"Speech in Bold" means speaking in French or another language that will be made clear.
Chapter 12: A New Angle
Despite the recent scandal, the looming in-law visit and her encounter with Brendan, May slept surprisingly well, most likely because she had stayed up with Drew to keep track of what was happening with the lawyers and tracking down Alyssa, Drew's ex who was in some way involved. They had learned nothing new by the time they decided to call it a night at some point past 3 in the morning.
Alfred had been dismissed around ten and May took charge of providing small snacks, teas and keeping up to date on the tabloids. May could've slept in the other room but Drew insisted that she stay in the same room as him - despite the fact that his mother and grandmother were not due to arrive until late morning at the earliest, hours after their wake up call.
The morning came and woke the pair with a booming phone call. Drew was tired but nonetheless shot awake at the sound of his phone and answered with a brisk "talk to me" by the third ring.
May too woke up, she rubbed her eyes a couple times, yawned and stretched as she sat up on the bed. It was a short four hours of sleep she got but she actually felt rather content despite the fact that that was her first sleep since she left Sinnnoh. May had made the wise decision to turn off her phone before she went to bed the night before and when she turned it back on, she groaned. She had missed calls from Paris, a few other clients and a couple from people she went to university with and had not seen or spoken to since then.
Drew had occupied his massage chair as he took the call. He looked out of the window as he listened intently, saying nothing whilst the caller rattled through.
May watched Drew, his face was serious - she could tell by the frown lines he was making unconsciously, like he always did when he was concentrating. She felt the urge to go up to him and gently straighten them out with her soft, nimble fingers but she resisted, and instead decided to deal with her own problems.
May went into the bathroom and finally got to use the jacuzzi. She made herself comfortable, sprinkling some rose petals into the water then dialled Paris's number. It rang once, twice and on the third call, someone picked up the line.
"Hello, you've reached Paris's personal assistant. How can I help you?"
"Hi, I'm May Hayden from Hayden enterprises. I have a missed call from Paris." She said into the phone.
"Ah, Ms Hayden, give me one moment please." She said followed swiftly by a rendition of I Giorni. The music did not last long though, as Paris's voice rang through pretty quickly.
"Ah, hello May!" Paris's came down the phone, speaking French much faster than her normal voice.
"Good morning Paris, sorry I missed your call earlier. I'm still jet lagged from that holiday." May said. She mentally prepared herself for Paris to change the subject to the scandal but still, she tried to remain professional by sounding like everything is normal. "Is everything okay with you?"
"Yes! I'm glad you're back! I heard the news about your husband." She said, "Are you okay?"
"Yes, it's a mess just now but we think we've gotten to the bottom of it. I'll explain the next time I see you."
"Ah, thank god, if you weren't up for working I don't know who I'd take my business to!" Paris said with relief. What the papers said about her appeared to be true- she was indeed a hardcore business woman as well as a hip designer!
"No worries, anyway, I better go help Drew out." May said as an excuse to get off the phone. She was glad that she had spoken to Paris and found out that she genuinely liked her idea. She hoped that when she next sees Paris that she would be able to laugh at the whole situation too.
May lounged about in the jacuzzi for a while longer before she decided it was time to get up and stop hogging the bathroom. As soon as she opened the doors to the bathroom, her eyes landed on the massage chair where Drew was last seen but he was no longer there.
May shrugged and went into her walk in wardrobe, moving the curtains aside. Once inside she saw Drew standing over the centre seat which had three different dresses laid out.
"Pretty dresses, right?" May said from behind him.
"Mm-hm." Drew agreed mindlessly, not taking his eyes off the selection.
"So what one do you want to wear?" May asked him casually.
"Haha." Drew laughed sarcastically. "I'm picking an outfit out for you." He said then picked up a dress and held it against May, who was naked beneath her robe.
"Why?" May raised a brow at him.
"My grandma, if she does come, only likes girls that dress a particular way." Drew said. He continued to hold dresses up to May as he spoke.
May nodded in understanding. "And you don't trust my judgement?"
"I guess I could." Drew said as an automatic response, as if he was not really listening to her talk. "Is this one of the dresses you bought in Pastora?" He picked up the fabric of one of the dresses he laid out.
"Yeah." May answered, surprised that he remembered.
"You should wear that one." He said then left the room and went into the bathroom before shouting back to her, "We leave in an hour."
May spent most of her time searching for the right outfit in her dressing room and somehow found herself attracted to the dress that Drew chose, maybe out of influence rather than any other reason. Teaming the pale pink dress with a pair of baby blue heels, May gave herself a final nod of encouragement in the mirror then left with Drew.
