" Greg?" - he heard the uncertain voice of Marina from the phone.
"I hope you calmed down a bit," - Greg said with a grin, settling down near the window sill in a small corridor at the fitting room.
"Greg! It's your fault. You were spouting such nonsense. I almost believed it." - scolded his sister.
"Actually, I told you the absolute truth. The only thing, Lana is no longer a dishwasher, she was promoted to be the chief baker." - Greg said quietly, mentally preparing for a hurricane. Silence hung in the phone for a second. And then a strange hiss appeared. To Greg's surprise, it turned out not to be so technical sound issue, Martin herself hissed.
"Did you say Lana? Greg, is it by any chance not ... "
"Yes. It is her, the one and only." - did not delay the inevitable Greg.
And then there was a stream of curses, a very long stream. Some words even Greg did not know. But Marina is a mechanical engineer, they have their own terms. When his sister finally exhausted her vocabulary, Greg decided to try to calm her down.
"Listen, sis, I understand why you're angry. But It was not at all as we expected. We have already figured out everything between us, and we are good. Just some details left. So I need some time. As soon as everything is decided, I will tell everything to the rest of the family. Ok?"
" Greg, listen to yourself! You speak like a zombie. You know that I hate the display of other people's emotions. But I was with you when Lana left you. And it was just a nightmare. The second time I will not survive this. You are my brother and I kind of love you. But I will take a ticket to the North Pole and forget the phone at home if you do this to me one more time!"
"Firstly, the second time will not happen. She will not leave me anymore, because she has already tried a couple of times to push me away, but now it's not so easy to get rid of me. I'm sticking to her like super glue."
"Greg, I'm still hearing you speaking zombeish!"
"And secondly, I will see how you talk when you finally get out of the lab and find a boyfriend."
"If I start talking like you, just shoot me in the head with a shotgun."
Greg laughed and headed back to the fitting room.
"Sis, seriously. All is well. You know I'll manage. Even Frank supports me in my choice."
"Frank always spoiled you too much." - Marina grumbled. - "What about the rest? What do they think about it?"
"Tony also like Lana."
"This is not an indicator at all! He likes everyone. He likes even me, and that proves a lot."
"And the rest..." - Greg began, and immediately cut himself short. He just entered the fitting room, and Lana appeared before him on a platform. She seemed to glow from the inside. Greg, in fact, didn't care in what dress she'll go to this ball. He was waiting for this particular smile indicating that Lana didn't like just the dress, but she loved herself in it.
"Greg? Greg, are you still here?" - Marina's harsh voice cut him off from contemplation.
"Oh? Yes, I just admired Lana in a new dress and lost all the words."
"Oh Hell! Shot me! Greg, you speak the zombie language again. And it's disgusting. I'm hanging up cause I need to find my shotgun". - Marina yelled and disconnected.
Greg smiled broadly at Lana and nodded in approval. At the same time, both the designer and Lana shrieked with joy. Either because they finally found the right dress, or because they finally could take a break from Greg's tyranny.
They finally finished their shopping and headed home.
"By the way, I wanted to warn you. This woman and her father will be at the ball. If you're going to do something before that, you better tell me now. I need to have time to pull out all the projects in which the general participates." - casually asked Greg.
"Greg, if her father did not participate in this, then I will not touch him. Plus, I'm not actually going to kill her. I'll just ruin her life. But this will take some time." - Lana answered in a calm tone, watching the scenery outside the window of the car.
"Would you tell me. I can be a great adviser. Or I can stand on the watch, if necessary. Or I can provide you with all needed, like contacts, a car or a tank?"
Lana chuckled.
Greg really made a broad gesture, telling her everything and giving the opportunity to make her own decision. The time has come to take a reciprocal step in his direction. Gathering thoughts, she laid out her entire plan to him. Greg listened carefully, there was silence in the car.
"You don't think it's too easy? You don't even need a tank for this."
"Don't worry. This is only the first stage. "
"Oh! Ok then, but I have a suggestion. For some time now, Martin's people have been following her. And I recently had some fascinating information about her connection with a particular leader of a criminal gang. By the way, the driver most likely was either himself or his man. I think they can make our lady a wonderful company on her way to hell." - Greg said with a malicious grin.
"Greg, you start to scare me," - Lana glanced at him. He just smiled wider, stopping the car.
"Finally we are home!" - He proclaimed, pointing to the huge forged gates, and behind them at a distance a two-story villa. Lana looked blankly from the building to Greg and back.
"By the way, children and all your belongings are already inside! Sorry, dear, somehow flew out of my head, to tell you earlier." - Greg admitted, looking at her with honest eyes and smacked her nose.
Lana opened and immediately shut her mouth, not finding words. That was definitely his plan! First, take her attention away with all these "questions", sincerity, " we do everything together," and then quietly solve one more big-ass question the way he wanted, and so that she even won't have any strength left to be angry! That schemer!