Hi there!

I am going to answer some of your questions first

Dear Guest, Dimitri will find out the truth quite soon, but first, some other things will have to happen :) hope you'll bear with me

Neha, no offense taken. I don't really know, but I have a ton of ideas and I plan to write a lot. My last fanfic had 56 chapters and I am planning to outrun it. There might be 60, might be 70, I really don't know. It depends on how many ideas I write down :)

Yes, Magilineals, you are absolutely right. Adrian is the one

Enjoy! And sorry if it took a little longer to update today, but I was studying and I got caught up in that and didn't realize how much time passed


We enter the elevator and I take a look at our reflections into the gigantic mirror. I was too distracted by him to observe this earlier, but our clothes match perfectly, considering the silvery pocket square of his coat and my dress and to someone who doesn't know us, it may seem like we have put some thought into this, but we didn't really. Things just fell in place and we look like a power couple. Too bad we are not.

Keeping a small talk, we get down and head towards the ballroom along with some other pairs that are dressed just as elegant as we are, making our way on a looooong hallway that has different expensive looking paintings with thick golden frames hanging on the walls, and I get the confirmation that this hotel is gigantic as hell. I wonder what other many things it contains that I am still not aware of.

We get at the end of the hallway and I find myself at the top of an enormous set of stairs on the left side of the room, that goes down and merges in the middle with the stairs coming from the right side and then they go down towards the ballroom. I am surprised to see that there is no red carpet on them but I guess that the flowers and the white tulle wrapped around the banister are more than enough. Too much is not always good.

Getting past the staircase with my glance, I freeze in place at the sight of what is down there. The room is twice as big as the lobby, with big shiny crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. It has a white marble floor and white walls with intricate eggshell patterns on them, all that brightness being contrasted by dark green accents: some long drapes at the windows, some ribbons hanging from the ceiling, and green and pink hortensias that are scattered all over the place. Everything is completed by golden details on the walls and pillars, giving the place a royal air. On the background, you can hear some chamber music being played by the quartet situated on the left side of the room. The sound of the cello is pure delight for my ears. I feel like I am part of some Disney movie right now, as I watch all these elegantly dressed people moving around. But the place is completely stacked up. There must be at least two hundred people in here if not even more. I hate crowds like these. And I don't know anybody here. What do I even do here? I can't do this. I am so going back to our suite and spend my night locked inside.

Everybody passed us and we remained alone on that hallway, just next to the stairs and I am still not moving.

'Rose? What happened?' Dimitri asks just from beside me, reminding me that he exists too in here. In my contemplation, I forgot he is with me for a second.

'I am not going down there. I just-'

'Of course you are, Rose. There is no turning back. Come on.' And he touches my elbow, urging me to finally move.

I take a deep breath and start descending the stairs as I lift one side of my dress because I don't want to step on it. This only gives people a much better sight of my left leg, but only Dimitri is now around to see it and I so don't care about that. I am more preoccupied with not stumbling. But I am way too nervous and as I get to the half of the stairs I make a wrong move on the marble, my fucking shoe deciding it is a good idea to slide on it. I can already see myself rolling down the rest of the stairs and make a fool of myself and I can even hear all the thumping sounds I might make on my way down on each stair. Instead of that, I feel Dimitri's soft palm as he rounds it on my arm, (how is he so fast?) catching me before falling and keeping me steady on my feet. Thank God he did that and nobody down there saw it. My anxiety already hit the roof; I don't need any supplementary embarrassment.

'Easy, there. You don't plan to break your neck or something, right? If you want to get out of here, you'll have to find another way. Just don't hurt yourself, okay?'

Yeah, of course, that is what I was planning to do in this room full of people, comrade. Too bad you were here to interfere with my stratagem.

I give him a tight-lipped smile as a thank you as I get the hair out of my face. He lets go and I steady myself on my feet, and then I look down, making sure I didn't break my heel. Bad thing I didn't. Like that, I could have had a reason to get back to the suite.

Then, he extends his right elbow and tells me to hold on to him. I don't argue because I don't want to expose myself again at the risk of falling down the stairs and I encircle my arm around his, feeling the silky material of his tux brushing on my skin. I mumble a thank you this time and we continue our way down without any possible embarrassing incident.

