Aurelie. [H.S]

CHAPTER 32

26 November 2017

Shanghai

Aurelie's POV

"No Alice, I refuse!" my temper is rising, and that's something that you really don't want to do with me. You get on my bad side and I'll hold a grudge until I feel necessary. "You're not going to pull some Chris style shit on me!"

Alice practically has smoke coming out of her ears. "Don't bring him up, you know that I'm not like that. This time I need to act as your manager, not your friend." she's just as riled up as me.

"I'm not going to do this. I quit." I tell her seriously. She was stepping over the line.

"It's for two days Aurelie. You interact with Harry, act like nothings happened, post your instagram posts, smile for the cameras, and then it's all done. You can go to Kensington and live the quiet life that you want to live." she tries to reason with me.

"He really hurt me Alice. I would expect you to at least try and understand." my finger points down at the floor to relieve my anger in some way.

"I'm being your manager right now, what you payed me to do. And as your manager, I'm using my training and expertise to tell you what we're going to do. We're not going to ruin your career just before it ends."

"I wanted you as my friend, just this once." I say in a sad tone, feeling tears start to pool yet again in my eyes.

"And I will be, when you understand that you need to get through these next two days with Harry as if nothings wrong."

"You know what, fine. You can sit back and watch me be in agony and think about how your expertise have helped me so much."

"Snap out of it Ellie!" we've never argued like this before, "You're being a bitch!"

"As are you!" I fire back, my throat stinging as I ignore the tears forming.

Alice grunts and treads over to the bed, fighting with the unmade sheets and trying to unravel them. I find it hard not to laugh at her, watching her be so frustrated at an inanimate object.

She eventually gives up and pauses, her eyebrows raising in curiosity and holding up a letter. "It's for you." she holds out the crumpled envelope like it's weightless.

"You've not planted it there have you? I would've noticed it during the night if someone put it in last night."

"I am slightly obsessed with you, but not that obsessed."

Before looking at the writing on the front, I felt so uneasy, so stressed. And then for a moment, I felt so at peace. His writing was on it, the little matching butterfly tattoo design etched on the front. And then the stone cold front came up again.

"I don't need to read this." I dismiss it like dirt on the bottom of my shoe, throwing it behind me onto the desk.

Alice approaches me from behind, holding it back out for me. "As a friend, I'm begging you to read it."

"You're just nosey." I scrunch my nose at her and wave my hands.

"Stop using me as an excuse and get on with it." her honesty which I usually admire so much poses as a huge problem.

Sighing, I snatch it from her hand and drag my index finger beneath the sticky opening, inhaling the scent of raw paper. She squeezed my hand reassuringly, contradicting her previous vexation.

The paper inside is just as crumpled, also covered in ink strokes which cross out incorrect words. Wouldn't it be so much easier if you could just do that in conversations?