Chapter 45: A Millionaire, His Suit And Poor Me Chapter 45

The buzzing of my phone was incessant. I ignored him for as long as I could before rolling out of my bed and crawling onmy bedroom floor like a soldier. After catching it, I got into a ball and unlocked my iPhone.

As I suspected, all the missed calls were from Henris, with a few from Louis and one from Liam. With all this, there was amessage from Perrie, which I immediately appreciated. But the most surprising thing was the missed call from my motheI was about to call her back when the phone turned on and Henris' number appeared on the screen. Frowning, I put on thspeaker and curled up even more into a small ball of warmth on the floor and answered, still half asleep. “Hello?”“Noras, damn it, why didn’t you answer the phone?"

His voice was frantic on the other end of the line and I woke up almost immediately. “Is everything all right? What's goingon?"

“No, it's not okay, Noras. We didn't have a plan B yesterday."

“Damn, I really should have stayed in bed if that's all."

“Noras, are you kidding?"He growled. “We must go to the doctor immediately. I'll send James to pick you up and meet youthere. I have someone who.

“No, Henris.."

“He can receive us immediately and...

“Henris, can you be quiet for a minute?"l cracked up. The line fell silent and I rolled my eyes, imagining her pulling her haback in this horribly endearing way. “I got it yesterday when I left your apartment. This shit is expensive.’

There was a hesitant sigh of relief from the other side. “You are going to start taking the contraceptive pill. Without adoubt”

“I didn't intend to discuss this, but okay."l bit my nails and wondered whether or not I should get up from the floor. “Hey,are you coming to our Thanksgiving here? Everyone will be there, and you should come. And bring this wine”

“I have to work for Thanksgiving."

I frowned as I looked at the screen and raised my middle finger at him in revenge, before choosing a much easier way toconvince Henris to join our little Thanksgiving team instead of arguing with him. “You know, there are going to be a lot ofmen here. And probably several strippers. Males.”

“I don't believe a single word of what you are saying. I have a meeting. And I'm coming to your Thanksgiving. Be readytonight around 8 o'clock.”

“OK/" I rejoiced, “see you later!”

The line dropped and that's when I realized that I had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, because I didn'tremember making any plans before he left me at home. But it was Henris, and he was probably going to organize a partytake me to a super nice restaurant.

I was still on the floor of my room, with my legs pressed against the wall and my hands under my head, when Jace came iHe was too cheerful for eight in the morning, and the only thing that prevented me from yelling at him for the light wasfact that he was bringing coffee.

“Get up’, he shouted, taking my legs off the wall, “we really have to go to work today”. We have, like, meetings and stuff”“Or could we give up and go to Paris?”

Jace raised an eyebrow. “If I remember correctly, you spent half the day yesterday complaining that you were missing 100dollars in your bank account, because of - and this is a direct quote from you - “that anti-baby pill”

“Oh. Well, about that...”

The shower. Breakfast is in the oven. And did Louis call you by any chance?”

I got up from the floor. “Yeah, a few times. Why?"

“I think he's annoyed with me”jace pouted for a moment before punching me in the arm. “Get in the shower, you littlebitch.”

The punch turned into a little slapping fight before I finally went to the bathroom to get ready for what was going to be aintense day of work. As I skipped a few days the week before, I found myself behind on the montages and everything thatvictoria had to do.

After washing myself with my favorite strawberry soap and washing my hair, I got out of the gorgeous hot shower to go tothe much less pleasant room, where I was greeted by the sight of a love outfit chosen by my roommate.

I slipped into my modest leather dress, put on my heels and headed for the kitchen. It was nice to have Jace wake me upwith cups of coffee and fresh French toast. It was much more normal than the last weeks spent with Henris.

“So Jace," I whispered, tapping him on the buttocks as soon as I took the toast, “is a little quiet without Louis, hm?".“Noras, if you know what's best for you, stop talking now.”

“Just tell me what happened!”

He glared at me angrily from behind his coffee cup. “If you want to know, I told him that the role he was auditioning forlooked really terrible.”

An amused laugh escaped my lips and 1 quickly covered my mouth with my hands to hide it, spilling hot coffee on the froof my dress in the process. “Seriously,” I sulked, grabbing a handkerchief, “my boyfriend is obsessed with work and doesrwant to tell me that he loves me, and you have an artistic debate?”.

“It seems correct, yes.”

“Who would have thought that you would be the one who would have a normal relationship?'l grumbled. Jace simply senme a mischievous smile from the other side of the kitchen, a smile that clearly implied “I'm better than you,” and then hebit into his breakfast.

After eating our food, we had our second cup of coffee and headed for the stairs of our small apartment, built on the mohectic and disturbing street in midtown Manhattan, before everyone's 9 o'clock service started.

