Happy reading, Sade xx

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WHERE THE HELL was Charlotte?

Marie was losing her head with the influx of calls and emails which have been bombarding her since she stepped foot into the office this morning. People from various popular media outlets were bugging her to know more information about the event last night.

She was utterly confused, what event? The agency didn't have an event last night... did they?

Marie was so flustered by everything that was happening she hadn't even had a chance to grab her morning cup of coffee and check the latest art posts. Her usual morning routine complete thrown into the wind as she was sat at her desk with her coat still on and bag around her shoulder. Talk about being thrown into the deep end of things.

It was at that moment that she heard the clicking of heels from down the hallway and a wave of relief washed over here. Finally, Charlotte was here and could shed some light on the current situation she was trying but failing miserably to handle.

As the footsteps grew closer she started to perk up slightly but the person who came into view shocked her to the extent of immediately standing to attention.

"Mrs. Duncan," she uttered her voice laced with shock. Out of all the people on this Earth, fictional characters included, she never in her wildest dreams expected Ms. Duncan to step into the small foyer her reception desk was situated in. This day was truly turning from bad to worse.

Olivia Duncan was the founder of Duncan & Co. Her small babysitting service available to all residents of the city turned into a high-end au pair agency some time throughout their 32 years of service. Olivia started her empire at the ripe age of 25 and her business has grown from strength to strength ever since.

"Marie; good morning, is Charlotte available?" Olivia asked.

She hesitated before answering. This was not at all good. Charlotte had never ever been late to anything during her entire career and on the morning when she was desperately needed, she was nowhere to be found.

Why was Olivia even here? Marie thought to herself. She usually comes to the office 3 times a week and has a meeting scheduled with Charlotte every Tuesday and always has it in her own office. As far as Marie was aware today was not Tuesday and her intimidating presence in Charlotte's office was enough to get her heart rate beating that much faster.

"Umm, actually it's funny that you mention her," she tried stalling hoping that her rambling would magically make Charlotte appear any moment, "You see the thing is. She is on her way, right now. It's just that she ran into a bit of implication this morning a-"

"An implication? Is she alright?" Olivia interrupted.

"Of course; of course she's alright. It was just a small, tiny, minuscule, little implication. Nothing serious. It was just," she wracked her brain for a reason that sounds legit; "This morning s-she ran out of uh c-c-cereal."

As those words left her mouth Marie felt like flicking herself in the head.

Cereal? Really Marie?

The look on Olivia's face clearly showed her that she was not even close to believing her pathetic story. Marie was so close to fainting due to her nerves and Olivia's patience was growing thin, Charlotte needed to show up soon.

It was almost like someone heard her all of her silent prayers and exactly at that instance Charlotte decided to make her grand entrance.

"Oh thank God!" Marie exhaled as she slumped into her seat as the feat of having to lie through her teeth sucked all the energy out of her.

"Ms. Stein, shall we ?" Olivia addressed.

Entering her office was usually calming, the light colours and abundance of natural light made a refreshing atmosphere for her to perform her job to the highest level of her personal efficiency. But not today, today Charlotte felt like she was a child walking into her bedroom ready to be scolded by her mother.

"Is there anything you wish to tell me?" Olivia began ignoring any pleasantries and getting straight to business.

Charlotte divulged all the information about what had conspired over the past few weeks. Isabelle's proposal, the contract, the change in her living arrangement then moving in with Nicolas and lastly having to accompany him the gala. She decided to leave out the part about her running into her family, the situation was causing her enough stress as is and throwing her family politics into the mix would just heighten her anxiety.

"..Then on the way here I finally checked my phone only to find an influx of links to articles with complete moronic speculations about what they think Nicolas and my relationship is."

Olivia sat solemnly in the chair before her, saying nothing, absolutely nothing.

