A Manager From Heaven (girlxgirlxgirl)

27. Lip reading

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Mazanin's nose has been buried in a deep and quiet conversation with his manager for the past fifteen minutes. The low and quiet constant mumble has left Hael with a calm mind, as she has let herself forget all of her worries while her gaze wanders over the city landscape outside the car. The black vehicle is moving softly over the paved, busy roads of a late-morning city. The houses rise higher and higher the closer they get to the company building.

Filming is cancelled because of an attempted attack on Mazanin. The management is furious. The newspapers are already writing about the story. Hael is still all up in her head, blaming herself for saving him. She should've let the attacker go through with it. Mazanin would probably have blocked it anyway, somehow. Instead, she's the hero. The angel who saved the demon.

If the heavens end up hearing about this, she'll get more than just a long prison sentence. Hael wants to sigh until the air runs out of her lungs. Instead she focuses her eyes on the city passing through the car window while she hopes Mazanin won't bring it up. This could very well be the end of her career as a soldier. All because she decided to save some stupid demon because her morality couldn't be flexible enough to allow her to let the world kill off one more parasite.

But, as always, her hopes and dreams are crushed into one big ball of misery when the car stops, and only the manager leaves. "You and I are going to a hotel." Mazanin mumbles to her, stopping her from exiting the car. "The management doesn't want me back in my apartment until it's deemed safe." His words lay like rocks over her shoulders, and it takes everything in her body not to roll her eyes. She really doesn't want to talk to him about this. She doesn't know what to say. She doesn't know why she saved him.

Hael looks over at him, but he's too busy clicking on a button in the car that closes the space between them and the driver in the front seat.

"You'll get your own room of course." Mazanin continues, suddenly turning towards her when the window between the front seat and the back seat is finally closed. "But we need to talk."

Hael avoids his gaze and looks out the window again, as the car starts to move towards an unfamiliar direction. She's only spent one night living in his apartment, and now she has to sleep in some random room in a hotel? Hael can't help but think about how much she misses her own home. Tangie never liked it but she really does.

The gardens are beautiful, the river outside is always busy enough to be entertaining but calm enough to show the water glimmering under the sun. The bedroom is airy and the downstairs living room is newly renovated. She loves her house. Tangie says that she only loves it because it's the only place where she isn't seeing bloodshed and fighting. That it's a mental thing. A coping thing, she called it. Hael doesn't agree. She misses home already.

"You're probably wondering why I haven't asked you about it yet." Mazanin starts. He sounds serious, and Tangie wasn't expecting anything else. He could've teased her about it, but the truth is that she saved him, so really he should be nothing less than a mixture of thankful, confused, offended and perhaps a tiny bit smug. That's what she'd be if she were in his position, and as it turns out, they are quite similar when it comes to these things.

"Not really" Hael lies, her voice monotonous. She doesn't want him to think that it's actually bothering her. Mazanin rolls his eyes.

"Anyway, I don't really care why you did what you did. So I'm going to cut to the chase." Mazanin breathes out, continuing quickly "The management wants me to finally get a bodyguard. I've always refused, you can probably guess why, but this time they're really insisting on it and I'm not interested in letting them have someone hired for me."