Valarie had invited Jake over for dinner to thank him for his hospitality. She had just taken the stove off when the doorbell rang.
"I'll be there in a minute!" she shouted as she wiped her hands on her apron and took it off. As she opened the door, her lips quirked up into a smile. Jake stood with one hand propped on the left side of the door frame. With one eyebrow raised mischievously and a rose in his hand, he smiled down at her. "For you" he said handing her the rose.
"Why thank you" Valarie dipped her knees slightly and took the rose from him. They both laughed and she shook her head.
"Come on in."
Jake entered and she closed the door behind them. Instantaneously, the warm scent of fresh herbs and grilled chicken tickled his senses and warmed his soul.
"Wow in here smells like heaven!" he exclaimed and Valarie grinned.
"Welcome to the lair of the master chef" she invited.
"Haha yeah right. Which restaurant have you stop by on your way home?"
"Hey! I can cook Mr!" Valarie declared.
Jake chuckled. "Okay, okay. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and be the judge when I actually taste it. So where have you learnt to cook?"
"It was sort of by force actually. My parents died at a young age and I lived with my aunt but she...ugh....Anyway, I started cooking for us at quite a young age and I learnt as I went along. Food network was one of my favourite channels at one point too so I learnt a few tricks from there."
Jake softened his eyes "I'm sorry about your parent."
Valarie sighed "It's okay. Shit happens."
A chilled silenced filled the air and Jake opted to change the topic before they drowned in awkwardness. "You have a nice apartment. It's very homely. I can tell that you customised it to suit yourself." He walked up to some paintings on the wall across from him. "Are these yours?" Valarie nodded.
"Wow you are really talented."
"Aww thank you. I haven't really gotten much credit for my work lately."
Jake turned to face her. "Ahh I can't believe that they would do something like that to you at your work. How did it go today? Have you told your boss about it yet?"
"No I was going to but I'm not sure how that would have ended. If his son wants to nurture the lie, then so be it. I can't believe that son of a bitch would chicken out like that. Then he has the audacity to ask me to continue making more designs."
"He is an ass. If you are not going to spill the truth, then I hope that somebody does for you. I saw the designs in the papers this morning. They are spectacular. It was chilling to see another name in full claim of what you have created. Why do you let people walk over you so much Valarie? It's not fair."
She ran her hand through her hair in frustration. "I don't know. I guess I just don't like to cause trouble. There was going to be an unpleasant fight if I had admitted that she stole my designs. Karma has its way of working things out. I'll have the popcorn near when it strikes."
"I can tell that you are a humble soul but I fear people will take advantage of you."
"Don't worry about me. Even my aunt pulled one of those stunts on me but I find a way to deal with my issues some way or another."
His brain clicked until what she had said registered. "Wait, what happened with your aunt? What have she done?"
Her tongue caressed the roof of her mouth but her lips remained sealed. "Nothing. Just forget it."
"Come on Val-"
"So who's hungry? Food's going to get cold" she cut him off by changing the topic. Jake sighed but let it rest. "I'm starving!" he informed.
After setting out the meal, they sat on the warm wooden floor of the living room. Valarie poured the wine into two tea cups and sat it beside them. "I'm sorry. I managed to break all four of my wine glasses haha."
"Haha it's okay. Clumsy girl. Anyway I'm totally digging the tea cups" Jake laughed. He swirled his fork into the pasta and took a bite. "Oh wow. This is definitely from a restaurant."
"Heyy!" Valarie protested. Jake laughed. "'Okay, okay I'll give you the credit. This is really good."
"You better do haha and thanks." She rested down her fork gently and looked at him "When I say thanks, I mean for everything. For almost knocking me down with your car, for coming to look for me, for listening when I needed to talk and for taking care of me and not leaving me out on the streets."
"Don't mention it. I couldn't have it any other way. Besides, it was nice having someone sleep in my home for a change. That's a hell of an apartment for one guy."
"Wait you live alone always?"
"No not always. My parents live in another state. I'm here for the time studying and doing business. They visit me from time to time but are adamant on giving me my space so they would sleep at a hotel nearby. About a year ago I had a girlfriend. She would stay here but her mother got ill and she had to leave to go back home to stay with her. Things just went downhill from there on."
"So don't you ever visit her? Don't you guys still talk? Over the phone at least?"
"It's complicated. She's from a very strict and traditional family. They didn't like us hanging around because we are from different cultures. I'm pretty sure that her mother faked the illness so that she would leave here and go home. Every time I call, they tell me that she is not in. There was this one time I went to her home and they hid her inside from me until I was compelled to leave. She was my first love. "
Valarie held onto his forearm and squeezed it. "I'm sorry."
