Castle Of Glass | B. Wayne

[11]

It had been three weeks since Calmia and Bruce's fairytale wedding. And though she had enjoyed her break from work and the usual hassle of Gotham very much, it was finally time for her to return to her normal daily life.

She had discussed it with Bruce beforehand and he told her he didn't have any issue with her continuing to work as an interior designer even after marriage. He didn't want her to give up things she loved doing and especially not her startup that she had worked on from a scratch with a lot of effort.

He had told her that just like she supported him continuing his job and his life as Batman, he would support her in every way possible too.

So that morning, Calmia felt quite excited as she got dressed to go to her firm after a long three week break.

After breakfast, the chauffeur dropped her off at the co-working space where her firm had rented an office. Interiospective was situated on the third floor and Calmia knew her team would be there already so she decided to give them a surprise.

She was greeted by Lily the receptionist who congratulated her before noting down her check in time as per schedule.

"Miss Westley had come to discuss a new project too," she told her, "did she call you?"

"No, I think she will eventually but it's a good thing I'm already here," Calmia replied with a soft smile, "thank you, Lily."

"You're welcome. Have a nice day."

Calmia took the elevator to the destined floor and made her way to her office. When she pushed open the door and stepped in, it seemed everyone had gone into a slight pause mode.

"Welcome back!" Jade cheered, recovering from the pause before the rest, "I was just about to call you and ask if you could join us."

"You thought of me so here I am," she smiled, giving her friend a hug.

"Sometimes I wonder if you're a psychic," she remarked jokingly, "but then I remember that's my thing, not yours."

"Touche."

She met the rest of her team members too, hugging the girls lightly and asking them about how things were going. Calmia was a very friendly person even in her professional life. She treated her team as her friends and they all appreciated that open and friendly outlook in the office.

Currently her team consisted of Nicole Perez, Mindy Smith, Benjamin Ross and Adam Murphy. Jade would often be involved with the projects when it came to visualizing. Adam was in charge of the budgeting and materials while Benjamin and Nicole worked together on translating their collective ideas for furniture and product design into interior drawings. Mindy did the visualization and fine tuned the presentations along with Jade.

Calmia made sure to be a part of every process as she supervised them and did most of the overall layout planning and concept selection.

They sat around the conference table as the team filled her in on the projects they had received in the past three weeks. While Jade also told her about the boutique project that she had earlier mentioned briefly during the wedding.

"So there's a lot of work to do," Calmia remarked, looking through the details, "I can't wait to get started."

"You know that's exactly what I was telling them," Nicole spoke up, "we missed this energy."

Benjamin nodded, "that's true. Things felt stagnant without the boss around."

"Okay no boss talk. I have told you guys multiple times by now," she remarked, knowing it was a habit from the boys to tease her by referring to her as the boss.

"As you wish, ma'am," Adam remarked with a light chuckle.

They discussed the projects and settled a schedule for which one needed to be tackled first. And Calmia didn't notice time flying by as she got absorbed in her work.

By lunch break, Jade offered to take them out to which Nicole and Mindy refused as they had plans already. The boys also politely excused themselves so it ended up with only Jade and Calmia going to their favorite lunch place.

"Actually, I know now why everyone had an excuse," Calmia told Jade as they walked in, "they didn't want to see you make me uncomfortable."

Jade laughed, "oh come on, when have I ever done that?"

"Multiple times, do you want me to list them down?"

"No thank you, I remember," she smiled, calling the waiter over to take their order.

The people there had started to notice Calmia and she told herself she had to get used to it. She was not just Bruce Wayne's girlfriend now, she was actually married to the man so of course all that attention was what she had to deal with regardless.

"But seriously though, you're glowing," Jade remarked after the waiter left and they had some privacy, "I thought the whole honeymoon glow thing was a joke but now I might reconsider that."

"Oh come on, I'm just excited to be back at work. There's nothing more."

"Speaking of work, I'm glad you're back. We were all discussing how Interiospective wouldn't last without you."

"Jade, you know I'm not going to abandon my professional life after marriage. Me and Bruce specifically discussed that beforehand."

Her eyes softened slightly, "well it's good to see he supports your ambitions."

"He's very supportive," she replied but then laughed seeing the playful glint in her friend's eyes.

"Okay and...?"

"And what?"

"Tell me more. Hearing you gush about him is always adorable."

She shook her head knowing Jade Westley wasn't going to let the matter at rest anytime soon, "oh come on... I'm not gushing."

"You totally are. And what's this beautiful color on your cheeks? Honey, you can't contradict me when your face gives it all away," Jade remarked with a laugh too.

Their food arrived and the two continued talking and enjoying the time they had together. True, Jade had made it her task to get Calmia very flustered at every possible opportunity but that was what made their friendship fun.

She loved having her around and vice versa.

And she was glad that even though a lot of things were likely to change due to her decision of marrying Bruce Wayne, her work and friends would remain a constant in her life.

***