WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF
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▶#Episode_32
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Chrissy informed Nikloi about her decision and she started working at Royal Le Swaroski from the next week. A team was identified to work with her at the new shop and she identified two people from the his marketing team to manage the shop at Regency Palace.
The h0tel launch was less than three months away and she had to set up an entire museum before that. It nee-ded a lot of meetings, calls, co-ordination, etc but she immersed herself fully into the task. Not that she had much choice. Nikloi’s expectations were fairly high on each and every count. And Chrissy didn’t want any chance of being reprimanded by him on her work. So most of the days were spent in getting the museum up for the big day.
Royal Le Swaroski was a place out of the world. The moment she set her foot in the h0tel, she thought she had come to heaven. Even Regency Palace was nothing in comparison to this h0tel and that was quite something. She was told that Nikloi had spent years in designing the place. He had worked very closely with the architecture and designing team to come up with his dream h0tel.
The construction had not taken that long because he had spent years together in planning each and every detail for the place. Right from the room size, layout, furniture, tapestry to the last nuts and bolts on the main entrance.
It was a place where you would forget everything about the world and bask in the luxuries that were available only to the elite – riche-st of all.
Personally Chrissy couldn’t relate to all the materialistic things but professionally, now she had the experience of working at Regency Palace. So she knew what was expected from her. Well, mostly, if not always.
Most of the artefacts had been arranged or were being arranged in a fashion that went with the theme of the entire h0tel. There was even a small chandelier in the museum, resembling the grand one in the central reception hall.
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Chrissy obviously had views about too much of opulence being at displ@yin the museum. She felt it contrasted with the actual ess£nce of the museum, being antiques museum, but Nikloi had the final say. And he wanted everything in the h0tel the way he had designed.
There were regular fortnightly meetings also to ensure everything was as per plan. Nikloi had insisted she attends those meetings even there was nothing she would have liked less than attending the review meetings. Ap@rt from the close monitoring of each and every section by Nikloi, the meetings were even more difficult because they included Susan Malkovich.
Chrissy didn’t fully un-derstand what was Susan’s role in Royal Le Swaroski but she was told that Susan’s family was Nikloi’s p@rtners in Royal Le Swaroski. So even though Nikloi had the final say as he was the biggest p@rtner, Susan clung to him in every meeting.
And her hatred for Chrissy was as it is. Even though she didn’t say anything openly, she kept raising issues in most matters related to the museum – it was taking too much time, too much money, gr-abbing attention from the main h0tel, etc. She would find faults with everything Chrissy did. Chrissy could just about manage surviving in those meetings.
On t©p of that was her own troubled heart. Every time she saw Susan and Nikloi together, her heart would ti-ght£ñ in her che-st. Thinking about their first meeting in the boardroom long time back, Chrissy would have imagined Nikloi didn’t want anything to do with Susan. But that, obviously, was an old story now.
They were very much together, both on profession and personal fronts.
Chrissy kept telling herself that she should not be affected by either one of them and she was least interested in their personal life. But it was easier said than done. Had she any choice, she would have moved out of the Royal Le Swaroski long back but she knew she was bound by her professional commitments, not forgetting the money she owed to Nikloi Swaroski.
She hated him for his disgusting manipulation by which he had f0rç£d her to work for him. The more she tried to be away from him, the more torturous he bec@m£. So she had continued to endure the pain silently and trying to focus only on completing her p@rt as best she could.
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One day, she was working with the team at the museum. There was a certain piece which she felt would look best if it was placed at the centre of the hall in the museum though the team felt otherwise. She was standing on a high stool explaining them how it should be displa-yed. She didn’t know that Nikloi had just come in and was watching her discussion with the team. She also didn’t know that she was also being watched keenly by pair of new eyes.
She was de-eply involved in the animated discussion. She wanted her team to see the beauty of the special piece. Handing the piece back to her team, she raised both her hands to get her loose hairs and tie them in a knot at the back of the head. The action was an involuntary reflex to st©p her hairs messing around her face. But she had no clue that standing high on that stool, the simple action gave a delectable view to her audience. Her t©p and Sk-irt had both hiked above in the effort and in that pose, her figure looked like that of one of the models in her antiques collection.
Nikloi was struck by the sight. There were so many thoughts that flashed throu-gh this head at that moment, all at once. He was gr!pp£dby a strong de-sire to continue enjoying the view but when he realized he was not alone to do so, his thoughts c@m£ to a sudden halt. Some of the men in Chrissy’s team seemed to be carried away with the sight, as also the man walking next to him.
