9.
The Great Emerald Hall had the largest ballroom in all of the Emerald City.
Everyone – absolutely everyone – have had at one point in their lives, hoped and prayed that they might attend an event held there. Only the most prestigious and magnificent galas and balls were held in the Hall, and in the exciting world of business, the Thropp Founder's Day was one of the most exclusive events that everyone who was anyone in the Emerald City clamoured for an invitation.
A week before the event was to begin, the Great Hall had already begun to be decorated. The entire venue – usually open to the public for minor exhibitions and seminars – was completely closed off. Day in, day out, there were people coming in to set-up the Hall for the event. Pedestrians on the streets would stop in their tracks, just to peer through the fences to try to see what's going on.
Interesting things were always happening in the Emerald City, but the movement at the Hall signalled to something bigger and grander.
And it was with all these speculation and the up-play of the exclusive nature of the Founder's Day ball – thanks to Glinda and her team of marketers – Elphaba Thropp found herself drowning in a million emails and being hounded on her phone by people who were passive-aggressively trying to get an invitation.
She'd never felt so exhausted in her entire life.
Boq came into her office a little after lunch. He was dressed smartly in a crisp navy shirt with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows… and a yellow ducky tie around his neck.
"What on earth is that?" Elphaba furrowed her brows. She stopped her email drafting, unable to tear her eyes away from the atrocious yellow thing.
Boq looked at her strangely, and then something seemed to finally click in his head. "Oh this? It's awesome, isn't it?" He grinned brightly, touching the fabric proudly, "It was a gift from Milla. She went home for a couple of days and came back with this."
Elphaba blinked blankly at her P.A, "Am I missing something? Usually Glinda would be around to explain the punchline."
Boq rolled his eyes at her, taking a seat on the chair in front of her desk, "Anyway. I've been going through your emails. There's a lot of people asking for invitations to the Founder's Day ball – yeesh."
"Let's run away, Boq. Just you and I."
"No thanks."
Elphaba groaned. She stepped out from behind her desk and went over to her pantry to make herself a cup of tea. At least tea wouldn't betray her and leave her out to deal with people.
It was here that her gaze caught themselves on a certain vinkun stalking about his office.
There weren't anybody else in the office with him. It was just Fiyero, walking around in circles, talking into his cellphone with a very displeased scowl on his face. Quite suddenly, he stopped pacing and his eyes flicked over to hers.
In that second, both their faces froze and something seemed to flood into their chests. She could see something come across Fiyero's face as he quickly turned away from the window and continued his conversation with his back towards the Thropp building.
Elphaba felt her face grow hot and turned away.
There had been something that changed between the two of them, ever since that horrid flight from Munchkinland back to the Emerald City. She didn't like to think about it, but she would be lying if she didn't admit that once so every often – for the last 3 weeks – she'd have recurring dreams about him.
It wasn't anything indecent – heavens no. They were just disjoined, hazy images. If she inherited any of the religious fervour from her family, she would've considered them visions.
The dreams always started out the same. She would see herself in a black dress, something that even Glinda would approve. She was sitting on a stone bench, under a pink, flowering tree. It was almost stupidly cheesy how it looked, now that she actually thought about it, but for some reason, a man would walk towards her.
She wouldn't be able to see the man's face until he sat down next to her, and when she looked up, it was always Fiyero – with his stupid grin and twinkling green eyes.
The dream would always end just as he sat down and she recognised him.
"Should we send an official invite?"
"What?"
Elphaba jumped when she noticed that Boq had suddenly appeared next to her. "Bollocks! Don't do that!" She nearly screeched as she steadied her cup of tea.
Boq looked up at her and snorted. "Tiggular. Should we send an invite to Fiyero Tiggular?"
"I don't know." She replied honestly, sighing.
"Even if we don't, Glinda would bring him in as her plus one." Boq shrugged. "It would be better if we sent an official invite though."
"So send him an invite. I don't care."
Boq looked at her strangely, "Are you alright?"
