Once Tom opened the door, he was surprised to see Alicia standing there, "Good morning!" She greeted with a friendly smile, as she looked at him from head to toe, wondering why he was dressed that way so early on a Saturday morning.
"Good morning. How may I help you?" He asked without returning her smile or bothering to invite her in. Although Lucy was still in his bedroom, and both Sonia and Bryan had gone into the next bedroom when they heard the sound of the doorbell, he didn't want Alicia inside his house.
Something about the way Alicia always followed him with her eyes like she was keeping tabs on him, made him wary of her, and he was yet to forgive her and Jasmine for what they did during dinner.
"I was hoping I could speak with you for a moment," she said, and Tom raised a brow.
"Speak with me?" He asked, and when she gave him a nod, he reluctantly held the door open for her to go in.
Once she stepped inside, Alicia looked around the apartment curiously. She was tempted to ask about Lucy and Sonia since she had seen Sonia walk into the house earlier, and had also seen Lucy run out of her apartment like she was being chased a while ago, but she refrained from doing so. She could tell that he was wary of her, and she didn't want to give him any more reason to feel that way. She was only trying to help after all.
"You can sit down. Excuse me for a moment," Tom said, and she reasoned that he was probably going to tell both ladies to stay quiet since he had a visitor. What were they all up to?
"Sure," she said with a nod and watched as Tom walked away.
Tom stopped by the other bedroom first to see Bryan and Sonia, "I have a guest. So you should remain here," he informed them before walking over to his bedroom to meet Lucy.
"Alicia is in the living room," he informed Lucy.
"Alicia? What is she doing here?" Lucy asked with a slight frown. Perhaps Alicia wanted to ask for his sperm now? She wondered.
"I don't know. Do you want to see her? Or you would rather remain in here?" Tom asked, and Lucy pursed her lips as she thought of it.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Why don't we find out what she has to say before I make my presence known?" Lucy asked, and Tom gave her a nod before walking away.
Once he returned to the living room he sat down on the couch opposite Alicia, "Do you care for coffee?" Tom offered politely.
"Nah. I'm fine," she said with a shake of her head, and then cleared her throat, "I wanted to talk to you about Lucy. You're both in a relationship, am I right?" Alicia asked, and Tom sat back in his seat to look at her.
"Why do you ask?" Tom asked, his voice tone suddenly very cool. He hoped for her sake that she wasn't here to speak ill of Lucy.
"Because I want to know what your relationship with her is before I say what I have to say," Alicia said without letting his tone get to her.
Tom stared at her for a moment, and although he was tempted to tell her it wasn't her business, he was curious to know what she had to say, "Yes."
"I suppose she is aware that you're the CEO of I-Global?" Alicia asked, and Tom looked at her in surprise making Alicia smile.
"You don't have to be surprised. I'm a very observant person by nature, so when something catches my interest I tend to give it my time," Alicia said, and Tom's brows pulled together.
"I'm not sure I follow what you're trying to say."
"Since you have admitted that you're in a relationship with her, I will just open up to you. You caught my interest the very first time I saw you. I liked you, and I told Jasmine that I thought you would make a good father for our kid. Jas and I wanted you to be our sperm donor," she said, and almost laughed out loud when Tom's mouth hung open in surprise.
"Sperm donor?" He asked in horror, not knowing whether to feel flattered or insulted. He suddenly felt the urge to place his hands over his crotch protectively. But refrained from doing something so silly.
"I guess she didn't tell you about it," Alicia said in amusement.
"Jasmine?" Tom asked, wondering who she was referring to. This whole time he had thought both ladies were just sisters or friends. How come he hadn't noticed it?
"No. Lucy."
"Lucy? You told Lucy?" Tom asked in disbelief. Lucy knew all along that they wanted his sperm yet she didn't say anything? Tom suddenly felt violated. Imagining how all three women must have sat down to discuss his sperm, his hands involuntarily moved to his crotch.
"Are you going to repeat everything I say?" Alicia asked in amusement.
"Hold on. How did you know that I'm the CEO of I-Global? And how long have you known that?" Tom asked curiously. He had tried his best to cover his tracks, so how could she have known?
Now he was even more thankful that he had told everything to Lucy, else she would have found out right now since he was certain she was eavesdropping on their conversation at the moment.
"I started trying to connect the dots after you asked us not to tell Lucy that you just moved into the neighborhood. And then I became more suspicious of you when we had dinner together and Lucy mentioned how she met you at a club and you ended up becoming her next-door neighbor and driver." Alicia said with a small smile as she remembered all the times she had stood by her window and sat outside watching Lucy's apartment because she feared that Tom was an obsessed stalker and might harm her.
"I don't believe much in coincidences. I felt she was very naive to have easily believed in the many coincidences. So I took a special interest in watching the both of you, just to make sure she was okay," Alicia said with a shrug.
"You don't have a job?" Tom asked. Although he appreciated her for looking out for Lucy, he couldn't help feeling irritated with the fact that she had been watching him the whole time.
Alicia gave him an easy smile, "I'm a blogger. She didn't tell you that I offered to let her share her side of the story on my YouTube channel?" She asked, and Tom raised a brow.
"Why do you seem so concerned about her?" Tom asked suspiciously.
"I don't know. Do I need to have a specific reason? She just seems like a nice person, and she is also my neighbor, so I want to help her," Alicia said with a shrug.
"You're not doing this because you want my... My..." Tom stopped, unable to bring himself to say the word.
Alicia giggled, "No. I'm not doing this because we want you to father our child. As I said, it's for Lucy," she assured him.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmTom looked at her for a moment and then let out a sigh, "Alright. I will talk to her about it and..."
"I will do it. I want to do it," Lucy said as she stepped out to join them, and then flashed Alicia an apologetic smile, "Sorry. I hope you don't mind that I was eavesdropping on your conversation, do you?"
"I knew you were in there," Alicia said with a wide smile.
"You seem to know everything," Tom said with a scowl, and Alicia giggled.
"You would be surprised by how much I know about the lives of a lot of high-profile persons," Alicia said with a smile.
"High profile persons?" Tom asked curiously, and Alicia nodded.
"If you know a lot about high profile persons, how come you didn't know about Tom?" Lucy cut in.
"I tried digging into I-Global in the past, but there was no dirt there. There was no reason for me to pry into his life when he wanted to stay away from public view," Alicia explained.
"For instance, I know that I-Global recently purchased Ocean Airlines. Although Mr. Wyatt claimed to sell off the airline because he needed money to take care of his medical expenses, he is actually neck-deep in debts due to his gambling addiction," Alicia said, making Tom narrow his eyes.
"I see," Lucy said, looking at Alicia with newfound admiration, "Your job must be dangerous," Lucy said thoughtfully.
"That's why I live here. You wouldn't have known what I do had I not told you, right?" Alicia asked, and Lucy gave her a nod.
"How do you get your information?" Tom asked curiously.
"I have my sources. Very reliable resources," Alicia assured him.
"I think apart from using your YouTube channel you might be able to help us," Tom said thoughtfully as an idea struck him.
"I would like to assist you both in any way I can," Alicia said eagerly.