As Jo entered the kitchen, she felt consternation. In the background, she heard the Zimmers' music score from The Dark Knight. That moment she knew for sure they were playing with her. That was the sophisticated game they've been playing for years: a game of words, music, lyrics and gestures. They expected her to be the foreground character so she would play along as they wished.
She didn't mind their way of playing. She was good at it too. The only thing that surprised her was that they didn't take into account that she really felt bad. Today she should have been fasting because of the tests and visit to the hospital, but judging by the smell throughout the apartment, the two had prepared her favourite breakfast. Were these two friends of the seven sorrows so ruthless?
"Good morning my handsome, heartless heroes!" She smiled.
"What are you talking about, Sweetie? We haven’t saved the world today yet. Did you sleep well in my bed?" Matt hesitated for a second. "Without me?" He added looking at her from head to toe. He noticed her lack of clothing but did not comment. He wondered what she had come up with.
"Yeah, a very hard mattress, but incredibly comfortable. It was worth a lot of money."
"Are you hungry?" Mike interrupted their sweet conversation, sitting at the table with a mug in hand. He had a dark expression on his face.
Jo immediately knew that something had gone wrong. Could the plan have failed? ‘Sorry guys, nobody plays with my emotions.’ She was laughing in her mind.
"Do you have no conscience?" She asked with disbelief. "Why do you torture me? What's wrong with you two?"
Who is torturing who? Mike did not reply to her question and only kept that thought in his mind.
"What are talking about, Sweetie?" With an innocent expression on his face, Matthew spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness. He knew exactly what she meant. "Who is torturing you?" He asked. ‘Hm… Is it you or us who are playing today?’ He thought. ‘You're doing it deliberately, one more minute and Mike will lose control. Look, he's already drooling. Ehhh… the day began so beautifully.’
"You were baking croissants!" Jo was speaking in a serious tone, pointing her finger at him. "You! I have to go for the blood test. I shouldn't eat! So? What is it?"
Matthew, with an innocent expression, was trying really hard to look straight in Jo’s eyes, and not at her breasts and magnificent body.
"It is premeditated abuse!" Jo continued very slowly with a serious expression on her face. "It is punishable by law, my dear attorney!"
"Sit! Listen, before you punish us!" Mike finally shook off the shock. "I took some blood for tests yesterday. I got the results very late last night, but you were already sleeping. You can eat. You will have more tests tomorrow."
He was confused. Many painful memories were swirling in his mind. He had hurt her, but she did not owe him. It was so hard to concentrate on anything with the love of his life standing almost naked in front of him. She looked great, much better than she did years ago. He wanted to tell her this, but he knew that any compliment from his lips could end in a war. "Do you know that we bet on what you will do? Who will you kill first?" He added with a smile.
"We are following Thomas’ gambling habits." Even Matthew tried to relieve the tension that became more and more visible with each passing second. "What would you like to drink?"
"Russian earl grey tea, please." He had an excellent one, she had it yesterday. “And may I have croissants with it?"
"You can have it all!" Mike put a big plate full of croissants in front of her and a huge bouquet of flowers, which was earlier resting by the window, so that he did not have to look at her naked arms. "And you can admire these beautiful flowers, which look similar to the one in France." He said realizing that he was starting to act irrational.
Jo could hardly hold back a laugh. The flowers blocked her view. She had never expected that Mike would lose control so quickly.
"It's still cold." Mathew said, covering her back with his white robe. "You had a fever yesterday. We still don't know if it is just a cold or something else." After a moment of reflection, he added. "Eat! Your favourite orange and figs marmalade made by my mother. Bon appetit!"
It wasn't cold at all. He was trying to save their faces. Ok. It was pathetic. Jo decided not to tease them on that fortunately. ‘Breakfast first!’ She thought. She will deal with them later.
They were eating in silence, only accompanied by the Zimmer's dramatic soundtracks from The Dark Knight movie. Each of them fought with their own thoughts.
