Chapter 7

Remi blinked twice again, surprised by the waitress’s words, but also more calmed now that she knew the reason behind the waitress calling her. However, there still was a bit of nervousness boiling in the pit of her stomach.

She didn’t say anything else and just accepted to follow the waitress while both of them were also followed by the bodyguard. Little did Remi know that this situation, being escorted away from the crowd while having the eyes on her of some people who were aware who this bodyguard belonged to, would repeat from that day onwards every day she went out with Leila. And it was all her fault, for not being able to satiate Hugo’s curiosity and only do but leave him more intrigued. This caused him to end up sending someone to fetch her every time he was tired of dealing with people sucking up to him.

Remi followed the girl out of the main hall which made her be more jittery at the privacy of the secluded area. The waitress opened the door and stepped aside to let Remi step in, and then didn’t move until she came inside, following orders from Hugo.

Remi glanced inside the room. It was similar to the one he and her had been in the last time. The lights were dimmed, which mixed with the dark upholstered walls and grey floor made the atmosphere feel even more intimate and intimidating. She gazed inside again, this time focusing on the man standing in the middle of the place. Hugo wore another one of his black suits, but this time with a burgundy shirt under his blazer. While he turned around Remi looked at him from bottom to top, inspecting from his broad shoulders to his dark hair that glistened under the lights. It was then when Remi realized he was talking to someone on the phone. He looked at her and maintained his stare on her light brown eyes holding his typical serious expression. Remi felt her heart pounding hard, feeling nervous all over again. But she swallowed and stood her ground, waiting for him in place as she didn’t know what to do.

They stayed like that, observing each other for a couple of minutes until Hugo answered the person he was talking to on the phone. He then turned around again and gave Remi his back as he kept talking on the phone. Then, the same waitress approached Remi, tapping her shoulder lightly as she showed her to a small navy blue couch. Remi sat down and a drink was quickly served on the round and gold coffee table in front of her.

She bit her bottom lip in order to subdue her nervousness due to not being used to this type of situation and quickly held the drink so she’d keep herself busy while she waited for Hugo to come back and say something to her.

As soon as she brought her drink close to her lips a sweet smell hit her, making her take a look at the orange liquid, already being able to imagine the taste of it. This time she deliberately took a sniff of the scent and put the straw in between her lips, tasting the indeed sweet peachy drink. She actually liked it so much that she had to stop herself from drinking it from one go.

Just as she put down her glass Hugo sat down on the identical couch in front of her, keeping his phone away and crossing one of his legs while he leaned completely back. They both stared at each other in silence again.

“I apologize for making you wait that long” Hugo said, making Remi swallow. This time not from anxiousness but out of the surprise for having heard such words from him.

“It’s alright” she answered honestly, but again silence flooded the place “Uhm, if I may ask. Why did you call me here?” Remi finally asked what had been on her mind. Hugo looked away as he let go of a tired sigh.

“There are only so many people sucking up to me I can take” he simply said as if only from that her question would have been answered, which obviously didn’t. And in fact, Hugo didn’t feel like explaining himself to anyone “The people you were talking to, Luxavie” he said “What did you think of them?”

The question should have confused Remi, it actually was a bit out of nowhere. But at this point, Remi was starting to not get as surprised anymore.

“They’re weird,” Remi said “I wasn’t really interested in them” she was wondering whether to ask Hugo how did he know who was she talking to. But then again, he was Hugo Tiano. That question would just be absurd.

“Why?” he asked, and Remi’s eyes moved upwards in a thoughtful manner.

“I’m not sure. I just don’t buy what they said. It sounded strange, but I was just curious so I kept talking to them”

The main reason why Hugo had called Remi here was exactly because of what he had said. He was tired of people trailing behind him, and he thought Remi could distract him. But then again, when he was informed she was talking to people from Luxavie, he was definitely going to take her away from them. Not because he wanted to warn her about the scandals the company had been in, or about the dirty methods they used to scam their artists. In fact, he thought that if she wasn’t smart enough to be aware of vulture people like those, she shouldn’t even try to be a part of this hard world that she and her friend were trying to get in so hard. In reality, he was just curious about what did the intriguing Remi think of them.

Hugo didn’t confirm nor deny any of the things Remi said about Luxavie, and when they were done talking about them Hugo questioned the brunette about how did she get in there and in all the other places he had seen her in for the past weeks. And one question after another, time ended up passing rather quickly, and so the event finished and they went different ways once again.

Remi exited the place, obviously not with Hugo. That would just cause too much of a commotion for both of them. While she exited the place, she saw Leila waiting for her with a scowl.

“You ignored me” Leila said, crossing her arms.

“I told you I was fine. I couldn’t be on the phone” Remi answered.

“Or more like you didn’t want me to interfere with you and Hugo” Leila frowned harder, making Remi roll her eyes.

