Hate Date

"Eh....you have a lunch date scheduled in your calendar.", Lola said entering into my cubicle.

" Do I? Either I am old which I will deny vehemently till my last breath or I have an errant admirer.", I told her.

"Actually it's neither. The boss wants to meet.", she informed.

" Hold up....did you just say that Vlad the Impaler wants to have lunch with me?", I asked horrified.

"Si, jefa", she chirped.

" Are you sure he doesn't want to have me for lunch?", I asked, my forehead creasing.

Lola laughed but stopped midway because a snooty voice replied from the door.

"I may have many faults but cannibalism isn't one of them. Now, may I come in?"

Fake politeness, of course. He was the boss. He could damn well come in.

"No you may wait outside.", I said to spite him.

He entered anyway.

"Eavesdroppers never hear good things about themselves.", I tut-tutted my boss.

He rolled his eyes.

"Lucky for you, Miss Bianchi, your opinions matter little to me.", he replied coolly.

"I am so hurt by that.", I fired back.

" Okay, I am leaving the room.", Lola said and backed off.

"So, you wanted lunch.", I clarified.

" I do. I feel we bury the hatchet over food and talk business. Hostility in the workplace in unproductive.", he said as he sat. His eyes scanned my mostly empty office and settled back on my face.

I noticed he had forgotten to shave again.

"I can't waste my one-hour lunch in a passive-aggresive battle with my boss. I have better things to do. You people are so stingy with breaks. ", I told him.

"Fine. We won't fight. But, we need to discuss the upcoming show. We have three months to prepare.", he said.

"Since you are asking so nicely.", I sighed and let him lead me out.

___________

The Indian restaurant was upscale, classy. Which meant the portions were bite-sized. By bite-sized I meant extremely tiny.

He ordered some healthy salad and I ordered black beans curry and chapattis.

He looked rather peculiarly at my plate but then resumed eating.

"So, what are your thoughts regarding the designs for the annual fashion week?", he asked.

" It's good.", I said taking a bite of food into my mouth.

He looked at me in disbelief.

"You wish for me to believe that! That you don't have an actual opinion?", he said.

"I am more interested in eating.", I said nonchalantly.

He laughed bitterly.

"You are non-stop aren't you?", he asked.

"You said you didn't want a fight. I have no interest in starting one.", I said.

He kept his fork away.

"Let's keep the games aside for a moment. CEO to CEO, tell me what you really think?", he asked.

" So, he acknowledges that I am a CEO. ", I said chewing slowly.  "I'll give it you. It's good, it's excellent. But, it lacks that dazzling factor, that X-Factor. Something that will leave the audience speechless, craving for more."

His eyes gleamed.

"If I had to guess, I would say, they are none of your designs. I have seen your designs, they are etheral. These are not your works.", I said softly.

Emir didn't answer. He took a bite of his food.

He shouldn't have asked for my opinion. He was probably regretting it.

"You are right......they are not my designs. But, it is all we have at the moment.", he said.

"Mind telling me why that is?", I asked casually.

He stopped eating. His face hardened and he shut down in front of me. Apparently lunch break was over.

"Bill please!", he said in an agitated voice.

The waiter rushed over in a hurry and he paid for the meal.

Then with a hurried 'excuse me', he left.

So much for a peaceful lunch hour. When I replayed the conversation in my head, I realized that I should not have asked him why he had not created. It had been too prying a question. In my carelessness to annoy him, I had touched upon a wound. With him, I didn't need to filter the truth. He didn't like me nor I him. So, we had no inclination to pretend with each other. But, I had gone too far.

I had to apologize.

Sighing, I finished my lunch and walked back to the office.

___________

"Did you arrange the meeting with Jaime Kincaid?", I asked Georgiana on the phone.

"He was saying no at first but he seemed too curious to protest. Do you have a plan for him?", she asked.

" I do.", I said without divulging anything.

"It's on Sunday. Hopefully, you know what you're doing.", she said.

"I have a plan.", I told her.

She assured me that she had set everything up and hung up.

___________

The sky was grieving. Dark grey clouds had gathered on the horizon and rain had torn the sky apart. Very conveniently, the car refused to start. My driver apologized profusely and told me he would need at least two hours to get it serviced.

Damn it, I needed to go home, take a shower and go to the hospital.

But apparently God decided that he hadn't tortured me enough for today because a black Mercedes stopped in front of the rain-soaked me.

The glass panels went down and a smug face stared out. My dear boss.

"Seems you didn't look at the weather forecast.", he said trying hard not to laugh at my wet Medusa hair.

"I have more important stuff to do than surfing the net. Besides, my car broke down.", I said.

He sighed

"I suppose I could drop you off, Ms. Bianchi.", he offered valiantly.

But I didn't get in the car, simply stared him down.

"Get in the car, Ms. Bianchi. I have things to do.", he gestured again.

" I would much rather catch pneumonia and die. Thank you.", I said politely.

"Must we always have a difference of opinion?", he asked softly.

I didn't answer.

" I am sure you are busy. Let's not waste time fighting on the sidewalk over our issues. I will drop you off. You will say thank you and we will never speak of this again.", he bargained.

I stepped into his car. I hated when he made sense.

Besides, it was pouring cats and dogs.

So, I reluctantly went with him.

The car drive was in every way painful and uncomfortable. The silence was oppressive.

Emir was deep in his own world, scrolling through the phone.

