Chapter 2 Two

You are my heart, my life, my only thought.

….   Elijah Cohen examined the gleaming white rectangle on the doormat. It appeared to be an envelope.

Who would have thought to smuggle this past his hotel door?

He heard a knock on his door and saw his best friend Louis enter, followed by three chefs.

As the chefs entered the room and set the tray of food on the table, he made a motion with his hands scrutinizing them.

As he stepped on the white envelope, Elijah stared at Louis. "I had no idea people still sent letters in handwriting," Louis stated as he took it up.

"Hey, buddy, I never said you were welcome to come inside my room." As he took the letter from Louis and turned the envelope over, Elijah pretended to pout. Mrs. Cohen was addressed to him, according to the printing on the back of the envelope.

"Why would mother use handwritten letters instead of a phone to communicate?" When he opened the letter in front of Louis, who was already seated on the couch, he inquired. Elijah smirked. "It's blank, but..." he said as he detected a gleaming material and completely unfolded the paper.

Glitters tumbled to the ground, and he immediately recognized who had written the letter.

"Mrs. Cohen sent you a glittered blank letter. She certainly enjoys playing." As he prepared to dine, Louis made a remark. "Britney wrote the letter. She's the only one who uses glitter in everything she does, and don't you think you're getting too cozy in my suite?" Elijah questioned. He continued. “Just because this is your hotel doesn't mean you have authority to enter my room without my permission every time I come to your hotel for some alone time."

As he talked, Elijah's voice was calm. Louis had always been like that to him since childhood, and he had no intention of changing.

His parents and the well-known Cohen had been close friends from the beginning of their careers, and Louis had always treated Elijah like a brother rather than a friend.

When Elijah needed him, he was always there. Louis smiled instead than listening to what Elijah said. "Why would your sister send a glitter blank letter? Did she do anything else to irritate your father?" Louis asked. Elijah breathed deeply.

"I suppose so. She wrote on my car and ruined it the last time she needed money because she didn't want her father to trace her number to mine. Britney has such a dramatic personality." As he sat down on the couch next to Louis, he remarked. He took out the food. "Her card must have been blocked again by Dad."

"Does she really despise remaining at home?"

"This is something Father does all the time. He enjoys peeping into our personal lives, and Britney isn't ready to have that conversation with him. Maybe he's afraid she won't listen and turns to follow Abraham's route." Louis joined in the laughter. "I think that's why Abraham ran away from home and now he's a millionaire, but trust me when I say Britney won't call him and ask for money."

"He does illegal jobs and he is one of the youngest mafias," Louis said. "I'm still puzzled as to why your brother isn't in jail for selling drugs."

"Every darn time, Father saves his ass."

"Are you willing to help your sister?" Louis inquired. He drank all of the water from the bottle in front of him in one go.

"Of course, but not in this way; if Father discovers that I gave her money without his knowledge, he will be forced to involve my grandparents. I need to figure out a way to get the money to her."

"Fortunately for you, I know someone who also attends Harvard. My friend's sister. She could be useful." Louis stated.

"Please help me in delivering this money to her." As he wired money to Louis's account, he said.

"When I see her later, I'll talk to her." Louis smiled as he received the money and proceeded to tap his phone.

Elijah had no idea what was going on with Louis, so he snatched the phone away from him to see what was making him so happy.

A lady? Louis fought to reclaim his phone, but he couldn't match Elijah's power, so he gave up.

Elijah chuckled.

He appeared to be fascinated by the image he was looking at. "So she managed to make you smile? What is her name?" He inquired as he began to smile.

"Claire Hutton is her name. She is the most beautiful girl I've ever seen."

"She's lovely," Elijah murmured, and Louis turned to face him. He knew his friend was good with girls, but this was the first time he'd heard Elijah describe a girl as attractive, which was remarkable in and of itself.

“She is. Her smile has the power to transform a gloomy and moody space into something vibrant."

"Hmm." As he went over Claire's photo, Elijah kept smiling. "Do you have a thing for her?" He inquired.

"I'm not smitten with Claire. I don't like her the way you think.” Elijah was well aware of his deception. "Tomorrow is her birthday. You may make her wish. She is a tremendous fan of your mother and is unaware that you and I are friends, so hearing from the handsome and famous Elijah Cohen would make her day." Louis gave him a wink.

"I believe I should wish her then."

"That's what I said and no no no, don't you think about her that way. What's with that look on your face? She is not like those girls you dated or played. She is clean and innocent and deserves the world so you should wish her but please nothing more than that."

He removed Claire's number from Louis' phone and returned it to him. Elijah pushed himself off the couch. "I've got some stuff to do, and I may not be able to go to work tomorrow. I'm exhausted from all the tension."

Louis went to look at Claire's photo on his phone, but Elijah had already deleted it. "You got rid of the photos?"

"If you don't like her, why do you retain her pictures?" As he proceeded to the other room, he inquired. Louis kept looking, even going to his recent erase, but Elijah had already deleted the photos from his phone. "I wanted to share her picture on Instagram, you jerk!" Louis yelled, but all Elijah could do in the other room was silently chuckle.

Louis began to regret showing Claire's photo to his best friend. He was well aware of Elijah's personality.

Claire isn't for someone like him, who is a lion but also delicate and deadly. She is a very vulnerable person who is constantly hurt, but she chose love over everything else.

Oh, he wished for nothing but friendship between them, despite the fact that he knew it was a lie. Elijah sat on the chair, grinned at Claire's photo on his phone, and turned on his laptop.

He had done something horrible to his friend by emailing Claire's photo to himself and removing it from Louis' phone, but he didn't feel bad about it.

Even though Louis was lying to him about his affections for Claire, he informed him he doesn't have feelings for her and he doesn't want Louis to like her.

He had received emails earlier that day from a variety of persons interested in the manager post, but none of them piqued his attention. He was looking for someone he could connect with and speak with, and the more he read about these folks, the more he realized they didn't fit what he wanted.

When the name 'Claire Hutton' appeared, he was prepared to turn off his laptop. He hadn't expected her to send him a message. He only clicked on it to see if it was the same Claire Hutton that his friend Louis had mentioned, and it was.

When the clock struck noon, he was about to wish the same girl a happy birthday.

He had fallen in love with her at first sight after seeing her images earlier. He smiled as he realized he had found the person he was looking for. "This isn't by chance. It's destiny."