Chapter 27: Chapter 27

"The first step toward getting somewhere is to decide that you are not going to stay where you are."

-Unknown-

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The sound of water boiling screeched from the stove made Marcel put down the knife he was holding and went over to turned the stove off. He poured the hot water on the coffee machine and made two mugs of cafe au lait for himself and Giselle, who right at that moment sprung out from the bathroom with a white towel wrapped around her hair. She removed it and pat her hair dry as she walked toward Marcel in a semi purring motion like a kitten.

"That smells delightful, have you put extra creamer on my cup? She touched his shoulder from behind, the sweet and gourmand vanilla scent of her shampoo overcame Marcel's senses. He gave her a quick peck on the lips before carrying the coffee cups on top of the dining table. It was starting to become their daily morning habits where he would make both of them some coffee while she cleaned herself.

Thanking him sweetly, Giselle sat down and took a sip of it. Though Marcel was no professional coffee maker, the coffee he made still tasted perfect. She took a deep breath and looked out through the window of their apartment. The sight of bird flying across the sky was seen as the sun had made its way mid-way toward the top.

It was another beautiful day to be alive.

Life had been really peaceful for her. She finally left the place she hated for years and took control of her own life for once. Though she had to endure the humiliation from last night and moving out of the town was not an easy decision, once it was made and the process was done, suddenly everything became much better.

She had wanted to leave for so long and she thought she could use education for that, but she got rejected from all of her dream colleges and had to enter a local college, one she really was not fond of while staying at The Bellavance house to save money, graduated and landed a job she did not like with average pay, basically, most of her young adult life in her early twenty's sucked. It was not even entirely her fault because it was not as if she was stupid, but the opportunity just never seemed to land her way. At least that was what she thought.

Meanwhile Clara got accepted into her dream university in the major she loved, she had the chance to leave the mansion and experienced freedom and did not have to deal with student debt or university cost since her father paid for everything, as soon as she graduated, naturally she inherited a large share of her father's wine company and worked there as a supervisor as well as being an artist at the same time. Her life was bright in comparison to Giselle and she hated it.

It was not just their status difference that made Giselle envied her, it was also the huge difference their social surrounding. Although Giselle was beautiful, people did not seem to like her attitude that much. She had no idea that naturally, people prefer warm over cold individuals and it was fair to say Giselle was not exactly the friendliest person on the planet. Some people said she was too cold to be a woman, it was just Giselle's natural trait, she had a resting bitch face, and was not much of a talker.

Due to this nature of hers people were quick to assume she was not interested in socializing. Sometimes she heard people say she scared them. Truthfully, it hurt her a bit, but she tried to keep a cool attitude and shrugged it off. Though she was okay with it at first, as time passed by, things became more and more inconvenient for her, she slowly became Clara's shadow and naturally her hatred for her became stronger and stronger as time passed by.

There were only two reasons why she still stayed in the house. The first was to save some money, as much as she hated to admit it, living in Bellavance's mansion was a brilliant way to save some money because whenever she came home, she was always welcomed with food and a bedroom for her to stay in, which meant she could cut off grocery and rent bills. Though occasionally she would stay outside at a hotel or inn just to have some time off from the family when she could not stand them. The second reason was a bit more irrational, it was the only way she could frequently see Marcel, who only a few months ago was Clara's fiancee.

Marcel and Clara had met in University during her first year there, coincidentally, Marcel had a great interest in wine making industry and when he found out Clara's father owned a wine company he had to take advantage of it. At first they were just good friends, Clara and Marcel, both used to hang out together in the library to study, on some occasions, he would take her out for lunch or dinner.

Naturally, he was also introduced to Giselle by Clara. The man used to visit her family's house to study about winery. Besides Clara, he would often engage in conversations with Giselle as well, and one thing she had noticed was how open the man was to her. He did not see her as a cold woman, he actually saw something in her that sparked his interest and they happened to get along really well.

Giselle did not care much about him at first, she treated him merely as Clara's friend, but when she discovered a few things about Marcel's life, she knew he was her key out of The Bellavance mansion. Besides that, she genuinely had placed an emotional interest toward the man.

Unfortunately for Giselle, for some magical reason, Clara and Marcel started dating, and that was when Giselle decided she had had enough. She gathered her courage to take her chance with Marcel for the first time when he had his first fight with Clara, a little sweet nothing here and there, with a touch of seduction and voila, long story short, he was hers, and for the first time she felt like she won. Because for the first time something great had chosen her instead of Clara.

What else would you expect from someone who had been through what she went through?

At first she just wanted to break Clara's heart. To wake her up from her little bubble, but overtime, after spending some time with Marcel, she developed genuine feelings for him. He was a good person, who did not consider her a bad person. She eventually found happiness with him, all Giselle wanted was for the happiness to last.

Instead of feeling shame and guilt, when her relationship with Marcel was found out by the whole Bellavance mansion, she felt a huge wave of relief washing over her. Though deep within she knew it was not the most ethical thing, but she was not going to act like everyone who had made it, made it the ethical way. She did not have to hide their relationship any longer. They could finally go out and be a genuine couple, she no longer had to become Marcel's secret mistress.

That night after leaving Clara's house, she stayed at his house for a while as she worked during daytime like usual. They had started planning their future together and one thing they could agree on was the where. They knew they did not want to remain in Bordeaux, there was too much ties with the Bellavance over there and if they were going to start a new leaf might as well start it elsewhere.

Coincidentally, at the time, Marcel had been assigned to work in Paris. His company often did with the employees. Giselle decided to quit her job and went along with Marcel. The two bought a two-bedrooms apartment and spent an entire day unboxing and unpacking their belongings while settling themselves in at the same time. Giselle had applied for a job near their place and got accepted. That day was her first day working. At the first glance, everything was going really smoothly. At least that's what she thought.

"It's your first day working, isn't it? How do you feel?" He asked as he brought his cup closer to his lips. His eyes gazed over his beautiful girlfriend, though he had wished she would just get rid of that annoying towel, then maybe he would get himself a show for the day. Although it was merely his wishful thinking.

"Excited, but I don't expect much." She crossed her legs and gazed out. The view from their dining space was astonishing. They could see a small piece of the Eiffel tower in sight, and when night time came they loved to hang out at the balcony to view the city. The fence on the balcony was also painted a soft gray to match the color of their apartment which was brought to live by accents of white and green from the indoor plants they had bought on the first day they moved in.

Giselle looked down on her wristwatch and realized it was already 8 P.M, she rushed in to the bedroom to get dressed and went out to show Marcel her look. She dressed herself in a classic office style, with white shirt and pencil skirt which reached just above her knee, tied her hair up in a bun and wore a black two inch heels.

"How do I look?"

"Beautiful."

"Do you need me to drive you there?" He offered.

"No need, I'll just take the subway, bye!" She kissed him on the cheek and left.