“Abigail, wake up”, Stephnie jumped on her bed, causing her to jolt up from the bed from sudden shock of impact

“What?”, she mumbled sleepily while resting her head on the pillow again to continue where she left off with her sleep

“You're trending babe”, Stephnie screamed in excitement as she knelt on the bed, shaking her friend to gain her full attention

“What are you talking about?”, Abigail lazily asked while rubbing the sleep off her eyes. Stephanie handed her phone. Her eyes widened as her eyes glared on the screen, everyone was talking about her and Ian on social media.

“H-how did t-this happen?”, she quickly got off the bed and stood on her feet as she read the comments

Ian Parker is finally taken ladies

Who's that girl?

She's one lucky girl....

What is she wearing?

He had to go for a red head. Typical Ian.

Omg!! She's beautiful.

They look cute together thou

“Why are some people so mean?”, Abigail scowled as she scrolled at some comments.

“It doesn't matter. They just bitter haters”, Stephanie took her phone and tapped into Ian's Instagram page and handed it back to Abigail. He had posted some of the pictures they took on all their 17 dates, captioned, Finally found my reason to smile.

“Aww”, Abigail cooed adoringly as she scrolled on their pictures but then her eyebrows furrowed in confusion

“I don't understand, why is Ian so famous?”, she asked, mostly to herself

“He was featured on the Template's as one of the sexiest bachelor's a few months ago, and he's also rich, he comes from a rich family-”

“Yes, thank you, Steph, I get the picture, thanks”, she deadpanned in a bored tone as her friend added too much information to what she had asked. Stephanie jumped to stand next to her.

“Do you get what this means?”

“That we're dating, and it's normal to post someone you're dating on social media?”, she quizzed and Stephanie paused to think for a second

“Yes, you do have a point”, she paused to think about it while nodding in agreement. “But that's not entirely the point. The point is he's the first one to officiate your relationship to the public, to the world actually. He claimed you”, she said and Abigail laughed.

Their relationship was official, but he just made it official-official

“Uh, yeah”, Abigail peeled herself from Stephanie tight grip. “I guess that's what this means then”

“Can we just take this moment and just-”, they entwined their fingers together and both screamed as loudly as they could

Abigail had the rest of the afternoon off and decided to surprise Ian at work with lunch. As she walked into the enormous building, she was getting stares from all directions. The whispers starting and people pointing at her. She tried to ignore them, but they were getting to her. She didn't like attention, and it was being dished to her on a silver platter.

“Hi, I'm here to see Ian Parker”, she requested as she got to the young woman at reception

“Do you have an appointment?”, she replied nonchalantly without even looking up at her

“Uh, no”, Abigail said with disappointment evident in her voice

“Then I'm afraid you can't see him without an appointment”, she spoke again without looking up, typing on her computer

“I'm sure he'll want to see me. Just call him and tell him I'm here”, she asked, desperately trying to convince her to at least notify him of her presence. The young woman sighed heavily before she stretched out her hand to grab the telephone.

“Who must I say is here to see him?”, she asked as she placed the phone on her ear, and rose her eyes the minute she pressed on the button, her jaw dropped

“His girlfriend, Abigail “, she said confidently as she grinned widely. She could help but notice how good saying that out loud felt. The receptionist still looking at her mouth opened.

“Mr Parker, Abigail is here to see you”, she notified him before pausing for a second. “Certainly sir”, she placed the phone on the receiver, she turned to Abigail, wearing a smile to her face.

“Take the elevator to the fourth floor, Mr Parker's office is on the second door on your right”, she said politely, and I smiled at her

“Thank you”

She walked towards the elevator, still taunted by the stares she got. She breathed a sigh of relief when the elevator doors open, and it was empty. She stepped inside and pressed on the 4th floor botton.

“Please hold the lift”, a woman's voice called out as the sound of high heels clicked towards the lift. Abigail stopped the elevator doors from closing with her hand and the woman jumped inside and grasped for air.

“Thank you”, she whispered as she struggled to catch her breath

“Sure thing”, Abigail smiled before she noticed the woman looking at her

“Do I know you from somewhere?”, she asked and Abigail turned to look at her, she didn't look familiar

“I don't think so”, she shook her head and looked up to see they were in the second floor. The woman kept her gaze on her, clearly not convinced of the response she got, but then she shortly snapped her fingers as if she remembered something.

“You're the girl from Ian's Instagram post, right?”, she asked and Abigail nodded her head. She saw the woman smile weakly at her before she looked at the doors before them.

“I knew I've seen you somewhere”, the other woman said quietly, more to herself, suddenly feeling uncomfortable with being in such a closed space with the woman who just stopped the elevator doors for her

“I'm Jennifer by the way”, she extended her hand for a handshake and watched as Abigail take her hand in hers

“I'm Abigail”, they shook hands for a short while before the elevator doors opened on the fourth floor and they both got off. Jennifer seemed to have a lot on her chest that she simply had to let out.

“I saw on his story that he took you to the amusement park on your first date?”, she quizzed and Abigail nodded her head

“Typical Parker”, she rolled her eyes. “When he first took me there, he didn't want to leave, he was like a little kid”, she laughed as she seemed to be reminiscing about their times together. Abigail gulped heavily as she connected the pieces together in her head. This could only mean that the woman standing beside her was Ian's ex-girlfriend.

