"The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn't one."
― Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
Chapter 2-
This continued for a few months, with Neo coming in once maybe even twice a week. Each time to see Red. Slowly she started to recognise the different staff and had learnt their names but she rarely interacted with them as Red would always be there.
Each time she visited the club Red would always be dressed differently, from dresses and exquisite outfits to ordinary jeans and t-shirt, but Neo always liked how Red looked in anything, although she never admitted it to the woman's face outside of saying that she looked good.
There was one time however that it seemed they were both having a particularly bad day it seemed but when Neo came in, wearing her normal clothes as she came almost running into the club.
Velvet, a brown haired bartender who Noe had spoken to a few times while waiting for Ruby. Spotted her as she came in and could already tell something was wrong.
"Here." Velvet said, handing Neo her normal drink of JD and coke. "Head over to the booth and I'll send Red over." Velvet told her.
Neo nodded mutely as she took her drink and went over to the booth she always shared with Red. About a minute later Red came in, wearing a long black lace dress that had a corset over the stomach and chest with a thin black skirt going down to the floor, all part of one dress.
Her ever present necklace and thin black choker with the ruby sitting against her throat. A drink of her own in hand she sat down next to Neo, slightly leaning on the woman as was the norm for them.
"I can see a beautiful face looking annoyed, what's wrong?" Red asked comforting.
"My boss. He's being a real hardass about my deadline. He just can't understand that I can't always think up what to write. It's grating on me." Neo exclaimed, annoyed.
"I see. What deadline is it? And how close is it?" Red asked kindly.
"A deadline for my new book. I've got to get it all done for next month but I've barely been able to write as no idea has come to me to write about." Neo said.
"I see. So you can't find anything to write about? Nothing that catches your eye perhaps." Red asked, once more her voice kind and the smile never leaving her face.
"Not really, I have a few ideas but nothing ever comes from them as when I sit down to write I can't think of anything to write." Neo stated.
"Hmm, that is rather annoying. Perhaps you should take a break and relax a little. Maybe get away from the area and try to gain more inspiration from somewhere else. Or maybe write little things and ideas around the place. It might help." Red suggested kindly.
"Maybe. But I've got to get one written by next month, I don't know if I have the time." Neo said worriedly.
"Speak to your boss, or rather editor and perhaps you could work something out." Red once more suggested.
"Maybe…it's worth a shot." Neo said, feeling slightly better than when she walked in.
The curtain opened slightly before anymore could be said and Velvet popped her head inside, "Oh good, you're decent. We've got a problem." Velvet said.
"What kind of problem? I'm with someone right now." Red replied, annoyed at the interruption.
"Yang's at the door, threatening to break it down as Yatsuhashi isn't letting her in at all." Velvet replied.
Neo watched as Red just sighed and for the first time showed a real emotion instead of the mask of happiness and enthusiasm she always wore. Neo could see how tired Red seemed by this news and how she almost dreaded seeing whoever this Yang was.
"Let her in and take her to my office. And my office only. I'll be up there in a minute." Red replied briefly, replacing her mask quickly.
"Ok." Velvet said, quickly disappearing again.
"Who's Yang?" Neo asked, confused at the sudden change but slightly happy that she was able to see Red without her mask.
"It doesn't matter. I won't be long I promise; you can stay here or sit at the bar if you want." Red said, standing up and leaving the booth with Neo following behind.
"Could you have Pyrrha come stand outside my office please?" Red asked while going past Velvet at the bar before disappearing out back.
"What's going on?" Neo asked Velvet, confused at everything happening.
"Oh nothing, just that Red has to talk with someone. She won't be long." Velvet expertly lied.
Neo could see that Velvet was worried about Red for a reason she didn't know, it seemed none of them would tell her what was going on.
A few minutes later Neo saw a tall blonde woman come storming out from the back, a red mark against her cheek as she stormed through the club and back outside.
Next an equally tall woman with red hair came out and went immediately over to Velvet to speak with her briefly before vanishing again.
"What's going on?" Neo asked as Velvet came over.
"I'm sorry, Red's unable to come back. Something's come up." Velvet said, pouring a drink for someone.
"What happened? Who was that blonde woman?" Neo asked.
"Wait here." Velvet replied, going from the bar out back with a bottle of whiskey and a glass, but quickly came back.
"Come on." Velvet said, taking Neo back over to the booth.
"What's happening?" Neo asked, confused.
"Right, you didn't hear this from me at all. Got it?" Velvet said sternly.
"Of course." Neo replied instantly.
"That blonde woman was her sister; they don't get along. Haven't for quite a while but she still makes her opinion known to Red and well, I don't know why she allows her inside and talks to her when it ends in shouting." Velvet explained.
"Why does she come here though?" Neo asked.
"Because she doesn't know where she lives. As I said they don't get along." Velvet said, poking her head out of the curtain. "I've got to go back to the bar, sorry." Velvet replied, leaving Neo alone.