Elphaba made no effort to reply him. She lifted the cup and sipped the tea, her mind willing itself to think of the list of errands that she needed to get done before the stupid party. She hated parties. In fact, she hated anything that required a large number of people to gather in the same venue. She simply did not enjoy being around other human beings.
Elphaba believed – very strongly – that she should be able to lead and dictate people without having to be in the same breathing space as them, which was why she so enjoyed having her own office and having her bi-weekly meetings with her department heads via virtual conference.
Boq had grown impatient with her silence and obvious efforts in ignoring him, so he snagged a couple of ginger candies off her pantry and left her office. Elphaba knew that in a little while, she would receive everything she needed to know in a strongly worded email from him. The only reason Boq even comes into the room was because he was trying to escape his paperwork.
Elphaba chose not to think about the people buzzing in and out her life at the moment and returned to her desk.
Her work in the office was simple. It may seem to people that being the leader and CEO in a major corporation might be complex and intricate, but Elphaba had gotten it down to a science. She left any and all necessary human interaction to Boq and Glinda. Any face to face meetings were stood in for by either – although it was usually Glinda.
Most times, Elphaba stayed in her office and replied to emails and read operations reports and analysis documents. Every 2 weeks, she would attend a video conference for internal presentations. Every month, she would – unwillingly – attend board meetings to fend off shareholder concerns and convince everyone that she knows what she's doing and that they should all shut up.
Day in, day out, it would be the same drill.
For most people – mainly Glinda – it would be boring and tedious work, but Elphaba enjoyed the stability. She liked regularity and sameness. Being born green and different has had that effect on her. There was enough jarring excitement in her life.
Time slipped, and in what felt like seconds, the sky outside her windows was already dark.
"You look bummed." Milla cocked her head slightly as she looked over to Boq. The nights were getting a little chillier these days and she had her coat buckled tightly and her hands shoved in her pockets.
The munchkin chuckled and shrugged lightly, trying to look more excitable than he really felt.
"Lots of things to deal with these couple of days. The gala is getting closer and people are getting really wound up." He laughed defeatedly, "It's not a fun time to be Elphaba's P.A right now."
"Was it any fun before?" Milla joked lightly, bumping her shoulder with the slightly shorter Boq.
He blushed at the contact as he continued strolling down the sidewalk with her, "It's… interesting. That's for sure." They rounded a corner, "E-enough about me. How was your day?"
Milla smiled sweetly, her eyes seemed to shine despite the foggy air in the Emerald City, "Nothing as cool as you were doing today." She shrugged, "There were data to analyse and meetings to sit quietly in."
"I think what you do is cool." Boq replied shyly.
"We gotta redefine your definition of cool," Milla laughed. Boq noticed that when she laughed, her entire face scrunches. He liked that.
The streets around them were quiet tonight, and it them feel as if they were the only two people around. It must look strange to the occasional passer-bys – seeing a gillikinese girl and a munchkin boy walking side by side.
"But seriously! You've been looking really stressed out. Something up with Founder's Day?" Milla prodded lightly. Boq could only think of how much he liked the sound of her voice.
He relented, only because she was surprisingly persistent and he really just wanted to continue talking to her. "The people from 'Grizzle Tech' has been really pushy lately. Their company has been growing exponentially in the last 3 years, but mainly because they've buying up a bunch of smaller companies." He picked a lint off his woollen coat distractedly, "They want to partner up with us to launch some mega-ultra-secret tech project thing, but Elphaba didn't like how their company operates so she rejected the proposal – they haven't stopped trying to reach her since."
"If they've been bugging us for so long, why are you only getting frazzled by them now?"
Boq sighed, "I guess dealing with both the gala and Grizzle both at the same time is really getting to me. For some reason, they've been getting extra pushy lately." He chuckled worriedly as he glanced over to Milla, "You know that I wasn't supposed to tell you that, right?"
