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SUNDAY I knew today was going to be a lot before I even walked in. The Catalani meeting has been on the schedule for weeks, a week for me, and the energy in the building has been building toward it the whole time, like a slow pressure change you feel before rain. I hate that feeling. It means something's coming and you just have to wait for it.
It's Sunday and I'm not supposed to be here. It literally states in my contract that Sundays are mine. Yet here I am after Emine called at eight in the morning with that particular tone she uses when she's decided something and is telling you rather than asking.
I was lying there looking at my ceiling deciding if it was even worth the conversation and then she said double pay and I said yes, got up and got dressed. Then did what I always do which is show up early, handle what needs to be handled and stay in my lane.
From what I've gathered the meeting is a big one. An arranged marriage between Lev and Émilie is being dissolved officially, with lawyers and signatures and all of it. Two wealthy families untangling something that had no business being tangled in the first place.
Hence why I'm here. I have to look after three kids who do not do well in high-tension adult environments without someone they're actually comfortable with nearby. Which I flex in my head constantly, I'm not even gonna lie.
We're set up in a side room off the main floor. Sasha is on his phone. Siena has her AirPods in and is doing something on her laptop that is probably homework and probably isn't. Aleyna is in my lap cycling through the same three questions she's been asking for the past twenty minutes.
Where is Lev? When is lunch? Can she have a snack?
I answer all three every single time with the same patience because Aleyna doesn't get less anxious when you stop answering her. She just gets louder. Like her brother.
Lemme take you back to earlier while we're at it.
When I first arrived I headed over to the adults. Emine, Emiliano and Canan. Canan pulled me into a proper warm hug like always. Emiliano gave me a fist bump, as expected. Emine gave me a warm smile with a wave which means someone got some this morning then turned straight to Lev.
"Be nice when they arrive," she says, completely cold, totally different energy to what I just got. "You embarrassed your father and me when you pulled that shitshow and threw away twenty-five years of work." That was just mean and she knew it. I was angry on behalf of my best friend, still am. Lev just stared at her completely blank-faced and then walked away without a word. Me personally, she'd catch these hands but Lev gets angry silently and that's if you manage to make him angry in the first place.
"And then you wonder why he doesn't love you or talk to you," Canan muttered, glaring as she followed after him. She aint said nothing but the truth and more. Emine just shrugged and went back to her laptop as if nothing had happened. Sasha, Siena and Aleyna looked at me and shrugged simultaneously. You can just tell it happens so much it's not even shocking anymore.
