Bash feels sick. Sicker than when he had that terrible hangover on Saturday and he didn't even drink much this time. He couldn't, not after yesterday and what he and Kenna did.
He notices that she stops looking over now and he curses. He can't stop thinking about her body against his, her lips on his body, just where he likes. They've certainly not forgotten about each other since the five years they've been together. He knew her inside out, had her moaning and sighing all the right sounds. Quivering under his touch, screaming his name...
They were a perfect fit and waking up beside her afterwards with the sun hitting all the right spots, her hair tousled as she slept on her stomach, looking like a goddamn goddess... She had woken up after, kissed him 'goodbye' on the lips before getting dressed and getting the chauffeur to drive her back so she could get her car. Like a dream. Like a ghost.
"Oncle Bash!"
Bash inwardly groans, planting on a sweet smile for his niece. "Annie," he says, getting up to lift her into his arms. "And why aren't you at school, ma jolie nièce?" He asks the child, pressing a quick kiss onto her cheek which makes her giggle.
"I'm sick," Anne explains, showing him her rash. "It's itchy and Papa decided to take me to work today."
Bash smirks. "What about Mama?"
"She got frustrated with me running about everywhere when she was feeding Rosie," she tells him, playing with his hair. "I saw Tante Kenna! She gave me this."
Bash looks down at her hands and sees Kenna's headpiece. "That looks expensive."
"She says it was a gift from someone," Anne says. "She doesn't like it. Says he doesn't know her that well."
Bash chuckles. "Is that so?"
"Uh-huh," she hums. "She was wearing gloves. Indoors. Mama always tells us to take our outdoor clothes off when we get inside."
Bash kisses her forehead. "Her hands are probably cold," he replies, placing her down. "Well, do you want my iPad to watch some videos?"
"Yes, please!" Anne says, grinning before handing him the headpiece. "Can you put this on for me, first? Please?"
He attaches it onto her hair. "Now, you look like a princess."
"Like Tante Kenna?"
Bash nods. "Do you think she's a princess?"
Anne nods back, twirling around. "She could play Princess Jasmine! Or Belle in Beauty and the Beast! She's really pretty but she looks sad."
Bash pauses, seeing how Anne's face falls when she thinks about her aunt. "Sad?"
"Yeah," Anne says softly. "Maybe you should ask her out on a date! Like Mama and Papa go on. Perhaps, she will be happy again. Papa told me that you and she were happy together."
Not always, Bash thinks sadly. But most of the time, they were. "Sweetie, Tante Kenna is married to someone else now. I don't think he will like it if I took her out on a date."
"Oh."
"Perhaps she's just getting used to it. Marriage is-"
"But she doesn't seem happy, Oncle Bash!" Annie cries out. "Come."
She pulls on his hand and leads him to Catherine's office where Kenna sits on the sofa, staring out the window with tears falling down her cheeks. Catherine isn't there, presumably at the directors' meeting downstairs that Bash managed to avoid and now his niece is in his care.
"She's crying, Oncle Bash," Anne tells him, pointing at Kenna who wipes her cheeks flusteredly.
"Annie, can you wait in my office please?" He asks the child gently. "You know my iPad password and only go to YouTube." Too much sensitive data that can be accidentally deleted by a child.
"Oui, Oncle!"
He waits until she is secure on his sofa, her feet tucked underneath her as his iPad glows on her face. He then heads into Catherine's office and comes to crouch in front of Kenna.
"I thought you'd be downstairs with the rest," she croaks out.
"No," he whispers, using his thumb to wipe her cheek free from tears. "I wasn't feeling a two-hour meeting. My mind is not on anything. After yesterday."
Kenna lets out a sob, looking down at him, heartbroken. "Yesterday was a mistake-"
"I know," he breathes out sadly. "I'm so sorry. I never should have encouraged it. I've ruined your marriage and it's barely begun. Just as I ruined ours."
Kenna stares into his eyes. "We were both to blame," she tells him softly. "I mean, I was straight out of university when we got married. Our home was the first-ever project I took on and being there yesterday... In our dining room, our bedroom, our bathroom... I realised that it wasn't home anymore. My place wasn't with you no matter how much my heart yearns for you." She cups his cheeks. "You will always be my first love. But you won't be my last."
Bash looks away and sighs heavily. "You should go home to him." He's letting her go. "Tell him how much you love him, how much you need him. I bet he's got a whole bunch of purple roses waiting for you, your favourite red wine beside it, love for you in his eyes... I hope he knows that you like being cuddled in bed, arms wrapped around you, to keep you safe and protected from everything. Be happy, Kenna."