We slipped into the crowd of fashion hipsters, in the purest New York style. After living here for more than seven years, Ihave practically become an expert in how to push people and know when it is good to ignore the “Do not cross” sign.Jaces arm intertwined with mine as we walked. “You know, we need to start planning this Thanksgiving thing. How manypeople are coming this year?"

“A lot,” I whispered. “Obviously Louis and Henris. Then Liam and Sophia, and then I think our Sophia might stop by for awhile. And Alice and Aaron should come back. Your parents?”

“Mine are not coming. So in the end there are seven of us, plus nine of us, and that's a lot of fucking food, Noras. 1 won'table to cook everything.”

“I will help you.”

“We are realists.’

I played pushing him to 7th Street. Henris knows how to cook. I'm going to ask him to help you. Or I'll ask him anyway, it'sthe same. This morning he told me that he had to work for Thanksgiving, so I told him that there would be strippers for hto come. I think. He should.”

“If 'm honest”, said Jace, hitting me with his hip, “I'm not 100% against the idea of strippers”. Maybe he, or she, equal, coudress up like a turkey? With little feathers on the nipples?”

“Or from Pellegrino. With a cornucopia and wearing one of those little hats."

He let out a dreamy sigh and we entered the dominant Vogue office. “Thanksgiving strippers. What more could you askfor?”

“An increase, perhaps? So I can afford those anti-baby pills?”

“Or a cat. Do you want to have a kitten?”

“Oh, or that new Louis Vuitton bag that came out for the fall collection”. Perrie has it, and I really wanted to steal it fromher if it wasn't that I would ruin Henris's business, so, you know.”

The conversation should have stopped as soon as the elevator doors opened, and we should have pretended to be realadults with other people around us. But, as soon as the elevator stopped on our floor, we got off and continued laughingthe ridiculous things we wanted to buy.

We walked arm in arm towards the entrance, smiling at Alice and lowering our heads as we passed Victoria, until wereached our door and pushed it open. Sophia was sitting in the swivel chair, her little feet resting on the wide black tableHe rolled his eyes as soon as we walked in. “Sometimes I wonder why it is you who are paid.”

“It's good to see you too, Sophia. Will you come to our Thanksgiving party?”

“If my boyfriend can come.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Oh, really? And how long have you had this boyfriend? Does Jace need to have a threateningconversation with him?"

“Yes, Jace can be really scary. Since yesterday. He's a very quiet guy and I'm going to take that as a yes”

“How charming you are."l chuckled.

“What should we do today?”

“Meet at 11 o'clock with Victoria and Aaron to talk about a photo shoot. Then you need to finish sorting your article for thjanuary issue. Something in the choice of your photo is wrong on the page.”

“Good. Would you like to bring me a coffee, please?”

He grunted and pulled his feet off the desk. “So demanding, Noras. A cream and a sugar?”

With a quick nod of confirmation from me, she left the room, leaving Jace and I to continue our work. Which consisted ofdiscussing which Fashion Week collection was destined to be the most impressive, but I wasn't going to complain.

it wasn't until the middle of the meeting, when Victoria mentioned something about hippie skirts coming back into fashitthat I remembered that my mother had called me last night and 1 still had to call her back. Silently cursing myself,managed to listen to the rest of the meeting, and then I rushed out of the room.

As soon as I returned to the haven of peace that was our office, I jumped into the swivel chair that I had requested fromSophia and dialed my mother's number, almost hoping that she wouldn't answer and that I wouldn't have to hear storiesabout her latest natural remedy.

But, the other half of me breathed a big sigh of relief as soon as I heard her voice on the phone. “Noras, my dear, it's so200d to hear from you! I wasn't sure if my new phone worked. Your annoying father must have taught me his way of doin;things!”

“Have you finally changed that old Nokia?"

“Ah, yes. My students kept laughing at mel It was such a nuisance, and this little thing still doesn't make sense.”

I bit my thumb to hide my amusement. “At least it works. So, did you call me last night? What's going on?"

“Well, I wanted to tell you about this new natural herb that helps fight stress! I thought it might be good for you..."“Mom,” Grugnii, “although I want to try new herbal remedies, I think I'm going to opt for alcohol and caffeine to help me gthrough the day.’

That's when Jace decided to come into our office. He burst out laughing and mimed “your mother?"with his mouth, then Ilaughed even harder when I nodded to confirm. He knew all about his obsession with natural things.

My mother sighed on the other end of the line. “These things are destroying your body, Noras. You know how chemicals ccause all kinds of diseases, my God, 'm going to have to bring some vitamins to fill the turkey! Maybe one of thosemagnetic bracelets that repair the balance of electrons."

“What is electronic balance? Does it really exist?"Jace let out an amused grunt and threw a pen at him. “Seriously, mom.And to fill the... Wait, what?"

