Guided by secrets

A young woman with discipline

I walked down the long corridor going to the main dining room. It was so quiet then, there wasn't a soul to be seen in the end of the corridor. 

I entered the dining room, which was glowing with light and happiness. God, how I wish that feeling was true, that it would be inside me, and not displayed in a platinum dining room. Realising there were people sitting in the long table, I straightened up and fixed my hair a little. Trust me, public appearances ARE important, whoever said all that shit about 'appearances don't count, the real character inside you is all that matters' was lying. Well, yes, you shouldn't focus on your outside self the whole time, but if you want to be well-liked and get business contracts signed, then don't really try and look like Edna Turnblad from Hairspray! Sometimes, you got to use some dirty tricks to get what you need, such as beauty. 

At least twenty faces were smiling at me now, but most of them were either those big fake smiles, or tight, unfriendly ones. They were all here for business. Nothing more. Nothing less. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for coming in today,"I confidently spoke up. "My pleasure!"the President of Cortolands. "Yes, miss Cleo, it's our honour to be here!"Marie Fischer, the Prime Minister of Germany exclaimed. She was an innocent woman, who you could easily be tricked, so she is not dangerous to me, I quickly noted in my head. 

But some of these people here were.

The first course was 'salmon with new potatoes, crab crush and dill drizzle'. Very simple, as I told the cook-I wasn't there to feed those people with my money. Some presidents cringed a bit when they saw the simple dish, and I smiled. Yes, the exact desired effect I wanted. 

Most contracts and agreements are usually made after the dessert, when everyone is full. So I waited patiently until Gabriel Roussel finished his chocolate soufflé. 

"Hmm...let me think about this my dear Cleo..."Gabriel Roussel murmured. He swiftly turned around and tried to kiss me. I took a step back. "Mister Roussel, would you like to sign this contract first?" I sweetly answered. "Why, yes, of course! Anything for you babe..."he whispered. 

God, this man had serious psychopathy. Let him have more than two glasses of wine and he's full on drunk. Notice I said let him, not give him. So don't go accusing me of making people sign contracts by making them drunk, because that is clearly not the case. Anyway, it's the best for the public, even if it wasn't done the very honest way.

After he signed it with a messy, huge signature, he went back to trying to 'charm' me. "Now, sir, it's getting pretty late..."I distracted him. Thankfully, he had some of his senses, enough so he looked at his watch and exclaimed "Indeed, time is running by! I must leave Cleo dear, I have a long day tomorrow!" Well, of course you do, I thought. It's great he wanted to leave, I don't know what I'd do if he decided to stay. "Lovely seeing you Cleo, we must do it again sometime!" Do what? It's not like I would ever touch him. No offence, of course, mister Russel. Tomorrow he'd wake up and not remember a thing. Hey, I did not drug him, I may have put a temporary memory loss liquid in his second cup of wine. But hey, that does not make me a villain whatsoever! Everyone these days plays dirty tricks on everyone. 

But not me. I've learnt my lesson.