wanted was to have any romantic relationship with a married or engaged man.

Evan did not even get to answer when she walked into the house and quickly locked the door so he could not get in. The man seemed frustrated but then he entered his car and a few minutes later drove away from her house.

"That was so close. That man is troublesome. I will have to make a few adjustments after this." She murmured underneath her breath once again.

The day of her departure was coming and she could not be bothered with anything else. Her curiosity of her secret admirer's identity was getting stronger and she was counting on the days she could finally meet him.

"He better be worth it."