RED INK
EP 27: You know I am no Angel, nor Devil
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Linda despite having had a wonderful evening was exhausted, and she didn't know why. To make it even worse, she had a very busy schedule the next day.
She sat in her bath tub thinking about the work she would be doing tomorrow, it was going to be another hectic day. She had meetings with her group and other organizers, she wouldn't have time for herself. At this moment, she just wished she had someone assisting her with her work. She sighed.
Around the edges of her tub were small fragrant candles that smelled of strawberry and cherry. The water was foamy to her skin. She looked at the foams and raised her leg up, admiring the bubbles. Some times, she found herself deviating in thoughts, thinking about her earlier date this evening. He was famous for opera and yet she never knee about it. She wasn't surprised because she definitely hated opera. But, thinking back to that night at the opera house, watching him perform was not that boring. Was she falling?
She sat up in her tub, the foam covering her breasts, her hair sleeping down her back, her hand tucked in the water; change your thoughts Linda, change your thoughts! You can do it. Just think about your schedule tomorrow.
"You are too loud." She heard someone say.
The voice was a popular one. One that was always shouting throughout the house. She looked up towards her glass door, it was Diana. "I knew it." She said to herself.
Diana had her shoulder rested on the edge of the door, supporting her weight. Her hair was packed in a ponytail, dressed in a silky short knicker and white crop top, which showed her navel. No earring, no makeup, just plain Diana but also simply pretty. Her most beautiful asset were her legs. She had long beautiful legs and she didn't fail to show it anytime. She was wearing her red flurry in-house slipper. Her hands were folded over chest as she was studying her.
"Can't you knock?!" Linda asked her.
Diana chuckled. "I wonder how that is my fault when you were the one deep in thoughts."
"What does that mean?"
She unfolded her hands and crossed her legs over the other at standing position. "It means you were talking to yourself out loud! Damn! Is the man you met this evening that good? Are you having schizophrenia? Do we need to check you in a mental hospital? That wouldn't be such a bad idea because at the rate you were going, if anyone else had seen you, they would have concluded that to be the case."
"So it was good you were the one who saw me?"
"Hm-hm." She nodded.
Linda scoffed. "How is that even better? That's worse!"
"Aw, sister. I am not that awful, you know."
Of all things, Linda knew she was being sarcastic, and her smiling just verified it for her. She narrowed her eyes at her. "Why did you enter my room without knocking?"
Diana put on a disappointed face. "I clearly knocked, twice! I knew you were inside anyway so I came in. I was scared that you may have been kidnapped, so I came in to check."
"Hey! Are you praying for that to happen?"
Diana blinked at her, failing woefully at acting cute. "Why are you making me sound like the devil?"
"Are you not? I don't see any difference."
Diana smiled. "But I am not that wicked though. If you are kidnapped, it won't benefit me. If you are dead, even worse for me. You benefit me better being alive."
"Why, because you don't want to work?"
Diana smiled. "Exactly! Just work while I eat. Very beneficial."
Linda sneered. "Really?" It was a rhetorical question. She shook her head and submerged herself in her bathtub, leaving only her head atop the water. "But seriously though, what are you doing here? You are not one to come into my room just to check on me. What do you want?"
Diana stood still, took slow steps into the bathroom and sat at the edge of the bathtub.
Linda looked at her, "You might be my sister and all but I still need my privacy."
"I am an open book sister, what you have, I have also. I won't be long in here."
"What do you want?"
Diana sighed, looking around the bathroom unbothered. "Well..." She paused and looked at her. "...I do need something. Someone."
Linda furrowed her brow. "Someone?"
Diana nodded. "Yes."
"And who is this someone? Greg? Grant?"
Diana smiled, one that didn't reach her eyes, which meant she was faking it. "Just wait for me to finish. It's not any of your men, I have mine. I just need to go to the meeting with you."
There were a lot of meetings organized for the coming days, so Linda didn't know which one she was talking about. "You? A meeting? You want to go to a meeting with me? What meeting?"
"The one on Wednesday. The one with Agio. The one with one Mr Dillion Shaft."
Diana was never one to immerse herself in work related issues, so Linda was surprised as to why she was specifically asking to go to this one. She sat up in her tub, the foam covering her breasts and her hair still sleeping behind her. "You know Mr Shaft?"
"Is it that important?"
"You came to me asking me to allow you in a meeting, one you usually aren't interested in and expect me not to ask questions? I need to know the reason and details. It is related to my work."
"Well, I just knew him from my grad day. We've had a few drinks together."
"So you do KNOW Mr Shaft?"
"To an extent? Yes."
Linda stared her down. "And how did you know I will be having a meeting with him on Wednesday?"
"Ya..do I look like a dummy to you?" She was a bit offended. "I may not involve myself in your proceedings and business but I know what is going on. I am as much a daughter of this family as you are."
"Ow. No one is disputing that fact you know. You are angry for nothing. Were you eavesdropping on my conversation this morning?"
Diana sneered. "I did not need to eavesdrop. You all were very loud! Sheesh! It's like everybody in this house screams at the top of their voices."
Linda rolled her eyes. She wondered who they learned that from. "As if that isn't where your strength lies."
