HE WAS ALWAYS THIS INTERESTING. "I hope so. Now, you can go. I'll be waiting." But before he left, I called him again, "Bring me my breakfast, Ashton."
"Three croissants, two cheese sandwiches, an extra salad fruit with condensed milk, two strawberry yogurts, and a big bottle of peach iced tea?" He's used to it already, since he works for me since he was an intern.
"Hm."
Smiling proudly, the boy left.
❁ ❁ ❁
At 11 am, Let Me Let You Go by One Ok Rock was playing on my ear pods, when the four of them entered my office abruptly without any notice. Luke, Ethan, Nithya, and Bradley. Is this about Graham meeting Thays before them?
"What are you doing here?" I asked while putting my air pods down, and they sat on the two chairs in front of my table. Nithya on Luke's lap, and Ethan on Brad's.
"We have to talk to you!" The troublesome girl spoke. But don't get me wrong, she's pretty much my favorite sibling-in-law out of the four I have. It really feels like she's my sister, maybe it's because she's the one I'm closer to or because she and Luke are closer to my age. Ain't no way I'll tell her that, though.
Scoff, "Is this about Graham?"
"Yes!" They exclaimed together.
I rolled my eyes, "I didn't invite him there. We accidentally meet. It was genuinely accidental. I was taking my girlfriend there, and he popped up. Before you jump into conclusions as you always do!" I finished drinking my iced tea.
"That's unfair," Ethan sulked.
"Life is unfair, little brother," I mocked. "But don't worry. You will be able to stay near her for two weeks. That's more than enough," then I finished my fruit salad, eating the last strawberry. "Anything else?"
They shared a strange gaze and Nithya took out her phone, than opened a folder of photos and handed it to me. "Is this her?"
When I looked at it, I had to do my best not to gasp, because those weren't pics of Thays, they were of Ella. Exactly the ones I had seen on the internet after googling her. "No!"
Not only her, but all of them arched their eyebrows, "What? Are you sure this isn't her?" She insisted.
I glared at her, annoyed, "I know my girlfriend. This isn't Thays. This Ella Sasso, not her. They are kind of alike, but Thays isn't a model. Anything else?" As I gave her phone back to her, I clenched the pen on my other hand.
"She is identical to her, A!" Luke exclaimed.
"So, you know my girlfriend better than I do?"
Ethan clicked his tongue, "Why are you on the defensive? What are you hiding?"
"I am not. And you are doubting my girlfriend. How am I supposed to react to that? Like, seriously. You should leave it alone. You aren't the first ones to compare her to this model, she's annoyed by it already. So, don't bring it up," I heard a knock on my door. "Come in!"
"It's done, Sir," Ashton came inside with three black folders in hand, by his smile dropped when he saw I had my family here. "Should I come later?"
"No. It's okay. Give it to me, I have to base a new project on the information I asked you to find to me," when he realized I lied, he lied right away.
"I know. The one committed by that foreign business man from Italy, right?" At least he's good at lying.
"Yes. And you can go after this, I'll just take a look at it and leave it for today," he beamed on that and rand to give it to me.
"Thank you, Sir," then he left, closing the door.
"He's like a child," I mocked, and put the folders inside my drawer so they wouldn't try to peek at it. "Where were we?"
"You accepted one more work? Brother, you aren't overworking yourself again, are you?" Luke seemed overly worried all of a sudden, which isn't surprising coming from him.
"I'm not overworking myself, don't worry." Sigh. "Back to the topic, don't mention that again. Some things are just coincidence. And it's surprisingly normal to have someone who looks just like you somewhere around the world."
"But even the time the model disappeared and the time Thays Rossetti came to New Zealand match, Aaron!" Bradley pointed.
The blades in my eyes turned to him and he avoided my gaze right away, "I tell you just one more time. Thays isn't Ella Sasso," I clenched my fists under the table. "She isn't a model. She didn't run away to New Zealand, she moved here because other reasons. Her career is on business, not fashion."
"But maybe," Luke tried and I got up, stopping him.
"No. No maybes. Stop, damn it. Is this your way to try messing with my girlfriend? Are you crazy? I'm not going to listen to your nonsense anymore. And I'll repeat. Do not mention any of this to her, or you will have to deal with me, got it? Now," I opened the door, "shoo!"
They gasped and got up, all annoyed.
"Are you serious?" Nithya gasped.
I glared at her, "I'm the one who should be asking you that. Don't torment my girlfriend with your nonsense. Don't mess with her. Don't threaten her," my eyes stopped on Luke. "Even if it's because you are trying to protect me from hurting myself, do not do it. She's a good person, she's not Nicole. If you are skeptical about the money again, the one who should be wary because of that is her, since she's richer than I am. So, cut it off."
"But she might be lying, A!" Luke insisted.
I closed my eyes for a second, and when I opened them again, I'm sure he saw the anger on mine, "If she's lying, than so am I. You didn't have a worry in your life, brother, so you wouldn't understand. Some people go through horrible things in their life, and they get traumatized. Is a traumatized person supposed to go around telling everyone about their trauma?"
He flinched, "Then is she traumatized?"
"Luke, for fuck's sake. You are really getting on my fucking nerves. My girlfriend isn't this girl on the pictures, okay? Damn it. Stop trying to find things to complain about her when you haven't even met her yet. If you," I looked at each of them, "keep annoying me like this, trying to stir up chaos about her, I won't go there anymore. Neither will I take her with me. And you had the audacity to question why I kept my relationship a secret from you all for 5 months," I scoffed.
"We didn't mean it liked that, A. It's just that," Ethan tried, but I stopped him too.
"Oh, but you did. And you know it. See? You are lying now," I mocked bitterly, not feeling like myself. "Just stop. Whatever is it that you are trying to do, stop. If you knew her, you would understand. She isn't the monster you are creating in your head. Now, out. Your faces are annoying me!"
My words seemed to have made their confidence waver, and they didn't say anything else as they left. When I closed the door, I cursed and went back to mine, a took the folders in my hands.
I should have looked into her before.