Kenna lets out a soft whine at his words and she hugs him tightly. "I hope you find someone else," she whispers. "Someone who will love you more than I ever will. But you got to love yourself first. You are worthy of love, you know that?" She pulls back to force him to look at her. "I wasn't the one. Nor was Mary. Or Delphine. But that doesn't mean you should give up."
Bash wants to say that he will never give her up, but he says instead, "I won't give up." I won't give you up, he thinks. "Ever."
Kenna presses a soft kiss on his lips and before he can deepen it, she pulls back, sorts herself out and gets up. "Catherine needs this sofa shifted so we can put up the wall decals. Can you help me move it?"
"Sure," he says, getting up. "So, Annie showed me what you gave her."
Kenna smiles a little. "It looks better on her than on me," she replies before they shift the furniture in silence.
...
"How do I look?"
Anne grins, giggling when she sees her aunt check herself in the mirror. "Like a princess!"
Kenna's surprised. Her neatly done makeup is caked over with white blush, red eyeshadow and big red lips. She starts laughing, crying out that she looks like a clown. She lifts the girl into her arms, winces and places her down on the floor.
"Go and find your parents," she tells the girl, getting ready to wipe the makeup off. "I need to redo my makeup now."
Anne giggles and runs out of the women's toilets with Kenna's makeup bag in hand. She passes a redhead who enters and goes straight to the sink, surprised at Kenna's face.
"When your niece asks if she can give you a makeover," Kenna begins, wiping the lipstick off. "Say 'no'."
"I'll keep that in mind," the woman says, chuckling. "Rowan."
"Kenna," Kenna says, shaking her hand as Rowan retouches her own makeup.
"Oh, the interior designer?"
"Oui," Kenna mumbles.
Rowan nods. "You've done such a great job so far. Everyone's singing your praises."
Kenna gives her a quick smile. "It is my job," she replies easily. "What do you do?"
"Oh, I'm just a secretary," Rowan tells her. "I've been moved from Monsieur Narcisse to Bash."
Kenna stops. "Oh? I didn't know he and Francis had secretaries."
"They do now," Rowan says. "Since Narcisse fired me and some other girl. Monsieur Valois directed us to his sons. I don't mind, Bash and I fucked once."
Kenna sets her jaw as she washes the eyeshadow off. "Really?"
"Yeah," Rowan mumbles. "His crazy ex-girlfriend killed herself and he turned up to work drunk at seven in the morning. One thing led to another and well, he showed me a great time. I've seen you around with him."
"He's my childhood friend," Kenna explains tersely.
"It must have been years since you last saw him. He can't stop gawping at you as if you're all things divine," Rowan tells her lightly. "Don't blame him. I'd want you myself."
Kenna blushes. "Straight?" She guesses not.
"Sometimes," Rowan says flirtily. "Most of the time."
"Right."
"Ooh, nice ring!"
Kenna hates it. Too over-the-top, unlike her first wedding ring which was modest, inexpensive and told her everything Bash wanted to tell her. Ring of Certainty. This is a Ring of Uncertainty.
"Thanks," she says. "Got married recently."
Rowan beams. "That's so nice! How was it like?"
Small, boring, horrible. She can barely remember it now.
"Like a dream," she tells Rowan indifferently. "I felt like I was the only bride in the world."
Rowan bites her lip happily. "I'd like the big works when I get married. I won't ever have the money to afford it, but I like to dream. It was nice talking to you. I should get back to work. Ever since I switched bosses, I've been swamped with more and more work. Bash seems very impatient lately. Complete arsehole."
"Well, you better go before he has reason to fire you then," Kenna tells her, pausing when she wipes too hard and almost reveals her black eye. "You can't afford a wedding at all at that rate." Not that I care. I should probably ask him to fire you just for saying you slept with him, bitch, she thinks pettily.
Rowan nods. "Bye!"
She leaves and Kenna quickly washes her face off completely and reapplies her makeup with the things Anne left and couldn't carry with her small hands. She's relieved that her concealer is there along with her foundation and other important pieces. It's only her blush and eyeshadow she hasn't got here but Kenna doesn't mind and instead puts on highlighter.
She's a wizard when it comes to covering things up. She hates that it's used for that now as opposed to just looking good. If she had it her way, she'd go makeup-free most days as Bash loved her like that, preferring to kiss her without any transferring onto their clothes or his face. And when they're sweating during...
She grips the counter, forcing herself to not think about her and him in bed. She rubs her neck and finally collects her things, leaving the restroom to find Mary making her way over to her.