"I'm gonna get so rich selling this piece of information to Arjiki Tradings." She winked at him playfully, and burst out laughing when she saw the mortification on Boq's face. "I'm joking! I'm joking!" She chuckled as she punched him on his shoulder very lightly.
Her hand lingered on his bicep, and Boq felt his entire body burn up at their proximity. They had stopped walking and they were just standing there, in the middle of the sidewalk. There were no cars around, and no other people either. It was almost as if the entire world had disappeared and it was only the two of them.
At least, that was how he felt.
There was something about the way she was looking at him, and this pause in space and time allowed him to notice the heart shape of her face, the thick lashes framing her warm, brown eyes… She had mentioned before that her father was gillikin but her mother was a woman from Filaan. Boq decided that it was because of this that gave her the beautiful mix of pale gillikinese skin and soft filaanian hair and eyes.
"So, I guess this is it." She said in a quiet voice, her hand was shoved back into her coat. "Thanks for staying so late with me in the office, and for walking me all the way to my apartment."
It was only the sound of her voice that would bring him back down to earth. Boq blinked blankly and noticed that they were standing in front of her apartment building. The walk from the office to her apartment was much too short for his taste.
"Y-yeah." He wanted to slap himself for that little hitch in his voice.
Milla laughed lightly, and Boq was sure that her smile was the cure to any and all bad things that would ever befall in the land of everything. He smiled back shyly, already hearing his heart pounding in his ears.
"I'll see you tomorrow?" She asked.
"S-sure!"
Milla grinned, and she leaned in, pressing her lips to his cheek. When he dared to breathe again, she was already gone, and he was left standing on the sidewalk with a goofy smile on his face.
It's 12.30pm when she awoke.
It is a sort of slow ascend as she pushed the blond strands off of her face. Her hand reached out to her bedside table and searched irritably for her alarm clock, only to find out that she had already knocked it over to the floor in her restless sleep.
She wasn't usually so sloppy.
Glinda prided herself on being clean and presentable all the time. But it was just today. The thought of having to get up, and arrange herself into the perfect human specimen that she was known to the public, was dreadful at best. The Founder's Day gala was happening tonight, and she could already feel it her bones that it was going to be a long night.
Usually, she would be happy enough to deal with all the networking and socializing – she did it for a living after all – but there seemed to be extra stress in her system this year. The world of business was normally dull as bricks but something seemed to be stirring in the air, and Glinda could just feel that something bad was going to happen soon. Tonight seemed like it would be the catalyst to some nefarious plot.
She got up and checked her phone, predictably finding a million and one texts and phone calls from Boq and her people in the marketing and PR department. It wasn't like her to miss work without giving them a heads up.
She brought up Boq's contact and called. "Hey Boq—"
"—Glinda! Are you alright?! Are you hurt? Were you kidnapped?!"
"Geez! Calm down!" She yelled right back at him, feeling her head pound at the sound of his voice. "I'm fine! I must've knocked out cold after last night's gala prep session. I found my alarm clock on the floor when I woke up about 10 minutes ago."
There was sighing on the other end.
"Oz almighty." The sound of his voice picked up again, "You're still coming tonight, right? It's going to suck so bad if you weren't coming."
"I'll be there tonight. Just – tell Clarissa that I won't coming in today. I gotta go sleep off this nasty feeling in my head before the gala."
"Will do."
An hour later, after a light brunch which consisted of some eggs and a portion of leftover chicken from the previous night and a quick shower, Glinda found herself towel-drying her golden wavy locks and plopping herself back into bed. She had set her alarm to go off at 5pm, which gave her just enough time to prepare herself for the gala.
She made sure to leave Fiyero a text, reminding him to pick her up tonight at 7.
The two of them were in an interesting stage in their relationship, she realized as her brain drifted in and out of consciousness. They had been going out for nearly a month now and it had been pretty satisfying – at least for her.
