I know I should not have done it to my dear Henry. But how could he have left me for that Barbara woman? We were soulmates! We are soulmates. The only reason he wants Barbara is for her money. With me it's so much more. It may have started out with him liking me for my money, but that was so many years ago that nobody even remembers it. Well, I guess it all doesn't matter anymore now anyway. I sold Al's Diner, the place in which we shared so many lovely memories. The place that I hated at first, but I have come to love in time. And with the money, I have bought a plane ticket to Dubai. For Henry I had given up my old life of luxury, but now that I have lost him, I see no reason to stay poor any longer. Dubai here I come!
“Just what the sheik was looking for!” I hear someone say. I have only just arrived in Dubai and didn't even leave the airport yet. When I turn around I see this very handsome man surrounded by security guards, wearing typical Emirati clothing. He looks at me and waves for me to come over. How could a girl resist? ‘”Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Vienna Hyatt.” I introduce myself as the very handsome sheik grabs my hand and kisses it softly. Oh my, I wonder if all his kisses are as soft as this one. “The pleasure is all mine, miss Hyatt.” he replies, immediately snapping me back to reality. “I am Sheik Mohammed Nur Abdul Bin Aziz, but you can call me Sheik.” I give him one of my most charming smiles “Sounds good, Sheik.” He grabs my arm gently and walks me to the airport exit. I pretend I don't notice that people are staring at us. With my gorgeous appearance I am more than used to having people stare at me and I will make sure that the Sheik will realize that. As if he can read my thoughts, the Sheik complains: “The only bad thing about meeting such a beautiful woman is the attention it draws. But I am sure you get so much attention that you don't even notice that anymore, isn't that right miss Hyatt?” I smile my most innocent smile, as if I want to agree, but am too modest to admit it. Men can never see through this. It seems to work and as we reach a very stretch limo, the Sheik finally reveals his plans: “Tonight I will arrange a suite for you at the Armani Hotel in the Burj Khalifa and tomorrow we will start looking for apartments. I am assuming that you don't have any hotel reservations I should know about?” I nod in agreement and thank him gracefully. To be honest, I do have a hotel reservation somewhere in Deira, which is one of the cheapest areas of Dubai and I do not feel like passing out on a suite at the Armani hotel for that. I'm sure that I won't be able to get a refund but it will be well worth it. Happily I enter the limo. As soon as I enter the limo I realise how much I have missed this. The wealth, the worry-free life, the parties in limos that cost more than half the houses in Oakdale combined. I'm sure that if I stay here, I'll forget Henry in no time.
By the time we get to the Armani Hotel I am getting tired. Between the lavish limousine ride and the time difference between Oakdale and Dubai I feel like my jetlag will become more severe if I don't get some sleep soon. Fortunately the Sheik understands. “You need to get some sleep, miss Hyatt. Tomorrow you have a long day ahead of you as we'll be looking at properties for you.” He says after checking me in, grabbing my hand once more and placing another soft kiss on it. Hmmm… I close my eyes to feel it more intensely. At the same time I wonder: would it be too promiscuous to ask him to come up with me? I open my eyes to look at the Sheik to maybe find a hint to whether or not he wants it too. But unfortunately he is gone already.
With the bell boy in tow to carry my luggage I go to my room. Looking into the huge living room, decorated with Armani furniture I immediately forget about the Sheik. I cannot shake the thought of Henry. We would have enjoyed ourselves so much in this room. We could play dress up… He could be an Armani executive and I would be a naughty shoplifter. It would be so great. I look into the mirror at the entrance of the suite and immediately my smile fades. I am alone in this huge room and Henry is not here. Not only is he not here, he won't come here either. He's with someone else now. It hits me so hard that I cannot even enjoy the rest of the huge, extravagant suite. I go straight to bed and cry myself to sleep.
I wake up with banging on my door. “Room service” I hear. After announcing herself, the maid enters the room, puts the food on the table and leaves. Curious as I am, I get up to see what food she brought. The first thing that catches my eye is a note on the table, accompanied by a big vase with white roses. “Good morning beautiful. I hope the suite gave you the beauty sleep that you deserve. In one hour I will be there to pick you up. We have 10 properties to view today. See you soon, your Sheik.” What girl can resist that? I grab some waffles and fruit from the table and start to get myself ready to meet the Sheik in an hour.
The rest of day goes pretty well, but even though the Sheik is very handsome and courteous, I still feel a bit bored and cannot get my mind off Henry. At one point I cannot take any more talk about square metres, bed linen and energy consumption. I need a better distraction to stop thinking about Henry. In a desperate attempt I turn to the real estate agent and ask him how he got into this business. “Actually I was living in the US,” he answers. “Running a diner in a small town. It was great. Until I lost it at a poker game.” As soon as he finishes his sentence, it is as if every sense in my body just woke up and made my entire body shiver. I look at him in utter disbelief. “That's a coincidence,” is the only thing I am able to say. The question mark that appears on his forehead makes me elaborate myself. I tell him everything. Ok, everything except for the Henry part. The Sheik is listening as well so I prefer to be discreet. It's funny to discover how much I can have in common with a guy, who, a few years ago, I would have considered a mere servant. I even discover he is also Swedish and was brought up in a town near my hometown. Soon we start talking in Swedish and, honestly, I kind of forget about the Sheik. It is just so inspiring to hear from Max Malmsten, which is his name. He tells me about his ambitions to make money in Dubai real estate to eventually start his own chain of American diners in Dubai. That's not all though. He wants to run it with the future mother of his children! Whom he hasn't met yet! It sounds like a dream. Like Max is my soulmate. I feel myself falling in love with him already. I have found the perfect investment for the money that I got for Al's Diner! Starting my own diner with Max. It would be a dream come true. Now I just need to find a way to be with him without upsetting the Sheik.
It is proving more difficult than I thought. At least I was able to convince Max to let me stay at his house. When I am there I am sure I can convince him that we are soulmates. It worked with Henry as well. And besides, what guy can resist my gorgeous body? The only problem is that I don't know how to convince the Sheik that I am not the girl for him. I am contemplating ways to let him down all the way from the last apartment to the Armani hotel. I am actually in a taxi by myself, because the Sheik had to leave for urgent business. When I arrive at the hotel, I see my luggage standing in the lobby. How is this possible? I didn't even check out yet. In a panic I hurry to the reception desk and ask for clarification. “Miss Hyatt, the credit card that was used to pay for your room is not valid.” The receptionist explains. My panic immediately fades away. “Oh that must be a mistake,” I answer confidently. “The Sheik must have another card he can use, why don't you give him a call and clear this up?” The woman looks at me with a very surprised face. “The man that brought you here yesterday, you mean?” she asks. “He was just arrested for impersonating a Sheik.” …to be continued.
