by Bella Court
"John told me the whole story." He bet that would get a reaction out of her. He wasn't disappointed. If possible, she seemed to grow even paler, and she grimaced visibly. She closed her eyes for a second, and when she opened them, he was certain he saw a spark of some anger in them.
"You asked him?” she asked, still not looking Connor in the eye. Instead, she seemed very intent on keeping her eyes on the plastic Starbuck's table.
"Yeah. He seems honestly guilty and sad over what happened," Connor told her, watching her intently for any sign of outward reaction. She was pretty good. She only reacted whenever he mentioned John.
Unable to resist herself, Kristen rolled her eyes. "I'm sure. After all, he was so sorry when he came to the church hand in hand with her. He was so sorry that he didn't bother calling me at all after that. So sorry that he sent me a pity invitation." The bitterness in her voice matched the black taste of her coffee, and realizing how awful she sounded, Kristen straightened up, meeting Connor's eyes.
God, she felt awful. His eyes were an exact duplicate of John's, only a darker, stormier shade of gray. She remembered the cruel way she had used him last night, and embarrassment flushed through her cheeks.
"I don't want his goddamn pity," Kristen mumbled, "And I don't want yours, either."
"I don't pity you," Connor lied. Honestly, he pitied the poor girl. She was a strong woman once, he could tell. Now, only pieces and shards of her former self glimmered back at him. Occasionally, she managed to pick up those pieces, like last night. But she was broken.
Kristen gave him a small smile. "Yeah, you do. Don't try lying. I can see it in your eyes." Stretching her arms above her head, Kristen yawned adorably, her eyes fluttering shut, and her hands flying to cover her mouth. He wasn't so bad, and he didn't seem to hate her so much anymore.
"I want to apologize to you. I said some really harsh things last night. I spoke about things I had no clue about, and I'm sorry." Connor's apology was honest and sincere. Inwardly, Kristen winced as she recalled what he had yelled at her. I can see why he left you now. You're selfish. No wonder he left you for Melissa...
"I'm the one who should be apologizing,” Kristen said softly. "I was really stupid for thinking I could use you like that. I'm sorry."
Connor nodded, seeing that for once, she was sincere in her apology. He wasn't angry anymore. They would just forgive and forget, never seeing each other again, and Connor was perfectly fine with that.
"Thanks for returning the purse." Kristen stood up, grabbing her purse and coffee.
"Hopefully, we'll never see each other again, and if we do, I'll refrain myself from seducing you," Kristen joked weakly, giving him a pat on the shoulder as she walked past, a vision of Technicolor in a sea of black and white.
Connor watched her confident stride, and it struck him that if he had met her at any other time, in any other circumstance, in any other place, they might have been very, very good together.
Chapter Three
Kristen yawned as she placed her graphite pencil down on the ridge of her slightly slanted desk. It had been two weeks since the disastrous weekend that never seemed to end. Firstly, she went to John's wedding and made herself look like a completely bitter woman. Secondly, she seduced John’s brother, Connor. Thirdly, she stupidly yelled out John's name in the middle of having sex with John’s brother, and then there was the whole ordeal with her purse the next day.
She was trying to put it all behind her. Sure, sometimes a simple object like a lamp would conjure up memories of her and Connor, and she still couldn't stomach looking at anything related to weddings. All in all, she was trying to put everything even remotely related to the Prices behind her. She could not spend the rest of her life torn up over him, and she would not spend the rest of her life feeling ashamed of her actions.
"Not feeling so good today, boss?" Kristen's assistant asked as she handed Kristen one of the two Starbucks chai lattes in her hand.
"I'm all right, Jade," Kristen grinned.
Jade was the new intern at the company, and when asked which interior designer she wanted to work with, she immediately asked for Kristen. Normally, Kristen preferred working on her own, but when the bright, brown-eyed girl had asked her, she couldn't say no. Jade was too adorable with her chin length chocolate brown hair with bangs that swept across her eyes, accentuating how round and doe-like her eyes were. Her cheeks were big and puffy, and in short, she looked, dressed, and had the energy of a ten year old.
