♥♥♥Valentine's Day Special '17♥♥♥

The Other CEO Extra: Charles Husher's POV

When you age into your thirties, men like me should be living the life they wanted.

In life, you would only need these three main things for you to live by. These what kept men hungry for more. The status they earn makes it easier for them to maneuver around the system. Dick sizes didn't matter anymore for as long as you shower a woman with a lot of expensive stones, show them off to more rich men and basically pay her to be your companion for the duration. We, men, were monstrous beings. Pleasure was the only thing that would keep us happy, content even.

However, I wasn't like most men.

I fell in love with my wife when I was in my mid-twenties. Then, married her and got her pregnant when I was twenty-nine years old. It was the happiest time of my life. Everything felt right at that time with Corrine, my daughter, added to our inseparable duo. However, there was no happiness in forever. Marriage had been a challenge for us ever since we were both handed the responsibilities of a parent. My wife acted a little differently after a few months our daughter was born. We didn't know that postpartum depression actually existed. She was willing to get some professional help and we did.

She tried her best to bring us together which worked for a while. Until, my wife started to come home a little late than normal. When asked, she would just brush me off and head to bed early. This went on for another year. I really willed myself to fix our marriage, talking to her so we could somehow reconnect again. In the end, I left her because of our irreconcilable differences. Our fights would occur a few times a day which got a bit tiring. They were all petty and energy-draining. When I tried to leave her with Corrine, she went ballistic and had caused a scene.

Reluctantly, I left Corrine with my wife and went to see her every weekend. When I started seeing Corrine with a few bruises, I felt an incredible amount of rage. Without a second thought, I gave my lawyer a call and filed for a divorce and sole custody of my only daughter. It was a tough battle we had to go through. Our relationship wasn't healthy anymore. It was toxic and everyone was hurting.

I was losing the case against her because my wife would make up stories on how I abused my daughter. When in reality, she was the one that gave Corrine such treatment. We eventually found a strong evidence that my wife had been seeing a rich junkie that had been supplying her with some illegal prescription. She was basically cheating on me and it was enough proof that she was filed for infidelity and child neglect.

Now that she was out of the picture, Corrine and I had been doing well together. It had been three years since the trial. She would sometimes ask about her mother, telling her that she was sick and was in a safe place where people would attend to her needs. I knew it was a lie but at her young age she wouldn't understand these kind of things yet.

"Daddy!" I looked up to see Corrine running towards me. Her classes had ended for the day as I always made sure that I was there to pick her up so we could go home together. She was upset about something when I saw that her button nose flared in anger and her hands were clenched into fists. When she was a few meters away from me, she had stomped her feet in frustration. It was quite adorable to see her angry. I was stifling a smile because she hated it when I would just laugh at her cute face.

"Uh-oh, someone's having a bad day." I commented as she stood in front of me, arms folded.

She didn't say a word, glaring at me like it was my fault. I sighed and kneeled to her level. "Alright, why is the princess mad?"

"Zeno just told me he likes me." Her face contorted with disgust.

I started to laugh at her problem at hand. "What's wrong with Zeno liking you?"

"He's not a prince!" She argued.

"Honey, you know that you can't marry Prince Harry, right? He's too old for you." I regretfully told her. When she found out that he was the real prince, she was pretty determined to meet him in person. In fact, she also told me that he would one day marry him which was by far the most ridiculous thing I've heard.

Corrine just huffed and folded her arms. This was her usual stance when she knew she had lost an argument, followed by me being ignored until I bribe her with something sweet.

"I guess you're not talking to me, then?" I asked her.

She just shook her head and turned around. I was about to say something when she suddenly shrieked and ran behind me to hide. Following her eyes, I saw Zeno approaching us, holding a daisy on one hand. When he was getting near, Corrine tightened her hold onto my suit jacket, pulling it to hide her face away.

Zeno brightened his smile when he was now in front of me. "Hello, Mr. Husher." He paused and tilted his head to the right to take a peek at Corrine. "Hello, Cory."

"Zeno." Corrine gritted.

"Hey, Zeno. What can I do for you?" I smiled brightly at him. Kids these days, worry too much on falling in love early with a person. It was cute but in reality, it takes a lot of effort for a relationship to work.

"Um... My aunt told me that I should give this to Cory." He handed the flower to my daughter. Reluctantly, she accepted and still kept hiding behind me.

