Eirene looked down at her black bag near her thighs through her sunglasses and checked the existence of the certain white handkerchief.
"Eirene, it's not going to grow legs and jump out of your bag. Relax." Jaxon chuckled, seeing the actress's action and sipped on his coffee.
"But it can fly away." She replied solemnly.
The expression the assistant had was priceless.
They were literally in the middle of the departure lounge where there were only a few movements and not so many people but she spoke as if there was a tornado in the building.
They were currently in an airport terminal, waiting for their flight to take them to the UK where she'd start filling the movie Queen's Crown.
Even though there were no bodyguards at her request to blend in, her strong aura could not be suppressed. Many men and women whispered how stunning she looked as they passed by, but none dared to talk to her.
Maybe they thought she was the wife of a mafia boss or something...
As always, she was dressed in black as if she was going to a funeral.
She wore a black bishop-sleeved off-shoulder, exposing her delicate and alluring collar bone accented only by her clothes. Her lower body was covered in black, wide pants that looked like a skirt from afar but not.
Today, her hair was not tied up and flowed down her figure like the clouds gently covering the mountain tops, except that her straight hair reached until the hips.
Next to her was the same-coloured quilted laptop tote about the same size as her flat tummy that she had things she needed, including Ares Queen's handkerchief that she guiltily brought.
When Eirene checked her bag again, that was it for Jaxon, "If you are feeling guilty about it, you could have at least left him a note or something."
The actress acted like she wasn't surprised that he knew how she was feeling and kept her silence.
It was true that she could have left him a note when she was leaving the hotel but, she couldn't. She didn't have that confidence or courage, unlike how she was in front of the camera.
She didn't have that kind of experience in love. To her, leaving a note, specifically and especially for him, was very cheesy and daring.
It's not that she hadn't thought about leaving him a note but, considering her position and his position, she didn't. She couldn't drag him into her world.
Her messy, unforgiving, hurting, cruel, lightless world.
Ares was so pure and innocent in her eyes that she didn't want to taint him, especially by herself.
She was the darkness, and he was the light. But the darkness was bigger and stronger, could easily swallow the clearest, warmest light with a flash, so she needed to stay away.
He was still young, and his eyes were full of life and joy. His future was going to be bright. She couldn't ruin it.
So she decided to stay away from him for both, her sake and his. She didn't want to get hurt again. But having a memory of almost falling in love was not bad, right?
Eirene wanted assurance and evidence of her trying. Something that told her that she at least tried and almost fell in love just to realise that she could ruin someone's whole life with just a tip of her finger.
Like touching the calm lake with a finger and by that, waves and waves created by the intrusion affect the whole lake, awakening the settled dust and waking up the sleeping fishes.
And the handkerchief would be her guilty reminder that she shouldn't fall in love. She wasn't qualified, to begin with.
Soon, he'll forget about her, she thought. They didn't talk much, and even the total time of their meeting doesn't count up to an hour. But she didn't want to forget him even if their time was short.
Eirene was brought back from her thoughts with a tap on her shoulder from Jaxon. "It's time."
She looked around to see that people around her were getting ready to board the plane she and Jaxon were boarding.
"Okay." She stood up from her seat and zipped her bag, watching the white piece of cloth, slowly engulfed by the dark.
-----
Ares waited. Waited. And waited for the actress to show up. From other people's point of view, he looked like a puppy waiting for the owner in a daycare. Always facing the door and turns around when a voice is familiar to Eirene.
"Dude, who are you waiting for? You've been like this for days." Clinton teasingly asked his junior colleague.
Ares looked as if he was caught stealing candies and looked down to his feet. Clinton could literally see the dog's ears, and tail on him lose energy.
"Is it that obvious that I'm waiting for someone?"
The bartender facepalmed himself hearing that, "Are you kidding? Even blind people can see that you are craving to meet that person. Tell me, is it a girl?"
Even though Clinton was quite dense, he still saw the twinkle in Ares's eyes when he hears a certain voice, but after turning to see who it is, the eyes die instantly.
He had the exact same eyes when he first started with his now engaged fiancee. It was like, turning into love.
Ares thought about Eirene and answered, "Not exactly..." She was definitely not a girl but a powerful woman. Independent and hard-working. The word 'girl', definitely didn't fit her.
Clinton immediately gasped, hearing that, "So it's a guy?" Then why did Ares keep on reacting to the female voice, if so? Was the guy he was interested in having a higher pitch voice?
"Yeah..." Ares was surely still in his thoughts, thinking about the actress and answering the question without actually understanding it.
"You are gay? How come I didn't know that."
"What?" Quentin appeared out of nowhere and frowned at what he heard. "Ares is gay? I thought you were into Ms Queen?"
Ares instantly became red after hearing his friend and nearly shouted, "I'm not into Ms Queen!!"
Clinton with his hands in the air, "Chill, dude. So you are not gay."
Quentin with his right index finger, "Hush."
The boy looked around to see that he almost destroyed the mood and bowed deeply for the mannerless action and the scene he caused.
He then brought his friends near the stairs to the storage room and said, "I'm not into Ms Queen. I'm just..."
"...just?" Clinton encouraged Ares to continue.
"Just... curious about her and want to get to know her as a person, a human. A same human being, trying to understand the other. She sounds amazing and I want to get to know her personality, what she likes to do and stuff..." Ares nodded to his words as if those words made sense.
Clinton squinted his eyes and asked, "But isn't that the accurate definition of 'being into someone'?"
Quentin nodded.
Ares noticed the look on his friends' faces and said, "You guys are weird."
"You are the only weirdo here," Clinton said and again, Quentin nodded.
"Not everyone's like you. Just because you want to get to know someone, doesn't mean that they like that person romantically." He retorted.
"Okay then." Clinton said, "Tell me that you don't think of her when you serve mulled wine.
Tell me that she's not been on your mind 24/7 for the past few days. Tell me that you don't even get a little jealous of her assistant. Tell me that thinking about what to serve her the next time does not make you smile ear to ear. Tell me that you don't think of wanting to spend more time when she comes here the next time. Tell me-"
"That's enough." Ares cut him off. If he let Clinton go on, he was going to mention every possible sign of falling in love.
Quentin crossed his bulky arms in front of his chest and asked with a smirk, "Are you going to admit?"
Ares looked back and forth between the two and spoke no louder than the mosquito, "...maybe..."
Clinton laughed and whined, "C'mon. Those questions were all yes or no questions. There is no maybe. Only yes and yes only." He stared at the imaginary fire in his hands with passion.
Ares frowned, "Didn't you just say yes or no questions?"
Clinton turned and said, "Shut up, junior."
Quentin chuckled and tapped both of their shoulders and said, "We've been chatting for a long time. I think that is enough for now. We can continue this after we are done with our jobs.
Clinton rolled his eyes, "Buzzkill."
"Say that again, I'll give you a decrease." Quentin told him as he walked back to his area.
The other bartender immediately followed, "I said, buzzy. You are buzzy!"
"Oh, thanks." He replied emotionlessly.
"Quent-boss. Believe your subordinate."
"..."
"Boss?"
"..."