Our Lies

Chapter 29

A cup of piping hot tea was served to Gia. "Drink this."

Gia nodded and thanked his care taker.

"Something on your mind?" Georgia asked.

"You can tell?"

"I watched you grow up, remember? You always drink when you are stressed over things. Geez... where did you get this bad habit from..."

Gia laughed softly at the irony. He picked up the cup in front of him and sipped the tea. The woman stood silently by his side, watching him.

"Do you want to talk about it? You don't seem to get enough sleep lately – I'm just worried about your health."

Gia placed the cup gently back to the saucer and straightened his back. He began to talk slowly. "There's this friend of mine. He has been lying to a girl and the lie obviously hurts her. It pains him every time he sees her. He wants to tell her the truth but he believes his lies are the only way to protect her, so he keeps lying and hurting her at the same time." He paused. "Do you think he is doing the right thing, Georgia?"

Gia held the cup tightly.

Georgia looked at the handsome man she had raised with love. "Is this about you and Miss Agata?"

Gia almost spit out his tea. "Ughh Uhukk..."

"You have no other male friend except that good-for-nothing young prince, and I believe he isn't the sort to be worried about hurting a girl." Georgia removed the tea cup and handed him a napkin.

"How did you know about Agata..."

"I saw the two of you."

Gia turned to her. "How..."

"That's not important. Anyway, who is she actually? I know she is the one pictured with you last time but I've never heard you speaking about her before. So you do really know her personally? What did you lie to her about?"

"She is just someone I know recently." He unconsciously brushed his lips.

Georgia narrowed her eyes suspiciously and asked, "Are you sure she is just a friend? Why did you kiss her then? Oh, don't think about lying to me. Amaria kept doing the same thing when a just-a-friend high school boy stole a kiss from her too." She mimicked his lips rubbing gesture.

Gia thanked her for the tea, told her to get rid of all the alcoholic drinks in the house with a smile and dashed to his room.

***

Amaria sighed and dropped her forehead sloppily on top of her hands. She felt tired all of a sudden. After that disastrous evening, she had not seen Jean again. Not that I care, she gritted her teeth. She kept reminding herself that she should stop thinking about that idiot. Everything was in the past. It was just a short relationship that did not end well. The only romantic relationship she ever had actually. She remembered what she said out of annoyance the other night. Maybe she should really find a boyfriend.

She sighed again and lazily swiveled her revolving chair. Her eyes fell to the double door behind her desk. She knitted her brows. Something had to have happened the day before because her boss had been acting strange since morning. He gave zero attention to her reports, and she caught him smiling like an airhead for no reason at all. SMILING like a teenager getting a nano sized attention from a crush when his secretary told him a possible fraud case was happening at one of their branches.

Amaria shuddered at the flashback. What had her respectable employer turned into? She was sure it had to do with the lady that came to their office yesterday. Agata Fores, that was her name she believed. Her mother had mentioned something felt familiar about her. Amaria thought she looked angry... and a little lost when she saw her stepping out of the elevator. She was polite but something in her tone implying that she would break down the automatic gate if Amaria did not let her go up. Judging from the her boss' attitude today, everything seemed to be going well. Who is she really though? A sudden call from Gia through the intercom interrupted Amaria's chain of thoughts.

"I've gone through all the submitted proposals and I am going with this one. Please relay this to the production team and asked them to present a prototype by the end of the week. Arrange a meeting with everyone involved after that for a full study," Gia said as he handed said files to his secretary. Amaria nodded in understanding and made notes diligently.

"Any progress on the acquisition plan?" Gia asked.

"The legal team is working on it, nothing of concern so far," Amaria shrugged her shoulders. It was a tiny publishing company and was only purchased to be annihilated anyway. Not to reduce competitors but because one of the photographers who worked for the notorious gossip paper publisher was caught stalking Lumina Capital's highest executive after the incident at his distressed betrothed (as the paper described)'s workplace and made the engagement news public, which made Leo angry. Of course, they tried to bargain their worth (aka blackmailing) but the shady dealings within the company that had been going on for years were soon discovered and they had no better option than giving it up. Amaria glanced at Gia. The person involved did not seem to be particularly disturbed though.

"Okay, good work," Gia replied and closed the last report on his hand.

"As for your tomorrow's agenda..." Amaria started going through her lists and gave a brief overview of his schedules, indicating the time and actions needed to which Gia listened and nodded a few times.

When Amaria was done with her report, she picked up all the documents and was ready to leave the room when her employer called.

"Can I ask you something?"

Amaria turned and cocked her head to the side. "Yes?"

"Did grandpa ask you and Georgia to follow me around?"

"Hell no... I mean of course not, Sir." Amaria cleared her throat as if to undo her error.

Gia waited for her to reveal more.

Amaria held up her hands. "I apologize for that. I swear this has nothing to do with Mr. Leo. You know we wouldn't do it even if Master asked us to! I know you are an adult with privacy and all that but you didn't come home that day and you were unreachable for a whole night and..." She paused to take a breath. "Mom was extremely worried about you. You know how she is, don't you...? So... urmm... I called... Mr. Crown for help."

"Jean?" Gia knitted his brows.

"Please don't blame him!" Amaria quickly defended the said man.

Gia looked up. He was not thinking of blaming anyone but Amaria's reaction surprised him. "Oh... no, I always thought you dislike him or something..."

"My personal sentiment should not affect me when it comes to your safety, Sir." Amaria returned to her usual efficient self.

"I see..." Gia murmured. "Is that why you let her in yesterday?"

Amaria nodded. "Should I have not?"

Gia shook his head. "No, it's alright. Please just keep this to yourself. And..."

"Yes, Sir?" Amaria asked.

"Can I ask you something else?" Gia scratched his neck nervously, looking like a shy teenage boy. Amaria did not have a good feeling about this.

"You know... how do I put it..." Gia looked like he was having trouble to speak out his mind. His face was getting redder as time passed by.

"What is it?"

"If... if a woman kisses a man... does it mean anything at all?" Gia asked, looking hopeful in his eyes.

Oh God...