"Aren't you going to say 'thank you'?" I reminded her.

She then mumbled, "Thank you."

"Happy Valentine's Day!" Zeno grinned. He was blushing, scratching his nape in embarrassment.

Right, today was Valentine's Day. I didn't even get my daughter anything this year. For all I know, she wasn't aware what day it was today. She would usually be excited when it was something she looked forward to. Although, my daughter was smart enough to see what was happening around her. She just didn't care, I guess.

"Zeno!" A woman called from behind him. "There you are! I told you to wait for me. You mum is going to behead me if I lost you."

She was trying to catch her breath. Her face was still a mystery since she was wearing a grey beanie. A few strands of hair were covering a part of her face. I knew her natural hair color was brown but only dyed her hair in a rose pink color. The way she dressed was comfortable casual, in a stone-washed skinny jeans and an oversized white basic shirt that she just inserted. Warming her up, she also wore a brown leather jacket.

The way she carried herself, supposing she was a free-spirited person, sparked something within me. It was out of intrigue, mostly.

"But aunt Astrid! Cory was about to leave." Zeno pouted to her aunt.

The woman named Astrid tilted her head up to me. She gave me the most heart-stopping smile as her adorable freckles softly dusted her nose. Her eyes sparkled like sapphire, mesmerizing and inviting. "I'm so sorry about Zeno. He's a bit of a hopeless romantic." She chuckled kindly, grabbing a hold of his nephew's hand.

She was a striking woman, no doubt about that. For once in my life, I was too dumbstruck to utter a single word. When I met my wife, it was more of a "friends first" approach. This was more unlikely for me and it was getting very embarrassing.

"Are you feeling okay?"

I felt a tug on my sleeve and noticed that everyone's eyes were focused on me. Mentally shaking my head, I cleared my throat to ease the tension building inside of me. This was only a woman for crying out loud! Why was I feeling flustered all of a sudden? "Yeah. I'm fine." I answered a little too quickly.

Astrid chuckled, "Good. My name's Astrid."

"Charles."

"Fancy name," giving me a crooked smile. "Taking your wife on a date today?" She arched an eyebrow, waiting for me to answer. Her question was too bold even if she was just trying to engage in some small talk.

"Been unmarried for three years." I lifted my left hand, showing her a finger with no ring. "Why? Are you trying to ask me out?" It was egoistic of me to ask but I couldn't help myself. Smirking, I saw the way her face morphed into surprise but quickly masked it with impassiveness.

"You're a funny man too. It was nice meeting you, Charles." Her lips curved into a seductive smile. But before I could extend our conversation, she already gently pulled Zeno's hand, leaving without saying goodbye.

I then took my daughter out on a movie date. It was the least I could do since I hadn't really made an effort to celebrate the day with her. Corrine had forced me to watch this animated film with these funny little creatures with cool hair and found that it wasn't so bad. We greatly enjoyed ourselves that night. By the end of the evening, I gave her a single red rose. Probably even threatened her that I was the only man that would love her unconditionally and that no boy was allowed to steal our date night Fridays.

The next day, I was waiting for Corrine at my usual spot, hiding under the shade of an old oak tree. My eyes were searching everywhere for Zeno, in hopes that I would be able to see the pink haired beauty again. The students started to exit the building and I stood from my sitting position to get a clear view of every person, more specifically, on Zeno. I knew my daughter was approaching me, however, I was more intent on finding her.

"Hey there my little princess."

Crushing her with my embrace, she tried to squirm to escape my grasp. "Daddy! I'm not little anymore."

I chuckled, "I know that but you'll always be my princess." She gave me a toothy smile and squished my face so that my lips would pucker like a fish's mouth.

"Did you cause any trouble today?" I asked her warily. Corrine would tend to cause a few minor fights with kids that didn't want to listen to her. At her age, she already acquired strong leadership skills among her peers. My little girl was being independent which makes me proud. Sometimes though, her impulsive behavior would make me question myself on where she got it from.

"Zeno kept talking to me today so I punched his arm." My devious daughter just shrugged like it was normal for a girl to do such act.