Fiyero knew exactly what he was doing. He said the right things and made the right moves. Glinda dated enough guys like him to know that he's one experienced guy. The one difference between him and the other men was that underneath it all, he does genuinely care. Just the way that he interacts with Tibett and Crope was enough to convince her that Fiyero did have something special about him.
Although, after spending this amount of time together with him, Glinda was beginning to wonder if they were only together because they made sense, or if they actually liked each other. She enjoyed his looks and his physique – of course – and she certainly liked him as a person, but aside from that, she didn't have many opinions about her feelings towards him.
Most of the time they spent together were in his bed, or hers – it depends on which was closer. The few times that they had actually attempted to go on a date, it was hard to deny the silence between them after the casual flirting and generic topics were exhausted.
Glinda sighed loudly as she pulled her comforter over her head. That was enough thinking for today. She would be seeing him again in a few hours and she's going to need all the sleep she could get before tonight.
"Lights! Camera!"
The courtyard in front of the Great Emerald Hall is filled with people. The lush green grass was all but trampled on by the human traffic crowding all around, each trying to squeeze past their neighbour to get a better photo op of the VIPs arriving in stretched limousines. The long red carpet was rolled out as celebrities and important people from the business strolled and sashayed down, ravelling in the attention and flashing lights.
Boq brushed at his black tuxedo jacket as he glanced around nervously. He had a tablet held firmly in his arms and an earpiece in his right ear – if anything went wrong, it would all be reported to him. Tonight had to be absolutely perfect.
There were towering private security men stationed in every corner of the venue – imported from Quox. TV correspondents and paparazzi had their field day, snapping photographs and waving at the celebrities hysterically, trying to get an interview.
Music throbbed in the background, engulfed by all the cheering and screaming – it was almost like a giant carnival.
"Welcome, everyone, to the 75th Annual Thropp Founder's Day Gala!" An announcer's voice blared from the sound system, but nobody seemed to notice. Everyone was too engrossed with all the photo-taking and celebrity-spotting. "The medical tents are located to the west of the courtyard, please take a bottled water from some of our event helpers – sponsored by Tenmeadews Corp!"
The music continued and more limousines begin to pull up at the roundabout.
Boq straightened his arm out and checked his watch. In about 20 minutes, the main event hall would be opened and the guests – who were now either getting photographed at the media centre or just lolling around the courtyard – would be ushered in. The bartenders and servers are ready and the stage is prepped.
The only ingredient left is…
"Boq!"
The sound of Glinda's voice came as a relief. Boq could actually feel his muscles relax slightly, although now they ached because of how tense he'd been all day. He spun around, grinning as Glinda – dressed in a very elegant blue, sparkly dress – threw herself at him. He hugged back tightly, noticing the look on Fiyero Tiggular's face and smirking back at him.
"Hey you." He greeted belatedly as she detached herself from him and quickly slinked her arm back into Fiyero's. "Have you walked the carpet?"
"We did! We've actually arrived almost 20 minutes ago, but there's just too many people crowding the area." She rubbed Fiyero's forearm absentmindedly. "Is everything going okay?"
Boq tapped on the tablet, "As smooth as it gets. We've got another…" he checked his watch again, "16 minutes to go before we're opening the main hall. Which reminds me, have you seen Elphie?"
For some reason, Fiyero stiffened. Boq raised a brow at him, but Glinda didn't seem to notice. She smirked, "I hired a team of preppers and they waited in her apartment. They caught her just as she arrived – she didn't stand a chance."
"Sweet." Boq pulled a thumbs up.
"She should be arriving soon. I got her a black limo."
Even as Glinda finished that sentence, a luxurious black limousine pulled up at the roundabout. The paparazzi who were stationed there saw all but the first glimpse of green as the driver opened the door for his passenger, but it was all they needed to see to know who was coming out of that vehicle.
Seconds later, almost the entire crowd had shifted towards the front, all flashing their cameras and shoving their microphones at Elphaba.
The noise was unbearable. Nobody seemed to be speaking Ozian anymore and everything sounded like gibberish.