As we get at the base of the stairs and the torment of descending ends, people start noticing us and they are staring shamelessly. Why are they staring? Is there something wrong? Do I have something on my face? Is my dress inappropriate? Or maybe it is all Dimitri who is attracting all the eyes on us. I mean, you remember how good he looks, right? But this won't explain the big amount of men looking our way. Oh, they are looking at me. I so knew that this dress will be a pain in the ass to wear. But did I listen to my brain? Noooo, I never do.

'Rose, calm down. Everything is going to be fine, okay? No one here is going to bite. I'll make sure of that.'

I realize that I was squeezing his arm quite hard and I release my grip on him but I don't let go on him. He is like my support and I won't let go of him until I find a chair to sit on. I so don't want to get lost in here.

'Sorry. It's just that there are so many people.' I lean to my left side, getting closer to him and whisper, trying not to be heard by others. I don't want to seem rude, unlike the ones whose eyes can't seem to leave us. 'And what are they staring at?'

'At you, of course.' he responds not even looking at me and with a straight face, but mine simply drops at his answer. Don't fuck with me Belikov, okay? I am so not ready for you hitting on me right now.

'Come again?'

'You are the most beautiful woman in here. They can't abstain themselves not to look at you. Simple as that.' Gosh, man. Stop complimenting me. You won't get anywhere with this comrade, I promise.

'Yeah, sure, of course.' I respond rolling my eyes. 'Cut the crap, please. I am already uncomfortable enough I don't need your help with that.'

He just shakes his head and smiles.

We make our way into the crowd and head towards a bunch of people and he doesn't let me leave his side as he greets some of them. And then some more of them. And then others. The list is infinite. He is carrying me with him everywhere. And all I can do is to smile and nod at them as they speak things I can't comprehend and even when he is bothering to speak in English I don't really pay attention. I am more distracted by all the things I find around the room. And this thing seems to last forever. Why does he have to know so many people? And why does he have to drag me with him? I can just wait for him somewhere in a corner but no, he is not willing to let me go.

From all this walking around on these too high heels, my feet already hurt and I surely need a break. But I am not going to get one soon. Now, we are making our way towards another group of people that I don't know. At least not personally, as Dimitri does. I recognize some important businessmen around here; I am not an outsider when it comes to this domain. But gosh, is this what we are going to do all night long? Is this how rich people have fun these days?

'Good evening, Mister Ivashkov.' Dimitri suddenly turns to English again. Oh, so maybe now am I supposed to understand this conversation too. Wait a second. Ivashkov? I know this name. Ah! It's the damn investor. I am so going to strangle him. He is the reason all of these things are happening.

When he hears his name, the man turns to face us. And holy mother of baby Jesus, he is so handsome. Well, not as handsome as Dimitri because, in my opinion, no man can compare to him, but still, he is hot. He is also tall, and this makes the deep black suit he is wearing fit perfectly on his lean body. He is wearing his perfectly white shirt unbuttoned, letting a small part of his chest visible along with his collarbones. But his face, boys and girls, his face is something spectacular. His hair reminds me of wet sand, and it is styled into a controlled mess, giving you the impression that he just woke up like this and made no effort to look this good. His eyes are dark green, resembling two emeralds, that I have rarely seen in people, but they go so good with his complexion. He has a sharp jaw and, as he lays his eyes on me, his mouth turns into a devilish smile that only makes him sexier. Oh, damn me. Hello there mister investor.

'Mister Belikov, I'm delighted to meet you again.' Again? So, they already know each other? Have they seen each other before? I didn't know this. But maybe Ivashkov is that difficult if Dimitri had to move his ass here to convince him. 'How long has it been?' he says and his voice has a hoarseness in it that makes me imagine him whispering naughty words to me. But nah, I still keep on to my opinion that Dimitri's naughty words (maybe in Russian if I am lucky enough) would sound better than anything in this world.

'Maybe not enough.' Dimitri responds, seeming a little rude. Since when is he acting this way with an investor?