Today, for example, a white ribbon headband with a bow on one side was perched atop her messy tousled hair, and she was wearing a pink t-shirt underneath a black vest. She wore a denim mini skirt and black knee high slouchy suede boots to maximize her tall frame. It was such a youthful look that Kristen felt incredibly old, wearing her white button up shirt and her red pencil-skirt.
"I'm loving that red skirt," Jade commented. "It looks super hot on you. Too bad I'm never going to have the long legs to carry it off," Jade sighed, frowning at her lack of height at five foot two.
"Ah…but you're young and nineteen. I feel like a spinster already at age twenty-six next to you and your trendy outfits."
"We've got to go shopping together, sometime, then!" Jade enthusiastically told her. "Geez, boss, you've practically got a supermodel's body, you could wear whatever you wanted."
Kristen rolled her eyes, but was pleased nonetheless by Jade's compliment and candor. She wasn't trying to suck up, and that's what Kristen loved about her. Jade's bluntness was astounding, and she wasn't afraid to tell her boss the way things were instead of sugarcoating it. Everything she said was so refreshingly sincere and honest.
"Anyway, Mrs. C wants to see you in her office. She said she had something very important to tell you." Jade dragged out the word ‘very’ to make sure Kristen understood how urgent ‘Mrs. C’ wanted her.
"Thanks." Kristen gathered her sketches, putting them into her portfolio before stuffing it all into her oversized black Balenciaga.
Mrs. C, as Jade called her, was actually named Mandy Mimosa. She had taken her hippie last name and made it the name of the number one interior design firm in all of New York: Mimosa Interior.
Falling into stride with her boss, Jade grinned up at Kristen. There was a reason the young intern had so ardently begged to be Kristen's assistant. Kristen Satou was the most talented and skilled interior decorator at Mimosa, and everyone knew it.
They rounded the corner when something very solid collided with them. "Oh!" All the papers in Alyssa Marin's hands flew up into the air, and with growl, she immediately bent down to retrieve them. "Watch where you're going next time!" Alyssa hissed, her sketches scattering.
"You should take your own advice, Alyssa," Kristen retorted sharply. Not even sparing the other interior decorator a glance, Kristen maneuvered her way around Alyssa's sketches, careful not to step on any of them out of courtesy.
"You'd better not step on any of my designs!" Alyssa snarled, looking more frazzled and frustrated than usual.
"Like I'd want to get my shoes dirty with your designs, and in your case, I use the term design very loosely,” Kristen replied coldly, glaring at the red head. Alyssa Marin was one of the nine other interior decorators that worked at Mimosa. Out of all of them, Kristen disliked her the most. Alyssa was rude, arrogant, and the vainest person Kristen had ever met. No reflective surface was free of her gaze. If there were something she could see herself in, she would promptly admire herself for hours.
Alyssa despised Kristen right back, but in no way would she ever admit it was because she was jealous of Kristen's obvious success in the industry. Alyssa flipped her glimmering ruby-colored hair over her shoulder, as Kristen walked off. What did it matter what that bitch thought? Kristen was just a pathetic woman still pining over the husband that left her. Not even in her wildest dreams could Kristen manage to snare the guy Alyssa had been out with last night. With a smug smile upon her pink lips, she sent Kristen an unreadable look before sauntering i
n the opposite direction.
"She has the worst attitude ever," Jade scoffed.
"You know, earlier today in the workroom, she was bragging and going on and on about how she was on a date with the hottest bachelor last night. She made it a point to tell everyone how he was so into her, and how none of us could ever dream of a guy like him. She showed off his picture." Jade rolled her eyes, regaling the whole event to Kristen.
"What'd he look like?"
"She wasn't lying. He was a stone cold fox. Tall, dark, and handsome." Jade let out an annoyed sigh whilst twiddling her brown hair around her fingers.
