Healing A Damaged Heart

Chapter 1

Tristan

"Argh!" My head hurts.

I wake up in a hotel bed, with a random girl beside me, and a wicked hangover. As usual, I had the time of my life last night. I do this every week or whenever I have the time for it.

After massaging my temples, I stand up from the bed and quietly walk to the bathroom. I wash my face, looking in the mirror while I fix myself. Once I look decent enough, I start picking up my clothes, preparing to leave the room as quickly as possible.

I don’t want that girl to wake up before I get to leave. For sure, she’ll be clingy. Girls like her tend to be like that, and it bugs the hell out of me.

Walking out of the bathroom, I’m surprised to see that the girl is already awake. She’s looking at me, still drowsy from sleeping.

"Hey, you got up so early. Come back to bed for me, please. I want hugs," she says, demanding morning cuddles.

I cringe, seeing her staring at me like that.

I’ve never been into cuddling after sex, or even the morning after. It’s just not me. "Ahh. Sorry, Patricia. I need to go. I have a few patients waiting for me," I say, faking my identity.

Patients? I’m not even a real doctor.

I smirk at the thought.

I change who I am every time I go out with a different girl. It’ll be no fun when they all find out I’m just playing with their emotions like that.

"Patricia?" she asks, raising her eyebrows at me. "Who the hell is Patricia?"

Oh, shoot. What’s her name again? 

"Oh! Sorry. Stacy, right?" She’s starting to glare at me, so that might be the wrong answer.

"No? No. Okay, hmm. Camilla?" I ask again, obviously trying to guess at this point. "I’m sorry. I think my head is still hungover from last night. What is it again?" I continue, smiling at her.

"Kayla," she says, crossing her arms over her chest. "It’s Kayla."

"Right! Kayla. A beautiful name for such a beautiful girl like you?" She smiles at my compliment. "I’ll see you after work, okay? Hmmm? I prepared a little surprise for you," I say, winking at her.

Her face turns red, and her lips curl into a smile. "You did? Really? I can’t wait," she answers sweetly.

I nod in her direction and make my way out of the room. "I really need to go. See you later."

A surprise? That’s a lie. I don’t do surprises, especially with random girls like her.

I immediately run out of the room to make sure she wouldn't follow me. I don’t like needy girls like her. I won’t be able to go out with other people if she suddenly tells everybody she’s dating me.

Before getting inside the elevator, I get a call from my driver.

"Yes, hello?" I say, picking up the phone.

"Sir Tristan, I’m here in front of the hotel."

"Good. I’ll be there in a minute," I reply.

I smile and hurriedly get inside the elevator, heading out of the hotel. When I reach the front of the hotel, I quickly dive in the car as we head back home.

My driver already knows the drill. He’s used to fetching me from different hotels after spending several nights with random strangers I met at a bar.

Not long after, we arrive at our building. I toss my things on the sofa and remove my clothes. I take a quick shower and walk to my room, picking up my phone to check something.

I call all the numbers I got last night at the bar, one by one, making a lot of potential dates with these people. I tell them all these sweet promises and compliments so they would look forward to meeting with me. I want them to have fun with me too.

One chick a day. That’s how I do it.

People know me for being a playboy. They see me with different girls all the time. That’s why I make sure to fake my identity with every girl I meet.

After calling them and even flirting for a bit, I sit down and sigh. I feel so beat up yet satisfied with what I’m doing.

I spend my time drinking at bars as often as I could to sleep with these strangers. Then, I’ll get back to work like a professional.

This is how I have fun.

I go to this large window in my room and look down to watch the people outside. This is one of the things I enjoy doing too, people-watching. I observe how they interact with each other, because I find it fascinating.

Being an only child, always used to having things my way, I’m not fond of sharing. What’s mine is mine, right? I always hold up to that belief of mine of how things should be done.

But I’m not that selfish or self-centered. I’m just a happy-go-lucky type of guy who can be a bit possessive sometimes.

That’s why I enjoy seeing other people doing different things. I love to see how they behave everyday. This is my way of cooling off because doing this, observing people, refreshes me.

It makes me realize how people in general are unique. Watching them makes me see things differently.

After a while, I turn to glance at my calendar. "So, it’s only a month away from my thirtieth birthday, huh?" I’m getting old.

Am I really happy? Is this what I really want to do with my life?

All I do so far is mess around and have fun. Yes, I’m a rich, accomplished, and established engineer, and I own an engineering firm and a coffee shop, but why do I feel like there’s something not quite right?

It seems like I already have everything, but why do I still feel empty? Like I’m a puzzle, and there’s a piece that’s been missing all this time.

I start massaging my temples again and shake my head.

Maybe I’m just too tired from last night. That's why I’m thinking like this. I probably should get some sleep.