Chapter 2: The Most Difficult

Ariadne regained her composure and made the quick decision of acting as if what he had done a year ago did not hurt her. She was going to act like he always did.

"Hello, Ariadne" he said formally.

"Hey" she said as she noticed he was walking over to her looking better than ever in his all black three piece suite, "what are you doing in Paris?"

"Work" he answered shortly.

"I see" she said wondering what job he was doing, knowing that it was something to do with extraction because he would never settle to do something normal, "And is this party a part of your job?"

God she looked good he thought. He just wanted to pull her close into his arms and never let her go. It had been so long. It must have been a minute or two before he answered her.

She gave him a confused look and he quickly took his eyes of her and onto the view of Paris.

"No. I am just visiting a friend" he lied.

"At a party hosted by the President of France?" she skeptically asked him.

Before Arthur could answer, their privacy was disrupted by the President and his family.

"Hello" the president said with his family closely following behind, "Do you two know each other?"

"Well-" Arthur began but was interrupted

"No" Ariadne answered firmly; "We were just admiring the view" she finished with a smile.

Arthur was stunned at her response but kept his composure.

"Well then Arthur, this is Ariadne. She is the new brilliant architect I was telling you about who is going to make the house of our dreams" the president said and Ariadne smiled a bit of at the irony of the house of their dreams. Arthur noticed it and it made him smile out of the corner of his mouth. However he suddenly got tense as the president went on with his introductions.

"And this Ariadne is Arthur, the long time boyfriend of my beautiful daughter, Sophie" he finished off.

"Oh stop it daddy" Sophie said as she approached Arthur and joined hands with him and gave him a quick kiss.

Ariadne felt a sudden headache come on. She felt disappointed and angry. Tears were coming to her eyes but she pushed them back and said,

"Well it is certainly nice to meet you Arthur" and held out her hand for him to shake and noticed that Arthur had not stopped looking at her while the introductions were being made.

"You too" he said and shook her hand holding it a bit longer than normal. She finally took her hand back and crossed her arms in front of her.

"I must get going now" she turned to the President, "I have a lot of work to get done before tomorrow" she smiled.

"Oh no" he responded, "Well we will all meet tomorrow morning"

"All?" Ariadne questioned thinking it was just going to be her and the President going over the plans.

"Yes, my family here" he said looking at everybody around him and Ariadne hoped he did not mean,

"And Arthur also" he said completing her thoughts and she let out a small breath that nobody notice but it did not escape Arthur and he looked her way.

"Okay sounds good" she lied, feeling a bit sick thinking about Sophie and Arthur together, "See you all tomorrow" she said as she left.

Arthur had never seen Ariadne walk as fast as she left them and he knew things were about to get really complicated. However his thoughts were cut short when the President said,

"Is she great or what?"

"Yeah" Arthur answered, "she's wonderful".

Ariadne had never wanted to escape a situation as badly as two minutes ago; it was like a horrible nightmare. She opened her small clutch and grabbed her totem and to her disappointment it was reality not a bad dream. She leaned on the bar trying to catch her breath but she could not breath thinking about Arthur and Sophie. What is wrong with you? she asked herself, what is he doing here? Why now? Long time girlfriend? Was his relationship just a cover for something else? She honestly hoped that the answer to her last question was yes.

"Hey, sweetie are you okay?" John asked.

She jumped not expecting him. "Yeah totally fine" she reassured him, "but I think I want to go".

"Okay we can go" he answered and his kindness was killing her when all she could think about was Arthur.

Arthur walked back into the party trying to find Ariadne so he could speak with her but what would he say? When her red dress caught his eye, he turned around to go and talk to her but as he approached her he noticed she was holding hands with another guy. Arthur tensed up immediately and felt his first clench up. He reached for his tie and gently moved it feeling angry. Arthur found his die in his pocket and to his disappointment it was reality. What is wrong with you he thought why is this bothering you so much? Maybe they are just good friends. But quickly his doubts were answered when "her friend" kissed her while they were waiting for their car. He turned the other way; he did not know why he could not take this anymore. This whole time he had not seen her, he wanted to go and visit her, hug her. Arthur felt the sudden need to leave, leave it all behind and not see her with somebody else but he knew better, he was a point man he could not let his emotions rule him and ruin everything.

….

Ariadne watched as everything passed her by outside the car window. John was driving and he had asked her numerous times if she was okay and she had always just answered "yep fine". Why now? God Arthur she thought. And it was not even the last time she would see him because the President would want his great daughter's boyfriend there she thought laying on the sarcasm. Ugh stupid Sophie, the perfect blond, tall and lean with all her success and charity work, I can't compete with that she thought, why would I want to compete? Finally the car stopped in front of her apartment cut her thoughts in half.

"Ohh, we are here?" she asked surprised at how quick the ride was.

"Yep" he said, "hey you sure you okay? Do you want me to come up or something?"

"No, I am fine and besides I have to get up early tomorrow, thank though" she answered with a smile.

"Okay, I will call you tomorrow" he said

"Okay goodnight" Ariadne said as she left the car and went up to her apartment.

She opened her door and closed it with a thud behind her and threw herself on her bed without taking anything off and fell asleep feeling exhausted and thinking about tomorrow with the President but mostly Arthur.

Ariadne woke up in a rush, running around her apartment looking for a clock to tell her if she was late. She let out a swear when her foot hit the table in her kitchen. She finally looked at the clock on her stove and let out a sign when she saw it was only 7:00am knowing that her meeting was at 9:00am. She hoped in the shower and felt her feet hurt since she had been wearing her high heels all night and to sleep. Ariadne slipped on black shorts and a light pink shirt with ruffles and a white silk scarf. She threw her hair in a pony tail and left her apartment.

…..

"Ariadne, welcome to our home" the President said approaching her and embracing he in a hug.

"Well thank you" Ariadne said, "it is very beautiful"

"Thank you, thank you" he responded and his wife joined him, "Good morning Ariadne" she said, "I don't think you have met my son. This is Benjamin" she introduced her son.

"Hello Ariadne" he said taking her hand and gently kissing it, "It is a pleasure to meet you".

"You as well" she said blushing as the handsome Benjamin in front of her, "Okay should we get to work?" she asked the President.

"Yes of course, this way please" he lead her though the grand hall into a huge meeting space. This is strange she thought Arthur is not here. It's better so I can focus on my work. They all entered the meeting area and everybody in the room looked up and the first person she noticed was Arthur and Sophie as her breath caught.

"Please take a seat" Benjamin holding out a chair for her and as she sat down she suddenly felt as if this job was going to be more difficult that inception.

….