Ivashkov decides not to respond to that, he just smiles at Dimitri. Then, his attention rapidly turns into my direction because well, I am still attached to Dimitri.

'And the beautiful Lady is?'

'Rose Hathaway.' I respond as I extend my hand to shake his.

Instead, he takes my hand and lifts it to his mouth, (Wow, he is so mannered) kissing it lightly with his soft lips, stopping a second in that position to throw me a glance and I smile lightly, not knowing what to do in a situation like this.

'It is such a pleasure to meet you, Miss Hathaway.'

Took by surprise by his gesture, I only mumble a 'Me too, Sir.'

'Please, call me Adrian.' Oh, so we are on a first name basis already? We have just met, but mkay. I don't really like formalities anyway.

The two men start talking but I can't pay attention to them and at some point, a manly voice speaks into the room, interrupting their conversation before it gets too deep. Dimitri tells me that we are supposed to head towards the dining room and to take our places and we separate ourselves from Adrian as we get into the dining area, another marvelous room. It keeps the color combination from before and it surely sends those royal Russian vibes too. People must have put so much effort into making this room look this good. I swear that someone needs a raise or something.

Dimitri leads us towards one of the big round fancy tables, somewhere at the back of the room. It has a white long tablecloth with a nice intricate border. Every one of them has a big vase with the same green and pink hortensias in the middle and a bunch of lit up candles around it. I find our names written on fancy pieces of paper, sitting next to each other and he helps me take a seat on the green velvet chair and then sits right next to me. Yay! I again got to be next to him. This shit is so hard man. I hope we won't touch out legs or other parts of our bodies that much along the night.

As soon as we take our places, a man begins to speak. I don't follow his speech. It would be a waste of time since I can't understand a thing he says. So, from the information I have gathered so far, this is some kind of charitable event where theoretically, the most prosperous Russian businessmen have gathered, even though I have seen that not all of them are Russians; there is a bunch of people who have lost themselves on their way and ended up here. Poor souls just like me, who don't understand a thing that is being spoken around here. So, what am I doing here again? What is my purpose? Because Dimitri surely doesn't seem to need me here. Maybe he brought me just to accompany him here because most men in here have someone by their side and it would have been such a pity for a man like him to come unaccompanied. But why me? Couldn't he find another woman? I know that there would be plenty sitting in line to be by his side. But meh, I am not going to sit around and question his reasons. I am already here.

The seat next to Dimitri is now getting occupied by a man. He is also good looking. What is it with all the young hot men here? I am beginning to get a little uncomfortable by being surrounded by so many of them. Can't at least one of them be ugly, old and rich?

He is wearing an expensive dark grey suit, completed by a dark red tie, both nicely highlighting his military cut light brown hair, and his dark blue eyes. He looks good and he is surely doing justice to his country and to the males in general. I guess that the ladies are just following him around everywhere he goes. Before he does anything else he gets rid of his coat and remains only into the white shirt and the dark grey waistcoat, making me gulp a little at his sight. Damn you too many hot men in here. You can see that he spends his time into the gym, as the well-fitted shirt is stressing out the muscles in his arms. Yup, all the men in here look good as fuck and I am beginning to get overwhelmed by all the sex-appeal walking around.

It seems that both men know each other very well because Dimitri rises and takes this man into an embrace, a thing he didn't do with anybody in here. After this, the man comes my way and introduces himself.

'Good evening, Miss Hathaway.' He says into perfect English, no accent or anything. So, he is not Russian either? Yay! Someone here is as confused at me at least. And where does he know my name from? Did Dimitri tell him about me already? 'My name is Ivan Zeklos and I am a close friend of Dimitri's. It's a pleasure to finally meet you.'

My jaw drops. Finally meet me? Waaait a second, is he that Ivan? If I consider things for a second, the voices match. Oh well, at least now I know who Dimitri was bagging to that day. And it's nice. Now I am double fucked. I am going to have to spend my night with both of them.

'Um, nice to meet you too, Mister Zeklos.'

'Dimitri has told me a lot of things about you.' Oh, if you would ever know the things you know about me boy.

'I hope that he told you something good about me.' I say throwing a little glance towards Dimitri, but he is letting us have our conversation private, but I am sure that he is eavesdropping.

