12

                                    

                                          

"Hello Caroline! You look ravishing, love!" Klaus greeted his date charmingly. With a smile, he took her hand and kissed her knuckles. She returned his smile.
"Thank you. Sorry I'm late, I got held up at work."
"No problem at all, love. Tell me about your day."
It was their second official date. Klaus had invited Caroline to a nice Mexican restaurant and now they were chatting, about their jobs, their hobbies and dreams, their lives.

                            

                                
                            
                              
                                  
                              
                              
                                
                                  
                                  
                                
                              
                             
                            
                            
                          
                          
At some point, Caroline came to speak about Tyler again, even though she originally did not mean to. But, she couldn't help herself.
"Okay, I know, this is not something to talk about right now, but, you know the woman Tyler cheated on me with? She works for you too. I was wondering if you could tell me what she's like? Her name is Hayley." she hesitantly asked. 
Klaus raised his eyebrows a little. He had already suspected that it was her ex and his lover who were still bothering her in some ways; that was not the surprise. The lover's name was.
"Hayley you say? As in, Hayley Marshall, brunette, brown eyes, accountant working for me?" 
"Well, I didn't know her last name, but yes to all the other things."
"Hmm." he said, contemplating.
"What is it?" Caroline knew him well enough by now to see that there was something going on inside his mind.
He looked at her and finally said: "I have known Hayley for a long time. Actually had a one-night-stand with her about four years ago."
Caroline huffed.
"Yes, I know, probably not the best topic for a second date. But I think, you should know this. You see, during this one-night-stand, Hayley got pregnant. It was an accident, but a beautiful child came from it, so I don't regret it. However, Hayley tried to have more with me than just one night. It was pretty obvious to me that she was mostly interested because of my money, so I never returned her interest. When she realized I wasn't going to fall for her, she started dating my brother Elijah instead. For about two years, they seemed happy enough. Until Elijah caught Hayley cheating on him. That's when they broke up."
"So, you're saying, she's a gold digger?"
"I thought she was, yes. All the men she dated were quite whealthy. Those that I know of anyway. And that's where I get confused." Klaus paused for a second, making an irritated gesture. "Tyler is an assistant. He earns the salary of a man at the bottom of his career. So, if Hayley is dating him, I may have misjudged her. Or I'm missing something here." Klaus explained.
Caroline rolled her eyes and scoffed.
"Yeah, I think I know what you're missing here. Tyler might be working as an assistant at the moment, but he's only doing that, because his parents want him to collect some work experience before he starts with his future in their little community. His Dad is the mayor in one of those small towns in Louisiana. The town is called Mystic Falls. It's where we come from. Tyler and I both went to school there, as did most of my friends. Tyler's grandfather, great-grandfather and so on were all mayors. And now, everyone wants Tyler to take over his father's job in a few years."