Several of the characters belong to E L James
Than you so much for your kind reviews, I love reading them and they are a great guide when I'm writing.
I hope you enjoy this chapter :)
Seconds later the doors of the elevator opened and they were in the foyer of the Colts. It was beautifully decorated with flowers. It was a familiar place for Christian now.
John was ready to receive them as soon as he heard the bell and he rushed to the foyer. He felt relieved seeing Christian wearing casual dinner clothing.
'Mr Grey,' he said cordially. 'Welcome' he offered his hand for Christian to shake it.
'Good evening' he replied trying to be the most polite he could with John while making a quick scan for Ana, he didn't see her anywhere so he proceeded with the introduction. 'This is my wife. Jessica.'
'Mrs Grey, I'm John Colt, it's very nice meeting you.'
'Same, it's a pleasure' replied Jessica looking around at the beautiful flowers and noticing the predominant presence of violets.
Then Ana made her appearance, he saw her coming out by the kitchen doors. She was wearing a casual red dinner dress. Christian couldn't think of anyone more beautiful than her. How he would have liked to say it out loud, but he couldn't.
'You remember my wife, Anastasia?' said John proudly. Something in Colt's eyes and voice made him feel like his chest was burning.
Christian looked at Ana, trying to say with his eyes what he couldn't say in front of everybody.
'I do remember her. Of course.' He added looking straight at her blue eyes. 'Let me introduce you my... wife,' he said the last word almost ironically, but only Ana could really tell what he meant.
After acknowledging each other Ana invited them to the living room area where drinks and appetizers were ready.
'Please, let me show you the way' said John to Jessica offering his arm and they walked together to the other area of the apartment, leaving Christian and Ana behind them.
Not wasting the opportunity and taking the risk, Christian got very close to her and spoke on her ear. 'You look beautiful tonight,' he said while smelling her hair discretely.
Ana could feel the electricity passing through them, she felt weak on her knees, Christian hold her hand for just a second, she would have loved to get even closer but that was not the moment to do it, they needed to behave.
Letting go of his hand she took a deep breath. 'Let's go to the living room,' she said stepping away from him and walking towards the others, Christian followed her with a smile on his face.
A waiter was serving them wine. Christian sat next to Jessica and Ana did the same next to John in front of him, that was a cold shower for him considering the moment they just had. They had to pretend they were nothing, that they didn't know each other, that they didn't have feelings for each other and that was hurtful for him, the fact that things could have been so different made his heart ache.
He tried to focus on the conversation, but he couldn't really pay attention to Colt or Jessica that were leading the talk. The more he looked at Colt, the more annoyed he was. Colt's possession over Ana was driving him crazy, the way he had his arm around her waist was making his heart race or the way he had to discretely cares her while casually talking to them.
Ana was more focused on the conversation than Christian that seemed to be on very deep thoughts. It was a relief for her to see him behaving with his wife so coldly. She could tell he didn't love her, he was not really attentive to her, he wouldn't touch her or even laugh at her jokes. And what was even better was the fact that it looked as it was completely normal for Jessica, like she didn't care.
Ana could see a glimpse of sadness on a very short eye connection they made, only then she realized John was holding her very close to him, trying not to call much the attention she moved far enough to reach for an appetizer that John had to let go of her waist. A small smile appeared on Christian's lips.
He was feeling very miserable watching John so in love with Ana, they really looked as a newlywed couple, it was very hurtful to see Ana so comfortable with her husband's presence. But she moved he thought, she moved because she realized I wasn't comfortable. And even though he felt confused about Ana's feelings for John he knew Ana loved him more.
On the other hand, John took Christian's absence of comments as if he was bored. He seemed to be somewhere else, and that was not the way he imagined his first social meeting with his dear Mr Grey, that made him lose confidence and get a bit nervous, so he was happy when Jessica brought up his name on the conversation.
Suddenly he heard his name and the three of them were looking at him, waiting for an answer. He was caught not paying attention, he had not idea what they were talking about.
Ana knew him too well to know he was not listening to any word they were saying so she spoke, trying to sound very casual, she could imagine why Christian was not paying attention.
'Your wife, Mr Grey, was saying that you play the piano quite well.' Said Ana.
'Yes..., yes I do' he replied trying to not make a big deal of him not paying attention. 'I learnt at a very young age and I really enjoy it' he added. 'It's one of the many things I do on my free time.'
'Do you get to practice enough?' Asked John, anxious to know more about him.
'Sure,' he replied. 'We actually have a piano at home, I can play all I want.'
'Of course you do' said John with admiration. 'How did you learn?'
'I started very early when I was around four.' He replied looking at Ana, that was actually new information for her. 'Is not just me, my siblings also play instruments, our mom was very strict in that way.'
