WHAT DREAMS ARE MADE OF
🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉💖💖
_______
Episode_9
💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞
Monday morning she reached The Regency h0tel and opened her glittering new shop. The h0tel staff greeted her warmly and she saw a young man at the reception eyeing her differently. She was not sure why. But then Linda c@m£ to meet her and complimented on her new look. She was wearing a white Sk-irt suit with a matching white jacket. She could feel the subtle difference in the way people treated her now and she was glad she no longer stood out because her dressing s-en-se.
Slowly things start falling into routine and she got used to the new place and its workings. Business was slow at the start. But she kept working on developing new contacts. Slowly some of the guests at the place learnt about her business and decided to drop in. After the initial meetings they could see that she was sincere, knew her stuff well and was willing to help them find the piece of their choice.
Some of her earlier contacts also helped and very soon she starting gaining popularity among the guests. They liked her efficient way of explaining the history behind each of her antique without ma-king things sound complicated and also her not-too-pushy salesmansh!pwhich was quite uncommon in her profession.
Ap@rt from their interest in antiques, in general, ladies liked coming to her to talk to her and men liked coming to her to watch her talk to their ladies. She obviously didn’t notice them checking her out but most of the males in the guests as well as staff found her uncommonly simple yet attrac-tive. Each new sale brou-ght in more customers as her abilities spre-ad throu-gh word of mouth among the high clas-s. People were recommending her.
She didn’t meet Nikloi Swaroski since the day in his office when he told her about the new shop. Linda would drop in almost every day and they would spent lunch time together but other than that she had not much of connect with Swaroski House. She was almost given a free hand, like her earlier shop, ap@rt from few seldom phone calls from some guy from his office.
Once or twice she heard from a staff member that Nikloi Swaroski was at the h0tel for some meeting but never did he come to meet her. She was not sure if she should be happy about it or sad but it was evident to her he had forgotten all about her. She remembered he had asked what she could do to help his company make more money and considering the rent she was paying him for the shop, she was definitely not worth his time or trouble.
Whether he thought about her or not, she couldn’t help but think about those dark eyes every night. She didn’t want to but her br@in would somehow refuse to get message and she would often dream of those eyes and that face. Never did she think of doing something of these thoughts,
One of a regular business days she had seen a newly married couple off with a wonderful piece bought as a memento by the husband for his young beautiful wife. They had taken their time and she had to miss her lunch but she didn’t want to disturb them while they made their choice. They were obviously so much in love, it was visible in their each word and action.
She was smiling to herself even after the couple had left and decided to upd@t£ her records in the digital inventory management app. During the day, her hair cl!phad broken off and she had let her hair dark fall around her back. Now, she was sitting at her desk, checking the entries, with her head tilted and resting on her left hand, holding off her tresses.
A coughing sound had made her look up into a pair of dark eyes staring at her intently. All of sudden she felt her breath leaving her b©dy, failing to return. Nikloi Swaroski was standing in her shop, looking devastatingly attrac-tive in his navy blue suit and matching tie on a white shi-t, his hair immaculately styled. She stared back, as if frozen.
He stepped inside saying, “I can see you have gotten busy with your shop”, his eyes going down her b©dy from head to toe. The action s£nt a chill up her spine and she struggled to breathe properly. Standing up, she pu-ll-ed down her hands at her sides and her hair spilled lose around her face.
Her lose hair had not troubled her in her work but now she felt extremely unhappy with them for betraying her today of all the days. She was worried he must be looking at her untidy hair, her jacket off and thinking that she was not appropriately pres£ntable but in reality she was looking the opposite.
He noticed she was wearing a smart brown Sk-irt ending just before her knees with a formal white t©p tucked in. The dress, without being too ti-ght, complimented her well-shaped curves. She was looking quite lively with her cheeks still bright from her recent sale and her hair cu-pping her face loosely. He had never seen her wearing her hair down. They were always tied at the back of her head but today she looked happy and had a glow at her face.
Chrissy stood up and turned to look if she can find a spare hair cl!pin one of the drawers and he saw her hairs reaching up to her w@!st at her back. He was thinking, she should always wear them down.
Not finding anything to hold them, she decided to leave them and face him again. She tried to remember what he had said while coming in but for the life of her she couldn’t remember his words. She f0rç£d her br@in to work and to break the uncomfortable silence in the shop.
