IMBROGLIO

CHAPTER 2

    Xavier found himself in a grand VIP suite in Venice, surrounded by brown velvet curtains. The air conditioner whirred, being the only sound pale in contrast to his constant tapping of the laptops space bar, at least until the doorbell rang twice. He opened the door to find his hired butler with a service tray which contained a steaming ceramic kettle and a small saucer with the biscuits he had asked for. The butler, Harry, wore a perfectly cut black suit and his greying hair was styled with gel.
“Good morning Mr Alexander“he greeted with a charming smile.
“Morning Harry“ Xavier replied stepping aside as the man walked in briskly.
“Just place it on the study table“ The phone by his bedside blared as Harry left.
“What's up Buddy?“ Bens melodic voice said after Xavier had picked up the reciever
“A vacation“  He replied pouring himself a cup of coffee.
Ben laughed lightheartedly,“Yea I know but I meant other than that“.
“Nothings going on around here, I pretty much have a large expensive hotel suite all to myself with no Steve around, wait how did you know I'm on a vacation?“, Xavier asked surprised
“Let's just say steven got carried away on Skype. Bet he's being the doting husband again. Someone wants to talk to you“.
“ who?“
“Hello“ the croaked voice of Alice, his wifes sister, answered the question, Xavier was taken aback, of course Ben would tell her, what did Steve expect when he ran his mouth?
“Alice?“ He said when he found his voice
“Who'd you think it'd be?“ She retorted
He sighed, pressing his fist to his temple “listen Alice I'm..“
“There's no need to explain Xavier" she interrupted, "she's dead and you're free. I get it“. Xavier rubbed his forehead overwhelmed by frustration, He heard her laugh bitterly at his silence.
“I know your marriage wasn't happy, and the world knows you loved her more than she loved you but..“
“Alice“ He tried stopping her
“She was still your wife, your legally married wife for Christ's sake, and we're her family, I'm her family. You can't just throw people away like that. You're glad she's gone aren't you?"
"Jesus no! Alice calm down and listen"
" You even went on a vacation! Don't you dare lie to me, your buddy, Steve, told my husband. Well I hope you enjoy your little break. Mother kept ranting, saying she warned Liz about marrying you in the first place. I had to pacify and soothe her wrath. Pray she never sees your face again"  after this she hung up.
Xavier was confused, he did not know what to feel, should he feel guilt? remorse? anger? Or regret?. He did feel a tinge of pity for Alice, In the entire family of Liz the only person he had grown close to was her. She had the gaiety he wished his deceased wife could have, always ready to put her full set of white teeth on a breathtaking display and Alice was utterly straightforward. It hurt to make one more enemy as an addition to their mother, who loathed him from the minute he stepped into that sophisticated coral house as Lizs' fiance. Women, strange creatures, he thought, stroke them the right way and they'll purr, the next moment they're hissing at you. He just could not understand them and their damned emotions. Xavier sipped his coffee and dialed Steve's number.
“Hello“ said he
“I need to leave“
“Wait, what? come on man we just got here“ Steve exclaimed almost yelling.
“I know I know, but I just feel like I never should have come in the first place, Alice just called“ he said, caressing the belt of the hotels soft robe.
“You're not serious are you? This-this absurd decision, this madness! Is because of Alice?“ He was getting upset“I'll call her right away, can't a man get some rest?“ Steve  exploded
Xavier scoffed “that's right, call the grieving lady, and tell her what? 'Leave my friend alone because  your sister passed on and he needs a holiday?' Really smart. Besides she never would have known I'm here if you hadn't told Ben“
Steve did understand, he seemed to drop the idea, Xavier heard him sigh but Steve said nothing and he pushed on. “I'm sorry, I just have to do this“.
     From his suite he booked a flight for 7:30am, just enough time to get to London. Xavier figured returning to L.A would do him no good, one would think a newly made widower like himself would thirst for an air of familiar people, maybe not every one is alike. He applied at the university of London for a part-time lecturing job through a woman who happened to be a senior lecturer herself, and as Xavier came to find out later, was once an anatomist, she went by the name Helena. Two weeks ago she called to find out if he still needed it, this time Xavier decided to take the job as it could help get some things off his mind, he needed to get away from all the drama and emotional blackmail. He loved his profession, but sometimes it wouldn't hurt to accomplish ones selfish interests through what he or she loves doing.
      Xavier got introduced to the school authority and moved into the well furnished apartment Helena got for him afterwards. In that self contained apartment, secluded and void of emotion or thoughts he planned his first lesson for the following week.
The business students in the university of London had an aura of authority and power around them, as one who had spent the past eight years of his adult life lecturing, Xavier could tell many of them were rooted in the university because of parental influence and not academic adroitness, the only way to not trample on one of their toes was to stick to business. He walked briskly into an impeccably furnished and grand lecture hall, it felt like they were all wearing glasses for nothing but the purpose of close scrutiny.
“Good morning class“ a few replies were murmured as they did not seem to know how to address the tall good looking man.
“I'm Professor Alexander Xavier and I will be your lecturer in Research Methodology, for the time being. I cannot know you all by name immediately but for the Queen's sake I plead for your individual cooperation“ then the lesson started properly.
During class he noticed a blonde girl, all starry eyed and staring at him thoughtfully. Whenever he asked a question she raised her hand and made an awful mess of the class, it was difficult not to comment, ignoring her proved to be the hardest job Xavier had ever done. A look around her seat made him realize that she was the queen bee, girls swarmed around her, all with the classiest makeup and outfits. He was prepared to humble her.
Walking down the stairs after the first class the girls voice rang like an annoying parrot that Kyle once had, she also reminded him so much of the cat 'lucifer', who made Cinderellas life miserable.
“You didn't ask for my name professor“ she said. He had a strong urge to walk away without a word, but found his  feet rooted to the hard cemented gravel stairs.
“An oversight?“ She asked
“I assure you it was nothing of the sort, the hall was filled with over a hundred students Miss“.
The girl giggled.“As if I didn't draw enough attention, I'm Carolyne. Top student in the schools business department“ she said with glee. He felt disgusted at her bluntness
“Then I suppose you'll have no trouble with my course. Good day Miss Carolyne“
He left her gaping, he was not certain but he thought he did. Xavier was smiling at his victory when the leather briefcase was knocked out of his hand by someone obviously running, in the commotion he heard glass shattering as a laptop tumbled down ending up in a pile of rubble. Someone with dark hair began picking up the pieces of the broken laptop with so much love and affection, the person was covered in large clothes and a faded khaki coat but he was pretty sure it was a girl. She seemed to be groping like one in the dark till she finally picked up everything and walked away sadly. Her face was covered by hair which seemed like a birds nest, she did not even apologise! Outrageous! He thought, picking up his briefcase, the anger faded as he realized she lost something too. His eyes were trained on her figure as she bustled through the crowd of students and disappeared. He wondered if he should have apologized, but thought better of it, “No, she bumped into me, I'm the one that deserves an apology“ the professor said to himself.