I mumbled an address to the driver two blocks before the house.

Thankfully the ride was short.

_________

The moment I entered the hospital, the tiredness of the day drained away.

I was going to see Josh.

I was just about to enter the room, when the world stopped. My eyes flared at the figure in front of me.

Jules stood near Josh's bed, running her hand through his hair.

I stood deathly still by the door not daring to move.

Why?

Why had she come?

To celebrate my defeat?

An array of curse words went through my head. There were lots of things I wanted to say to her and she would have liked none of them. Better to stay quiet.

But then, she turned and froze too.

She was wearing one of her sea green suits with straps. Her hair was  was braided with tiny colourful clips all around and she looked astonishingly like Vanellope Von Schweetz.

In short it was ridiculously cute even though I hated her currently.

But, we were sisters after all and all consuming hatred had as much passion as all consuming love.

"Hi", she said, a little nervously.

" I suggest you move away from my son Or I won't be responsible for what I'm about to do next.", I warned.

"Don't be so dramatic, Sana. I am here to see my nephew not fight with you.", she said.

I noticed her hand was stark white from clutching the Chanel bag.

" You lost the right to call yourself family.", I said.

"I know.", she said surprising me. She looked away. "I.... I just needed to see him. To know he was hanging in there."

"Leave.", I said. " Or I'm calling security."

"Sana.....please.... I would never....", she stuttered.

" LEAVE! GODDAMN IT!", I shouted.

A frightened nurse poked her head in.

"Is everything alright?", she asked concerned.

"It's fine.", I said, my voice hard.

"Keep it down please.", she replied, she said disapprovingly.

I was angry. Beyond angry.

"Do you think that I will let you near my son after what you did? Do you think I trust you one bit?", I asked.

" I would never harm your son.", she said angrily.

"Just like you never harmed me.", I mocked.

" That was different. I wouldn't go after family. You know that.", she said.

"You are not family! You are a snake. A snake who I fed and nurtured. The moment I turned away, you sunk your fangs. My son was dying on the operating table when you made me sign away the company rights. So, don't tell me, you would never do something."

She didn't say anything.

"I forgave you for everything. I forgave you so many times in the past. Did you forget about the time when I found you laundering money from the company accounts? You begged me to hide it from Jamal. I did. Or did you forget about the time you invested money in True Beauty, the company that manufactured weight loss pills and supplements. The company was closed down and you lost the money. I forgave those 250,000 dollars of my own money as investment because you were my sister! ", I said panting.

The anger was rising in me. I could feel the dam readying itself to burst through the walls. The cracks were widening.

" Do you think that Jamal made me CEO because he favoured me. NO, QUERIDA! He made me CEO because he knew you were incapable. He knew you were not up to the task.", I said cruelly reminding her of the past.

The thing was that people tended to forget the past very easily.

"You were born with a silver spoon in your mouth, Jules. You knew that as the eldest daughter, you would inherit your dad's company. But, the drugs ruined that. The cocaine, the heroin alk destroyed that, didn't it? So, you teamed up with me. You found a desperate girl and you decided to help. You thought you would eventually be the leader. You thought I would fall under your spell of generosity. But, you weren't satisfied. You were made COO, even when you were not the ideal candidate for it. My fault really!", I said.

"I WAS CAPABLE!", she yelled. " None of you ever saw it. I tried and tried and tried but none of it was ever up to the mark. It was always the golden girl Sana Bianchi. You were nothing without my Stanford degree. Investors wouldn't even give you a minute without my name. But, you were made the CEO! I hated you. I fucking hated you. You, with your picture perfect family and your husband and....and.....IT WAS MINE! and now I have it.", she said. Tears rolled down her cheeks.

I was stunned. She was being delusional!

She couldn't accept that she wasn't good enough.

"I made you, Sana Bianchi. You would have been just another poor migrant worker with an abusive husband without me. I made you and you pushed me to the sidelines."

Did she really hate me that much? Was I really ever that blind, to never see such hatred?

Her face was red from exertion, her mouth twisted in an ugly sneer. She looked monstrous, with her teeth bared.

"I was waiting for you to make a mistake. But, you wouldn't. So, I had to do something. I ruined your collection.", she said, now giving in completely to the force of the truth. The words spilled out of her on her own accord.

I stood rooted to the place.

"Oh! Yes! You never guessed it, did you? Your stupid little sister could ever destroy you? I made sure the collection was sabotaged. I knew you would retract it. You were all too noble. But, you had already fired the Chairman's son. The board was nervous, shaky. It was so easy. So damn easy to tip them off on my side. You lost 70 million because you were too honest. I just took advantage.", she said shrugging.

I couldn't imagine someone being so malicious, so destructive. It made me sick. This was the sister I had hugged to my chest, the one who had cradled me when I was sad. This was the sister who had loved me and then betrayed me in the worst, worst possible way.

"You think you have won.", I said softly closing in on her. " You think you have the throne. Wrong. You don't choose to sit on the throne. The throne chooses the worthy queen. You are delusional if you think I won't take it back."

THWACK!

The sound ricocheted off the walls. Jules' head reared back with impact as my palm struck her face. She clutched her rapidly reddening cheek and stared at me in disbelief.

"I should have done that way earlier", I said calmly. There was a perfect handprint on her cheek.

"Out. Now.", I forced through gritted teeth.

She stood there fuming but then turned away sharply and exited the room.

My back hit the wall and I sunk to the floor.

___________