"Corrine," Using my authoritative tone on her to effectively get her to listen to me. She frowned because she knew I wasn't playing anymore. "I'm sorry, daddy." She pleaded with her big blue eyes. I was supposed to reprimand her but my attention was diverted when I saw a boy that resembled Zeno. Looking ahead, disappointment washed over me when I saw a brunette woman picking him up, assuming it was his mother. Astrid didn't give any indication about her character. Only that I got her first name. Begrudgingly, I took my daughter home, expecting my day would brighten when I would get the chance to talk to her once more.

During the weekend, Pierce and I made plans to go out on a Saturday night. He was in town for an important business call with his investors. It was the only day he had for his time off before he would head back to New York the next day. I took Corrine to her grandparents so we could have a guy's night out like we used to do back when he had previously worked for me. Those were some of my darkest moments, unable to remember anything from being shit-face drunk.

We entered a pub that was in Soho, finding ourselves seated at the front of the bar. Pierce and I were catching up with what was happening in our lives when the bartender interrupted us to ask for our drink order. The voice belonged to a woman and my head was quick to turn when I noticed that her hair was pink. To my surprise, Astrid was already smiling, eyes twinkling with amusement.

"We meet again." She said.

"Indeed."

"So, what are we having tonight?"

Pierce answered for me, "Two orders of scotch – on the rocks please."

She nodded and walked away. My eyes followed her, thinking of how I would strike up a conversation somehow.

"You know her?" Pierce asked. My gaze lingered for a few more seconds before my attention went back to my friend. "Yeah, just met her the other day when I was picking up Corrine at school."

He raised an eyebrow, "Is she married?"

"Thank fuck, she's not." I laughed, overjoyed with relief.

"A single mum then?"

"No. Maybe? I don't know, man. I haven't really talked to her."

"She's coming back over. Now's your chance." He encouraged, nodding at her direction.

Astrid came back with our liquor. "Here you go, boys. Call me if you need anything else." She grinned, locking eyes with mine.

"You work here?

She gave me a 'duh' look. "I'm serving you drinks, aren't I?"

"What I meant to ask was - do you work here full time?"

She lazily smiled and replied, "Occasionally helping out." Damn, this woman was a tough one. She wasn't giving anything I could use to prolong our conversation. Introducing her to Pierce was probably a safe way to start. Eventually, we fell into an idle chatter, trying to maintain her attention for the whole evening in our company. While we were enjoying ourselves, Astrid still had a lot of customers to serve that night so it was no use holding her back.

"Hey, Astrid?" I called out to her before she started to walk back.

"Yeah?"

"Will I be seeing you on Monday?"

An apologetic look crossed her face, "I'll be working. Picking up Zeno from school is only one of the favors I get from my sister whenever she's busy with meetings."

"I see."

"But..." She trailed off. "If what you're trying to do is ask me out then all you have to do is ask." The corner of her mouth lifted into a smirk, obviously challenging me. She was one devious minx.

Leaning my body forward, I looked her straight in the eye and said, "You caught me. Is it a 'yes, then'?"

Astrid laughed, "Saying yes to what?"

"An afternoon stroll around London and maybe a three-course dinner on different locations?" I suggested. Pierce was quietly watching us, occasionally sipping on his glass with amusement plastered on his face.

"That sounds nice. We'll set a time and date. But first, I got to take this. Excuse me." Astrid hurried off to serve some customers that just arrived. Pierce had started to laugh at my struggle. Everything was going smoothly but was then rudely interrupted. It was nearing one o'clock in the morning when Astrid had disappeared into the back. She never came back to tell me her decision. Unsure on how to approach her, I left her a message to one of her coworkers, giving her my number and a message to call me whenever she decided on a time and date.

More than a week had passed, there was still no call or text message from her. I hadn't seen her in school lately too. My ego was too large to accept that she had rejected me. It was unacceptable. On Friday afternoon, when I went to pick up Corrine, I bravely approached Zeno to ask on his aunt's whereabouts.

"Hey Zeno, help a man out, will you?"

"Help?"

"Yes, you see, your aunt Astrid borrowed something from me and I really need it returned. Where do you think I could find her?" I asked, lying to this poor boy's face.

"Oh! She's working today at Sugar Rush Corner in Soho."

Bingo! Asking him wasn't so bad after all. "Thanks Zeno. You're a big help." I widened my smile when I finally got information on her whereabouts.

