Room 1011

“Aira, this is Carter Polland, Mr.Valory’s personal assistant,” Meghan said introducing the handsome, almost pretty young man in front of her.

“Mr. Polland, This is Aira Brian,”

“Nice to finally make your acquaintance, Miss. Brian. My boss is such a huge fan of your work, I hope everything is to your liking.”

“It’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Polland! Of course! Everything is perfect, thank you very much!”

“Please call me Carter, we will be working with each other from now on so let’s drop the formalities,” Carter announced and Aira smiled

“Call me Aira then, Carter. It’s very good to make your acquaintance,” Aira said smiling at the deceptively charming secretary.

She glanced at her friend to find her keeping a good distance from the amiable secretary and stiffly staring at Aira who wanted to laugh at the sight.

Maybe she was going to have her revenge on Megs for teasing her earlier sooner than she expected.

Her usually fun-loving and social friend was acting like she was in a highly formal diplomatic meeting. The room felt like it dropped a bit from her cold demeanor.

“Mr. Valory will be available to meet you in half an hour, is that time okay for you?” Carter asks as he brings out his tablet and Meghan does the same,

“That should be alright,” Meghan said not looking at him, “Just text me the meeting room number,”

“I will do that as soon as I have the information,” He nodded giving Meghan a long stare as she avoided his gaze, then he looked up at Aira smiling,

“It was a pleasure meeting you, I will see you later,”

Aira nodded her greeting to the other man waiting for him to leave before turning to her friend with a grin,

“Oh shut up will you?” Meghan said glaring at Aira who smiled.

“I didn’t say anything… Yet…” Aira added.

“There’s nothing going on, I just don’t get along with him…” She said.

“I didn’t note the same feelings from him, he seemed pretty determined to catch your eyes,”

“He’s just an annoying tease…” Meghan said waving her hand off,

Aira was about to answer her friend when she felt her phone ding in her purse with a message. Taking it out, she saw Jace’s name in a text and her heart stuttered.

“Jace?” Meghan asked

“Yeah, said that he met a business acquaintance at the entrance, he will join me when he’s done…” Aira explained

“He doesn’t sound that excited to see his fiancé on her big day. Not that you seem to be bothered by his absence,” Meghan added watching her perceptively.

Aira sighed wondering if she should talk about it.

“To be honest, I’m not so sure about the engagement anymore,” Aira admitted to her friend,

“Hah, tell me about it… He’s not even your type, Aira. I was surprised when you said yes to him. I thought you were just humoring your parent staying with him,” Meghan whispered as they made their way toward the crowd,

“Oh, you’ve got no idea…” Aira said quietly as one of the guests approached them,

Meghan had always been perceptive, especially when it comes to this kind of thing. She probably had no idea how close to the truth she had become…

“So? Are you going to do the tearful breakup scene? Are you going to need backup?” Meghan asked

“We don’t do that anymore Meghan. We’re grown-ups and we don’t need a dramatic setup to break up with clingy boyfriends anymore,” Aira said trying to compose herself not to laugh out loud.

“Whatever, how boring,” Meghan shrugged making Aira roll her eyes.

Aira went on greeting her guests chatting with the ones she knew and getting to know the ones she didn’t, the evening was so full of possibilities that Aira found herself completely forgetting about everything except her art. Including her fiancé.

“I believe your character would make a huge difference in our game,” A young developer said as he sipped from his champagne, “As soon as I saw your Illustrations I knew that it was what we’ve been looking for,”

“I will think about it if you send me the plot and setting of your game,” Aira responded feeling a bit intrigued to see what this young man’s project has to offer.

She only accepted commissions upon personal preferences, it was the only way she could make sure her work was always more than a commission and something that she was interested in and passionate about. Aira would have to see if this man’s game is as interesting as he made it sound.

“If you would excuse me, Miss. Brian. It’s time for your appointment,” Meghan said tactfully interrupting their conversation and reminding Aira of her pending meeting with the infamous CEO.

Excusing herself Aira headed toward the private part of the building where conference rooms were situated.