"Oh, damn it!"
"What?" Kenna asks knowingly.
"You cleaned up before I could snap a picture of my daughter's masterpiece," Mary tells her lightly.
Kenna giggles. "Well, that will always be between Queen Annie and her Tante Kenna," she replies with a cheeky wink.
As Kenna sits in Francis's office with her legs beneath her, working on her designs, Anne plays with her hair. She's allowed to sit in Francis's office, the blonde telling her that she could use it as her workspace as he is barely in there due to his parents and clients pulling him from department to department.
Anne studies her aunt, seeing how her brown eyes scan the work that is before her, and she wants to be just like her when she grows up. A strong, beautiful woman who has boys falling at her feet.
She looks over to the plait that she's done and she hears sniffling. Looking up, she sees Kenna wipe her nose and close her eyes and Anne shifts forward to cup her aunt's cheeks.
"What's wrong now, Tante Kenna?"
"Nothing, precious," Kenna replies, kissing her palm. "I'm just tired."
"Do you want to sleep?" Anne asks her.
Kenna considers it and nods, shifting her things onto the coffee table before Anne directs her head to her lap and kisses her aunt's head. Kenna closes her eyes as Anne plays with her hair, whispering sweet childish nothings to her.
After she falls into a deep sleep, Anne brushes her eye and makeup cakes her small hand. She looks back down and spots a black ring around her aunt's eye and she gasps.
She also notices the bruises on her arm now that her sleeve is ridden up and Anne spots her grandmother walking by. She waves and the woman looks around before entering the office.
"Hello, darling."
"Meme, Tante Kenna is hurt!"
Catherine frowns. "What do you mean?"
"Her eye is hurt. It's like when Tomasco Bellerini punched James at school! And her arm has little curves like fingernails," Anne explains as Catherine comes closer to inspect Kenna for herself. "And she's been crying all the time. Meme, someone's hurting Tante Kenna!" She tightens her grip around the still sleeping Kenna.
Catherine swallows deeply, realising that the woman hasn't probably slept well in a while. "Go and get your oncle."
Anne gets down from the sofa and runs downstairs, narrowly missing employees as they walk around, talking business. She weaves between people and stops in front of a conference room, seeing her uncle and grandfather speaking to a bunch of well-suited men.
Bash's green eyes land on Anne and she smiles sweetly, waving at him. "Si nous en avons terminé ici, j'ai une autre réunion à laquelle je dois me rendre. Merci d'être venu et à la semaine prochaine (1)," he says before excusing himself and taking her hand, leading her back upstairs.
"Where's your papa?" He asks her as they go into the lift.
"Papa is busy," she tells him. "Tante Kenna is hurt."
Bash looks down at her. "In what way?"
"I wiped her makeup off," Anne starts, showing him her smudged hand. "And saw that she had a black eye like James had when he got punched at school. Then, her arm was really bad. She kept crying and sighing and hissing. She's sad."
When the lift stops, she pulls him to her father's office where Kenna is now awake, sipping on some tea with Catherine beside her. Both women are in a quiet conversation and when the door opens, it stops.
"I got Oncle Bash!" Anne announces, pulling him inside. "Make her feel better, Oncle Bash."
"No," Kenna says softly. "I'm fine. I should actually get going. I'll be late."
"For what?" Bash asks her.
Kenna falters. "N-Nothing. Uh, some TV drama I'm watching at the moment. Don't want to miss it. The live tweets are fun."
"Sure," Catherine says, unbelieving of her words. "Annie, darling, go to Oncle's office for a second, will you?"
You leave the room and go to your uncle's office, seeing your uncle close the door behind him, talking to your aunt. Your grandmother places a hand on your aunt's shoulder and your aunt shifts away from her touch as if she's hurting.
Then your aunt smiles and laughs it off and gets up, grabbing her things before raising her voice and demanding that everyone just leaves her alone. You frown, wondering why she's so angry with them, they are only trying to help.
Your uncle tries to stop her from leaving and she pushes him away, threatening him if he touches her again, she'll sue. You don't know what that means but it seems to make them stand down and you watch as your grandmother tells him to leave her.
Your aunt comes into the office, pressing a quick kiss on your head before promising to see you soon as well as your siblings and she runs to the lift, quickly pressing at the button so she disappears from sight before your uncle and grandmother can do anything.
You look down and notice that there's a ring on your skirt and you lift it up and realise it's her ring.
Translations:
(1) "If we're done here, I have another meeting to get to. Thank you for coming and see you next week."