'Yeah. Your abilities to piss off a man are absolutely incredible Miss Hathaway.' he says and gets back to his place smiling, as my cheeks turn red. Yeah, it is going to be a great night, I am sure of it.

They start speaking about some business stuff, Ivan being very eager to fill Dimitri in about some investment he has made. Pff. Men and their business. I wonder when they are going to switch to Russian and turn their conversation in my direction. But they don't for now. And I get tired of the business stuff so I take a look around the dining room.

First, I turn my head to the right side and from everyone in this damn dining room, my eyes lay on Tasha's figure, as she is throwing her well known harsh glare in my direction. Wow, it's like I could feel her stare and I turned directly to her spot. She is sitting just across the room, at about five tables away from ours, being dressed fancy in her usual weird cover model way and just by remembering our last encounter I want to get up from my chair, go to her and slap her hard. I regret not doing it then. What the hell is she doing here? Does she have to everywhere? Maybe she is that important. But I haven't heard about her into the business domain so she must be accompanying someone in here. That is the only reasonable explanation for her presence here. Now that she and Dimitri broke up she must be on a rich men hunting spree, I am sure. But isn't Manhattan big enough for her to find a man? Did she have to come all the way here?

Oh, but it seems that she has already found someone. Next to her is a man that puts his arm around her shoulders, and there ends my search for the ugly rich man in the building. He is old too, around his mid-forties I guess, if not even older because I can spot from here the greyish strands that have appeared through his black hair.

When she sees that I discovered her and that I am not looking away in fear or something and I am just reciprocating her ugly glare, she breaks eye contact with me and gives all her attention to that man, flirting all the way, walking her hand all over his and maybe so much more than that, things I surely don't want to be a witness of. Oh, but what if she wants to make Dimitri jealous? That would be something. But by the way that man looks, Dimitri has no reason to feel threatened. I mean, the difference between the two of them would be obvious even for a blind person. But hey, who am I to judge? Let the woman try her thing.

Being bored as hell, when I am not maintaining a cordial conversation with the two men next to me, I look into Tasha's direction for some time, spying on her sneakily, until a waiter comes at our table and sets a plate in front of me. Yay! Some food, finally! I am half starving.

But as I lay my eyes on the plate my nose wrinkles from instinct. Ew. Caviar and other too fancy-looking things that I am sure they taste bad. I roll my eyes at the thought of starving again. Now I regret not eating that second serve at lunch. But maybe they will bring us some real food later. But I doubt it. I play with my food and take two bites before giving up.

'You really don't like this food.' Dimitri says seeming amused.

'Is it that obvious?'

'Well, you already turned mush about everything on your plate, so yes.'

'I just can't understand why people enjoy eating this. It has no taste. And when it does it tastes like cardboard. It's like I am eating a box of milk. Where is the real food in here?'

He doesn't reply, just smiles. As the waiter comes around to take our plates, Dimitri tells him something and the boy nods, then he brings some wine at our table. Well, if I am not going to eat anything, I may at least drink something good. And the wine is as expensive as everything around this place.

I spend some time sipping wine and looking around, trying to ignore Tasha's spot. I don't want her to get the impression that her presence here affects me in any way because it surely doesn't. I really couldn't care less about her in this moment. I have other things to deal with. For example, the fact that it is so boring here. When can I go back up? I think I prefer some Russian TV movie better than this dinner. At least it has some action in it. There is nothing palpitating going on around here. Can't they just make those donations already and call it a night? I already miss my pyjamas.

The waiter comes one more time and sets some fancy plate in front of Dimitri. What is that thing laying in the plate? Is that some kind of bird? I am so not putting that in my mouth. It looks like it might start flying some time soon. Is that thing even cooked? I can't really tell. But to my surprise, my plate doesn't contain the same thing. In fact, it has some noodles. I take a sniff and to be more precise it is some sweet and sour chicken chow mein, but only looking fancier than ever. It's like a little piece of art on my plate.

'Um, what is this?' I ask the waiter but Dimitri is the one who responds.

'Your food.'

'Yeah, I see that. But why is it different from yours?'

