MY UNEXPECTED MARRIAGE TO THE LOVELESS CEO

Chapter 26

Roseanne's pov

"Is that really you, Roseanne?"

Harin asks. A frown momentarily resides on her face before it gradually disappears as I mumble her a yes. Looking clearly baffled, Harin asks again. "I am sorry, but I didn't expect to find you here,"

She looks around and it's in that moment that I realise, just like me, she's currently on a stroll too. But the only thing that differs me from her is that while I barely know what I am doing or where I am heading, Harin seems like she knows the ropes around the city.

"I didn't expect to find you here too,"

I tuck a loose strand of blonde hair behind my ear as wind brushes through. "Out of all the places in the world," I add sheepishly.  "And we meet at the heart of Paris,"

I make a reference to the nearby Arc de Triomphe and Harin smiles before hanging her hands on her back as she speaks.

"I find it oddly hilarious," she comments. All before she notices the very fact that I am out in the light without a hint of my protection officer nearby.

Then, the familliar frown appears once again and she steps in closer but careful enough not to invade my personal circle.

"Are you here..." she drags her voice long enough as she tilts her head left and right repeatedly, probably looking for the very thing I would like to imagine she's looking for.

The sight of my protection officer. But I tell her they are not in the picture since I left the premise discreetly, wanting a quiet time to enjoy the breeze while not having anyone breathing down my neck.

"I agree it can be suffocating,"

The woman voices her thought. Her expression a little bit on the grim side but her tone is set far from condescending.

I wait for her to lecture me on how to be careful next time but the thing never comes as she launches another different inquiry of why I am here in the city of love.

Or freedom as they dub it sometime.

"I have been invited to an event,"

I reply, sparing the details. Harin nods her head, no royal curiosity follows which perplexed me to the fullest because all these while I thought they were built same.

I guess Harin is a little different then.

"What about you?"

"It's Paris" she gives me a warm smile, then elaborates more on why she's there. "I have an event at Louvre. The Renaissance Painting Era,"

She describes and suddenly I realise, we are actually going to the same event. "No way,"

I fight a smile but fail miserably. "You too?"

"Wait," Harin pauses before a genuine surprise unfolds all over her face. "So, you're the secret guest the comittee has been talking about,"

That catches my attention. "What?"

I ask. "Oh," Harin clears her throt before explaining that she's been a benefactor to the Louvre for years now and one of the perks she gets so often is endless invitations to event like this.

Only this time, she's meeting me - her supposedly to be secret special guest tomorrow in front of a private party no more than 50 people.

"I didn't know you were into art that much,"

I say after complimenting her noble cause of supporting the museum and aiding its financial needs.

If anythimg, Harin laughs softly. One hand is now tucked into her jacket while the other hangs by her side. "I kind of grew up watching all types of arts, mostly because of my mother,"

"Really?"

I ask and Harin nods. I guess, she enjoys talking when it hits the subject she loves. And in this case, it's arts.

"My mother was an avid collector,"

Was, I bite my lower lip, hesitating from asking yet another question but I can't help it.

"What happened? Did she stop collecting altogether?"

"Actually,"

Harin smiles. "You look like you're a bit lost,"

She points out and I am reminded of my original issue.

Yes, I need to find a way back to The Ritz or things are not going to be pretty.

"I think I am,"

I say sheepishly as I step aside, then one finger taps at the city map behind. "I understand I am right here but it gets tricky with all the lines in different colors and not once of English word I can find here,"

Harin grins. "Where are you staying?"

She asks. "Umm, The Ritz Paris"

"Oh,"

She turns herself around, looking in the direction I am not familiar with before turning back quickly to face me. "It's just nearby. I can send you there if you'd like,"

She offers and I think less before saying a yes. Apparently, my earliest assumption that she was hoofing around was a mistake.

Because she's not. While we talk, she ushers me to a sideway parked electric blue convertible Shelby Cobra 1967 with two white stripes on its front hood.

***

"So, you lost your mum in Paris?"

I ask as she drives through Paris' traffic. "Pretty much,"

She replies. "She had been sick years before she succumbed to it anyway,"

"What was it?"

"What was what?"

The car takes a left turn and I tilt my head to gsze at her side profile.

"Her cause of death"

I say. "Oh, melancholia"

She smiles. "She had been unhappy for quite a number of years before that lack of enjoyment took a toll on her health, and killed her next,"

"So, she's buried here? In Paris?"

"Yes, we have a house here,"

The car halts in front of a familiar building. I instantly recognise it as the premise I left earlier in pursuit of fresh air.

"Mummy hated the idea of being interred outside from her birth country but there's nothing else that we can do for someone who died while in exile,"

She throws me yet another smile as she exits her driver seat and pops open the passenger's door for me.

"Here we are," she says. "The Ritz Paris,"

I smile back at her. "Thank you," I say. "You're welcome,"