"Guys, I have to go soon. You can enjoy yourself. Jo, just rest today. You have lunch ready in the fridge. All your clothes are clean and ironed by our dear doctor, who didn't sleep much last night." Matthew broke the long silence. "Wish me luck!" He said while getting up from the table.
"You can do it, Bro. You are well prepared!" Mike stated. "You practiced your speech for almost half of the night! I can bet..."
"Shut up, Mike!" Jo would not stand any more bets.
"If I win today, I am taking a week or two off! Let's go to France for a few days if I win."
"Stop it! I can't take a leave. Why are you being mean, Bro?" Mike was irritated by his friend's sudden idea. He just came back and there was no way he could sneak out again.
"I would love to!" Without even thinking for a second, Jo agreed. She really missed her trips to the places she loved the most. That was a good idea. "I’d really love to!"
"Ok. I’ll hold you by your word, Beauty!" Matthew liked her enthusiasm. He started to put the dirty dishes in the dishwasher when Jo interrupted him.
"Leave it to me. Get ready!" She said with a smile.
In a few minutes, Matthew was ready with a backpack, his laptop and a huge file of documents under his arm as he stood in the corridor with his two friends who were bidding him goodbye.
Jo straightened his tie! She kissed him on the cheek and finally patted his buttock.
"Kick their asses! You’ll surely win this lawsuit, I can feel it!" She said as she closed the door as he walked out. "Paris, we are coming!" She added.
Mike was furious. He was looking at her with disbelief. What was that? Thoughts swirled in his head. How could she do that just in front of him?
Jo only saw his stupid expression on his face. She knew he wanted to ask her about her outrageous behaviour he had just witnessed.
"Get lost!" However, she didn’t give him the satisfaction of getting answers from her and walked towards the bedroom.
After a moment he only heard the click of a closing door.
"The Dark Knight. Haha. Rather the Dark Dame!" Mike summed up her behaviour.
More than a reset, Jo needed a proper rest. Right after graduating from university, she moved away, far from everyone she knew. She lived in a completely unknown environment and started everything from scratch. All she had achieved so far was due to her determination and hard work. She was very proud of herself but she had been working so hard over the past few years. She couldn't remember the last time she had allowed herself to a moment of weakness. When she had a cold or even pharyngitis or bronchitis, she continued to go to work unless she had a high fever and couldn't get out of bed, in which case she stayed home. Immediately after graduation, she had joined the corporate "rat race” in which she lost herself for several years, but that was the reality of the labour market when she finished university. There was no other choice. If you wanted a job, you h
She still couldn't believe that she was sitting on the plane and in less than three hours, she would be in her beloved Paris. Despite the fact that it was not so far away, due to her life plan being jam-packed to the limit, she could not pay the visit there earlier.She had to fall ill to have free time. In addition, friends had to use a trick to make her forget about work. It was really pathetic when she thought about what had happened to her life. There hadn’t been even a hint of spontaneity in the recent years.What happened to her? She became the person she swore not to be. Has she grown up? Is this what the life of mature people is like?Everything in her life had to be carefully planned. At work, she had a plan for any unanticipated situation. Seemingly impossible, but it was so. Working in public
They walked all the way from Rue du Bac and the D'Orsay Museum to the Notre Dame Cathedral, on the southern side of the Seine. The weather was absolutely stunning. A gentle breeze was blowing so they did not feel the heat.There were a lot of souvenir stalls, painters selling their paintings, various types of artists, musicians, dancers and mimes performing along the shore. Jo took a lot of photos, as usual.Matthew was very exhausted, but he didn't want to tell her. She looked radiant, and it seemed like her smile did not want to leave her face even for a moment. That was an extremely rare sight for him to admire.At that moment, he felt as if she was so happy, then he could be too. He just had to find a way to sit, even for a few minutes. He hadn’t had a proper rest and sleep since the reunion of their team on Saturday. His body was desperately demanding a little downtime to get back up."Jo, it's almost lunch time. We should look for a nice