They traveled by car and Drew spent most of the time giving May clues about how to impress his grandmother and if anything, it felt more like a briefing for some sort of business war strategy. The clues Drew gave were subtle but May nodded in understanding. She was sure she could work them out when she met the woman, but she did not want to look or sound ignorant or unprofessional in front of Drew.
The chauffeur stopped outside the Milotic, one of La Rousse's most infamous hotels, boasting a five star tea room and scandals and celebrations among celebrities. May and Drew walked arm in arm into the hotel's tea room where they were due to meet Drew's family for breakfast.
"Mother." Drew greeted as they approached her at the table next to window, overlooking the sea.
"Drew, May." Abby greeted and stood up to greet her son with a warm embrace and kiss on both cheeks and likewise to May.
"Did grandma not come?" Drew asked.
"She's asked me to pick her up from the airport in the afternoon." She replied, "Alone." She added as an afterthought.
Drew only nodded in response while May thought it was weird that she'd specify that. However, May was nonetheless pleased about delaying her meeting with the woman.
"I thought you liked the garden view tables." May asked Abby after they had ordered. She recalled the time they spent together a few weeks ago when they had lunch and went shopping together.
"I usually do but I wanted to show you guys that." She gestured over towards the hotel's private harbour that they could see from where they sat.
"You bought a boat." Drew stated deadpan.
Abby nodded proudly, clearly in love with the thought.
May looked at it and recalled a certain occasion that caused her heart to beat out of control.
4th January 2011
May tried to suppress her yawn. There was less than an hour to go before her shift was over but until then, she tried to maintain a professional appearance: no looking tired, acting tired or expressing fatigue in general. She couldn't wait to change into her boots and make a dash across the city back to her apartment. Her cold apartment which she could not afford to turn the heating on after being out on the cold street because public transport, in May's skint opinion is a waste of money.
She entered into her last few minutes of her shift, counting down the seconds. She had already planned to make use of the coffee machine in the staff room and brew herself a mug of hot filter coffee before she would leave. Even though she thought the coffee was awful, she would take advantage of it almost every day to keep warm on her commute home.
She had left the shop by steps, barely making it round the corner before she was stopped by a car. Not from impact but from appearance, as she knew the car. She had gotten to know it well. Or rather, the owner that was leaning against the side of it well.
"Finally." He said standing up straighter and approached May, allowing his full height to shadow over May.
"Well who told you to wait in the cold." She replied and had too taken a few steps forward to meet Drew half way and had removed her hands from her pockets to pull Drew's jacket collar up, protecting his neck from the lack of scarf.
Drew instinctively put a hand round May's waist and pulled her in, popping a deep kiss on her lips as she leaned in. After she pulled away, she took the opportunity to question Drew on his appearance in the middle of the city, during his work hours.
"Can't a guy take a break every once in a while?" He said, opening the car door for May.
"Didn't you take a break last week to go that... What was it again?" May teased, "Hotd-"
Drew cut her off. "Just get in the car." He ordered her, half laughing. He did not need to be teased about taking a day off for the city's annual hotdog making contest again.
Drew sped off towards the harbour, a place that he had mentioned to her before quite fondly. May tried to recall the specific thing he liked and it didn't take long for her to work it out. The harbour was parked full of yachts and small dinghies and along the pier were a few cafes and restaurants, exclusive to members of the posh marina.
Drew had a hold of May's hand, fingers intertwined, and they walked along the long wooden pier which surprised May by how sturdy it looked and felt to walk on. But then again with the price of the assumed membership, maintaining a pier seemed like nothing to the boat club.
They eventually slowed down when they reached a boat labelled on the side as Serendipity and small candles lit up the boardwalk.
"What's all this?" May asked, her breath visible as she spoke.
"You said you wanted to get into my head." Drew replied. "So I laid my thoughts out for you."
"And this is your thought?"
"No, that's the start of my thought." Drew took a hold of May's other hand and laced his fingers in between hers and led her into the cabin, watching May as they moved, catching every glimpse of her reaction.
Her face lit up at the unravelling sight of the set up: a fur carpet hid underneath a silk throw on the floor with two champagne flutes neatly set up with an ice bucket and bottle tucked in between. Fairy lights dangled above the set up with red roses intertwined, suspended in a mesh of twinkling stars.