"I'm sure if every woman whored herself out, they would have any number of stone cold foxes at their beck and call,” Kristen replied with a roll of her eyes. She knew she was behaving like a vindictive bitch, but there were just some people who brought out the worst in you no matter how much of a saint you are. Alyssa, with her condescending attitude, was one of those people.
They finally reached the gilded golden doorframe that was the entrance to Mandy Mimosa's office. Cleansing herself of all thoughts of Alyssa, Connor, John, and anyone who had ever screwed her over, she took a deep breath, and instantly went into business mode. That was one of her more frightening abilities, she had been told. The way she could effortlessly block her emotions from getting in the way of her professional life was just unnatural. The way she could just block out her emotions in general was something she had learned to do. Emotions, especially hers, were just so hard to deal with…and so not her thing.
Raising her manicured fingers, Kristen gently rapped her fist against the glass panes of the stain glass window Mandy had mounted in her door.
"Come in!"
Jade silently mouthed Kristen good luck, as Kristen entered. Mandy's office reflected her last name. Everything was some shade of yellow, from the walls to the lampshades.
"Kristen! My favorite girl in the whole wide world. How have you been, doll?" Mandy exclaimed, standing up to give Kristen kisses on the cheeks.
"Good, Mandy. And you?"
"Good, good. So let's get down to business, shall we? A huge company has just hired us to do their interior design, and I mean big. This is a ten million dollar contract, darling. They want a completely new image for their thirty-five story building."
Kristen jotted down a few notes on her pad, her heart leaping at the sheer amount. Interior designers usually got twenty-per cent of whatever was being paid. She would get two million dollars if she were to get this deal.
"Ten million," Kristen breathed, still in a state of shock.
"The thing is, I'm not too sure you should be the one to handle this case." Mandy said anxiously, chewing on her collagen-plumped lip, snapping Kristen out of her fantasy-shopping spree.
"What?"
"I don't think you should handle this one. It might be better if Alyssa or Sarah handled it…" Mandy trailed off apprehensively.
Kristen bristled. She was the best damn designer in this entire company, and everyone knew it. So what the hell was Mandy thinking?
"I am the best designer you have, Mandy." Kristen was desperately trying to control her anger, and her sentences were coming out a lot choppier and rough than she would have liked.
"I know it, dear, but this isn't about skill."
"What do you mean it's not about skill? I bring in more revenue than all of your other designers combined! All your customers ask for me!"
"Mandy, I want this deal. I am going to have this deal, because you said it yourself, I have the skill to do this. If you are going to give this deal to either Sarah or Alyssa, I will leave, and I will take all my loyal customers with me." It was a threat, and a powerful one at that. Kristen was not going to let this much money slip through her hands and go to a less skilled designer.
Outwardly, Mandy rolled her eyes, but inside, she knew that if Kristen were to ever strike out on her own, she would put Mimosa out of business. Kristen had the business knowledge and the talent to do it.
"Don't you even want to know what company you'll be signing this contract with?" Mandy smiled with an air that she knew something Kristen didn't, but she ignored it. Kristen was too riled up about the blow to her skill.
"I don't care what company it is. When I'm finished with this job, Mandy. I want to be made partner." Kristen knew this might be going a bit far, but it was something she had been thinking over for a while. She couldn't just live her life designing forever. She wanted to make a name for herself, and as a partner, she would have much more control and be more financially stable.
Mandy's eyebrows rose, but she wasn't too surprised. "Anymore demands, Princess?" Mandy purred, completely relaxed as opposed to Kristen's tenseness.
Tersely, Kristen shook her head. She wanted this job so bad. The salary, the satisfaction, the prestige, it was what she lived for.
"You promise you will carry this deal out to the end no matter what? Because if you don't, your contract here at Mimosa is immediately terminated," Mandy unnecessarily explained. What was Mandy doing? Kristen already knew all this, why wouldn't she carry this through to the end?
"That's a given, Mandy. Just tell me the name and address of the building, and I'll be over there this afternoon to set up the contract." Kristen relaxed, letting the success flow through her veins. This was it. This would be the major turning point in her career.
