Back to you.

Chapter 2.

VALERIE
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About an hour had passed by since Elise had talked to this mysterious man that I'm supposed to stay with. We talked about all kinds of random things, about how she can speak English so well, about both our families, and God the genes in her family are not here to play.

Elise is wearing a red polka dot dress that reaches her knees that complimented her blond hair along with a white pair of converse with heart patterns at the bottom. Yes, I pay attention to detail. That's one of the many things that made me want to become a fashion designer.

I also found out that Elise's older brother, Luka, goes to the same university as I'm supposed to go. Which is a bit good since it's nice to have someone like Elise and her brother in a whole different country where you know absolutely no one.

   A call coming from Elise's phone stopped us in our tracks, she told me it was the person I was supposed to be staying with. It was an extremely short call — one I barely understood anything from since it was completely in French — then Elise squealed in excitement as she told me it was time for us to go to this mysterious man's home.

Not too long of a walk later, we arrived at a very luxurious looking apartment building, I couldn't help but gawk at it.

"Elise, are you sure I don't have to pay rent for staying with this guy? The apartment building looks more expensive than everything I own, and I own a lot of things."

   She giggled, patting my shoulder. "No, don't worry, it's just a favor I called in. He might be cruel, but not THAT cruel." I suppose that was Elise's way of comforting me but it didn't help that much, so I decided to suck it up.

   We got into the elevator and I couldn't help but stare at the interior design of the damn elevator. A small part of me was distracting myself from the amount of nerves I felt. I guess the whole situation crashed down on me way later than it should have.

   I was staying alone. With a strange man. For a year. Who knows what might happen? I trust Elise but things like this are hard to wrap around your head, I guess.

   We finally reached the floor of the apartment — I was too nervous to notice the floor number so I'd definitely have to ask Elise or the mysterious man later — and Elise rang the door, it didn't take long for the door to swing open and reveal —

   My ex.

   My ex boyfriend. My ex boyfriend who's a French model. My ex boyfriend, Achille Dubois.

   Clearly I wasn't the only one who was shocked. Despite Achille's usually kept composure, you can see the clear shock on his face, and I don't blame him, I bet I look like a child that found out Santa wasn't even real.

   Achille's shock wore off a lot quicker than mine, as he shot me a glare. "What are you doing here? Wasn't I too ... busy for you?" He emphasized the word 'busy', making me wince slightly. I broke up with him because I felt neglected due to his extremely packed schedule and our timezones.

   "Don't worry, I'm not here for you. But I'm obliged to stay with you due to the given circumstances. You should treat your bruised ego, Achille, since you're a med student and all." I remarked back, crossing my arms.

   During the last 6 months, Achille has definitely gotten a lot more built than before. Other than that, he still had his black hair in it's usual slick back hairstyle, his tall and intimidating demeanor, he definitely got taller since the last time I saw him, judging by his suit, that means he either got back from an important meeting or a photoshoot, and his beautiful hazel eyes which are currently glaring into my soul.

   "You two know each other?" Elise's voice temporarily broke the staring contest between us, crap I don't even know how long I've been staring at him, but it felt like an eternity.

   "Goldie. A word?" Achille said, his voice practically laced with venom.

   "We can't leave her out here alone, at least let her see her room then we can talk." Elise said as she put an arm around my shoulder, honestly this all felt too good to be true, I feel like any moment now, Emily will jump on my bed to wake me up so I can go to the airport.

   I pinch myself a little and based on me slightly jolting in Elise's hold from the pain of the pinch, Emily won't be jumping on my bed any time soon.

   "Fine. You know where the guest room is, lead her to it, I'll be in the kitchen." He sighed, making way for Elise and I to get in, his face still holding a bit of hostility towards me but I decided to look away so I don't punch his stupid perfectly handsome model face in.

   Elise leads me to a pretty large room — and by pretty large I mean a lot bigger than my old room — the walls were all painted white and it was all very ... Monochrome to say the least. It felt empty, there were no drawings, no paintings, no decorations, no nothing. Just a bed, a queen sized bed, a desk and a closet, a walk-in closet. I think I'll take back whatever I said about this room, the walk-in closet makes up for it all.

   After helping me with my bags, Elise went to meet Achille in the kitchen, I would listen in on them but they were already pretty loud — and they were speaking in French so it was a hopeless case if I tried to understand — so I just silently unpacked until their fight calmed down.

   In the couple of hours I've known Elise, she didn't seem like the person to get riled up easily but I guess Achille is pretty mad about me being here, which caused her to get riled up as well.

   I guess I understand where Achille comes from a bit, it's been a rough six months since we broke up, we didn't exactly end on the best terms so seeing me at his doorstep would be a shock, but that still never justifies him taking it out on Elise. The poor girl was just trying to help, I'll definitely have to apologize to her, she got into this mess because of me.

   After the fight died down, I heard knocking coming from my 'bedroom' door, the door opened to reveal the man I didn't want to face at all, but it was inevitable since I technically live in his house as of the moment.

   "Have you eaten? I can make you your favorite." He said.

   Wait what did he just say?