Chapter 34: Chapter 34

"The best way to get along is never to forgive an enemy or forget a friend."

-Walter Winchell-

***

Clara woke up beside Raphael once more, since what happened that night she was nearly confident that sleeping beside him would be part of her daily routine, although she would never admit it. The room was getting brighter as the sunlight made its way through the crack of the window.

As she lightly stretched her body, she stole a glance at the alarm clock beside her. It was still 5 A.M in the morning. After a rough night of exploring each other's body, the both of them were equally as exhausted. Clara had never expected him to have that sort of stamina. The man was an actual beast on the bed. Though she had to admit. It was a pretty amazing experience.

She turned her face to him, the man slowly fluttered his eyes open to look at her. Both were smiling at the sight of each other. He had looked handsome. She had no idea why a man like him would be so attracted to her, but she was happy nonetheless. It was a brief moment of happiness when Clara's face turned gloomy once more. It was great that they were able to cut off the topic for a moment, but the day would eventually come. She still had a promise to go with Corentin, which she could not cancel even if she wanted to. Raphael noticed the worry in her face, directly knowing why.

"You don't have to tell me anything, I know your feelings now. I will allow you to go out with Corentin, but please, for the sake of my sanity, don't let him do anything to you." Raphael stated. Clara could not believe what she just heard. Raphael actually allowed her to go out with Corentin, she was beyond relieved. She leaned in her face to kiss him once more on the lips. Both of them were smiling.

"Also, don't come home too late. I will be worried about you" he caressed her cheek while her hand was on his chest. She had not expected him to understand her, but she glad he did.

"Thank you, Raphael. I love you" she whispered the words before slowly falling asleep again.

***

Corentin had removed his suit to replace it with a comfortable shirt instead. He checked himself in the mirror for the last time, fixing his hair which had looked ruffled since he had a habit of touching it whenever he was thinking. He patted himself in the cheek to get rid of any signs of weariness from his face. He re applied his perfume and chewed a mint gum to refresh his breath.

Clara had previously texted him she would arrive at 2 P.M. If she was on time, she would arrive in fifteen minutes. His employees had all wondered why their employer would cut off the work hour for the day, it was so unlike him.  Yes, he was a bit more lenient compared to other people on his position, but he would never let them go home early unless there was an emergency or something important coming up. Only a few staffs were left there other than those who are doing their guard shift.

As soon as she arrived at Leclair's tower. She was greeted by the front desk lady, who politely asked her what her business was, and she mentioned she wanted to meet Corentin Leclair, she had made an appointment previously. The lady asked her what her name was before making a call to Corentin. She closed the phone and told Clara she could just go right up there, his office was on the seventh floor. She only had to take the lift and turned right, walked passed the hall and turned once more and his office would be the only room available on the end of the way.

She followed the instruction. After searching for the lift she pressed the button, revealing another woman who appeared to be one of the staff. It was an awkward moment of silence when two strangers were standing side by side in an empty lift. It did not last long as the door opened and the woman stepped out before her. She was also heading to the same direction as hers, but she was walking way faster.

Clara was walking slowly, observing the place. Leclair buildings as definitely well decorated. Just like Raphael's office building, theirs also had white as the primary shade, but they were not afraid to add some red and ebony touches here and there, which surprisingly ended up looking more cohesive than what most people imagined.

Clara was so lost in searching for his office she had not seen that from the corner of th hall, someone walked past her, their shoulder bumped into each other. The woman fell to the ground and Clara turned her head to her.  The woman was looking down, touching her legs. Clara felt guilty, she bent down and reached out her hand to help the woman, but when the woman heard Clara's voice. She looked up with a shocked expression on her face, she was not the only one, frozen, Clara herself also had the same look on when her eyes met the woman's.

It was Giselle.

"What are you doing here?" Giselle was the first one to throw the question. Clara remained silent, all the bitterness and hatred she had felt, which she had briefly forgotten, rushed back in an instant. The agonizing pain of looking at the person you once acknowledge as your sister before she betrayed you with her action was unbearable. She clenched her fist in anger. There was venom ready to be spit out from the tip of her tongue.

"Giselle." Clara addressed her in a rather venomous tone. What an awful coincidence. Clara had previously thought she would never have to see Giselle again in her whole life. It had not even been three months since the humiliating incident occurred, and she had moved to Paris in order to forget Marcel. But if Giselle is in Paris, then Marcel had to be there too.

Giselle wondered what Clara was doing there, she could not be an employee, she looked like an outsider, maybe she had a friend who worked at the company, but if that was the case, she should have been told to wait downstairs. She also could not be one of the client, she was not powerful enough for the position.

On the other side Clara was debating on her mind whether or not she should even responded to Giselle, she wanted to punch her, right there in the face.  Of course, she had to hold herself back, since she was avoiding any drama in Corentin's workplace. Clara decided not to respond to her as she walked past Giselle.

The woman however, did not let her go as she grabbed Clara's wrist.