"Olivia, I am truly sorry about this whole ordeal. If I knew what a giant mess this whole job would turn out to be I would've never agreed to it. I just thought that it would be that best move for the agency," she apologies, "If you feel like you need to demote me or even go as far as to terminate my employment. I would 100% understand." She breathed out, voice laced with regret.

"Charlotte you need to calm down," advised Olivia, "What I can gather from this whole affair is that you were simply doing your job. The contract did state that you were to watch over him hence you having to move into his apartment. I can see why you would take on the De Luca's as clients but since this whole fiasco we obviously cannot advertise that they use our services. As for the articles, none make any mention of your occupation or even link him to being a client so we're safe in that aspect. As for your job, I think it's pretty clear that you run most of the operations in my absence and firing my right hand after a couple of nonsense rumours would be more detrimental than good."

Charlotte let out a humongous sigh of relief.

"I think it would be best for you to take the rest of the day off to wrap your head around this whole... situation" Olivia states as she readied herself to depart. Charlotte followed her out of the office only to see her standing at the desk of her assistant.

"Marie, while I do respect the fact that you are indeed a terrible liar. You might want to improve on that skill a bit more when it comes to covering up for your boss." Olivia advised as she made her exit leaving a stunned Marie behind.

Charlotte needed to destress and she knew exactly what she was going to do.

NICOLAS stepped out of the elevator and could already sense that the vibe was off. He took in a deep breath, the hallway was filled with a smell of something he couldn't quite put his finger on. A smell which seemed familiar to him but at the same time so distant. This feeling was strange, very strange indeed.

Opening the front door and walking into his home he was greeted by a view which made his steps falter. Before him stood Charlotte; hair tied up into the messiest bun he's seen, an apron covering her clothes and traces of what he assumed was flour on her cheek, busy in the kitchen. His kitchen. Before he could stop it, he felt the familiar feeling of home creeping through his body sending him into a state of slight paralysis.

It appeared that his apartment was the source of the delicious aroma which filled the hallway.

Nicolas finally recognised the feeling; it was nostalgia. A sentiment that took him back to his childhood. Vivid memories played through his mind; running down the halls of their family home with his brothers and cousins, constant noise from the pots and people busy in the kitchen and the fresh air mixed with a hint of sweetness that came from the grapes in the vineyard.

The uncertainty he felt early almost melted away. His bachelor pad now seemed more...cosy?

She greeted him but not looking up to meet his gaze. She seemed so focused on mixing something in a bowl. Where did she even get all of these things?

"What are you doing?"

"I'm baking," she simply replied like it was the most obvious answer to his question.

"I can see that; but why?"

"I'm stressed."

"So you're stress baking?" he said slowly as if trying to understand exactly what that meant.

She gave him a trenchant look, one that he was very accustomed to. It was the same look that his dear mother would often give his father on many occasions and still gives him to this day. Deciding to leave it at that he set his gaze on the various items that graced his kitchen island. The vast array of baked goods that were spread across his counter seemed enough to fill a bakery stand or feed a large family at a gathering.

How long has she been busy in here?

He knew exactly why she would be feeling stressed. Having your face plastered all over the pages of newsstands and online articles filled with ludicrous assumptions about you're 'relationship' would be enough to stress any sane person out.

Deciding that keeping her mind occupied would be for the best, he asked her about all the things which she baked.

"Well on the far left are some double chocolate chip cookies. Next, to that, are some scones and bagels," Nic could help but notice the little sparkle in her eye as she talked about her baking creations, "Lastly, here are some cranberry and sunflower seed bran muffins. Those ones are for you because I figured you wouldn't want to eat any of the other 'unhealthy calorie-filled creations' as Bianca calls them." Her thoughtfulness took him aback as he looked up at her biting the side of her lip looking incredible unsure of herself.

So to ease the situation he grabbed a cookie and shoved the whole thing into his mouth causing a bubble of laughter to leave her mouth. Tingles ran up his spine and he knew that he would do anything to hear that sound again. That thought in itself caused him a great deal of annoyance and he needed that desire needed to disappear.

Immediately.

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