The Fashion of Love | Adult F/M Romance [COMPLETE]

ch. 2 - New Year's Eve

Ravi cocked his head, eyes soft and, worse, kind. "The imperturbable Sora Gallegos. You get knocked down, you get up swinging and demolish the competition. I can't tell you how much I respect that."

"This is the first I'm hearing of it," she quipped, dry. He had never noticed her.

"That's fair. I haven't given other people the admiration they deserve, or the respect. I'm a vain egotist. I'm an indecisive liar who expects decisive honesty in return. I haven't been a good person. I've made people suffer. As a result, some people don't trust me. Some even hate me. This has been the case for longer than I want to admit, but I can own that now. That's the difference. I'm different."

"Why are you here, confessing your sins to me, of all people? I'm nobody." In a world where her sisters Hana and Aiko existed, Sora was a consolation prize. She didn't see the shame in knowing her role.

"That's the thing, S. You've never been a nobody. Not to me. You're too tough for that, and too damn beautiful too."

Sora lapsed into silence a second time and Ravi took that as his cue to go on. She would have thought an artist could understand the value of silence.

"Hana shouldn't have done what she did. Not to get back at me. Not if it hurt you in the process. You didn't need to be involved with all this."

She could see them in her head, her sister and her husband in her bed, their loving murmurs and soft promises of the future shared between lingering kisses. She dreamt of little else in the solitary hours between day trips to the park with Tommy and trips to the boardroom to meet her Board of Directors. Sleep was in short supply in the Gallegos-Himura household.

"Do we have to talk about this? I hate talking about it. It was stupid and it was selfish. It was wrong." So, so wrong. If only more people agreed. Hana gets to have everything, even what's mine. Fair was far from fair.

He rounded her desk and took her hand. She hadn't realized how cold it was until it was wrapped in his. "I'm sorry you lost your husband."

She croaked, a failed laugh. "I'm sorry my husband was a lout. I didn't lose anything or anyone worth keeping." She would believe that someday, she was sure of it. She had loved Anthony for fourteen years. She had given him her youth and heart. She had put her career on hold to watch his thrive from the cheap seats. "If he was worthy, he wouldn't have strayed quite so easily. Again. I forgave him and he did it again. I think I was the only one surprised about him."

"I'm the wrong person to ask, I've never been a fan."

She smiled past the moisture gathering in her eyes. Tony Himura and Ravi Misra were two of the biggest egos L.A. had seen. It wasn't any wonder they butted heads whenever their paths crossed, or that their love lives were a pair of tangling vines. Powerful, creative minds attracted powerful, creative lovers. It so happened they'd attracted the same ones time and again.

"Tell me something I don't know. Really, anything. I don't want this to be how I spend the next year. I don't want to be upset anymore. Tell me something I don't know, please." She lowered her head to let her hair fall into her eyes. God forbid Ravi see her cry.

Ravi rubbed her shoulder. "I don't know if you know this or not, so I'm going to tell you anyway. Anthony was wrong, S. They were both wrong. They shouldn't have betrayed you, not for anything. They shouldn't have lied to you when you needed their support. They should have been there for you."

Sora had been sick in mind and body. Death had followed her like a spectre, haunting her breaths. She'd been sure that death was imminent and instead of banding together to help her, they had helped themselves to each other.