Thank you all for your kind words !

Chapter 3

That morning at Runway was the perfect image of mayhem, suddenly at 8:03 every single phone on the floor decided to ring incessantly, the September issue had to be sent to print by the end of that day. It was like on Wall Street, everyone was shouting around with a phone glued to the head.

Andy was shuffling through notes giving confirmations and reassurances that everything was running smoothly, and no, Miranda Priestly was still not at the office.

Exactly 25 sticky notes had been massacred in the process and her favourite pen with Lilo and Stitch stickers was having a case of weird blotches as she kept shaking it compulsively. When she gave up, she saw Emily walking backwards with a panic-stricken face, great. The one thing that was missing from the picture was Irv Ravitz.

"Emily my gorgeous vixen, I'm so disappointed to see you running away from me like that. Speaking of disappointment… " he said in a singsong voice and stopped at the unmistakable clack of shoes that announced the imminent approach of Miranda. Andy jumped to her feet and she scurried to take her coat and bag.

" I fail to understand the absence of my assistants, is it too much to ask to be waited by the elevators, Emily, you know how I love to waste my time."

As she turned and entered her office, Miranda faced her first nuisance for the day.

"Ravitz, why would you detain my assistants from doing their job? Is it really the budget that you allocate to Runway so generous that I would afford such idleness? "

She waved her hand dismissively and sat in her chair.

"Priestly!" he grinned " You know I love how bossy you are", Miranda flinched and rolled her eyes.

" Yes, I believe you have mentioned before" Irv approached her desk and pushed forward a stack of papers.

"The budget you've been complaining about, meeting, tomorrow at 10 a.m, don't make me wait over some Gabbana, Ikebana or whatever the hell it is that you do around here."

Miranda smirked and crossed her legs "You know, Ravitz, I can't really see why would you make such a detour just to tell me that." Irv stopped and turned.

"Oh, for god's sake, will you stop fawning over my assistant? It really is pathetic." Miranda stood and walked towards him "Next time have your assistant call me, that's all"

Irv huffed and strode to the elevators without glancing back.

Emily stood wide-eyed watching the whole scene, it was about time that bastard stopped harassing her every time he could find a lame excuse to come.

"Emily, why is your face the perfect resemblance of stupefaction?" Miranda mused as her eyes darted between her and Andrea, who was ducked so hard under her desk she could barely move. Miranda's gaze stopped on the explosion of papers and ink stains on Andrea's desk. The girl was still holding the Lilo and Stitch pen

"Really Andrea, aren't you late for kindergarten? Maybe if I look under your desk I'll also find a lunchbox with a prancing pony."

She stopped in front of Andrea's desk and measured her from head to toe with an amused look. Andy could feel her stomach in her throat, how does one react to Miranda Priestly's teasing? Miranda snatched her stack of sticky notes and shuffled through them, she could barely contain a laugh at the sight of blotchy scribbling and little doodles. Such a silly girl.

"Andrea, come " she barked as she entered her own office.

"Now, since we have settled with these childish endeavours, I would like to discuss later with Nigel the final layouts for the September issue, call the advertising agencies and confirm whatever they need me to confirm, call Donatella and tell her that even if she is a friend I need to see her samples for the next month's issue, no, don't tell her that, just tell her to send the samples. Also, I need the confirmations for the places of the next photo shoot, and book me 20 attractive models. Really Andrea, attractive, not starving horses. Call the nanny and inform her I will be working late tonight"

Andy stopped writing and looked at Miranda over the edge of her notebook, it always amazed her how perfect she managed to look regardless of the hour or the amount of work she had to do. The lines of her carefully picked couture seemed to always drag her gaze in the same well-shaped places. She met her eyes before she could snap out of it and felt blood rush to her face, she pretended to write some more and Miranda lifted an inquisitory eyebrow. "Andrea?" She smirked

"Y-Yes?"

"Get me another coffee. This one is cold. That's all."

Andy rushed out of the office, what was she thinking, gawking at Miranda like that? She huffed and nervously pushed the elevator button multiple times.

Miranda watched as Andrea left behind a light breeze of air and a sweet, all-too-familiar scent; she took off her glasses and sighed. What was she doing? She'd just accused Ravitz of flirting shamelessly with Emily, and here she was doing the very same thing, teasing Andrea. Where did this all come from?

Well, of course she knew, after all she'd been lying to herself all of her life. Well, maybe not lying, just belating the obvious. For the past 20 years, it wouldn't pass a day without this aggravating thought flashing at the back of her mind like an LED sign on a highway, or making her squirm like dreadfully mismatched clothes.

"Yes, you old fool, break it to the world like Ellen in '97, make a cover of yourself, get wild! Maybe in a rainbow power-suit, the headlines would be wonderful :" What happens when the Devil wears nada?" , "The Ice Queen, or just a really confused popsicle?".

How would they love to find out that her girls were brought into the world by artificial insemination, but truly it was enough of a mistake the fact that she even got married the first time and Henry,well, he was conveniently sterile.

She didn't want her children to be the splitting image of this mistake. How very selfish indeed, they would say, but it was the truest thing she'd ever done besides hoping that one day she'd find the courage to share her life with another woman. Hope. What a nocuous and despicable feeling to have.

And the second marriage? Well, it occurred to her that no woman in her right mind would want an unavailable , almost grey-haired tycoon with a bad temper, not to mention her reputation would've been thrashed on every existent gossip rag. Stephen was merely an arrangement, she'd never pretended to be in love with him and he'd never pretended to be in love with her.

His failed attempts at intimacy made her cringe until she banished him in the guest room. She felt too tired and too old to put up with his sweaty, repugnant body. The divorce meant nothing, it served only as a reminder that time wasn't going to forgive her doubtful heart and insecurities.

That night when Andy had found her broken in the hotel room in Paris feeling sorry for herself it was the first time in years that she'd allowed herself to truly grasp the expanse of her loneliness. As if on cue there she was standing, reaching for her, looking impossibly beautiful and serene, trying to save someone that couldn't be saved. She couldn't bear to live deprived and illusory and risk her closeness only to be discarded in a blink of an eye.

What could she possibly have to offer to Andrea? Well she could damn-well have a good final dismissive word.

Only when she saw the hurt in Andrea's eyes she realized that she wasn't there out of polite interest or pity, she wasn't even intimidated or servile, as most of people were when her moods shifted; the second day when she slammed the door in her face, it stung like a slap and it stirred along a new snow storm of feelings. These feelings started with the urge to bring Andrea back and since when did Miranda Priestly have such urges?

Besides her children's tears, she'd never touched anyone else's, actually she was firmly convinced that she was allergic to them.

Before she could stop herself, she got so close to Andrea that she could see the tears clinging to her long lashes, the soft iridescences of her brown eyes were gone and now they were dark, sad and apologetic. When she touched her face she thought she was going to melt from the inside-out and although her mouth said the wrong words, all she could think about was how beautiful Andrea was.