"Is it okay if I call you Melinda or do you prefer Emma?" You can call me anything you want to," Emma replied with a laugh. "Why don't you go by your ...iddle name?" It's actually worse than Merton," Bryant said. "My full name is Merton Lysander Beckwith the Third. Can you believe there is actually two other people with a name like that? My father should be horsewhipped for insisting I be named after him." Do you have a nickname or anything?" Emma wondered."My ex-wife calls me 'asshole' but I. It was her phone on the bedside table, vibrating violently, that had woken her up. The screen was lit up, and Alene read ‘Mother’ across the screen. ‘Not today,’ she thought. Opening her bedroom door and finding the apartment empty, she was somewhat surprised to see that it was dark out; the Goddess of the night paying her usual visit, the heavy, dark rain clouds doing half her job.It had felt like Alene hadn’t slept much at all. It had felt like only half an hour of respite at most, rather. He had seen her around for the last six months or so and thought her to be one of the better-looking women in the building. Darren had done some checking and found out that she had a PhD in chemistry, a masters in engineering and a masters in economics. “Smart little woman,” he told his friend who had relayed the information to him. “Better be careful about the little woman thing,” his friend had said, “She’s gonna end up running things before you know it and might not like being called ‘the. Victoria had remained uncharacteristically silent during this exchange. Mark did not fail to notice it."Do you know why we've been given this wine?" Mark asked her.Victoria looked down and coloured a little. "I think Mummy's behind it," she said. Mark looked at her questioningly. "For us being responsible and grown up, I think," she added.Mark looked bewildered. "I still don't get it," he said shaking his head."Well ... er ... when Mummy ambushed me she asked me why I was looking so happy so I.