“The turkey, idiot! But I'm going to bring some gluten-free food so that your dad and I can have something to eat.”

“On Thanksgiving"? Will you be bringing food for our Thanksgiving feast?”

jace's amusement now causes him to slip out of his chair and roll on the floor, hysterical. My mother, at the end of the Linonly let out a sigh of annoyance. “Yes, Noras. Jace said I had to take care of two dishes and a cake! I was thinking about anatural pumpkin pie without gluten?”

“It looks good,” I said slowly, “I have to run now, anyway. Ill keep in touch. I love you.”

“I love you too, my darling!”

The line closed with a click and I tried with all my might not to destroy my phone. Instead, I took a deep breath and slowturned to my roommate, who was sitting on the floor and tickling his nails, avoiding looking into my eyes.

“Jace “Um,” he said, “you know, I was thinking about our article, could we use Nick Knight's photos? They would make a goodfigure in the issue”

I opened my eyes wide. “Did you invite my mother to Thanksgiving?”

“Or Mario Testino? This man is a living legend.”

“If you list another photographer, I'll throw you out the window. And we are on the 12th floor”

Jace slowly looked up at me. “She wanted to come. She misses you, and she and your dad said they'll take the tickets andeverything. They will only be here for a few days! She really wanted to come, Noras."

I closed my eyes and tried to imagine my mother, in all her nostalgic 1960s glory, parading the streets of Manhattan orsitting in my elegant apartment. “Jace, she has no place in the city world. She will be preaching about weed and howmarijuana should be legalized all the time!”

“Well, it should be”

“That's not the point,” I huffed. The fact is that my parents have nothing to do with New York City. And I was going to visitthem for the Christmas holidays, which would have been enough. You had no right to invite them... Damn it, Jace. We neeto clean up. We have to clean our apartment.”

He squinted. “Wait, so you're not angry?”

“ am furious. By “we need to clean up” I meant “you need to clean up”. Ae."

We sat in silence until Sophia rushed into the room, her arms loaded with old newspaper issues and portfolios of variousdesigner artists. She didn't even seem surprised that I was staring at Jace and that Jace was sitting in a small space on thfloor.

He simply put the papers on the table and turned to me, his hand on his hip. “So you found out that he invited yourmother to Thanksgiving?”

I threw my head on the table, saying: “Are you serious now? Who else knows? Fucking Victoria?”

“He may have mentioned it in passing”

“Fuck you."

That evening, I finished getting ready at 19:30, well prepared for Henris who would surely arrive 20 minutes before thescheduled time. I sat patiently on the couch, ignoring the way Jace was walking around me with beaten dog eyes, until Iheard a knock on the door at 7:45 a.m.

I opened it and found Henris on the phone, his eyebrows furrowed and his lower lip stuck between his teeth as a sign ofconcentration. Instead of the suit I expected, he was wearing dark jeans and a heavy brown leather jacket, with a kind ofon his curls.

I stared at him in shock until he looked at me. “Oh. Noras."Her eyes studied me from head to toe, observing the dark skirand shirt that I was wearing. “Go and change. It's cold outside.”

“Aren't we going to dinner?”

He rolled his eyes. “No. Go put on something warm. And hurry up, I left the car running downstairs.”

“Why am I listening to youz"! blew. But I still turned my head and headed to my room to change. I put on a gray sweaterover my white shirt, tight black jeans and ankle boots, then I took my mint-colored jacket before heading for the door.

I turned around as he was staring at me. “Are you all right, Sir?"

“It's funny,” he replied dryly. “You look delicious, as always. Come on.”

His eyes showed the amusement he was hiding, and he took my hand and guided me to his lit car, an old white Mustangthat I had never seen before. After opening the door and helping me to get in, whispering softly about the inconveniencecaused, he got behind the wheel.

The engine purred as soon as he stepped on the accelerator and we drove off, to God knows where in his God knows whacar. With a small smile, I turned my head to stare at him. “What is it, on your head? A scarf?”

“My hair is too long."

“They invented a thing called “haircut”. Its a really interesting concept.”

He laughs softly, heading towards a side street. “Sassy tonight, hm? There is a box for you in the back seat”

“Jace invited my parents to Thanksgiving," I explained, reaching back, searching with my fingers for a box in the dark.“Which, I mean, would have been nice, if he had told me. Now I only have a week to mentally prepare for lessons andhealthy suggestions.”

“Are your parents coming to Thanksgiving?”

I celebrated in silence as soon as I touched a box. “Oh, yes. And you'll be there. I had forgotten about it. The parentmeeting and all that cool stuff, you know."

“I don't know if I'll be able to be there for Thanksgiving, Noras. I have to work. Open the box."

“You said you would come. I want you to be here.”

Complaining, he headed for another road, pressing the accelerator even harder and picking up speed, completely ignorinthe limitation signs on the side of the road. “I know. I'll see what I can do. I can't take time off when I want to."

