Christian's Yearning

CH22

 A/N: In the hope to make this chapter easier to follow, I will be noting the time, using UTC (GMT) time as a reference point since we are crossing 3 time zones.

 ~ what a difference a day makes ~

 Monday 08:00 UTC

 “It is 4 pm, local time, and 86 F” Christian’s jet has finally arrived in Taoyuan and even though the airplane is still taxing, Christian is on his phone working. Ros has arrived and is waiting at their hotel, available to meet as soon as Christian is available. They have a business dinner later in the evening with their Taiwanese counter parts.

 Finally, they arrive at Shangri-la's Far Eastern Plaza Hotel. He briefly stops at his suite to take a quick shower, shave and change into a white shirt, dark blue dress pants and a dinner jacket. Christian and Ros head to their business dinner right after Ros debriefs him on the happenings at GEH, and the sticky points on the talks. The dinner is polite and serves as an introduction to the marathon meetings to come.

Monday 14:25 UTC

By 10 pm, Christian and Ros are finally back to his suite finishing up for the day; her computer rings and Ros puts James Smith, VP of Public Relations on the screen.

“Good Moring!” James offers

Christian is walking by the windows. It is peach black and the night lights twinkle bellow. In the daytime the blue sky extends as far as the eye can see; this building being the tallest hotel in the city. That what he likes, being in tall buildings it feels liberating as if he was flying Charlie-Tango; some people think it is about being above the rest, but  in reality it is just the feeling of being free, to fly like a bird.

It is Ana’s name that catches his attention and in three strides he is in front of the camera.

“… with Ms. Steele… and we can spin it to Mr. Grey’s advantage…”

“Mr. Smith, you have worked for me for three years” James knows better than to interrupt his boss “and in those years; what has been my direction in regards to queries about my personal life?”

There is a pause until James gets enough courage to answer “no comment.”

“My. Private. Life. Is. Private.”

“Yes, Sir. We thought we could improve your public image, Sir.”

“Pray tell, Mr. Smith, why exactly does my public image need improvement?”

- well  boss, because you are perceived as a cold fish that is nothing more than a calculating workaholic with no feelings.

James pulls on his tie a little “well Sir, with all the paparazzi stories we thought -”

“You thought wrong” Christian’s voice is cold and calculating.

 “Very well sir. Also, I have sent four release statements for your approval on the donations to Sudan -” James is going for a distraction

 “Three years Mr. Smith, how many releases have I authorized on my donations?”

 “n-none”

 “You are wasting my time asking me questions when you already know the answer” and Christian ends the call and walks over the windows once again.

 “You are a dick” Ros’ raspy voice breaks the silence “the man is just doing his job”

 “Is that so?”

 “Yes”

“Here I thought he wanted to anoyme”and with that Ros brings up the final spreadsheets they need to look at for the night. After a while Christian looks at his phone, recognizes the caller and a soft smile plays at his lips.