“He said he’ll be waiting for you in room 1011, he’s so adamant about meeting you. It’s almost as if our boss has a crush on you…” Meghan said with a wry chuckle and Aira laughed

“He scouts you on his own and tries everything he could to make you accept his offer, then he personally comes to your exhibition and requests to talk to you,”

 “Everyone knows that Vincent Valory is only in love with his art collections and his work. And He’s just found a reason to combine both and I’m going to be the victim suffering through it.” Aira explained, “And I’ll have you to thank for that”

“I still can’t believe I went through with that plan, God! I didn’t know I had the guts to do that,” Meghan complained gesturing with her hands.

When Vincent Valory had ‘Decided’ to make her illustration the theme for their new products, he had apparently sent a well-made offer to Aira. Being swamped with work and not liking the vision portrayed in the offer she refused it.

Later on, Aira learned from Meghan that Vincent Valory had chewed off the asses of everyone responsible for the offer. He had apparently known that Aira only accepted personalized offers that appealed to her and Vincent apparently had been ready to make the project as appealing to her as possible.

Talk about being obsessive…

Meghan had waited until they left the meeting to reach out to him and tell him about her connection with Aira. Or rather, offer for him to arrange for Aira to accept the project.

 “I still can’t believe that you went to the CEO and proposed a deal to him in exchange for making me accept the contract either,” Aira said with a wry smile.

“There was a chance and I grabbed it. Besides our boss loves that kind of clean-cut deals, everyone knows that. And finally, I didn’t talk to the boss directly, there’s no way that I would have had the guts to do that. I talked to his personal assistant…”

“Oh, I see. Now THAT makes sense,” Aira responded laughing and Meghan glared at her.

“I still wonder if the promotion I demanded in exchange was worth it,”

“Worth betraying your friend for?” Aira asked teasing.

“Hey! That’s not how it happened, I didn’t force you to do anything,”

“Nope, You just did everything in your power to convince me to do it,” Aira responded

“I had always been good at convincing you,” Meghan bragged, “But more importantly, I really wonder if it was the right thing to do…”

“Of course, it was, Megs!” Aira said pausing midstride and looking at her friend, “I was only teasing you. I would have suggested it if I had known the circumstances, you deserve this after all those years you’d been slaving under those ungrateful bosses of yours,”

Meghan's worries eased and were replaced with determination as she stepped forward hugging Aira.

“I knew I liked you somehow,” Her friend said and Aira chuckled hugging her back,

“I know, I’m that amiable.”

“Are you sure you like this project enough to work on it?” Meghan asked,

“I’m sure, It’s going to be a challenge apparently. But it’s high time I tested my limits and this is the right opportunity for it,”

“Did the boss reject your illustrations?” Meghan asked as she guided her through the hallway,

“Not yet, but I’m expecting it to happen after I send the first drafts in… I got the gist that he was a bit on the picky side”

“You have no idea, I was wondering whether they were rumors, but when I got to personally work with him, I realized that every bit of those rumors was true. He’s a shark when it comes to work. And even more when it comes to art….”

“Well, I guess I had it coming…” Aira sighed and Meghan smiled as they reached room 1011.

The hallway was silent, they could only hear the clicking of their heels on the tiled floor as it echoed through the dimly lit passage. But as they approach the room, Aira heard some voices.

Soon she realized that the voices were coming from room 1011. As they drew closer the voices were only becoming louder and clearer.

Meghan didn’t seem to notice them as she made her way toward the room and Aira asked.

“Are you sure that room is the one where they said they would meet us?”

“Yeah, pretty sure. Room 1011,” She said absently checking the tablet,

Aira gulped down as she wondered what to do. Because those voices were becoming louder and clearer as they approached and now she realized what they were.

The sound of moaning and grunting, accompanied by repetitive creaking. The sound of someone having a hell of a moment in the conference room.

And they were about to interrupt it.

Before she could stop Meghan from entering, she was swinging the door open and the hallway was bathed in light making them temporarily blind.

Aira heard her friend swear before she could see anything,

“Holly fu**ing sh*t,” Meghan all but spat out making Aira wince, this was going to be one hell of an awkward encounter.

As Aira’s eyes fell on the inside of the room,

She had expected to see the infamous Vincent Valory bent over the table with someone in his arms. But what she saw there was something else altogether. 

No, Not something else. Someone else…

And that someone else was the last person Aira was expecting to see in that place, in that position...

“Jace?...”