#HUGH - TWO (F)

NOTICE:

*Any entries by from Hugh's perspective are very fiction based they are also infused with conversations we have had and my interpretations*

I have always been a fortunate man. Growing up I knew what I wanted and where I wanted to go in life but never got the chance to take the path I thought I was destined to live. I played sports and was extremely successful even making it quite far in my selected profession, but back then there wasn’t much money in it. While playing I found myself surrounded by women and whilst I was never physically alone I always felt as though I could never share my life with someone special as these types of women were everywhere. It was hard to find someone who actually wanted to be with me and not for my achievements....and then I found her.

Being of East  background family is an extremely big part of my life. Loosing my mother in years to come was something that made me value this even more. At one point in my youth I was to meet a lovely blonde woman by the name of Hayley, She was unlike the rest and managed to ignite something within me that I had never even known existed...goodbye to all those before and hello Hayley...my one and only.

Hayley was a ball breaker who spoke her mind and whilst being a very strong woman she had the touch of sweetness that I had been searching for. She was a lethal combination and looks a bit like the “girl next door” with an edge of sassiness.

After a while of dating I fell in love and not long after that we were married in front of all of our closest family and friends. I quickly said goodbye to my bad boy tendencies as I had finally found what I was looking for.

Not long after we were married we fell pregnant with our first child and it was then that I found true love. The birth of a child is always a beautiful thing but nothing compares to the birth of your own child...it is an instant and unconditional love that you will never find anywhere else.

A few years later Hayley gave birth to our second and last child and whilst I loved Hayley more than ever I noticed changes in her and our marriage that I couldn’t understand. While the distance grew between us I had still married her for life and with my heritage that was something I was going to stick to.

With two young children in the picture I decided it was time to give up my love and hopeful career in sports and focus on a more lucrative career that would provide for my family for the rest of their lives.

In the early 90’s I had played sports and shared a room with a man who would become very well known and a very big part of my business and its future as one of my first clients and oldest friends.

My business started from humble beginnings and I never dreamed that it would become what it is today....an empire!

I started with a small office in an inner-western suburb and business was running steadily. Years later after a major merger the media industry exploded and as such my client base and connections grew into an astronomical number and as such I teamed up with a few influential contacts to form a new super company.

With astronomical figures thrown around at this time in the industry our assets grew and my interest in the share market grew, I became the financial guru and signed various sponsors to gain financial capital.

As the flow of money grew larger and larger my influence grew even stronger (so did my loneliness) until it was time to open up my own firm and as a result a lot of clients followed the money trail and new ones popped up like gopher holes in a national forrest. My interest in sports had never wained and as such I formed businesses to suit my interests and passions.

While my assets, finances, properties and fame soared to an all time high I tried to maintain my discretion and successfully did so with various influential connections as the women began lining up and knocking on the “power” door waiting for their 15 minutes of fame and the advances became harder and harder to knock back until I eventually caved.

It was easy...sometimes too easy which made it boring as I went from strength to strength in every aspect of my life...except my marriage.

Hayley never questioned me or anything I ever did as I never gave her a reason to and my infidelities were well hidden as i maintained the lifestyle she had become accustomed to and our children always had the best of everything in life. My family never wanted for anything and I always ensured that they were my number one priority.

There have been many times that I have had the opportunity to bed beautiful women and at times it has been as easy at the click of my fingers or a simple text message, however there was never been a woman that has captivated my attention long enough to last longer than three months. I get bored when the chase stops and no intellectually stimulating conversation follows.

I have been looking for my very own Scheherazade...and I had convinced myself that I would NEVER find her, that I was not worthy of finding her...and then it happened. (For those of you who do not know the story...this is what I have been searching for...)

       * “...The story goes that every day Shahryar (King) would marry a new virgin, and after doing so would arrange for the previous day’s wife to be beheaded. This was done in anger, after having found out that his first wife was unfaithful. He killed 1,000 women by the time he was to meet Scheherazade, the vizers daughter.

Against her fathers wishes, Scheherazade volunteered to spend one night with the King. Once in the Kings chambers, Scheherazade asked if she might bid one last farewell to her beloved sister Dinazade, who had secretly been prepared to ask Scheherazade to tell a story during the long night. The King lay awake and listened with awe as Scheherazade told her first story. The night passed by, and Scheherazade stopped in the middle of her story. The King asked her to finish, but Scheherazade said there was not time, as dawn was breaking. So the King spared her life for one day to finish the story the next night. So the next night, Scheherazade finished the story and then began a second even more exciting tale which she again stopped halfway through at dawn. So the King again spared her life for one day to finish the second story.

And so the king kept Scheherazade alive day by day, as he eagerly anticipated the finishing of last nights, and 1,000 stories, Scheherazade told the King that she had no more tales to tell him. During these 1,001 nights, the King had fallen in love with Scheherazade and so he spared her life, and made her his queen”

One afternoon while in the middle of a contracts negotiations meeting I felt my phone vibrate and upon pulling it out and not recognizing the number I decided to let it go to voicemail. It was probably just another nosey reporter wanting a comment on this or that and I was not in the mood to deal with it. Whatever they wanted, they could wait!

Once back in the office at the end of another eighteen hour day I caught up on my voicemails and found the usual from clients and contacts until I noticed the unknown number. I contemplated just deleting the message or transferring it to of my staff to deal with as I didn’t need anymore shit, dreading another reporters incessant questions I reluctantly pressed play whilst checking the hundreds of emails that had come through during the afternoons meetings and contemplating calling one of the many women to entertain my boredom for a few hours.

As the voicemail began I had to stop what I was going as the young woman began to speak. I didn’t catch her name as she was speaking at a million miles an hour (obviously nervous and that made me smile) however there was something captivating in the way that she spoke. Her voiced echoed in my head as it held a level of strength, professionalism, warmth and vulnerability that I couldn’t help bur sit up and pay attention to. By the time the voicemail finished I was already pressing the replay button before prompted and did so what must have been a million times, not only to understand  what she was saying but also to capture the feelings that flowed through me with every syllable that she breathed down the line.

What she was saying was nothing that I hadn’t heard before but she had captivated my attention so much that I was intrigued to entertain her proposal as she had knowledge of deals that had yet to be released anywhere. After the millionth time of replaying I knew I had to put a face to this voice. I had to meet her and be in her presence. If she was just as I did’t know what I was going to do but the smooth velvet voice that had me hypnotized was something that I had to have more of. It was like a breath of fresh air had hit me and winded me. I had already forgotten about the nights plans I had mentally made and hit the number in my message bank to call her back. Like a nervous school body I waited impatiently counting the rings until she finally answered at 7:30pm.

“Hello, Ava Reilly speaking” She said in the same voice that left me a voicemail only this time cool, calm and collected...It made me even more determined to find this woman as she had my full and undivided attention...I didn’t know what this feeling was but I was already addicted....and I was determined to have more.

“Ava, this is Hugh Montgomery...I’d like to speak if you have a moment” I responded, already knowing that I would get what I wanted...and what I wanted was....Ava Reilly!

*Credit Wikipedia Excerpt - Scheherazade