One of the waiters told Ana that dinner was ready to be served so they passed to the dining room.
'You have done a great job decorating the place' said Christian trying to compliment Ana, of course.
'All the merit is for Ana' replied John proudly and smiling to Ana with that face that he was starting to hate.
'You have very good taste, Ana' added Christian.
'Thank you Mr Grey.' She blushed knowing what he meant.
'Stop with the Mr Grey thing, please. You can call me Christian.'
'Yes' said his wife. 'Call me Jessica, please.'
John felt so paid of himself in that moment. He felt so important. Like being part of the group he always wanted to join.
They started eating while doing small talk. Christian tried to focus this time, though he was getting distracted very easily by John's movements. He would grab her hand or just be very attentive to her and he was getting very jealous.
Another name in the conversation made him put more attention, they were talking about his daughter.
'I love the name Violet,' said Ana. 'That's actually my favourite flower.'
'Christian is obsessed with it too. ' Said Jessica. 'He picked the name up. He said something about the meaning… being a bridge…?'
'It's a metaphoric bridge between fantastic worlds and reality' Ana and Christian replied at the same time.
'Great minds think the same I guess' said Christian smiling widely, but looking at his plate not trying to be so obvious. It didn't matter what he had seen that night, Ana and him had history, they shared things, intimate moments.
This time was Ana that go lost on his smile. If possible he looks even more handsome when he smiles, she thought.
'I didn't know that' said John to Jessica. Christian felt like the king of the world now and he was not stopping...
'So I heard that description ten years ago' proceeded Christian, 'and I thought it was awesome, so meaningful, after that I always thought if I ever had a daughter I'd name her Violet.'
Ana's eyes were shining, she was looking at Christian in a very indecent way considering they were in front of her husband and his wife. The fact that he always remembered her words were a confirmation of everything Christian had said those recent days about him never forgetting her.
'You have a very good memory' she said then, 'you remember something that was told to you ten years ago.'
'It all depends on who said it' he added. 'Some people can really leave a mark on you, don't you think, Ana?'
'I bet,' she said.
'I heard you are actually very good with people,you can connect very well with your employees.' John added wanting to be part of the conversation.
'Where did you hear that?' asked Christian trying to hide the annoyance in his voice.
'Pretty much everywhere actually, but the first time I did were your own words on a financial magazine.'
'Well…, I guess I am then. I…' and he went on with the typical answer he would give to any journalist.
Christian hated that kind of talk, it made him feel like he was being interviewed instead of having a casual conversation, and the fact that John was bringing it up annoyed him even more. But Colt didn't seem to get enough. In fact, he wanted to know more about how Christian reached everything he did at such a young age.
Ana that was getting bored of John's talk and could feel everybody else was too interrupted him in the middle of one of her questions.
'John, I don't think Christian is comfortable with your interview' she said caressing just for a second his arm trying not to be mean.
Christian dissimulated his smile, it felt so good to be called by his name by her in presence of others. And also because she told Colt what everybody was thinking.
'I'm so sorry' said John a bit blushed. 'Of course, it's the weekend, we don't need to talk about work or bussines.'
'Don't worry about it, said Jessica. You are not the first or the last one to get too enthusiastic when talking about business with Christian.'
Ana felt that uncomfortable feeling again, the one she had every time she heard about how rich and powerful he was and Christian noticed the dark shadow crossing her eyes. He didn't want Ana to get scared by something he thought was so unimportant, so he brought up another subject.
'What do you guys do on your free time?' Said Christian, 'Jessica and I used to play tennis, there's a court close by that we can go.'
'We haven't play in a very long time,' she added thinking it was strange of Christian bringing up new plans to do with strangers, that wasn't typical of him. He must really like the Colts, she thought.
'I do play tennis' answered John. 'I was very good actually, won a couple of tournaments in college.'
'Oh, well I have to see that.' Said Christian looking at Ana with an expression that said I'm so much better, Ana almost couldn't stop herself from laughing.
The rest of the dinner went by talking about sports and different activities they did or used to do. Jessica was really happy that they could have a friendship with another couple, Christian never really wanted to hang out with anybody if he wasn't forced to do it. John was so pleased about it.
By dessert time Jessica and John were already making plans to have dinner at the Grey's the next week and maybe if they had time during the week they could have a tennis match. Ana on the other hand didn't know if she wanted to make Christian uncomfortable by John's attitude towards her. Christian didn't know if by the end of the week he would be still be living under the same roof with Jessica.
They were saying their goodbyes, it was past 11pm, the evening went by so fast but it couldn't have been slower for Ana and Christian, pretending to be strangers, not being able to be who they really were. Christian had everything clear now. Ana…, she just needed some time to make things right, but would Christian understand her?
