Heartless

Time well spent

After what Farrah had done at their entrance, Fiore thought that entering together had just went to hell. This was the limit. First he said that he didn't want to marry Fiore. Then he told her he was. Then they attend their first event and he gets kissed by his girlfriend in front of everyone. This was very insulting, especially since he had kissed her back.

Fiore exchanged pleasantries with some of the other people in the hall and then went to say hello to the hosts. She had known them for a long time and they were very happy to see her.

After that Fiore picked a flute of champagne from one of the waiters passing by and went to the balcony. There she sat on the edge of the balcony, her shoes dropped to the floor. She was just starting to relax when she felt an arm go around her waist.

She stiffened at the contact but then she heard the voice of her captor.

"We need to stop meeting like this ma chère." He drawled from behind her and she relaxed in his hold.

"Oh don't worry. No saving will be needed tonight. I just needed to get away from the crowd so I came here. I don't plan on jumping from a balcony like this. I will just end up back on it if just by instinct." She told him shaking her head.

"Excuse me but I don't think I understand you." He told her confused at her words.

"hold this." She handed her glass to him and pulled away from him. Before he could ask her what she was doing she jumped. His eyes widened but not a second later she was back sitting on the balcony after hauling herself up, her back still towards him.

"Being a gymnast has its perks you know." She told him and took her glass from his hand. He recognized the fact that she respected his privacy and wouldn't ask him to reveal his identity to her until he wanted to tell her himself.

He felt as surprised at this as he had at her previous task.

"So, I respect that you respect my privacy but I am sorry, I didn't extend the same courtesy to you." He felt it was right to tell her.

"So you know who I am." She said and it wasn't a question. Suddenly she was more closed off.

"No, but I know the woman the rest of the world sees you as." He answered and knew it was the right thing to say as her posture relaxed.

"Yeah." She still looked forward while taking a sip of her drink.

"So I might have wanted to ask you a question." He told her and she sighed.

"You want to know why I was going to jump that day." She again spoke of it as not a question but a statement and he confirmed it.

"I became a designer because I had nothing else to do. I was just a creative teenager. I knew I would be successful in whatever I did. My parents had an arranged marriage and didn't love each other and neither of them felt anything even close to love for me. I was just the product of their failed marriage and like a pet or an investment, they kept me. Now it's time for that investment to pay off so they are marrying me off to Allister Zubin who is in love with another woman. It's just to get their company merged with the Zubin's. I don't even know why I'm agreeing to this. I don't have to do this. I am an independent woman and I should be able to survive on my own but I find myself doing it anyway." She told him. She didn't know why but she did.

He on the other hand now knew the whole story and felt wrong for judging her.

"You do it because even though they don't love you, you do love them. To you their approval matters." He told her.

"Why does it thought. I shouldn't." Her voice broke and she cleared her throat to get rid of her that ball of tears stuck in her throat.

"It always will. Some part of you will always wish for it Ma Chère." He told her and she felt his arms slide around her. She turned around in his arms and without looking at his face just placed her head on his chest. She now realized how much taller he was than her. Her shoes were placed next to her feet and after he released her from the hug, she bent down to wear them.

After she slid them on the turned the other way.

"Will I ever get to know who you are?" She asked him "This takes a lot of self-control you know."

"I know ma chère and I am surprised at how you managed to last so long." He replied seeming amused.

"Don't evade the question." She scolded him and he let out a surprised laugh and she thought it might have been one of the most beautiful sounds she had ever heard. His deep voice was like silk wrapped steel and his laughter was deep and beautiful.

She almost turned around right there.

"Soon ma chère, I would show you who I am right now but you wouldn't think the same of me again after you recognize me." He told her softly.

"As long as you're not Allister, I seriously doubt that." She replied and he chuckled again. He didn't realize that after a long time, he had laughed this freely. He hadn't laughed like this in five years.

"Soon ma chère." He promised and she sighed.

"Alright, tell me your story." She told him sitting back on the edge of the balcony.

"My story?" He asked her bewildered.

"Yeah, well you know everything about me and I won't ask for the man who everyone else knows but I want to know who you are." She told him drinking the rest of her champagne.

For a moment he was quiet and then he spoke softly.

"My mother and father had an arranged marriage too but they had a pretty successful marriage. My mother got the best of our father which wasn't much to be honest. All of my sibling look and act like her aside from me. I am the one most like my father and equally unable to express myself or my emotions. I have many siblings and they are the only ones I care about in the world I think." He spoke, his words laced with nostalgia and sadness. "A few years ago my brother wanted to marry a fashion model. He loved her a lot but I could see it very clearly that she didn't feel the same about my brother. All she saw was a handsome husband and his equally handsome wealth. I told her that I had more wealth than my brother and could give her more. I, in simple words, seduced her and she was more than eager to be seduced. One day, to show her real face to everyone I arranged for my family to come home and see me and her engaged physically. My brother was heartbroken but what hurt him even more was that she was cheating on him with his beloved brother and it killed him inside. My family has hated me since then aside from my mother. She knew I would never hurt my brother so she hounded me until I broke and told her." She was quiet and for a moment he thought she hated him too for what he did.

"Your method was pretty stupid but your intention was good so don't feel too bad." She told him and he let out a relieved chuckle.

They ended up sitting there and talking for the remainder of the ball. When it was finally time to leave she got up and told him.

"Don't do something you'll regret Ma chère. You might love your parents but this decision needs to be for your best." His voice was filled with something like regret as he said this and she knew he was thinking of himself.

"You should go and then I'll come later. If someone saw un entering they might know who you are and might reveal your identity to me. I will see you sometime soon." She smiled at him.

"You have my personal contact number ma chère. Don't be a stranger." He told her before walking off. Sometime during their time talking he had given her his number and had told her that only a few people had it. She felt pretty special at being one of the few who had his number.

After he had walked off, she went inside and tried to spot Allister and couldn't find him.

She didn't believe it. The asshole had left without her.

Fiore stood there seething for a moment before calling her driver to bring her car and pick her up. Almost everyone had left and she was one of the few people left there. One of them was a tall man with dark hair and deep beautiful green eyes. He was talking to none of the other men and somehow she felt as if she had seen him somewhere.

Fiore tried to remember but failed. She was ripped out of her thoughts when she realized her driver was here. She thanked every god up there that her house was close to the Delacroix's.

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