For The Love of All That Isn't

It's a special service I reserve to the sleazies

Having gone over the terms and benefits, Alex brought back her attention to the calm yet disconcerted Asher.

"I've already told you I don't want any of this from you, Asher", she said tossing the papers back onto the table carelessly.

The lawyer seated beside Asher smiled inwardly at the exchange. To him, it was just his cynical boss and fiance discussing the terms of a prenup agreement of sorts before their shotgun wedding. He quite understood why his boss had fallen head over heels for the brilliant golden-haired woman across him. He had initially imagined it was just the looks but he couldn't remember the last time he had been so wrong. During their interactions he'd witnessed for the past few hours, Alex had, like no one he had seen before, each time politely yet systematically stripped Asher of the armour of sacrosanctity he loved to don.

Yet what his boss' fiance had seen in her soon-to-be husband was quite unclear. If you were to strip away his billions, he was just a man, a quite good-looking man but still just a man. And from the exchanges he'd witnessed she wanted nothing to do with his billions. So why then did she not pick any other guy, when it was quite apparent that she could have almost any man she picked? What exactly did she stand to gain from his overly critical hard-headed boss?

And that was exactly what Asher was at his wit's end trying to figure out as well.

An innocent bystander, say his lawyer Channing, could ultimately find solace with a simple "It's just love."

But what Channing and the bystanders weren't privy to was that it wasn't.

It was a mere two months ago that his assistant in her usual cycle of ineffectiveness had failed to specify to his purchasing supervisor which branch of The Grill her boss frequented.

Asher had scheduled the meeting with the man having observed for a while at that point that the produce that came in seemed to cost much more than it should have for the output. While the numbers added up, there was no denying that they were leaking money.

And when that particular fine day had arrived, owing to mix up that had ensued with the purchasing supervisor expecting breakfast halfway across town, in the interest of time, Asher had consented to reschedule for lunch at the unfamiliar Suzie's instead of a breakfast meeting in his usual spot.

On that fortuitous day, it was for the first time he'd seen Alex, her chin turned in defiance, under the inconspicuous stares of the man whom he'd had the misfortune of sharing lunch with.

She had for the entirety of the time that she served them, politely but firmly, refused to give the sleazy man the satisfaction of making her uncomfortable.

For the entirety of this time, Asher had pitied yet admired the young waitress, whose name he was yet to learn. Yet as he was just about to leave, having deposited a handsome tip following the departure of his lunch mate, she approached him for the first time- proving his pity completely misplaced.

"I would look into that man first if I were you", she told him, an uncanny astuteness floating in her eyes.

She wasn't really the kind of face you'd expect to see waitressing at a place with checkered tablecloths. He noticed the name 'Aleksandra' on the nameplate on her uniform. ,

"And why is that, Sasha?" he asked using the popular Slavic diminutive of her name.

There was a unique familiarity in her features. The rare spelling to her otherwise banal name, and the intake of breath on hearing the nickname, had indicated that he had correctly assumed her Russian origin. But he still could not pin down why this complete stranger seemed so familiar.