Six

Valeria'S POV

Once Noah and I were in the car, I let out a huge sigh of relief. I had fought the urge to look over my shoulder on the way here when Noah, hands on the small of my back, had ushered me out of the place. Dimitri's expression had been a sight. His face had contorted in rage. He had looked as though he wanted to rip Noah's arm from off his shoulders. I shuddered at the thought of handling that situation on my own, what with my hopeless attraction to Dimitri and his ability to still make me nervous.

"Are you cold?" Noah said from beside me.

He touched my shoulder lightly.

"No. No I'm not." To assure him I was fine, I flashed him a smile.

He gave one right back. "You'll be going home now, I expect."

"Yes," I said a little too quickly. My tone had him raising a brow.

But he nodded, gestured to his driver, whose eyes I met in the rearview mirror.

"Tell him your address," Noah told me.

I did. The car shot forward and we were on our way. I couldn't resist taking one last look at the restaurant as we left it behind. There was no sign of Dimitri and Summer. They were still in the restaurant, then. They had probably resumed their meal. I looked foward, and tried to force all thoughts of Dimitri out of my head. I found Noah watching me, a speculative look in his eyes.

"It's a pity our dinner date ended so abruptly, isn't it? I was rather enjoying myself before the... episode with Dimitri," said Noah.

"Yeah. I'm sorry about all that-"

"-Not your fault. Those two were just being jerks. You had nothing to do with how they chose to behave."

"I'm glad you see it that way, and... I can't tell you how thankful I am for your help in handling the situation back there. What you said was perfect to get them to back off. Thank you... very much."

"Don't thank me, Valeria. I meant every single word I said back there." I blushed at the intensity of his stare. He noticed. "I apologize if what I'm saying makes you uncomfortable, but there it is. I'm a man who does not, and cannot hide his true feelings. I don't intend to let you slip away again. I'm here for the long haul. I'm here for you, Valeria."

"Noah-"

"You don't have to give me an answer right now. I'm not going to go anywhere far from you, after all," he interrupted. He reached out and tucked a stray strand of hair behind my ear. He leaned back against the plush leather seat of his car. "By the way, I had a really swell time with you today. It was really fun hanging out with you and talking about old times."

"Yeah. It was nice talking with you, Noah."

Noah kept up a constant flow of talk on his travel experiences all the way to my house. The sound of his voice was soothing, keeping away unwanted thoughts.

"Ma'am?" said the driver to me, cutting short Noah's chatter.

The car was cruising slowly down my street.

"Mine's the house on the far right," I said to him. "Bye, Noah." I said when the car pulled up in front of my house.

He briefly clasped my hand warmly. "Till we meet again, Valeria, and I hope that's soon. I'll call you."

I stood at my doorstep and waved until his car was out of sight. I sagged against the door when I got into the house. What a day this had turned out to be!

I went upstairs to my room, flung my purse somewhere, on my way to the mirror. For the first time in a very long time, I looked, really looked, at my reflection. I tried to see myself through Dimitri's eyes, to see myself the way other people saw me. I didn't like what I saw. I looked so much like Grace, but I knew I was still in there somewhere. Years of living like another person really hadn't taken away my essence, my identity. I just had to find myself again.

Though I liked the colour red, I mostly wore light coloured clothes, especially white ones, because Grace liked wearing white. I grimaced when I realized that I had even unconsciously worn a white dress for my date with Noah. Unable to stand the sight of it any longer, I stripped it off, flung it in the general direction of the bed. But there were other things that linked me to Grace too, other insidious things.

I had a lively, bubbly personality, but I had trained myself to be submissive and quiet like Grace. I even wore my hair like her. It was pathetic, to be trying so hard to become someone else. I resolved, there and then, that beginning from next week, I would live only for myself. I would be Valeria Morre, not Grace.

I had a boring weekend, spent mostly in the house. I was up early on Monday morning. Hidden behind a lot of other clothes was a red dress I had not worn in a long while. I laid it out, took a quick shower. The previous night, I had put my hair into rollers. Now I took them out, styled the curls. With my curly hair falling in waves over my shoulders, my bright red dress, and a dash of red lipstick, I was back to being the old me. I was glad I had the guts to go through with this radical change, but at the same time I felt nervous, a little sick to my stomach, anxious about my appearance. It seemed coming out of my shell would take some getting used to. It took a lot of willpower for me to resist changing my clothes, and delving back into the familiar. I turned my back firmly on the mirror and went to work.

When the cab pulled up in front of the massive buildings of the Wolfgang Group of companies, I took several deep, calming breaths before stepping out of the car. When the company's doorman stared and was late in opening the door for me, I knew I was in for a long, long day.

"Morning, Ms Morre?" he said, his statement more like a question than a greeting.

With a grunt, I brushed passed him. His gawking was nothing compared to what I encountered inside the building. I caused quite a stir. I kept reminding myself not to let it get to me. They would get used to it soon enough. I kept my head held high, responding to greetings without actually looking at people, and there seemed to be a awful lot of people who wanted to greet me today. In very high heels, I marched to the elevator, feeling the eyes boring into my back. Thankfully, I was the only one in it. I sagged against the elevator's walls when the doors swished closed. In the few seconds it took for me to get to the top floor, I did my best to regain my composure.

By the time the doors opened,I had gotten myself well in hand.

"Good morning," I said to Ken who was typing away on his phone, and coming from the direction of Dimitri's office.

"Morning," he responded with a glance at me.

Then he stopped abruptly. I kept walking. "Wait a minute. Valeria?"

I squared my shoulders and turned to face him. "Yes?"

He did a double take, opened and shut his mouth.

"Is that you, Valeria?"

"Yes. Except someone is wearing my skin."

His lips twitched in amusement. "You look... different."

I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that."Okay..."

"Sorry. I actually meant that in a good way. You're stunning, Valeria. I like your new look."

With a smile, he left. I settled down in my office to work, thinking that at least someone liked the way I looked. Minutes later, the buzzer on my desk sounded.

Dimitri's voice floated through the room. "I need you in my office now."

I went there immediately, and though I hated to admit it, I was anxious about his reaction. Dimitri reared back in his chair as soon as I walked through the door.

"You sent for me," I mumbled.

He looked me over from head to toe, a look of surprise etched on his face.

"What is... this?" he demanded harshly.

I did my best to act nonchalant. "What do you mean? Oh. My new look?" I shrugged and patted my curls. "This is the real me. Looking like this expresses who I really am."

Dimitri pursed his lips. With his eyes still on me, he reached for his phone, pressed it to his ear.

"Ken, bring in the new secretary," he barked.

My heart sank. Oh. There was a new secretary already. The tension in the office was palpable. Dimitri sat, drumming his fingers on his desk without taking his eyes off me. I stepped aside when the door opened moments later. A woman about my age came into the room. I received a slight shock. She wore a trim, white gown and facially looked even more like Grace than I did. She scanned the room and her gaze lighted on me.

"Hi. You must be Valeria," she said to me in a soft, quiet voice. Her pretty features relaxed into a smile. "It's nice to meet you. My name is Anna."

Ignoring her outstretched hand, I looked at Dimitri, who was avidly watching the scene, in shock.