Elphaba groaned inwardly as she put on her most stoic face. It wasn't hard, since she hardly felt like herself in all the layers of makeup. She was afraid that if she moved at all, an entire chunk of foundation would fall right off her face.
People all around her were shoving their cameras everywhere and screaming at her to get her attention. She was ready to punch a photographer in the face when he literally shoved his lenses 3 inches from her nose.
The photographer was saved by the timely arrival of Boq, however.
"Elphie! Do you want to head to the media centre?" He shouted over the noise as he led her down the red carpet. She nearly tripped over the occasional bumps on the floor, cursing quietly at her stupid heels.
"What made you think I'd want to do that?!" She finally yelled back.
"There's lesser people there! We're kind of using it as a holding area—"
"—how long is this stupid carpet?"
"Miss Thropp! Look over here!"
Stupidly, Elphaba turned and a blinding flash turned her eyeballs into soup. For the next few seconds, she would see white spots in the edges of her vision. She wanted to stop walking – go back there and sock that photographer on the nose.
Boq pulled her away, walking her down the carpet like her tiny little champion in a pressed, black tuxedo. He shouted at her again, "Glinda's just arrived with Fiyero!"
"Glinda just alived falsettos?!"
"What?" the munchkin crushed his brows together in confusion and yelled, "Did you say something about fillet toes?"
"What in Oz are fill laid toads?!"
Boq made a face at her and shook his head, and Elphaba thought nothing of it as he simply led her beyond the carpet walk. Gigantic security men stood in attention at the end of the red carpet that led into the media centre. Anyone without the proper passes or invitations would be tossed.
Once they were away from the crowd, Elphaba found herself in a smaller crowd. The media were still made to stand behind red rope – and glared at by more security guards – but it was a tamer experience.
They shifted as far away from the media as they possibly could, and Boq began again, "I was trying to tell you that Glinda just arrived with Fiyero."
"Oh! I thought you said something about falsettos."
"Falsettos?!"
"Elphie! You made it!"
Boq was quickly forgotten as Elphaba was spun around by the blonde marketing director. Glinda squeezed, wrapping herself around Elphaba, pinning the green woman's arms to her body. Elphaba quickly realized that she was trapped, and knowing Glinda, she simply relented and allowed her friend to do whatever she wanted.
"Yes, hi." Elphaba said in a deadpan voice as she fought to prevent the corner of her lips from upturning. There was a snort that came off from someone just a little to her left and immediately, her eyes were levelled with one Fiyero Tiggular. "I forget that you've come together with him." She said it just loud enough that he would hear it too.
Glinda released her, rubbed her hands down Elphaba's arms and clutched her hands tightly, "Elphie…" she scolded lightly.
"Right, right. Civil." Elphaba smiled, albeit a little condescendingly.
Glinda took whatever she could get out of her, however, and decided to let it slide. Before she could say another word, the ushers were funnelling everyone into the main hall for the event. Boq followed Elphie in faithfully while Glinda allowed herself to be escorted by Fiyero. The party of 4 was then led by the ushers and immediately handed a champagne flute each when they passed the door.
"I'll be right back." Boq assured Elphaba quietly, and before she could take a breath to protest, he was gone.
"Where's he going?" Fiyero asked with a raised brow. He turned around and looked at Elphaba expectantly, causing the confused Glinda to do the same.
The green woman simply shrugged. Truthfully, she was beginning to feel anxious without Boq by her side. She could already see the Thropp business partners eyeing her and plotting the closest path to her location. Without Boq to fend them off for her, she was helpless. Glinda could only distract them with frivolous small talk for so long.
With a deep breath, Elphaba prepared herself for the long night ahead.
A/N I'm back! Sorry that it took so long for me to post this. It's been a rough holiday season. Somebody I cared about got into a car accident the week before christmas and it had been hell since. I wrote a little during the downtime but the quality was pretty crap. Hope you guys had a better one than me! And remember to keep safe on the roads.