'I told the waiter to bring you some. I don't want you to starve and neither to get sick from eating something you don't like. And you surely wouldn't eat this.' he says pointing to his plate. And yes, he is right. Not even if I would get paid I wouldn't put something like that in my mouth.

'But why exactly this? Why not anything else?' the chef might be able to cook a whole variety of other things, I am sure.

'I saw many empty wrappers at the office and I thought you like this. I can get you something else if yo-'

Wow, nothing gets past this man, huh? He has such a good memory too. I can't even remember myself what I like most to eat at a restaurant I have visited on many occasions.

'No, no. This is perfect. Thank you.' I say giving him a broad smile. He just made my night.

And man, this is the best Chinese I have ever eaten. Can I take the chef here back home with me, please? I swear that it would worth going to prison for kidnapping someone, that good that chef cooks.


My belly is full and I am now a happy girl. I would have asked for seconds, but this dress might show it all so I have decided to stop right there. Plus, I still want to get a bite from the desert.

It even feels like the time is passing differently now. I take another sip from the marvelous wine and I place my glass back on the table. As I do that, Dimitri glues his eyes on the glass, his face filled with concentration and God, he stares at it for some long seconds. Is it rude that my lipstick got transferred to the glass? Maybe I should wipe it out.

'Rose, have you used this lipstick before?' why does he care about this? It's just some lipstick. Does he want some too? But as I look at his face some more, it hits me. It's the same lipstick I had on that night. How stupid am I, really? I am digging my own grave now. I should have thrown it away the same day I saw Dimitri inspecting the whiskey glass. Goddamnit! What if he makes a connection? He's not as stupid as I am. Please, Dimitri, don't use your wonderful brain now.

'Um, no. I bought it a week ago and used it today for the first time. Is there a problem?'

'What? Oh, no. I just thought I saw you wearing it once. Forget about it.' and he gets back to speaking with someone from across the table.

Phew. I got away this time. I was so close to getting caught. I have to be extra careful from now on, not to let little things like these behind me anymore. The only thing he can remember is my perfume, but I bought another one some time ago. Oh, and my birthmark. But this doesn't pose any problem. I won't get to be naked around him anytime soon. Unless he wants to take me swimming or anything like this. I pray to God that he doesn't. I'd drown myself anyhow. I am a terrible swimmer.


I see that Adrian is heading our way. Maybe he is in the mood to discuss some more business and I should be grateful that he might take Dimitri's mind off my lipstick. But can't he wait until tomorrow? I am already too bored and I might fall asleep on this table. This dinner seems endless.

But he doesn't address himself to Dimitri. He speaks with me instead, a thing I wasn't prepared for.

'Hello again, Rose. May I call you Rose, no?' I nod and give him a small smile. 'Rose, I was wondering if you would like to dance with me. I promise I won't take you away for long.' he says throwing a glance into Dimitri's direction and he shifts his position a little. Okay, why do I get the vibes that the two of them don't really like each other? I so don't want to be in the middle of this thing they have. 'Just for one dance.' he insists.

Not knowing what to do, I look at Dimitri with the corner of my eye. What is that on his face? Indifference? Does he look pissed off or am I just imagining things? I look even further and see Ivan, who is slightly smiling as he is trying to cover his mouth with his palm. Is this thing funny? I get my attention back to Dimitri for another second. But he doesn't seem to try to transmit me anything. He just looks at me for a second and then turns his head away. Okay, mister, I get it, I have to choose. But do I really have a choice? We need him. His money in fact, but still. So, if I dance with him tonight he might remember this tomorrow and he'll finally accept our proposal. Yeah, this might work in our favor. I am going to give him a piece of Rose Hathaway's charm. And I kind of need a little movement. I have been sitting on this chair for quite a while now and nobody next to me didn't offer to do shit. It was the least I hoped I would get tonight. So, why the hell not go dance with Adrian instead?

I smile again. 'Yes, I'd like that, Mister Ivashkov.'

'Adrian, call me Adrian.'

He takes my hand and as I rise, I hear Dimitri exhale hard. What is his deal? I am doing this for his company after all. He can now go and gossip freely with his buddy.