Realizing she had never got the chance to meet him after seeing the shop, she decided to use the opportunity. “I wanted to thank you for the shop. It’s beautiful and I love working here”, she said with genuine affection glowing her cheeks and saw something change in his eyes. They had turned darker and but she could not un-derstand the expression. His stern look only made her more conscious of being alone with him in the closed shop.
Chrissy struggled for her composure, as this visit was so unexpected. On t©p of that those eyes were doing crazy things to her heart. She closed her eyes and could feel the tension in the room but didn’t know what to say or do to break the spell. Could he see how he was affecting her , she hoped not.
Praying silently she opened her eyes and saw him right next to her. When had he moved so closed?
She experienced an unusual fear and quic-kly tried to move back to create distance between them, when she heard Linda walked in the shop with a loud thud at the shop entrance door. Chrissy was highly tensed, as straight as rod and the sudden disturbance j£rked her completely off balance. Twisting her foot, she would have fallen behind, had he not immediately sh0t his hands to pu-ll her into him.
The jo-lt of tou-ching his b©dy s£nt an electric current throu-gh her b©dy and she cursed herself internally for being the ridiculously clumsy. She would have laughed at herself had she not been so tense with his hands all around her. Now she was sure he would think of her as a br@inless dud having no etiquettes whatsoever.
Linda stood there dumbstruck watching Nikloi Swaroski holding Chrissy. Seeing Linda’s eyes fixed on his hands at her w@!st, Chrissy turned a de-ep shade of red. Nikloi Swaroski looked at her coloured face and stepped back. He still kept looking at her face without blinking. Chrissy moved away from him, putting as much distance between them as possible and turned to Linda to say something incoherently. Internally, she was having a havoc and could feel Nikloi was closing in on all her s-en-ses in spite of the distance between them.
Linda said, “I just c@m£ to say sorry dear, I couldn’t come for lunch today and you had to miss it waiting for me but I was stuck with an important meeting. I again nee-d to go back”. She was curious seeing Nikloi Swaroski there and was about to ask if there was a problem, when one of the staff called for her and she had to cut herself saying she would catch up later. She greeted Nikloi gracefully, told Chrissy she would be back soon and left.
Chrissy was again left alone with him and was fidgeting, thinking what to do when he surprised her by saying, “You must be hungry. Let us go eat.” With that he turned and went to move out of the shop. Before she could think much, she heard herself say “I am not hungry”, even when in reality she was.
He turned towards her and said in a cli-pped tone, “What?”
She tried to clear her throat and said, “I am not hungry. I do not want to eat.”
“I was not asking, Ms. Smith. When I say something, people do it”, he said hauntingly.
His arrogant tone seemed to get to her and also the fact she wanted to be as much away from him as possible, atleast that’s what she told herself , she said, “You can’t make me do what you say. I am not one of employee.”
“Precisely, Ms. Smith, you are not my employee. You may do well to remember our relationsh!p”, he said between his teeth.
The way he said the word relationsh!pmade Chrissy’s eyes snap up to his. She didn’t like the sound of it and when she saw his eyes going round the shop, his meaning registered. He was the owner of this shop! She felt a sickening feeling inside. Is this why he had actually come? To check if she was proving to be a worthwhile deal?
The questions worried her but the look on his face made her realize he was waiting for her to join. She didn’t have much choice and might as well go and eat. At least she wouldn’t be alone with him in the restaurant and this terrible discomfort of just the two of them in a small room would end, she reas-sured herself and moved behind him.
She couldn’t have been more wrong
💞💞💞💞💞
💞
What
DREAMS
Are
MADE OF
#Episode_10
🎉🎉🎉🎉
Chrissy walked with Nikloi to the elevator, he pressed his keys and then some floor, and from there they made their way to the end of the lobby. Only when he turned towards a door, she realized there was no restaurant in the sight. She had followed him thinking he, obviously, would know more about the h0tel and the location of the restaurant he wanted to go. After all there were 5 eateries in the h0tel each with a different cuisine and speciality. But now she cursed herself for not being more attentive. In her eagerness to stay as far away from him as possible and end being all alone with him, she had just not seen where he was leading to.
Now he had pushed the magnetic key in the slot and the light at the door purred green allowing them entry. She kept hovering at the door thinking what to do or say. She was not going to his room along with him, she thought. He had moved in and turned to let her in but seeing she was still waiting at the threshold, he raised an eyebrow. Chrissy was still fidgeting at the door ma-king no move to enter. As if re-ading her thoughts, he opened the door wi-der and said, “This is my office, Ms. Smith. I nee-d a place to operate from when I am here”.