"Thank you. I know that."
"Everybody is just picking up your character. You make it impossible for us to talk normal."
"It's good to see I am impacting... positively." It was sarcasm...again.
Linda swayed the water in her tub, it was beginning to get cold. "Do you know the kind of person Mr Dillion is?"
She thought about it, did she? They only had drinks a few times and in those times, he didn't talk about himself. She was always doing the talking while he was doing the listening. It was like the way Fathers sit in confession room with their confessors—it was a distant conversation, one knowing who the other is but not knowing entirely. She looked at Linda and shook her head. "I don't know the kind of person he is."
"So you both are just acquaintances?"
"You could say that."
"Do you know that he is the owner of Agio?"
"Owner?" Now she was shocked. Because she thought he was just an acting Executive. "I didn't know that."
"That is why we want to strike a deal with him. Someone like Dillion must have done his investigation about our family before even accepting to meet with us. I can give you two pennies that he knows we are related."
"And does that affect anything?"
"Not really. Not negatively. It could serve as a good point on our side but that is like putting water in a basket. It wouldn't hold up. He is a strict business man and doesn't play with his money. I could also bet you that he doesn't mix business with sentiments. So if I allow you to go there, you will need to follow me as a worker. I already have Greg as my Personal Assistant, you," She looked at her. "You could go as my secretary."
"Secretary?!"
"Yes. So when he asks...if he asks, you could also say you are using this opportunity to learn the work. What other way than to be the person who access all files?"
"What does this have to do with my going to see him?"
"And that brings me to the question; why do you want to go to the Agio meeting?"
She shrugged. " I just want to go...and meet with him."
"If it's nothing important, you are not going. Find some other time out of my schedule to do that."
"I won't interfer with your work."
"No! I won't let you interfere with mine!" She stood up from the tub, opened up the drainage, allowing the water swirl down. She picked her towel coat from the hanger and wore it over her body, tying the belt at her waist. "If you are going there for something personal and not so you can learn the work, don't even bother."
"Learn what work? You read about business and I didn't. We both chose different courses!"
"But you were in same finance department right? You can handle it. It's about damn time you started learning." She got out of the tub and wore her white slipper, walking out of the bathroom and into her room.
Diana followed her. "Look Linda, daddy has put you in charge of the business and you are gladly running it, even though he is also running it on the sideline. He is the chairman and you the CEO, nothing bad in there. As for me, I can choose ti follow my own path, it doesn't interfer with anyone's choice."
"And what path is that? Your modelling?"
"You are making it sound like modelling is bad."
"It's not. But why model when you can perfectly manage one of our branches?"
Diana was tired. She folded her arm as she watched Linda sit in front of her mirror, picking up her lotion and applying it on hed skin. "You know what, I don't get what the problem is. I only ask that I accompany you to the meeting and here we are discussing something else. What has my meeting with Dillion have to do with my modelling or taking over one of the branches?"
Linda was thinking. Right? Why was she suddenly changing the topic from the main one? Why was she attacking Diana for not following in her footsteps? She picked up her face cream and pressed some in her hand, dabbing it on her face.
Diana walked closer to her and stood behind her, both looking at themselves through the mirror. They had a lot of resemblance except Linda took their mom's hair colour while Diana took their dad's. She rested her hand on the chair. "I want to be in Agio meeting. If you won't let me, I will ask dad myself. I am only coming to you because you are the one coordinating it. As for my modelling, I will do as I see fit for as long as I like. It could be two years, three years or more. I really do not care. I will try out each and everything I love and see what I like the most and venture into it. Until I find what truly gives me meaning, I will remain a free phoenix." She removed her hand from the chair's edge. "Will you sleep well then? I had a dream about snakes last night, make sure you watch under your bed before you sleep. These maids wouldn't check it for you." She smiled at her in the mirror and turned away, walking out of her room; closing the door behind her.
Linda sighed. If she was going to do what she wanted anyway, why ask? When she was done applying her eye cream, she changed into her night gown, a different one from the one she wore before. She had about five of them in different colours.
She walked to her window and looked at her compound, all the lights were on and the rain was drizzling. The thunder rumbled lightly. She closed the window and bolted it. She was about switching off her lights when she remembered what Diana had said before leaving.
She carefully went to her bed and raised the duvet up, bending to her knees to check under her bed, it was neat. Nothing was there. She didn't even realize she had been holding her breath. She exhaled and dropped the duvet. After switching off her room light and leaving only her bedside lamp on, she climbed on her bed, hands over her stomach and looking up at the ceiling. What was she going to think about?
Seconds later, she found herself going back to the slow motion scene of Peter getting drenched in the rain, 'jumping on the bandwagon' as he called it. She was smiling to herself and the moment she realized that, she stopped smiling and turned in her bed. What was she feeling? Why was she so excited about it? Thinking more about their dinner, she realized they didn't really talk. She didn't ask him about himself and neither did he. They only sat and ate, leaving major foundational questions out. Will there be a next time for their meet up? Maybe. Will they have another date? Probably. Possibly not a date. Will it be as it was tonight? She hoped so.
Rolling with excitement in her bed, it quickly dawned on her that she didn't collect his number. Bummer!