"It's okay. Maybe someday she will come back to me."
"I can guarantee that you guys will cross paths again and this time stay together. "
"Thanks. I hope so. For now, I'm just living life as best as I can. I learnt my lesson before and I'm going to cherish every moment that passes. Anyway, enough about me for now. You told me earlier that you were able to work on some designs today? May I see them?"
"Ahh yes. Hold on I'll get my sketch book." She reached over to the coffee table in front of them. I actually have two sketchbooks. One is for my true designs and one is for my stress reliever designs. Which one would you like to see first? "
Jake stuffed another mouthful in and mumbled "Stress reliever."
Before Valarie could open the book, she began laughing. In fact, she snorted. Jake joined in on the laughter even though he had no idea what she was laughing at. Valarie opened her sketchbook. She had added a few more to collection. Jake took one look at the first drawing and almost choked on his food. "Oh gawd! Hahaha. Now that, that is priceless. He looks gorgeous!"
Valarie covered her eyes for a brief second. "I know right? This is probably my best piece yet."
"You should really consider making him one of the models."
"Haha yes." She flipped through a few more pages to show him the rest she had done. Jake couldn't stop laughing.
"'Okay, okay let me close this down before you die laughing haha." She took up the other sketchbook and opened it. Jake tried to bring himself down his zone. He forced himself to stop laughing and managed to boil it down to a smile."
"I did these today." He was stunned and ran his hand over the sketches. "Oh wow Valarie these are amazing. Even better than the ones from the last show. You need to get these made!"
She sighed "Ugh I don't know."
"Hey look at me" Jake held onto her shoulders and turned her to face him. "I am not going to let you cheat yourself like that again. Make the designs and try to keep Ashley as unaware as possible. Your friend, Kyle, you said you trust him. Perhaps you can give them to him and let him make these top secret. Let Ashley assume that you won't be a part of the show and then boom! Your designs come walking out. It'll be perfect. You'll get your credit this time, I promise."
Her mind clicked like gears. She was still torn between choosing sides but Jake had quite a convincing tongue. "Fine" she agreed. Jake pulled her into a hug and they spent the rest of the night bonding.
***
Kyle stormed into Dimitri's office as soon as he got to work. He looked wild and completely sleep deprived.
"What is it?" Dimitri asked looking at him confusingly.
"I can't do this!" Kyle said, flinging his hands up in the air."
"Can't do what?"
"Don't pretend you don't know what I am talking about. Sneaking Valarie's designs over to Ashley. How do I know you are not just going to let the same thing that happened at the last show happen again? I had nightmares last night. Why can't you just tell your father instead of going through all this trouble?"
"Because that is not enough. It's better to catch the witch in her act. Now stop getting second thoughts and do the job I told you to do. Get a hold of yourself. I need you to do something."
Dimitri dished through a pile of cards on his desk. He took one up and handed it to Kyle. "Call Mr. Diez and arrange a meeting with all of us, Ashley included."
"When you say all of us...?"
"You, me, my father, Valarie, Ashley. Keep my mother out of this one."
"Oh gawd. I don't know if I can do this."
"You can and you will. Tell Ashley to get some sketches down to show to Mr. Diez tonight. Now stop freaking out and go."
Kyle felt sick to his stomach. He had no idea how he was going to work around all this but he could tell Dimitri was getting edgy and he couldn't live through another one of his threats so he left.
Dimitri sighed as the door closed behind him and he rose from his chair to walk over to the window. His eyes looked over the mass cityscape and the bright warm sunlight. His eyes then wondered to the cars just below him he watched as the other employees hustled in to work. There was nothing out of the ordinary except one. He noticed a familiar face coming out of a car. A man held the door open and assisted the woman in getting out. As she turned to look up at the man, he got a clear view."
"Valarie?" he muttered. As far as he knew, she usually took a taxi to work. Clearly this man fell short of that. He had a sickening eloquence to his gait and drove the exact model of car that he did, except his was silver. Dimitri watched intently as the man picked her up into a bear hug and laid a kiss on her forehead. She smiled back at him and placed her palm on one of his cheeks. The man held her hand and laid a kiss upon it before letting go. He walked back to the driver's seat and drove off. Valarie waved him goodbye and looked on until the car was fully out of sight. She spun around with a twirl and walked inside.
It was only then that Dimitri realised that both his hands had been balled into tight fists at his side. He replayed the scene in his head and it sickened him. He had seen the smile on her face that had initially drawn him to her and he was not the one who had put it there. The thought of someone else doing his 'job' pissed him off and he returned to his chair enraged. This shouldn't have bothered him, he shouldn't even care but for some unexplained reason, it did.