With a wry and somewhat sympathetic smile, Mandy said in a soft but clear voice, "You'll be redecorating the Wilde Towers, Kristen."
For the first time since John's wedding, Kristen felt her heart stop. Wilde Towers, the business conglomeration owned and operated by Connor and John Wilde. No. Fate could not be that cruel, but looking at Mandy's sad but cool gaze, Kristen knew that it could be.
It was the look of wilting pity from Mandy that sealed the deal.
Kristen had seen that face on so many people that it made her absolutely sick to her stomach. People didn't seem to realize that every time they gave her that look, she was forcibly reminded of everything she was trying to forget all over again.
Thank you, Mandy, for reminding me that I am a failure at love! Kristen wanted to scream.
Instead, Kristen opted for a less hostile and bitter route, "I'll be leaving now to set up the appointment, then."
Mandy sputtered, nearly choking on her coffee. Kristen's expression had not changed a bit when Mandy had said the last name of her ex fiancée. There was something really wrong with this girl.
"Are you sure? I mean…with your history…"
"My history," Kristen began firmly, "has absolutely nothing to do with my profession. I will remodel the Wilde Towers and update the look as we have been asked to do."
Wordlessly, Mandy handed over the business card to the man who had hired them in the first place. Kristen took the card but didn't dare to look at it. That was something she would have to do on her own.
The tension in the room still crackled with silence and unease until finally, Kristen gave a weak but reassuring smile to Mandy.
"I'll be perfectly fine." It was a lie. Inside, Kristen could feel herself beginning to panic. Outwardly, no one noticed a thing.
Leaving Mandy's office, Kristen trudged her way back to her office, her mind blank. It wasn't until she reached her office and firmly locked the door that she let out the breath she was holding. Pulling her hair free of the elastic band that kept her messy bun in place, her locks of hair fell in ebony waves down her back. With a frustrated cry, Kristen ran her hands through her hair, giving herself a quick scalp massage to calm the hurricane of emotions going through her.
What am I going to do?
The business card lay face down on her desk. Kristen already knew who it was before she flipped it over: ‘Connor David Wilde, C.E.O of Wilde Finance’.
Didn't he know she worked here? "How would he? For the few minutes that I actually talked to him, all we did was have a pity party for me." Kristen groaned, raking her hands through her hair once more.
"Ooh. Pity
party? Why was I not invited?" Jade's pretty head bobbed in through a crack in the door.
"Because you aren't ever pitied," Kristen groaned, flipping the business card over in her hands.
"What'd Mrs. C want?"
Robotically, Kristen explained everything that went down in Mrs. C's room, leaving out all the parts that included her personal relationship with the Prices.
Jade let out a low whistle when she heard about the sum, and her already large eyes widened to the size of saucers.
"Holy crap. Boss, this is amazing! You…I…ah…" The young girl seemed to be at a loss of words, like her boss.
"Should I schedule the appointment for you?" Jade offered, her eyes still wide with awe and amazement.
It was times like this that made Kristen grateful that she had Jade. Mutely, Kristen handed Jade the business card, and Jade was blissfully unaware of the immense looks of gratitude and relief that Kristen was sending her way. With Jade's easy chattering in the background, Kristen gathered all her materials needed for this meeting. She was a professional, and she was not going to let anything get in her way.
And that was how twenty minutes later, Kristen was standing frozen like a statue in front of the steel and glass building that was Wilde Towers.
Holy crap. What on earth possessed me to come here?
Panic was flooding through her again. The frighteningly calm façade she had back in the taxi ride on the way over was rapidly falling apart. She was seriously considering bolting and thinking that it wouldn't be such a terrible experience to be fired.
Not a chance in hell. Fuck it. I am going to get this ten million dollar contract, and when I'm done, this place will look so damn good they won't know what hit them. Screw John and Connor!
Breathing heavily, and holding her head up high, she exuded confidence as she walked through the revolving doors. Only those that looked a bit closer would see the nervousness in her eyes, and the embarrassment that was tearing her apart at the seams.