In Bad Faith

Chapter 20

"Wow, you look nice. Very fancy," I told Misha as he came walking into the office. It was way past lunchtime, and he had told me that he would be coming in late today because he had to arrange some last-minute things on location for the event tomorrow. And since it was now only a few more hours until the opening dinner with some of his most important business relations, and me, he was already wearing the suit he was planning on wearing tonight. The dark gray suit looked fancier than the suits he normally wore at work, and it was definitely something.

"Exactly what I was going for," Misha said, grinning lightly, as he adjusted his tie a little. "How are things here?" he followed, and instead of walking to his own desk, he walked up to mine. Although his question was pretty vague, I knew exactly what he meant. I was mostly checking on some last-minute things for tomorrow, and just like Misha, I was pretty tense. I must say, I got pretty invested in this whole event planning business. I never thought I had it in me.

"Their way," I answered, as I looked up at him while he started leaning on my desk with both of his hands. "I do have one problem though," I followed more seriously, after which the smile on his face slowly made room for a slightly worried look. I knew I shouldn't keep doing this to him, but it was just too much fun. Misha just looked at me quietly, waiting for me to bring him the bad news. And so I did.

"I can't decide on what to wear," I sighed, as if this was really the big problem I was making it out to be. I immediately saw Misha's muscles relax a little, after which a deep sigh fell from his lips. I just grinned at him while I stood up from my office chair. "I actually don't have time to go home before dinner, so I brought two options," I followed, as I walked to the coat rack where I hung both of the garment bags I brought all the way up to the office, both containing one of my dresses especially bought for this mission.

Misha stopped leaning on my desk as he watched me come back with both of them in my hands, looking even more puzzled than he just did. Yes, I brought two dresses to work because I couldn't choose, so what? I took my fashion very seriously, even when it came to investigations like this.

Without saying a word, he kept looking at me while I hung one of them over my chair, and I started opening the zipper of the one still in my hands. Like it was some kind of grand reveal, and like he even asked for this. He didn't, but that did not stop me. "So, option one," I spoke as I revealed the first dress, which was a partly black, partly dark gray skater dress that was just elegant enough for a dinner like tonight's. I saw Misha eying the dress, while shortly rubbing his chin with his fingers. He was seriously taking this dress in, and he was amused by it. I could tell. "Okay," he simply spoke, without telling me his opinion, after which we locked eyes again. "Option two?" he then asked.

"Option two," I repeated, as I took the other garment bag with my free hand, after which I hung the now opened one over the chair. I started revealing the second dress; above the knees, soft pink, and with a faux crocodile leather pattern. It was a bit daring, especially given the color of it, but that was exactly what I loved about it. Without saying a word, Misha let his eyes glide over option two, after which he looked back at me as if he was imagining me with the dress on. "Option two," he then said, without hesitation.

I did not expect that coming from the man asking me if my clothes weren't a little 'too bright' on my second day of working here. No, I did not forget. Misha must have seen the look of surprise on my face that I couldn't conceal as well as I would've wanted, since he now started grinning again. "What? Wrong answer?" he asked me, as I lowered the dress a little. "Hm, I don't know," I answered, as I averted my gaze back to it. "Isn't it a little too bright?" I then followed, teasingly, looking at Misha again.

He knew what I was talking about. He had to. Because even though I normally had a hard time figuring out what his eyes were trying to tell me, I now saw clearly that he was remembering. He was remembering, and he was amused, since he softly started to chuckle. "Maybe it just so happens to be that I love bright," he answered casually. I was shocked. I hated how I allowed this man to play games with me the way I intended to do to him. We were truly equals in this regard, and it made me want to go against it even more.

"Then option two it is," I replied casually, not giving him the pleasure of letting him win this game, after which I turned around and for the time being also hung this dress over the other one on the chair. But I didn't hear Misha move, which meant he was still standing there, in front of my desk, probably looking at me. "And why did you decide to ask your boss for fashion advice?" he finally broke the silence, which made me turn around to face him again. The look on his face told me, again, that he had way too much fun with this. "All of your friends busy?" he followed.

Little did Misha know, Nadya Fisher didn't really have friends here in New York, and Nadezeya didn't either. He knew I lived alone, and was single, but we didn't talk about friends and family a lot. Back in Seattle, I could count all the friends I had on one hand, since my teenage years simply didn't leave much space for making them. And now that my career didn't really either, I accepted the fact that my colleagues, like Floyd, were the biggest part of my social life. "Because," I simply answered, leaving him guessing a little more. He was not going to win this game. I wasn't going to let him.