You
want to eat something? I am feeling a little hungry.” he said,
changing the tone and topic of their conversation.
Vera jumped
at this opportunity, “Definitely! Lets get out of here.”
They both
left the club after changing into their normal clothes.
*****
Outside, both
of them grabbed hot dogs and kept walking. The two of them were
exchanging notes on their techniques. While talking to Vera, Archer
realized that he had not explored the trails of his own country. All
his life he had been traveling across the world looking for
adventure. And in this mad rush, he overlooked all the great treks
and trails in his country.
“ I
really want to go to that trail in Jefferson City.” Archer
confessed while taking a bite off his hot dog.
Vera
remembered how beautiful it was years ago when she was there. “I
don’t know how that place is now. I just hope people have not
killed it. You know how young people are.”
Archer
stopped for a brief moment and looked at Vera’s face. He smiled
and said, “You say that like you are old. I am sure you are
also ‘young
people’ .
Don’t sell yourself short.”
Archer walked
ahead after finishing his sentence, but Vera was left fixed in her
spot. In recent years, she had accepted that she did not look young,
but this man could see that spark inside her.
“ What
are you waiting for? Come on.” Archer called her out. Vera
quickly came out of her day dreaming and walked towards Archer. But
something crashed into her, making her hot dog meet with her top.
“ Fuck!”
the short man who bumped into Vera cried.
Archer ran to
pick Vera up, “Are you okay?” he said looking at her.
“ Watch
where you're walking, Missy!” the man lectured Vera adjusting
his bag.
“ Practice
what your preach Mister!” Archer delivered a stern reply to
him. The man looked at Archer’s face and remained fix with awe.
Archer read his face and quickly got out of there taking Vera with
him.
The man stood
there, looking at Archer and Vera until they disappeared in the
crowd. He then quickly took out his cellphone and dialed a number.
“ Hello!
Is this Finch Enterprises?” he asked. “My name is Victor
Cooper, and I am a photojournalist. Could you connect me to Archer
Finch, please?”
He tried to
find Archer in the crowd, but saw only horde of random strangers, “Oh
he is not in the country right now? No problem, I get it. Thanks.”
Victor put
his phone back in his pocket, “I think I know where Archer
Finch is, but who was that lady with him?”
Victor
entered a coffee shop and secured a table for himself. He opened his
bag and along with two cameras and several lenses, a laptop was
neatly stuffed in there. He pulled out his laptop and opened the web
browser.
“ Popular
African American Models.” He typed into the search browser. In
the image section, he kept browsing through all the images, but no
face matched the woman he saw with Archer Finch.
Tired, he
then searched for Archer Finch and to his disappointment, not many
images surfaced. The only images of Archer were of his young age when
he took over his family business. Archer was known to keep a low
profile and despite being a billionaire there were not many pictures
of him available on the internet. Though by looking at the available
resources, Victor was certain that it was Archer whom he saw earlier.
But he was more interested in that lady with him.
Though he
introduced himself as a Photo journalist, Victor Cooper was actually
a paparazzi photographer. Stalking mid level celebrities was his main
job and this was exactly what he was looking for.
‘ Archer
Finch - The multi billionaire with a mysterious girl.’
He imagined
the headline of a tabloid in his head. But the problem was Victor had
no idea where to find the two of them again. And so he channeled the
stalker inside him, “Think Victor think.. what was a
billionaire doing walking the streets of this city. Think!”
And like a
flashback, the scene played in
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