Leila had sent a message to Remi a while ago back, asking for her whereabouts, only to be met with a short answer: ‘Hugo. I’m fine’. Leila messaged her back, asking where exactly so she could casually go to look for her friend and ‘unintentionally’ meet with Mr. Tiano. But she didn’t get any answer, and neither did the other couple of messages she sent. But the reality was that because Remi felt she wasn’t in any danger with Hugo she didn’t pay much attention to her phone. And then, if she did, it’d probably look rude.

“C’mon, you’re being unreasonable, Leila. We just talked about trivial stuff, and I didn’t even talk about myself. Just answered his questions” Remi tried to make Leila calm down.

“So what? Don’t talk to me as if I didn’t know how this works, Remi. I don’t care what you talked about, you’re just winning his good side by doing that. And I wanna be a part of it too! I’m sneaking in places too!” she got angrier.

“Okay, don’t go shouting that” Remi shushed her, grabbing her arm “Be patient Leila, we’ve always taken our time. I haven’t asked for Tiano’s attention a single time. If I suddenly asked for things or introduce you to him, he’d catch right onto it. He’s smarter than any other man we’ve dealt with” Remi said the words she thought would make her feel more at ease. Leila looked at her in suspicion, her deep brown eyes squinting more at her “Just be patient. Don’t throw everything we’ve achieved out the window, okay?” Leila wasn’t fully satisfied, but Remi’s words made her realize she was being too impetuous right now “Look, let’s go home. I’ll buy some take-out on our way, and I’ll answer whatever you want to know. Yes?” she negotiated, and finally, Leila’s brow relaxed as she nodded and stopped crossing her arms.

Remi walked through the cold streets holding a box of doughnuts, completely lost in her own thoughts as the hasty people that were going to work walked around her. She yawned, still tired. Last night she stayed at Leila’s place because that way neither of them had to separate in the middle of the night and because she would also avoid her flatmate’s questions. But it wasn’t something she could avoid forever, and she was really aware of that. She had even bought them breakfast to soften them.

She finally got to her building and the same second she opened the door Sarah, the oldest of her flatmates who had light brown straight hair and a fringe, popped her head from her bedroom while giving her a frown.

“Where do you come from?” Sarah asked, not as curious but even angry because it looked as if she had been awake waiting for her.

At Sarah’s voice Monica, who had blonde and straight hair, came from her bedroom too. Joining in Sarah’s upcoming interrogation.

“A friend’s house. I stayed over” Remi said, leaving her keys on a drawer at the entrance of her flat as she walked deeper in.

“Where did you go partying? You looked fancy yesterday” it was Monica who asked this time. Remi opened the fridge and decided to pour a glass of milk for herself.

“A new place, I think it was called...” Remi said, looking up in a ‘thoughtful’ demeanor when actually it was a white lie she was saying “I don’t remember, it was her who took me there with some of her friends” she said.

Her friends looked suspicious of her, but she looked so honest that it only added to their distrust “I figured you hadn’t had breakfast so I brought you doughnuts” Remi decided to say, opening the box she had laid on the dining table.

Her friends looked at the colorful pastries, their mouths already watering at the sight.

“Next time, take us with you” Monica said before digging in the doughnut.

“Will do,” Remi said with a small smile when she saw her plan had worked “I was invited to join a group of friends though. I don’t know if they’ll want. But I’ll ask” she said “I’ll go take a shower now” she added disappearing into her room.

She looked completely calm, but deep down Remi was afraid. She knew she had dodged the bullet this time, but she was well aware that it’d come a time when she wouldn’t be able. She could tell from her flatmate’s looks on her, they didn’t trust her, and they were both curious and worried. So it was only a matter of time before they discovered her. She sighed, and let herself fall into her bed with a towel around her body while she hoped that the day Monica and Sarah wouldn’t fall for her distractions came later than sooner.

It was a ring coming from her phone that made her snap out of her worrying thoughts. She sat up, adjusting her towel while she looked around her bed for her phone until she found it and picked it up.

“Hello?” she asked, not knowing the number that was calling her.

“Ms. Grey?” a young male’s voice asked back at the other side of the line.

“Yes, who’s this?”

“I’m Dean, Mr. Tiano’s assistant. I’ve called you to inform you that he will pick you up tomorrow at 7 pm” the other voice said, startling Remi. Her eyes opened wide and she was at a loss of words for a while.

“What?” she unconsciously muttered her confusion as her first reaction “How did you get my number?” was her first question.

“There aren’t many things out of Mr. Tiano’s reach, miss” he vaguely answered “You will be attending an event with the boss. If you could tell me your size so we can find a dress for you...” he said, grabbing pen and paper to note down her size. But the question only took Remi more by surprise “Miss?”