Corrine wasn't that hard to convince when I asked her if she wanted some cake. She jumped in excitement while we were heading to where Astrid was working. I hadn't really been this eager to date a woman. Saying that she was different from the rest was total bullshit. When I first saw her, there was this overwhelming emotion I felt towards her. Somehow, it was familiar yet the feeling was new.

It took us half an hour to get there. My heart pounded against my chest. The fact that I was worried with how this would all go down just proved that I wasn't confident enough. I held Corrine's hand to gain some kind of self-assurance that everything would go smoothly today. During my time as a bachelor, I tend to flatter a lot of ladies and usually they would bite into my trap. These couple of years though, my dating game was weak as fuck.

"Welcome to Sugar Rush! What can we supply you with?" A cheerful staff welcomed us and guided us to a table. The quaint little bakery didn't have much customers at this hour. My daughter then rushed into the display with an assortment of pastries in clear view. I only ordered a cup of latte while Corrine ordered a slice of decadent chocolate torte. I was just about to ask the cashier if a woman named Astrid worked here when a woman with pink hair, wearing a bandana to keep her short hair away from her face, walked out from the back and carried a tray full of cannoli. Her eyes widened in surprise when our eyes met. Hurriedly, she put the tray on display and went out of the counter to meet with me.

"What are you doing here?" She asked with a little edge on her voice.

I badly wanted to tell her that I had been expecting her call. "I never got a call from you," telling her a matter-of-factly.

"It got a little busy around here," She mumbled, tugging the ends of her apron. Her eyes strayed away from mine which meant that she was not telling the truth.

Smirking, I knew that she was lying. "No, I don't think that's the real reason."

Her head flew up, eyes narrowing. "Okay, maybe I didn't want you to find me. I'm surprised you took it this far and brought a little back up." She looked at Corrine who was happily eating her cake.

"I always make sure that I get what I want."

"Let's be real here, boss man." She gave me a once over, looking at the dark grey suit I was wearing. "Men like you are controlling, manipulative and conceited. You can't just ask me out on a date, feeling the need to boost your ego. I'm sorry if I ever gave you the wrong idea. It only made sense if I just went with the flow just so I could get rid of you." She gritted her teeth. I didn't get why she went hostile all of a sudden but I had a feeling this went deeper than expected. Was it a man in her past who had treated her wrongly?

"Woah," I raised my hands in surrender. "No need for violence. Look, I don't know what you had to go through. I just wanted to get to know you. If you're not up for it then you could have said no."

Astrid took a deep breath and sighed, "I shouldn't have ranted. I apologize. It's just that I don't trust men that much."

"Ah, so it's probably safe to say that I'm not a registered sex offender." I jested, hoping to get a smile from her.

She heartily laughed, eyes sparkling with delight, "That helps a bit, yeah."

We smiled at each other. I guess it was appropriate to start over and be friends. Offering my hand for her to shake, I introduced myself. "Charles Husher, CEO at C.W.H International."

"Astrid Lane, owner and part-time bartender." She giggled and took my hand for a firm hand shake.

This was just the beginning of our story.

>>>END<<<

***

Hello!

We meet again! This is my 4th Wattpad Block Party and I'm ecstatic for everyone's post for this winter edition. Kelly Anne had once again done a superb job in organizing this event for us to have this chance to collaborate with other authors to bring you the biggest party to start 2017!

Just a quick introduction about me – My name is Jovi and my Wattpad username is ivojovi. Pastry chef by day. Nocturnal writer by night. I'm mostly interested in writing romance novels. I came from one of the beautiful islands of the Philippines! So yes, I'm a Filipina (:

This is another spin-off I made from The Other CEO. Charles Husher is Pierce Alexander's best friend. He was more of a carefree type of person. The short story focuses on his relationship with his daughter, life after the divorce and of course, a new love interest :P To my TOC readers, I hope you enjoyed this small bonus chapter. To first time readers, please read The Other CEO to be able to understand more about Charles' character. Thank you guys for taking the time to read!

We have the whole month to keep this party going! Enjoy yourselves. Cheers! ♥

Where to find me:

// Wattpad: ivojovi

// Radish: ivojovi

// Facebook: Ivojovi Wattpad

// Twitter: jovianplanet

*Music: Avalanche City – Love Love Love*

x Jovi

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P.S. Don't forget to enter the 130+ #WattpadBlockParty Giveaways! Clickable links are at the top of my Wattpad profile! :)

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