Fire and Ice

Chapter 2

Krist and I entered the grand Milia headquarters. Milia is Emily's brand and Emily is the possible  collaborator. Olive Payne had just arranged a meeting with her but if she would be interested in working together was tentative. I was really excited about meeting Emily. To be honest, I had never heard of her- her brand, definitely- but not her by name. 

"Good morning. You must be Mr. Flemming. This way please." A young girl greeted us in the lobby of the office. Just noticing me, she said," I am sorry, no pets are allowed inside the office."

"I am sorry, there is a dog right there." Krist pointed towards a white chihuahua, that was chasing a ball just after the second set of doors in the lobby, which led to the main office space.

"Oh, that's Hua, Emily's pet. She is the only animal that enters through the lobby doors."

"Well, I am pretty sure that Miss Emily would allow Pepper inside. I mean, he is quite famous. She would love to meet him! And, besides, I don't go anywhere without him." I tried to give her my best puppy eyes- which was not very difficult since I was a puppy.

"Okay, fine. You, both, may go. Take the elevator to the fourth floor and another lady will take you to Emily." 

As we were waiting for the elevator, which was opposite to the lobby, I saw a woman, with bright red hair, standing on a chair on the right, with all her coworkers surrounding her. It looked like she was making a really funny speech because everybody was laughing.

"So let's kill this fucking shit so it does not even make it to hell!" These were the only words I could catch.

----------

Holy shit. This place was beautiful. I could be in heaven now. Wait a minute, was I in heaven? No, not possible. If I would be in heaven, I would not be waiting for Emily, which was exactly what I was doing. It had been a solid ten minutes since  a man had said 'Emily will be with you shortly.' Our meeting was scheduled at eleven o'clock and were exactly on time.

Just then, the lady with the red hair making a speech came in. I was waiting for her to give us an update on Emily but she said nothing and sat down on the other side of the desk, while rustling some papers in her hand.

"You're late." Krist raised his eyebrows at her.

"A queen is never late, everyone else is simply early." She laughed.

"Touché." Krist said under his breath. So she was Emily. Makes sense.

"Anyways, I am sorry-" Emily looked at Krist for the first time. Her eyes formed a perfect circle as she realized who she was talking to, one of the biggest singers of the century who has more awards than people have- "Aren't you that controlling husband? Your ex wife is all over the internet." Oh, okay, so apparently, that's how Krist is known these days. 

"Um, no, that was all a lie. Victoria, is lying. I am not that type of person she says I am." Krist replied.

"Every criminal denies his crime. Doesn't make him less of a criminal." 

"Every innocent person says the truth when he says he didn't do it. Doesn't make him a criminal."

"I am sorry, but you are literally against everything I stand for." 

"You don't even know me. You have only heard what the media says about me, and well, you didn't strike me as the type of the person who would believe mere rumors about someone."

"I don't believe the rumors! I heard what Victoria Rhode said directly, and I believe her. I am so sick of men lying every time"

"You know, it's not always necessary for men to be lying. It's not always the men who are wrong." 

Emily sighed. I could see her contemplating whether to trust Krist or not.

"I am sorry. My assistant said there was an offer for collaboration, but who's offer, that I didn't know. I would have never taken this meeting if I would have known." Emily said in a tone that made her decision is final. She got up to leave.

"You know it's not fair." Krist said quietly, looking Emily in the eyes. "You know, I really loved her. And I thought she loved me too. The day I had asked her to marry me, I was happier than the day I had won my first Grammy. But, two years later, when she knew that she would get half of my money, she filed for a divorce. I was broken. I did not think it could get any worse." Krist got up, for a dramatic effect, "But it did. She went ahead and said all those things about me. But that is not the worst part. The worst part is that I actually started to believe her. I started to believe that maybe I am those things she says I am. I try not to be. But maybe I was controlling. I thought it was my fault. I begged her to stay, to give me one more chance. I apologized relentlessly." His voice was breaking now. "For a full month, I did everything in my power, so that she could forgive me. I drove to her house, I- I- waited outside, even when it was raining. I sent her flowers and- and gifts, until she became frustrated and told me the truth. About everything. That she had married me for money. That she never loved me." I had tears in my eyes. 

"How do I know that you are not lying?"

"How do you know Victoria is not lying?"

"I guess you are right." Emily's face showed a hint of a smile. 

"Plea- Wait did you agree with me? Oh thank God!" Krist was smiling widely now. "So you are ready to work together on this project?"

"I'm not sure about that. You see, I might believe you, but the whole world doesn't. Us collaborating might look bad for me. And I can not jeopardize my reputation like that." 

"But if you tell people that- that- you believe me over her, nothing will happen to your reputation." 

"It will. I don't have any proof about who's lying and who's not. If I publicly declare that I believe you without any shred of evidence backing you up, then it will look like I am trusting a man over a woman! And even if I do the same with Victoria, then there will be people that will say that I am being a typical feminist who always believes a woman over the man. It's fucking impossible!"

"This isn't a courtroom. We are not on trial here! You don't need evidence. It's simply a matter of trusting what one is saying! Nobody is going to get arrested or anything!" 

"Mr. Flemming, the society we live in today, it judges people so much- more than the ones in a courtroom. If you want to make it out alive, you have to be your own damn lawyer. And no lawyer can trust what people are saying." Okay, so that dialogue looked like it was straight out of a movie. 

"But I am being wrongfully accused! And it is compromising my career! That's not fair!"

"Well, life isn't fair!" Emily was practically yelling now and it was making me scared. "I have my career as well! I have to think about that too!"

"Okay. I get it." Krist was looking down at the floor. "You are just a selfish person, Emily. Because let's face it, if the roles were reversed and it was me saying wrong things about my ex- wife, you would be the first to defend her. You are not a typical feminist. You are a fake feminist." Krist was now looking in her eyes, which were basically throwing fire. "C'mon, Pepper, we are leaving." 

I did not realize until I was in the car that it was Emily who was victorious, not us.