Chapter 5

"Where were you?" a worried Leila rushed to Remi as soon as she saw her exiting the hotel where the event was being held.

Remi was still a bit shaken up by all that had happened today, and by the fact that she had been talking to no other than Hugo Tiano himself. So it took her some time to answer to her friend while she breathed in the cool air and gazed around the few people that were leaving the place as well. She hesitated, because how was she to explain where she had actually been? It sounded so crazy to her that she couldn't even imagine how it would sound to Leila.

"Do you remember Hugo Tiano?" Remi asked, hugging herself due to the cold night air hitting her bare arms.

"Obviously" Leila answered "Why?" she asked, tilting her head curiously.

"I was with him," Remi said "Have you called a cab?" she added as if her last statement wasn't something out of the ordinary.

"What?" Leila asked rather loudly with wide eyes, unbelieving of her friend "And yes, I have. They should be here any minute now" she added as Remi stayed silent for a couple of seconds.

"I was talking to the director of a publishing house when he appeared," Remi began explaining how she ended up drinking in a private room with Mr. Tiano "and he basically told me how both of our names weren't in the guest list"

"Wait, but how did he know our names? I'm getting confused. He also knows mine?" Leila began blabbering out questions, the last one with a glint of excitement.

Remi sighed, realizing that she should explain how she actually met him at the museum without even realizing who he was. So she started from the beginning, and once the cab arrived and the two of them were embraced by the car's heating she began explaining in detail what had happened tonight.

Unbeknownst to Remi, Hugo had spotted her almost instantly after stepping in the place. He watched her for a while as she talked and smiled at a couple of people that he knew were small in the design industry. But then, before he could keep on observing her, a dark-haired girl appeared and snatched her away from the designers and from his view. He figured that girl must have been the friend Remi last told him about, but he didn't think much about it for a while. At least not until he successfully spotted her again, this time talking with a shareholder of a publishing house.

"Mr. Sanders," Hugo greeted the shareholder reaching his hand.

The older man's expression changed to one of surprise at the realization of who had called him, but he quickly put on a smile. Although the anxiety lying beneath the smile was quite obvious to people as observant as Hugo and Remi. On the other hand, Remi also looked at Hugo with surprise. But unlike Sanders, she wasn't the least bit nervous, she was just amazed by the odds of having met with him again.

"Mr. Tiano, what an honor" Sanders greeted him back. It was then when Remi's eyes widened at the familiar name. But Hugo didn't say anything, he just stayed in silence because he knew that people had a tendency of wanting to fill in the silences. Which led to them talking too much and oversharing or embarrassing themselves. And it was clearly working on Sanders as he began to sweat in awkwardness under the heavy look of Hugo "Uh, this is Remi Grey." he presented the girl out of awkwardness and in hopes of handing the responsibility of holding a conversation to her. At the introduction, Hugo smiled faintly, but there was something in the smile that gave off an unsettling feeling.

"I know who she is, I had the pleasure of meeting her before" he deliberately said, making Sanders wonder if he should be extra nice with Remi as he had suddenly become a backdrop of the two people staring at each other. While Remi had a lump on her throat and struggled to maintain the stare of who now she knew was Hugo Tiano. He took one hand out of his pocket and tugged at his sleeve before talking again "If I were to look at the guest list would your, and your friend's names be missing like last time?" he directly asked, making both Remi and Sanders swallow.

"I thought the guests' attendance list was something private" Remi managed to say looking completely relaxed and even with a slightly smug smile.

In reality, her heart was beating a hundred kilometers per hour because not only this had been the first time someone had caught her since a year or so of doing these things, but also because it was Hugo Tiano who had caught her.

Sanders stopped any thread of thoughts he was having about treating Remi better. He thought he must have been getting old and losing sight because it was now obvious that there was a strange tension between these two, even though both of them seemed cool and composed on the outside. That only made Sanders admire Remi's courage for standing as proud as she was before Hugo. In any case, he decided that the smartest thing he could do was to leave before he was dragged down with Remi or associated with her, so he said a short and polite goodbye before leaving the two alone.

"Who are you" Hugo ordered, this time harsher than before, and his eyes becoming darker "And don't lie to me because kicking you and your friend out of here is the smallest thing I can do"

"My name's really Remi, and the last time we met I really was accompanying Leila. She wanted to get some background for when she finished her studies" she explained.

"So what are you doing here today, then?" Hugo asked, clearly suspicious.

"Leila got an internship and she was feeling bad that I didn't, so she wanted to help me" she answered shortly. Hugo's brows knitted while he inspected her, still finding the girl and the situation in general rather strange.

"Hugo!" a female's voice sounded before a girl appeared clinging to the male's side. Remi looked at the girl in a red dress and blinked twice while Hugo pulled his arm back, straightening his expensive suit without even bothering to look at the girl "When I heard you were here I was so excited!"

"And why's that exactly?" he asked, looking at the girl with an unbothered look.

"You know why, silly" the girl giggled, softly tapping Hugo's chest. Hugo's gaze went down to her hand on him, darkening even more. But the girl didn't seem to notice.

"Which modeling company were you from again?" he asked, knowing damn well that it would feel like an insult to her. Of course he knew who she was. She was the oldest daughter of a rich family.