Nikloi was immediately annoyed. He had never thought of introducing the two of them like this. Intending to put an end to the show Chrissy had unknowingly put up, he called out to her in a voice higher than his normal volume and walked right up to the stool she was standing on.
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His voice had an immediate effect in the room. While the men hurriedly turned their eyes away, as de-sired, the other impact was dramatic and un-de-sired.
Chrissy was so shocked hearing his voice in the working hall that she lost her balance and fell off the stool, right in the arms of person responsible for her fall. The fall also resulted wasting all her efforts of tying up her hair as they went flying in all directions.
Finding herself in his arms, she didn’t know whether to thank him for saving her from breaking her bones or to curse him for causing the fall in the first place. But there was ha-rd ly time to think about any of those things as far more important things were at stake.
While he had immediately put her to her feet but hadn’t re-leased her. His hands were still all around her, holding her next his b©dy. The t©uçh and proximity was enough to s£nd her s-en-ses reeling in a turmoil. It was the first time they had any kind of contact since that evening at Stonehenge.
She had stood still in his arms, holding her breath, waiting for him to re-lease her. All the time, she had not realized that she could also have stepped away from him or at least made an effort to move away. She had stayed in a trance. A voice from their audience had put an end to the confusion.
“Are you alright?”, the man was asking but Chrissy saw that his eyes were focussed on Nikloi’s arms around her w@!st. Chrissy didn’t like the expression in those eyes and had an instant dislike for them.
“I.. I am alright”, she answered but turning towards the man who was holding her as if answering to him. She saw a quic-k glimmer in Nikloi’s eyes. It was equally quic-kly covered up and she was re-leased her. She let her breath out and added distance between their bodies.
The man next to Nikloi continued to watch them with interest. He responded, as if Chrissy had replied to him, “I am glad to hear that”.
Turning to Nikloi, he said, “Won’t you introduce us, Nikloi?”
“Mr Richa-rd Susshell is the owner of The Today newspaper. His newspaper is publishing an article on our h0tel and he wanted to have a tour”, Nikloi told Chrissy.
Turning to his guest, he said, “Ms Christina Smith is heading our antiques shop section. We have plans to have a museum in here and Ms Smith is setting it up”.
Chrissy looked at him in amazement. She was setting it up? Left to her, half the things would not be even seen here, she thought. But she did not contradict him in front of the guest. She was not getting good vibes from this new man, but she knew it must be important for Nikloi. Else he would have never bothered to take him on this tour.
“It’s a plea-sure meeting you, Ms Smith. You seem to be quite an able lady”, said Richa-rd while shaking her hand. Chrissy didn’t like the unnecessary praise one bit, neither did she like the way his hand kept holding hers moments longer than was necessary. She pu-ll-ed back her hand discreetly without trying to be openly disrespectful.
“Thank you, Mr Susshell”, Chrissy said. She couldn’t bring herself to return the compliment to him. But Richa-rd continue to stare at her. When Richa-rd suggested they continue they h0tel tour, he suggested Chrissy to join them but Nikloi quic-kly declined the idea saying team had to complete lot of work before the launch and she was busy with them. Chrissy was more than happy to stay back instead of joining them. So she kept quiet.
“May be another time. Take care, Ms Smith”, Richa-rd said to Chrissy while leaving the hall. She smiled and turned away but she could feel his eyes were still fixed on her retreating figure. She breathed normally when he and Nikloi stepped out of the hall. Turning her attention and energies back to the museum, she forgot everything about this unwelcomed visit.
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Few days later there was an article on the h0tel in The Today. It was neither praising nor condemning but mostly factual. Chrissy didn’t know what to make out of that visit and its impact on the h0tel. Instead she decided it was Nikloi’s business to focus on such stuff and she should only focus on her job. With that decision she had almost forgotten about the visit or the irksome man. Hence coming face to face with him few weeks later was completely unexpected.
Chrissy had just stepped out of the h0tel after a long day work. Still fortunately, it was one of those rare days when team had packed up earlier than most days. She had walked up to the nearest bus st©p and was waiting for the bus, when a large car had come and st©pped right in front of the bus st©p. Even then she had not thought, that it might be for her.
A man had stepped out of the car and it was only then she saw it was Richa-rd Susshell. He walked up to her and said,
“Good evening, Ms Smith. How are you doing?”
Chrissy was quite surprised with this sudden meeting but quic-kly recovered, “I am fine, Mr. Susshell. How are you?”
“I am good. I am good. Actually, I was at the h0tel to meet you. I was told you had just stepped out”.