Chrissy could see throu-gh the fully opened door, that the room inside was indeed set as an office, with a high working table at one end and wi-de couch with a small centre table at the other end. Still she was not sure. She lingered at the door saying, “I thought we were going to the restaurant.”
“I don’t prefer to eat in the restaurant considering that people tend to go overboard knowing that I own the place. Also it attra-cts a lot of unwanted company”, he said coolly and walked in.
Chrissy guessed he was hinting at females wanting to spend with him. He was a rich man, no, scratch that, a very handsome rich man. He was bound to attra-ct female company. She stood for another few seconds at the door, then finally decided to give in. The man owned the place. It was obvious for the businessman like him to set up his office in each of his establishment. She was aware a lot of his important client and p@rtners stayed at this h0tel.
The room had a rich designer carpet covering the entire floor and dark satin curtains was drawn at the windows. There were two doors at either end of the room which she considered must be the adjoining washroom and something else. This was similar to his office at Swaroski House, only much more lavish and exclusive. The décor was similar to the rest of the h0tel but there was something different about this room which she was unable to identify.
She was still standing in the centre of the room, not sure if she should sit, fearing she may spoil some of the furniture. He was speaking softly in the phone at one end, ordering lunch for them. Done with the call, he turned towards her and watching her still standing, told her to sit down. Not knowing what else to do, she decided to sit on the chair at the work table. Sitting down made her knee length Sk-irt hitch little above, slightly ex-posing her shapely legs. It was absolutely normal but in his company she left as if somehow she had committed a mistake. Normally she would have crossed her legs sitting but right now she sat like a rod, extremely conscious of legs being un-der his gaze. She could feel his eyes watching her from where he was standing few steps away and she had an unusual urge to cover up her legs.
It’s not a short Sk-irt, for God’s sake, st©p staring! There were girls all around wearing much shorter versions without any issue, she seethed inside.
She was struggling to not jump from her chair when the bell at the door rang. He asked the person to come in and a steward walking in with a tray served with food. Nikloi asked him to l@yit on the table next to the window and guided her to take a seat there. This table was next to the window and gave a fine view of the gardens. Chrissy saw he had ordered too many things, far more than what was required for two people. There was a soup and two salads along with few types of sandwiches.
The waiter asked her if he should serve her but Chrissy felt like a clueless child not knowing what to tell him. She had no experience of fine dining or anything of that sort. She preferred to have her lunch, a sandwich or a roll, in her shop or with Linda in the h0tel kitchen. She avoided the main dining areas as she never felt comfortable with such extravagance.
Nikloi told the waiter they shall serve themselves and asked him to leave. He told her to eat whatever she wanted and took one sandwich himself. She was still thinking how she can avoid eating and get out of here as quic-kly as possible, when there was another bell. On Nikloi’s order, the steward walked again, this time with tea and small cu-pcakes and apple pies. He served them on another side table and left. Looking at the appealing apple pies Chrissy knew she won’t be able to resist any further.
She picked up her favourite apple pie and only after gulping down two of the really delicious pies she saw Nikloi staring at her. She realized this must have looked very much of the unladylike behaviour. re-sisting an urge to eat a third one, she said hesitatingly, “uhuh.. these.. apple pie is my favourite”.
“Have more, if you like”, he said while looking at her differently and having his sandwich.
Instead she picked up a tuna fish sandwich to avoid eating another apple pie. “The apple pie is very appetising and so is the sandwich”, she said wondering when the last time she enjoyed apple pie or food in general was. Meals were more to keep her going rather than a thing to relish. Even during dinner at home, most of time discussion was more around which bill to pay next or what nee-ds to be dropped from their list of nee-ds considering there always some or other urgent expense to be adjusted within the monthly budget. Her mother and sister tried to do their best but she was the only earning member and hence had to carry the primary responsibility of ma-king their ends meet.
“Tea?” his voice pu-ll-ed her out of her reverie and she saw Nikloi was standing on her side holding a cu-p of tea to her. When did he get up and get the tea, she thought. The look on his face told he knew she had zoned out and was growing impatient with her odd behaviour.
She let out her hand hurriedly to take the cu-p he had been holding but in doing so, her hand got brushed against his hand. Her eyes sh0t up immediately to his and she felt as if he intentionally didn’t let go the cu-p, prolonging the contact for few more seconds.