The loud sound of the phone ringing woke her from deep sleep. The ringtone was really annoying. It just kept ringing and ringing. When she woke up, it was so dark in the room that she didn't know where she was. She forgot that last evening she had tightly closed the shutters to make the bedroom completely dark and more quiet. It took her a long moment to realize where she was. Finally, she found the source of the sound that disturbed her nap.When she picked up the phone, she heard a well-known voice. It sounded lively and fresh, even quite irritating."Hi guys! How are you? What did you do yesterday? Nobody called me. What did you do last night?" All in one breath, Mike recited."Damn, Mike! It is half past six in the morning. What do you expect?" Jo had already found her mobile phone and checked the time and to say that she was furious would be an understatement."Is Matthew around? Could I talk to him?""No. You can't!"She really w
As soon as Jo and Matthew had their breakfast, they packed up and got ready for the late evening flight so they could spend the day out. The weather was amazing with the blue cloudless sky and a nice cold breeze."Matty, let's go to one of the most amazing places in Paris." Jo piped up as soon as they arrived at the Esplanade de la Defense station."Hm…" Matthew just muttered in agreement. He wouldn't consider that place as amazing. He wondered why she wanted to come here. For him, it was just a business district like Manhattan in New York or The City in London. There was nothing interesting among tall skyscrapers."That's our goal!" She said pointing in the direction of La Grande Arche de la Defense.On the way, Jo stopped many times to take some photos of original skyscrapers and several dozen modern sculptures by artists such as Calder, Miro, César from the station to the Grande Arche. She also showed him interesting reflections in the gl
In a moment, they were at the central platform under the arch. From that point of view, this place looked amazing. A set of domed glass elevators lifted visitors from the platform to the gallery and observation deck on top. The elevator track was detached from the sides of the arch while the platform at the base formed a plaza in itself and was covered by a permanent tent anchored by cables to the sides of the arch. "Jo, I'm serious. Could we take the other way?" Matthew tried to find a solution, which would guarantee him not to use the glass elevator. Only the mere sight of them made him feel sick. ‘Good thing that I haven't eaten yet.’ He thought of a contingency plan, but nothing came to his mind. It would be tactless to stay on the ground and wait for her. "That's not easy. The public doesn't have access to the other elevators inside the building. Only people who work in offices inside the arch can use them. These elevators are one of the attractions. It will be
They came back from La Defence quite early and still had plenty of time before the ride to the airport. Matthew copied all her photos on his laptop. He was surprised by how many great shots she had taken. Some of them were so amazing, suitable to be advertising posters. He already got permission to print some of them. Then he packed his laptop and got his stuff ready. “Jo, are you tired? Do you want to go for a walk?" Matthew asked, taking his suitcase to the corridor next to the front door. "I am not. I just finished packing too." Jo said as she thought where they could go somewhere for 2-3 hours. "Let's go for a walk." "Fine, but not too long a walk. We have a journey to the airport and a flight ahead of us." She was already tired but didn't want to admit it. She was in her beloved Paris and wanted to enjoy every minute of it. She had no idea when she could be here again so she had to make the most of every moment to enjoy herself.
The plane from Paris was delayed by almost thirty minutes. Mike had no choice but to leave his car in the carpark. He sent them a message to inform them of where to find him and decided to wait for them in the coffee shop in the arrival hall. "Isn’t too late for coffee, dude?" Matthew approached him poking his left shoulder. Mike was sitting in the corner of the café and had a large cup of black coffee with a plate with a big piece of Napoleon cake on the side. "Hm… Sweets!" Jos’ eyes shone as soon as her eyes landed on his cake. "Doc, you’re setting up a great example! Matthew, would like to have a cup of coffee and dessert at half past eleven?" "Why not? What can I order for you, Jo?" He didn’t joke as he wanted to sit in the cafe and eat something light. "Regular cappuccino and pavlova cake or that Napoleon will do." She pointed at Mikes’ cake which looked tasty. She wasn’t hungry but wouldn't mind having a piece of any delicious gateau. Th