“Meet me?”, Chrissy asked surprised
“Yes, there is something I nee-d to discuss with you. I was hoping you would be able to spare some of your time”, he answered.
Chrissy couldn’t un-derstand what he wanted to discuss with her. She didn’t know how to respond. She was still trying to figure how to deal with him when his next words actually made it difficult to say no. “It is about Royal Le Swaroski and it’s important”.
“But what do you want to discuss with me about the h0tel? Shouldn’t you be discussing it with Mr Swaroski, whatever it is that you want to discuss? She said still trying to un-derstand the situation.
“I will but it’s important to un-derstand few things before that.
Hence I nee-d to speak to you. plea-se, I won’t take too much of your time”, he continued to push her to accept. Chrissy knew he was an important man for Nikloi and it was difficult to ignore him. What if there is something really critical and causes problem for the h0tel just because she ignored meeting him . She couldn’t think of what would happen if something went wrong at the h0tel.
Reluctantly she agreed and he said they could go to a nearby restaurant as they would be able to talk there without the fear of being overheard. Chrissy didn’t have a good feeling about going with him like this, but she didn’t know how else to manage the situation.
Once seated at the table, she asked, “So what is it you wanted to talk about?”
“Would you not have a drink first?”
“No, I am fine, thank you”, she declined. She just wanted to find out what it was and what she could about it.
“How long you have known Nikloi?”
“Excuse me?
“I mean how well do you know him?”
“,..I don’t know.. I met him around an year back.. but.. I guess I don’t know him so well”, she stammered not knowing what it had to do with the h0tel.
“You know that this h0tel is extremely important to Nikloi”, Richa-rd continued.
“Yes, everyone knows that. He has been working crazy since a long time on this h0tel. In fact, I met him for the first time at Regiment Estate”. Chrissy went around telling him how they had met and how she started working at his h0tel.
He asked her several other questions about Nikloi and herself but nothing really of any concern to the h0tel. She didn’t know what exactly he wanted to know but sometime into the discussion, she got a s-en-se that this was not about the h0tel.
When inspite of repeatedly asking, he didn’t mention anything p@rticular about the h0tel, she told him that she had to leave.
Richa-rd didn’t st©p her. When she stood up to leave, he smiled and offered to drop her home. She declined the offer and left on her own. But she had a nagging feeling that it was too late by then. She didn’t know what it was but Richa-rd had some ulterior motive behind this meeting and it appeared that it was accomplished.
Try as she might, she was not able to un-derstand the hidden objective of meeting her. She didn’t know whom to talk to. So she finally left it at that.
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Things continued the way they were, with every one busy in getting everything organized for the launch.
Nikloi was the one who was most busy. Though she didn’t meet him so often these days but she kept hearing from the team that how he was pushing everyone and himself. At times, she even met Ms White, Nikloi’s secretary, at the h0tel. He had temporarily moved his office to the h0tel and was operating from there. One of those evenings, Ms White had met her in the afternoon and informed about the yacht p@rty.
Chrissy was quite bewildered with this idea of yacht p@rty. She had never been to one, let alone p@rty on it. She supposed that the rich must be silly to use a yacht for a p@rty rather than for a trip on the sea for which it was meant. But her wondering had suddenly come to an end when Ms White had told her that she was one of the invitees for the p@rty.
Noticing her surprise, Ms White had explained that the p@rty was a pre-launch p@rty for the h0tel by the media magnate, Richa-rd Susshell. Chrissy was surprised to know that Richa-rd was the host, not that she was interested in anything to do with the p@rty. That nagging feeling had returned but she was told all dep@rtment leads when invited for the p@rty.
She obviously didn’t want to be anywhere near that creepy guy, Richa-rd . She was thinking how to avoid when she had received the official invite in the form of an email. Linda had also received the invite. She was quite excited to be invited to the yacht p@rty and was all set to enjoy it. Chrissy was not so sure but couldn’t avoid Linda’s excitement ru-bbing on her as well. Good thing was it was a day p@rty so she was told no go-wns were required.
Before she knew it, the day of yacht p@rty arrived. Chrissy dressed up in a simple knee-length summer frock. It wasn’t anything elaborate but had white frills in the Sk-irt which gave it a nice young look. Like always, Chrissy had decided she would join the p@rty, register her pres£nce as her duty and then leave. She had no plans of staying there for long.
Poor girl! She had no clue that once the yacht left the shore, it would not be possible for her to return without the rest of the p@rty.
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#Story_Continues
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