The Story so Far: Cyanica

PRIDE: 1

The middle of the day was always excruciating for Ceruli. The temperature soared above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, due to a record breaking heat wave, which did not help her cause at all. The caffeine from her midmorning latte had slowly started to wear off, and she could definitely feel the dehydration headache coming on. But even still, she wore her usual attire. A plain white top that ended just above the waist, a pair of black leggings that reflected her desire for comfort, and newly designed shoes from Prada that were so comfortable they would make Miranda Priestly envious. And while her studio did have A/C, it wasn't working right, so she sat in her office with a fan pointed right at her face. The heat made it hard to focus on the project at hand, Amani Marino's wedding gown. It had been two days since Ceruli's appointment with the Duchess, and she had promised to have preliminary sketches ready for viewing by the end of the week.
Ingrid was out that day as well, due to a bad plate of cazu marzu that she test tasted while the two were in Rome. So when the Duchess of Castelletto called about the dress, she did not have great news to share.

"Is this Ceruli Taquo's office? I'm calling about the wedding gown for my wedding, which is in October, by the way, so I hope you've made some progress", Amani said over the phone. Her tone was polite, but the words tore through Ceruli's psyche.
"Ceruli Taquo speaking. I'm going to make an educated guess and say you're calling about the sketches?", she asked over the phone.
"Oh great! GIOVANNI! I found the numb- wait... he's not in the room. Whatever", Amani exclaimed, "You simply have to tell me the story on my gown! Will it have trim like your 2012 or something totally novel?"
"I haven't been able to started yet unfortunately", Ceruli admitted.
"Oh no! What's wrong?", asked Amani, voice still too loud for Taquo's liking.
"The A/C in the studio died on us, so we are putting up with this awful heat with a couple of office fans and ice. I don't know why I keep a contract with those technicians if they never show up when I need them", said Ceruli with a slight tone in her voice that indicated she wasn't entirely joking.
"Well, why didn't you call me as soon as it went out? I'll have Giovanni run out there. He was an HVAC technician before he worked for me", Amani retorted.
"NO!", Ceruli yelled over the phone. The outburst was so unexpected that it caught the Duchess off-guard. She thought this was unlike the Ceruli she had been presented with so far.
"And why not?", Amani asked, her curiosity piqued.
"Because I wouldn't want him to drive all the way out to Milan for me just to fix an A/C unit", Ceruli replied. She figured that a good way to be able to focus on the project was to have no distractions, and Giovanni was the biggest of them all.
"Besides", she hastily said, "I already have a technician on the way. They should be here s-", she said as she was cutoff by the air coming back on. A small sigh of relief escaped from Ceruli's lips as she sunk back in her chair and reveled in the chilling ice cold blast of Central Air.
"There, see? The air is back on, thank the Virgin Mary herself", she said as the whole studio erupted in a cheer as the heat finally started to let up.
"I'll get started on that dress right now", she said as she ended the call with no formal closing.

Amani was stunned. She had never seen an outburst from Ceruli, even on busy tours and New York Fashion Week. Something was really bothering her, and Amani had an instinctual sense of who

"Giovanni", she called out, "What did you do when you saw Ms. Taquo off?"
"I've not the slightest idea, Mistress Marino.", he replied slyly.
"What was the last thing you said to her, exactly?", Amani pressed on.
"I offered her a private tour of the property, for inspiration, nothing more", he replied, this time with a slight nervous smile.
Everything was pointing to one thing. Giovanni, whether he had meant to or not, ended up flirting with and hitting on Ms. Taquo. What Giovanni didn't know was that Ceruli hadn't been in a stable relationship since her debut in 2012. The main reason that Ceruli wanted to avoid Giovanni was because he had been too charming too fast.
After thinking over the interactions he had with Ms. Taquo, he had finally realized that he was mesmerized by Ceruli. As he stood in front of the Mistress, he had began to visibly blush at the thought of being with Ms. Taquo.
"Did I strike a nerve with you, Giovanni? Is the air too thin?", Amani inquired.
"No, Amani. I just need to get a bit of rest, is all. I shall take my leave", he blurted out.