Neo left shortly after when Red didn't come back. For the rest of the week Neo would go into the club to find that Red was nowhere to be found and when asking Velvet, the only answer was that she wasn't there today.
Upset that she couldn't speak to Red and losing her main source of relief of speaking to the woman, she chose to try something else. Which included walking through a large nature park not far from where she lived.
Wandering through the park Neo wasn't paying too much attention so when a dog came barrelling into her, jumping up and forcing her to the ground she let out a loud shout in surprise.
The dog, a rather large white Kunming wolfdog was on top of her, licking her face.
"Calm down boy." Neo giggled as she realised she was in no danger from the large dog as she gently pushed him away.
"Aria. Down." A softly spoken voice said firmly.
The dog, Aria listened eagerly as she backed off of Neo, allowing her to get up off the floor.
"I'm sorry about Aria, she's not normally like this." The girl said, her voice soft.
"Its fine, I should have been paying more attention." Neo replied, looking at the girl as she took her appearance in for the first time.
She wore jeans and simple black shoes but had a large red and white hoodie that reached down to her mid thighs and had long red hair that hid part of her face.
She also had silver eyes that reminded her so much of Red's own, and a dog lead in her hands, and looking sheepish at what her dog had done to the stranger.
"Mia. You need to keep Aria under control." The voice wasn't harsh or scolding but rather soft and kind, alongside being carefree. But entirely recognisable to Neo.
"Sorry mum. I thought she'd be alright off the lead for a little bit." Mia answered.
"If you do just make sure you keep an eye on her." Red replied in the same tone, as she turned her attention to Neo. "I apologise for that, are you ok?" Red asked, not acknowledging that she knew Neo.
Neo was stunned slightly at seeing Red outside of the club, although it shouldn't be much a surprise. However, the big surprise was the child who had called her mum. "Um I'm fine. Thank you." Neo said.
"I'm glad. Once more I apologise but we should carry on. Have a good day." Red said, smiling with a beaming smile but Neo could tell it was all part of a mask when interacting with people.
As they were moving on Neo took in Ruby's rather simple appearance of jeans and a hoodie like her daughter but had black boots with red highlights on the edges.
But while they were moving away Neo called out, "Red. Wait!" Neo called.
Red turned around with her daughter who seemed confused at why she had called that out but Red just turned to her, "Why don't you go on ahead sweetie. I'll catch up." Stating, to which her daughter nodded eagerly in return and carried on walking with her dog in front.
"Hello Neo." Red stated, mask still firmly in place.
"I didn't know you had a kid." Neo replied, unsure what to really say.
She only just shrugged her shoulders in reply, "A lot of people don't know. What's your point?" Red asked, not harshly but sounding almost bored and defensive.
"Nothing. I just um didn't know what to say. Will I see you at the club again?" Neo asked.
"Next week. I've taken a week off." Red stated.
"Oh. I see." Neo replied.
"I've got to go. See you later." Red said, turning around and walking away from Neo to catch up with her daughter.
Later that night Neo went to the club, and immediately over to Velvet and the woman could already tell something was wrong and directed her straight to a booth.
"Why didn't you tell me Red had a kid?" Neo stated as soon as the curtain was closed.
Velvet sighed as she sat down, "How did you find out?"
"I saw them in the park, her dog jumped on me and well her daughter, Mia stopped her but Red appeared after." Neo replied.
"I see. Look, you didn't hear this, or any of this from me. Got it?" Velvet said sternly.
"Of course." Neo replied.
"Only four people know about it, myself, her sister and two of her close friends. Blake and Winter. Not even her mother knows about her daughter, she kept it secret for years. I don't even know who the father is, but she revealed it to me by accident really." Velvet began to explain.
"She didn't always have this club, I don't know what she was before but either way she had a kid and I found out when she had to leave the club in my hands as she became ill. What I do know is that her two friends helped her throughout the pregnancy and that she doesn't get along well with her family. As evidenced by her sister coming along just to argue with her." Velvet said.
"What were they arguing about?" Neo asked.
"About the way Red is raising her daughter. She feels that with Red running the club on the nights and working here that she isn't fit as a parent but all she can do is argue with her a couple times a month and that's it. Hard to get past an army of Schnee lawyers." Velvet said with a slight smile.
"Why does she put up with it?" Neo asked, confused as to why Red would put up with her sister.
"Well this is the only place her sister knows she is, no one knows where she lives. Not even me. So her sister comes here to speak to her." Velvet answered.
"Hello." Red said, opening the curtain up to where the two women were sitting.
A/N
Right, so another chapter down. This is where I left off before continuing so there may be some weird changes, namely the appearance of Mia, which I'm sure is right now and the name of the dog. But I think I'll have it sorted.
I'm working on Singing to Hide the Suffering currently, which is almost done but I'm not entirely happy with it and have had multiply thoughts of abandoning the story altogether because of it. And partly GGO but I think I'll just finish writing it all out and see what happens. After that it'll be Valetown Tales which will be rather short before finally going back to Legends.
I think that's about it. So until next time.