The t©uçh was enough to s£nd a fizzy in her b©dy. The brief extra seconds turned her hand into jelly and the cu-p sli-pped from her trembling f!ngers. Its content landed on her th!ghs leaving a dark smudge on her Sk-irt and almost scalded her soft skin, fortunately the tea wasn’t too h0t. But still the sudden sli-pping made her heart jump to her throat and a squealing sound c@m£ out before she could control it. She saw in horror the tea being soa-ked up greedily by the expensive carpet and she cursed herself inwardly for behaving so clumsily.
Nikloi was not so silent in his curse. He muttered something unplea-sant and Chrissy shrunk herself guiltily. He must be might angry because of the carpet but he had scooped low at her level to check her. “Are you ok? Did you burn yourself” he asked looking straight into her eyes. Completely lost for words, she just nodded.
“Where?” His hands moved to her th!ghs and she jumped when they t©uçhed her. “I meant I am ok”, she said moving far away from him. She didn’t want him checking out her legs, especially her th!ghs.
“I just want to make sure you are ok, now let me check”, he said stubbornly.
“No!” she almost screamed. Nikloi stood straight, away from her and pressed hisl-ips ti-ghtly together. After few seconds, as if controlling his temper, he guided her towards the door at the end of the room saying, “Atleast freshen up yourself and your dress. I will ask one of the lady employees to come up and help you”.
But Chrissy had st©pped listening to him. While speaking to her, he had opened the end door and beyond it Chrissy could see a lounge area leading into a be-droom. An enormous be-d stood at the farther end of the large room. Her eyes enlarged as the reality seeped in. It was not an office. It was in fact a large suit with proper drawing area, lounge area, be-droom, etc. He had fooled her by saying it was his office.
She fumed at his deception but more at her own gullibility. The place was a seven star h0tel and he was the owner of it. Obviously he would have a large suit to himself. He could not just afford it but demand it being the rich insolent creature he was. But she would not stay with him in his room for another second.
“This.. this is as good as your own house! I must leave now”, she exclaimed. With that she turned and moved towards the door but he was fas-ter than her and got hold of her hand. j£rking her hand towards him, he pu-ll-ed her closer and said, “And what, may I ask, is so disgusting about my house?” throu-gh gritted teeth.
Chrissy could see his eyes having a burning light. He looked angry but she had to be out of here as soon as possible. She tried pu-lling her hand free and said “Let me go”.
“You haven’t yet answered my question”. He said flatly, straining her to answer him.
“I don’t have to”, she snapped.
“You have to, because I am asking”, he said strongly emphasizing on the I and pu-lling her closer in his arms.
Chrissy was now locked in his embr@ce with his right hand holding her left hand and his left hand around her slim w@!st. The clos£ness was ma-king her panic. Her breathing had become rou-gh and she was struggling to keep her heart jumping out of her mouth any minute.
She wanted to break the hold and run as far away as possible but she doubted her legs would serve her even if she somehow got herself re-leased. Seeing that he had no intention of letting her go till she answered him, stammering in his arms. “I.. it.. it is not appropriate” somehow she got the words out.
If she had thought, this would make him re-lease her, she was wrong. He did not slacken his hold and she could feel the soft pressure of his b©dy pressed against hers. She had lowered her eyes while answering him, but s-en-sing no change in him, she f0rç£d herself to look up in to face. He was looking at her strangely and his eyes had a different expression which she couldn’t re-ad properly.
“What is not appropriate?” he asked but his voice was not as ha-rd as it was earlier.
Chrissy gro-an ed inwardly, does this man nee-d everything to be spelt out?
She f0rç£d herself to say it aloud, “Me.. you..alone.. I mean together.. in your.. room..” she skipped the word be-d. Still she could feel colour rising profusely all the way up from her n£¢k.
He still did not re-lease her but his grip loos£ned. The t©uçh on her left hand bec@m£ almost feathery, like a ca-ress. For a split second she saw his eyes turn extremely dark and she felt he would do something that she had been always afraid of since the time he pu-ll-ed her in his arms. But the expression was gone even before it had fully registered on Chrissy.
He re-leased her suddenly and moved a step away. The gush of air that t©uçhed her due to the sudden movement was quite cold after his warm embr@ce. She didn’t know if she was happy to be finally free or sad that he was not holding her anymore.
What was wrong with her? Where were such thoughts coming from? She didn’t want him to hold her, she didn’t even like him! The man was as cold as ice. She didn’t want anything to do with him.
But in spite of these scolding thoughts, a p@rt of her wanted to be back in his arms. She could still remember the way his b©dy pressed was against her. She couldn’t un-derstand why she was experience such contrasting emotions whenever around him.
