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"I have an appointment."
Swirls of technicolour emotions twisted in her gut as she spoke — nausea, uncertainty, panic and stress — wrecking havoc all throughout her nervous system. The reception of the AGM headquarters alone sent her mind into a war zone.
Like a refurbished and lavish pantheon, there were marble walls and floors as far as the eye could see, with slender ionic columns every seven meters and tall vines that ached to reach the some above the. The dome in question was a Renaissance art of blue and black - a painting of weary Atlas holding the sky, grey streaks running through his ink hair and beard, muscles bulging under the weight of the world. She couldn't help but think of the TG motto: the world is in your hands. The corner of her mouth twitched, knowing the irony behind it. The world wasn't in their hands; the world wasn't even in her hands. Maybe someday it will, so that three decades of suffering would be worth it.
The man behind the reception counter, dark haired and dark eyed, gave her an unimpressed look. "What? No hello? No hey Chris, you look great? I put this stupid tie on for a reason."
"You look the same as you always do. Annoying and reeking of sampled Dior," Katherine scowled. "I have an appointment with my mom, now take me to her."
Chris let out an offended huff, grabbing his lanyard and exiting the reception through the door on the right. Katherine followed hot on his heels as Chris made his way to an elevator of ivory and gold, swiping his card to access the staff elevator. She stepped into the elevator after him, wrinkling her nose when she had to come into close contact with him. Having to smell Sauvage left a temporarily assault on her nasal passage and it gave her a minor headache. She simply stepped back to create distance between them, an action that Chris noticed with a small frown. She wanted to really put some distance between them, to tell him that he didn't mean anything to her. Just a means to an end that was so tantalizingly close, yet so far away.
God, the heavy cologne was distracting her from her thoughts. Chris was her mom's personal assistant and only got that job through a connection with Katherine's cousin, Alana. It was simultaneously funny and not-so funny at the same time, since he couldn't even get hired for a burger joint without making someone do it for him. Ditto Alana. But his status as a gateway between her and her mom meant that she could use him as an opportunity. She was able to leave her own mark on the empire, however small it was.
