18 - Dates

It seemed like I couldn't avoid a date with the two women. Boss brought Henriette and me to a café at Pigalle, a district famous for its bars and Parisian food. I was happy to attend, of course, but not in those circumstances.

In front of the restaurant, they hung, not stuck, their logo over Chinese writing. Was that a Chinese restaurant before? I peeked at the inside through the shop window. The inside was, however, decorated like any true Parisian restaurant. Only true Parisian chefs would cook bread and pastries that smelled like that even outside of the restaurant. Besides, the Eiffel Tower was hovering above us. I was living in a dream.

My vision became blurred as emotions overwhelmed me. I wiped off my eyes and discovered tears of joy on my hand.

Boss held the door for us. We entered the French food paradise. It was 4 pm and it was full of people. Instead of listening to this chatter, I lent my heart to the accordions next to our table.

When we sat, I grabbed the menu.

Boss lowered the menu I erected like it was a wall before her, "You're my guests. Pick whatever you want."

"Huh...thanks?" I said, confused by the kind gesture. She was probably fooling me again, so I shouldn't give in to her trap.

Henriette grabbed Boss's arm, "What a generous lady! Be more grateful, Song."

She talked to Boss with a sing-song voice and talked to me like I was a stranger. What wrong with this woman? Shouldn't it be the opposite!

She chose a white chocolate eclair, and Boss took a black coffee. I chose the most French-looking treat, the Paris-Brest.

Honestly, I felt like Henriette already received her sweet. And it was sitting near her.

Henriette attacked first, "So, how should I call you?"

"Miss Ndongo," I answered.

She is inaccessible. Print it on your skull, I thought.

She turned her head toward her target instead of me, "That's a bit formal."

Boss closed her eyes and crossed her arms again, as if she slept, "Call me Nadine if you wish."

Seriously? Does fighting to preserve our privacy even matter if you ruin everything?

A waiter served us our pastries. My Paris-Brest was on my plate now. I rolled the cream puff around my tongue. When I bit it, it revealed its sweet cream, "Is that what we call happiness?"

Henriette bit in her éclair, "And what you're doing for a living Nadine?"

I straighten quickly, "She, huh... she...employs people!"

Henriette raised an eyebrow in confusion and stuffed another bite of eclair in her mouth.

Boss put her cup down, "I own an art gallery." She then crossed her arms and closed her eyes again.

The next time Henriette ate her pastry, it was with her canine teeth, "Song."

My back shivered, "Something is wrong?"

"No, everything goes as planned. I just wanted to ask you two something. Could you tell me how you met?"

I gulped my cream and coughed, "Well hum…I. We..."

Boss wasn't sleeping, she was always doing that stupid act. But she heard me, and let me deliberately in that shitty situation. My dance carrier wasn't the only thing at stake, monster.

"She needed a flatsharer, and I needed a...refuge." I finally said, "Now I'm working for her...art agency."

"And what you're doing?"

"I'm the security guard?"

Henriette burst out laughing. It seemed like my body wasn't convincing her. She came back to Boss, who was still 'sleeping'.

"You work in art, right? You know the Dragon's Breath?"

Her eyes opened. The Boss strengthened, "My company had it in the past."

"Oh my God!" Henriette stood up in excitement, "You're the one cleaning masterpieces!"

She nodded.

"The Mona Lisa?"

She nodded again.

"Degas dancers?"

She did it again.

"And Charles de Gaulle's Dragon Breath!"

And again, a seed of a playful smile on her lips.

My mouth was full of Paris Brest. Nothing could stop the birth of friendly stares the girls shared.

"I have to go." Henriette took out a piece of paper from her bomber jacket and slid it on the table before going out.

When I was sure the young girl wasn't here anymore, I turned back to Boss.

She slid the little paper into her pocket.

"Miss, I know I'm only an employee, and that's it's not my place to speak, but I find it dangerous to keep her number on you. If you keep in touch with her, I can be found, and they'll throw me out of this country. You definitely want to keep me on your team, right? You wouldn't have come to so much length to bring me back if you didn't care.

"They won't throw you out. Nobody has been in the whole 3 years I've been doing this.

"But…Why are you that interested in Henriette?"

Since she used her as a hostage 7 days ago, I couldn't understand her train of thought.

"She seems to own precious pieces of information on Charles de Gaulle's Dragon Breath."

"What's that?"

Boss grabbed her cup of black coffee for the first time, "That was the thing that made me lose my authority and raised Zheng Tai to the top instead."

What has he done to her? Not that I was pitying this woman or something like that.