He moved further away but was still watching her. She hoped he could not re-ad her revea-ling thoughts. The awkward silence in the room stretched for another few minutes before he said,
“You nee-d not to be concerned. This place is indeed my office and I asked you to join only for the lunch. I do not nee-d to use deception to get a woman in my room.”
Ouch!
If she was embarras-sed earlier, she almost wanted to die now. Her face had coloured red till her hair roots. The meaning of his comment was not lost on her but she had no interest in knowing his relationsh!ps details with women. A p@rt of her had also turned jealous of the way he spoke about another woman in his room but she killed that thought even before it could be fully experienced. She had enough complications in her life than this added snag.
“In that case, I must leave now. Thank you for the lunch” she said with as much dignity as she could gather and turned towards the main door.
“There is one more thing though”, he st©pped her. “There is a business p@rty being organized at the h0tel this Saturday for all the special guests at the h0tel and many of our business p@rtners are attending. You should join the p@rty”.
What p@rty? She thought.
“Why me?, she said
“Because as my business as-sociate at this h0tel, your pres£nce is required and also the fact that you have charmed quite a few of my special guests. They would want to as-sociate with you”.
“But I have never attended such a p@rty. I wouldn’t know what to do there”, she objected.
“Ms. Smith, this is not a plea-sure p@rty. It is a business p@rty which is nee-ded to as-sociate and network with existing and future clients. A lot of important guests would be there and I want you to be there to talk about your business and make prospective buyers”.
“But I alre-ady have considerable number of clients, including those at this h0tel. Surely there are enough”.
“Nothing is enough in business. You nee-d to keep expanding and growing to ensure you never hit the low. I would have thought your business experience would have taught to you that by now”. He said with a blank face but she could feel the dig at her in his words.
Oh the man and his love for more money! Chrissy was shocked but she had no intentions of letting him no that.
“Ok, I shall be there”, she said finally.
The man just nodded in response as if she was alre-ady decided.
With that she finally moved out of his room and breathed normally first time since the time she had stepped in his room. She had agreed to come for the p@rty but she was extremely worried what will she do there, how she will be able to engage with others at a more informal set up.
She went to her shop and was quic-kly met by Linda. “Where were you? I had come back earlier but you weren’t around”, Linda said.
“Oh thank God, you are here, Linda. I really nee-d your help”, Chrissy said without answering her question. But Linda didn’t notice. She quic-kly asked her, “What happened? Tell me”.
Chrissy told her about the p@rty on the Saturday. It was two days away and she nee-ded a dress to wear to this p@rty which she obviously didn’t have. She requested Linda to help her choose an appropriate dress as she would have attended similar p@rties in the past as well.
Linda was exhausted with her day long meetings and she said she nee-ded just this thing to charge herself again. After Chrissy was throu-gh with wra-pping up things for the day, they went together to the same boutique shop Linda had taken her last time.
Linda got really excited to choose the evening go-wn for Chrissy. She pu-ll-ed out a number of dresses and made Chrissy try them one by one. Chrissy found most of them having de-ep n£¢klines or bold cuts which she was not at all comfortable with but Linda kept telling her these were in fashion. Chrissy knew she would not be able to walk out in such an ex-posing outfit.
Linda was trying to convince her that she should try something daring when Chrissy found a black go-wn hanging quite at the back on the displa-y. The dress was full length, without sleeves but a decent n£¢kline, not at all like the other pieces. She picked it up and went to try it on. Luckily, the go-wn fitted her perfectly well. The t©p section was b©dy hvgging and flared out from w@!st down till her ankles. It gave a subdued simple look but complimented her curves very nicely and contrasted against her clear white skin.
She was slightly concerned about the back which had folds around the n£¢kline in a V-cut, showing off her beautiful skin but it was not too de-ep. When she walked out of the changing room Linda agreed that the dress suited her personality, simple yet elegant. With Linda’s encouragement she finally bought the dress and also bought matching black shoes which completed the look.
She was not too happy about the idea of attending the p@rty but she had enjoyed the dress rehearsal. And also saw how she had transformed in front of the mirror while trying those dresses. Finally happy with her purchase, she had thanked Linda and returned home. Next two days went in a fizzy amidst her regular work. Most of the time she was occu-pied with thoughts about the impending p@rty but there was no word from Nikloi Swaroski. Neither had he sought her again nor did she see him.
She was not at all a p@rty person and but she knew she had to keep her word. She just hoped she would be able to complete her obligation to attend the p@rty and leave as quic-kly as possible.
🎉🎉🎉🎉
Story_Continues