It had been known to some people that his father had been pressuring him to get married before he was too old. Hugo wasn't even that old yet, he barely in his thirties. That was why his father wasn't too strict yet either. But from his point of view, the later his son took to find a woman, the later he'd provide him with a grandson and an heir to their family’s name. So Hugo knew this was just one of the daughters of the rich families that had talked with his father. But the ultimate decision was Hugo's and not his father’s, and this girl was way too courageous and stupid to think that just because her mother and his father had talked she could already be so invasive.

The girl's brows scrunched in a frown as her face became a few shades darker from embarrassment and anger. How could have someone taken her by someone who sold her body? A model, from all the people.

"My time's precious, and you're wasting it" Hugo added, treating her as if she was the least important person in the room. He was aware of how the rich family heirs that didn’t do anything else but being heirs and that had had it all since the moment they were born used to think poorly of a wide variety of people. So he knew pretty well how to make the girl angry and embarrassed. Meanwhile, Remi looked at everything with a mildly amused look "If you want to talk to me make an appointment with my assistant like everybody else" he added harshly but with a tone so calm that only made it scarier.

The girl had a mix of feelings. She was ashamed, she was angry, and she was scared that her mother would hear about what happened. But before she could mess things up any farther two big men appeared, followed by a shorter one in a tux.

"Miss, if you'd follow my men please?" the man in a tux asked politely with a wide and bright smile. Even if she was to refuse, she couldn't fight against the two men so she unwillingly followed, leaving the man behind "Hugo, I hope she hasn't bothered you too much" the man greeted the CEO with a smile and a chuckle, but Hugo remained uninterested.

"You should revise better who you invite to these events" Hugo answered "Right?" he now asked Remi with a double meaning that only she understood. But she smiled softly and nodded in agreement.

"And who's this beautiful young lady?" he asked Remi, taking her hand and laying a kiss on top of it. Remi smiled brightly.

"I'm Remi Grey, but I'm just a philology student"

Hugo turned his look to her, now showing some tiny feeling. He blinked twice at the girl, not expecting her to be a student, and even less a philology student. He honestly thought she must have been an artist or a gallery owner because of her knowledge in art and how much she had seemed to adore the paintings from the first time they met. While he watched the girl with a growing curiosity the other man began cheerfully talking with her. It was then when Hugo's curiosity peaked even more as she was able to converse with the man in a tux surprisingly fluidly, almost as if she wasn't talking to the holder of the event that she had just been caught sneaking in a moment ago.

Hugo observed her and how she showed a high level of EQ, especially because she didn't promote herself or sold herself at any moment, but instead, she managed to get the other people interested and to offer help.

After a while, the holder of the event —who Remi figured must have had a somewhat tight relationship with Hugo— and Hugo had a brief chat before the latter dismissed him.

"Follow me," Hugo suddenly said as he began walking away without waiting for an answer from Remi.

She was once again startled, but she followed him nevertheless, eventually finding herself in a private room with Hugo Tiano. As Hugo walked farther into the room he asked for two drinks and sat on a black velvety loveseat. Remi looked around, beginning to feel nervous again before mirroring his actions and sitting in front of him.

"So let me see if I got this straight," he said, leaning back comfortably on his seat "You and your friend have been sneaking in places like this to get background?" Remi nodded "Since when have you been doing this?"

"Two years I think" she answered honestly.

The drinks were set on the table between the both of them. Hugo held the thick glass and brought it to his lips as he observed the girl once again.

"Why are you so open about it?" he asked.

"You have been able to get the guest's list. What's the point in lying? We haven't been doing anything illegal anyway..." she said, but she quickly jumped at the sound of a low chuckle coming from him.

He hadn't been able to hold it, he just found it funny how two girls had been able to get to these places without anyone noticing. He couldn't help it, and he would have lied if he said he wasn't intrigued by the two girls. Although after having seen Remi using her speech abilities he was certainly more drawn to her than to her dark-haired friend.

He didn't feel like going back to the sea of people that would suck up to him, so he asked the girl to explain to him how it all began.

"This is amazing!" Leila cheered in the car after having heard her friend's story "You can introduce me to him, right? Remi, we can get so far now oh my God!" she said with a wide smile and glistening eyes. But Remi's expression remained heavy.

"That's impossible, Leila" she finally said "The only reason why I have been able to talk to him is because he had discovered us. He knows our motives and everything"

"So what?" Leila repeated "We still can manage for him to sign us up to one of his companies or something. I'm sure there’s something we can do" But again, Remi shook her head in denial.

"Hugo is out of reach. And he's not as stupid as the people we've been dealing with"

"There must be something we can do..." Leila said with a frown. Bothered about the idea of such an opportunity going to waste.

"If you had seen him up close you'd understand what I mean" Remi said, her eyes lost outside the tarnished window from the car as she vaguely explained the aura Hugo had given off and how he made anyone around him get tense and anxious.

But Leila only frowned harder while staying thoughtful for a while. How could he be so 'unapproachable' and 'intimidating'? How could Remi say people felt anxious around him when she had been talking to him at the museum without her even realizing who he was? It didn't make sense. If he was like that she wouldn't have talked to him back, then. Right? Leila looked at her friend from the corner of her eyes, but in the end, she let go of a sigh and decided to trust Remi's judgment.

"Anyway" Remi said, suddenly coming back from her own world "How's been the night for you?"

"Some men are so stupid..." Leila laughed, changing her mood completely as they changed the subject "There was this man. He got so drunk I could have easily stolen from him if I wanted to"