50 you lied?”

“Damn it, Noras, would you mind opening this box?”

“Okay, I said abruptly. I grabbed the seal on the side of the white box until it suddenly came off, revealing many sheets owhite fabric. Henris was studying me out of the corner of his eye while he was driving, a small smile on his lips.

After sticking my tongue out at her, I took off the cloth sheets and almost collapsed instantly. Placed simply in the middof the sheet of fabric, the Louis Vuitton Capucines GM bag in all its black leather glory.

My mouth dried up and my fingers hesitantly reached for the smooth side of it, the indiscreet Lv mark under the handle.“Henris," I said softly, “what the hell does that mean?”

“I saw you looking at Perrie’s bag and asked her for the brand. Then 1 just went to the store and a woman helped mechoose the bag that she thought you would like. Do you like it? Do you want another one? They even had different colorscan get you one in another color”

“No. Itis. It's perfect.”

Henris chuckled. “So, is it okay?"

“No. I won't take it, Henris. This one costs $5,800. I won't take it."

“You will accept it “t won't do it."

“Please, Noras. I wanted to take it for you. I want you to have it."

I fixed the bag and tried to understand the situation. “Is it because you're not coming to Thanksgiving? Are you trying tobuy me stuff so I can forgive you?”

The car stopped and Henris pressed the brake, then turned to me with a cold look that silenced me immediately. He let oa weak breath and approached the armrest between the seats, his fingers tracing my thigh.

“Noras,” he warned, “I would never do such a thing. The fact that you can even think that,” she closed her eyes infrustration. “The fact that you can think that is really, really shocking. I bought it for you because I wanted it. I wanted to.it was to do something good. I'm trying to do something nice.”

A trembling breath escaped my lips as soon as I looked at the handsome man in front of me. “Damn, Henris, I'm sorry. I'msorry,” I whispered, bringing my eyes to his hands full of rings. After a second of hesitation, I intertwined mine with hers.“Ym sorry.”

“Why do you think such a thing?" He said, irritated. “It's horrible.”

I winced when I heard that shrill sound. “I don't know. I just don’t know.....I really like the bag. I just can't accept it."

“Why not?”

“Because it's really too beautiful and too expensive and I don't accept this kind of thing from you.”

He rolls his eyes and puts his hands on the steering wheel again, leaving the temporary parking lot to get back on the rozNoras, I can buy you anything I want, and I will. Please. You are my daughter and I want to do this for you."

“But I can't buy you nice things in return. It's not fair”

“Could you accept the gift and stop bothering me?"

I looked at the bag in front of me. “I mean, yes, I think so. Should 1?"

“Yes!

“0k,” I mumbled. “Thank you, Henris. Thank you for my bag that I will probably cry later when I get home and for being kiwhen I accused you of trying to bribe me. And I understand if you can't come to Thanksgiving. That's good.”

“Thank you! He answered in a low voice.

The rest of the drive to where we were going was silent, filled with the music that Henris was listening to and, in a way, ncembarrassing at all. I could even hear him following the rhythm of the song. What's even more surprising is that he didn’seem to be out of tune.

I decided not to force my luck and restrain myself. In fact, I pulled my head back against the seat and stared at the big citlights as we passed them, Henris's humming filling my ears and his hand on my knee, tracing little circles.

We finally stopped and I tried to hide my shock. “Ice skating? Are we ice skating?”

He let out a big laugh and got out of the car, making a little run alongside me to help me get off. I took his outstretchedhand and tried to get out of the low car without falling and breaking my face on the floor, which I considered a success.After helping me, Henris stopped and rummaged in the back seats to get out a dark green cap. “I don't want you to getcold,” he whispered, putting it on my curly hair with a smile. “You look pretty.”

My first instinct was to grab him and kiss him, but Henris got ahead of me, grabbing me by the back of the neck and pullime towards him, lips to lips under the bright lights of the Winter Village in Bryant Park. He murmured slightly as he moveand adjusted his cap one last time.

“Ready?”

“I have no coordination,” I complained. “It will be a disaster.”

“We'll get there’

I couldn't do anything to suppress the huge smile that appeared on my face as soon as he dragged me towards theentrance with this damn scarf wrapped around his head and an expression of boyish excitement. I got even closer to himwarmed by happiness and his hat. “Who the hell are you?”

He frowned. “Your boyfriend. Don't be boring, Noras."

And there appeared the head of the company that had been hidden all evening. But even then I shook my head withamusement and hugged him even tighter. Every part of Henris was different and unexpected and there were many thingscould fall in love with. As much as I loved the Henris who took me to the ice rink, I was willing to sacrifice a little vacationwith the Henris who ran a multimillion-dollar business in his place.

I could only hope that he sacrifices himself in the same way.