“I hope the two of you last though”, Jeniffer added quietly but in Abigail's ears, it's like she was standing with a loudspeaker next to her as she couldn't ignore how mocking and rude that sounded

“He has a reputation of getting in and out of relationships in less than three months, like a spoiled rich kid who gets tired of his toys and tosses them aside. I really hope what happened to me doesn't happen to you”, she gave Abigail the pity smile before turning to walk away from her.

“It was nice to meet you Abigail”, she disappeared from sight, with having planted a seed of doubt in an already disappointed Abigail

She couldn't help by wonder why was she hurt by this? Her relationship with Ian would be three months in two weeks. Did that mean he was already planning to toss her aside like all the other woman he had dated?

She heaved a deep sigh before she walked towards Ian's office and his office door was pulled open before she even got the chance to knock. Ian stood opposite her, his lips spreading into a smile as he engulfed her in a warm hug.

“I was on my way to look for you. I thought maybe you got lost or something”, he joked, but Abigail gave a lazy smile before she walked inside, her mind still racing from the conversation she just had a few minutes ago. He immediately picked that something was wrong as he closed the door behind her.

“I bought lunch”, she showed him the paper bag in her hand before setting on his table.

“You shouldn't have”, he kissed her cheek as soon as he reached her

“I wanted to”, she turned from him and sat down. If he wasn't convinced that something was up a few seconds ago, now he was.

“Are you okay sweetheart?”, he asked sitting beside her

“Mhm-hmm”, she hummed in response as she unpacked the takeaways from the paper bag. That was never a good sign. He tried to stir a conversation between them, but she was giving him short answers and looked disinterested at everything he was saying.

He then decided not to push matters further, and they ate in total silence, with him stealing glances at her in between bites, wondering what went wrong between the last time they spoke on the phone that morning and now because it was clear something was definitely bothering her. He couldn't ignore the tension in the room anymore.

“Is there something wrong Abbie?”, he finally asked, and she looked at him before adjusting in her seat

“I just met a girl called Jennifer a few minutes ago”, she poked at her salad, and he suddenly lost his appetite as he dropped what remained of his burger into the takeaway

“What did she say to you?”, his voice was now firm, not as sweet as it was a second prior

“Quite a lot actually”, she let out a bitter chuckle while tilting her head to look at him. If he was indeed going to dump her, he might as well do it now before she gets way more attached than she already was.

“Whatever she told you, she's lying”, he retorted in his defense and Abigail took a second to study him, asking herself why was he acting up? It was clear Jennifer was right about something cause his jaw tightened when she mentioned her name.

“Do you normally take all your girlfriends to the amusement park on the first date, or she's also lying about that?”, she rose a brow at him, and he sighed deeply

The amusement park was where he met the first woman his heart belonged to, it was one of the places that reminded him of her. Even though he bought a different woman with him to the park in her remembrance, Abigail was the only one who made him feel like the woman was still with him, through her.

He hesitated for a second, opening his mouth to say something, but words never came out. She knew she had her answer.

“What was she to you?”, she demanded to know all the answers to the nature of their relationship

“We had a thing, a long time ago”, he desperately wished this conversation ended at that moment

“A thing?”, she questioned, it was clear to him, she clarity on what he meant. She wanted to know what his definition of a thing was.

“We were just sleeping together. It was nothing serious”

“Are you sure she knows that?”

“I'm not sure how much she told you Abbie, but I'm not that guy anymore”

“By that guy you mean what? A womanizer?”

“Yes, I admit that I always had my way with women but like I said, it was a long time..... years ago”, he emphasized on his last statement and Abigail didn't say anything at first, she just looked at him

“Okay.”, she shrugged lightly. “It's fine”

He didn't want this conversation to accelerate that far. “She's just a bitter ex, Abbie. She's trying to ruin what we have, and you're-”

“-and I'm letting her, right?”, she interrupted quickly, reaching her own conclusion. She watched him nod his head in agreement.

“Yes, you're letting her to get to you”

It was then they started arguing, neither of them wanting to be addressed as the bad guy before silence fell between them awkwardly as they both ran out of words to say to each other. Abigail sat with her arms crossed across her chest, looking everywhere but Ian's eyes that were searching for hers. He seemed deflated by his choice of words. It was the first time they argued like that, they both didn't like it. This is not how they wanted things to be in their relationship, they had a good thing going. When they finally locked eyes, Ian reached out for her hand and she heaved a sigh before placing her hand in his.

“I'm not perfect Abigail, I also have a past”, he gave her hand a gentle caress, and she relaxed under his touch

“Please don't hold it against me”, he pleaded and Abigail realized that she too said the same words to him, and he accepted her without any hesitation, guilt washed over her. Fear of ruining yet another promising relationship troubled her thoughts. She didn't want that anymore.

“I'm sorry”, she breathed out as they both stood up. “I'm not usually this insecure”, she smiled weakly, and he kissed her forehead.

“It's okay”

“I'm sorry I doubted you”, she rested her hands on his forearms

“I don't blame you. Jennifer can be really convincing. It's already a drag having to work with her and I can't exactly fire her because she's an asset to the company-”, he paused as he realized he was blabbing.

“Enough about her”, he pulled her close to him. “Let's not argue like that ever again, okay?”

“Okay”, she nodded her head, and he leaned to kiss her fully on the lips

“Are you okay?”, he asked as his dark eyes pierced through her chocolate brown orbs

“I am now”

“I missed you”. He pulled her in for a tight hug. Feeling his warmth around her body was some kind of way reassuring.

“I missed you too”