Drew subtly coaxed May to rest with him on the rug and lie back to look up at the lights and roses, letting the gentle sway of the boat soothe them into a state of euphoria, and that was before the champagne.
"That is what's on my mind."
May considered his reply. "Your mind is a romantic mess." She smiled back at him.
Drew looked over with a serious look in his eyes, a look that almost resembled despair. "What would you do if someone you really trust and admire is lying to you?"
"Depends. If they don't add anything to my life then I'd cut ties and let them go." May replied.
"What if you know that they're smart and will be a valuable asset?"
"If it's work related then keep them as an employee and nothing more. Mixing business and pleasure almost always ends badly." May replied. "Why are you asking?"
"No reason." Drew replied then broke out in a grin. "Champagne?" he sat up and removed the wire caging followed the foil before popping the cork.
May took her glass of champagne from Drew and clinked glasses with him. "Cheers." she said then took a sip and let her arm extend upwards towards the rose directly above her.
Drew watched as her finger tips brushed up against the thorn-less stem. He felt both torn by his problem but at the same time at peace with everything now that she was in front of him.
Lunch was a calm, relaxed affair for the trio. It was decided afterwards that the three would go their separate ways. Abby was going to the airport while May and Drew would wait at home. May and Drew sat in his study and were once again in busy contact with their people, awaiting any updates, although nothing came in. Drew laid back on his couch with his legs extended over the edge of the armrest while May took his seat at the desk and scanned her eyes over his documents, carefully reading over its contents and occasionally bringing up points for discussion.
Drew draped an arm over his eyes, unwilling to look at news that played on repeat on the screen and May paid no attention and focussed on reading.
"Where's the document by the correspondent from The Daily News?" May asked as she searched the desk.
"Top drawer." Drew replied with moving.
May said nothing and instinctively opened the top right drawer, pulling a document halfway out of its brown envelop and scanned the title.
Personal Profile: May Lydia Maple
May recognised the document. It was the document that Drew threw at her that day he 'proposed' to her. But something else caught her attention:
Date requested: 20th December 2010
Date received: 21st December 2010
May narrowed her eyes at the date. If her memory was corrected, the 20th was not just any date; it was the day he entered the boutique and the first time they met.
"Did you find it?" Drew shouted over, still unmoved.
May snapped back to reality and immediately shoved the document back into the envelop, and back to where she found it then opened the top drawer on her left hand side.
"Yes." May replied and pretended to read whilst her mind wonder. Did he know everything about her before they'd even started dating? Did he date her in spite of all the things she had done before? Why did he stop so suddenly? What triggered it? She did not have time to figure anything out when Drew scoffed at a message on his phone.
"Grandma Hayden has landed and will be here shortly. Go get ready." He ordered May and sat up stretching his arms in the air.
May left the documents on the table and stood up to leave the room for freshening up was a much needed task after doing all the reading that she did. But she also felt that she needed to see her own reflection and interpret an honest reaction to the private investigator's report about her and she knew how to get that: by taking a long hard look at her face, especially her own dark eyes.
May sat in what she deemed for herself, an unnatural sitting posture while they waited for Abby and Grandma Hayden to ascend the lift into the penthouse. She could feel Drew's intense eyes look at her, as if he were ready to catch her out if she moved. He himself sat rather rigidly albeit not unlike himself though. The room was silent and all tabloid magazines and relevant scandals where banished into a locked drawer in Drew's office for the time being, eliminating all traces of the recent press having any effect on them, as if it was just another everyday status update that one would post about themselves eating an apple on social media.
The silence was unnerving and May, for once, actually felt jealous that Alfred was allowed to be dismissed and would like to switch positions with him. Only for a day though for she loved her job, even if it is more than meets the eye. Today brought back the fire that May honed during her pitch war with her other colleagues, namely Brianna, and she felt ready to unleash herself again. Almost. At that thought she could feel her hands tremble with slight fear coupled with a pinch of self-doubt.
At the sound of the elevator's ding, the pair stood up and headed over and waiting side by side to greet the famous Grandma Hayden, the elusive women whose name was always brought up but miraculously enough no photographic identification seemed to exist. As the doors slid open in a smooth movement, May's eyes instantly meet that of Grandma Hayden and she realised in an instant that they'd met before.
Can anyone guess who Grandma Hayden is? I've very subtly mentioned her before and I'm happy to finally tie her in! Sorry for the very delayed update! Please don't hate me! T.T I love you guys and promise not to leave you in the dark for too long!
Kisses,
~ silver-hedgehog ~
x x x