XY XX

MISCONCEPTION

"Dondé estara la pelirroja? [where's the redhead]" Mr. Sanchez said when he saw Xenia enter the meeting room.

"Eh, Mrs. Jensen had other prerogatives," Gregory took his seat on the other side of the table.

Mr. Sanchez huffed and stared at Xenia again, "I guess I'll have to adapt to the day's flavor. I hope she'll be able to follow the meeting. Let me know if we're talking too fast."

Xenia tried to make an abstraction of the comments and smiled. Gregory had never seen her with such a plastic grin. He hoped it could hold throughout the meeting without breaking.

How could a smile be so frightening? Gregory prayed Mr. Sanchez would stop with the comments.

The meeting began; both parties presented their terms and started the negotiation, which seemed more like a verbal wrestle. Xenia kept a close eye on her watch; time seemed to be lying back and ticking slowly; she saw one of Sanchez men whisper something to the man who chuckled before saying, "can I have some coffee?"

Astoria's coordination service had all the meeting rooms prepped beforehand. Coffee, tea, water, and even champagne was there at the client's disposal. The newest Nespresso machines equipped each office, and one could get up to make one. No secretary was required for this type of meeting, and M. Menard was about to get up to make a coffee for Mr. Sanchez when the CEO intervened.

"No, let the woman do it. The redhead always makes mine. We can't change the traditions, can we?"

The men on Xenia's side of the table, including Gregory, all turned their gaze to the woman whose mouth remained open in shock, "eh, why are you looking at me?"

Xenia knew what everyone expected, and she couldn't believe it. Making coffee wasn't the issue; what bothered her was the sexism attached to the demand and that none of her colleagues or superior intervened.

"Alright, I'll get you your coffee. How do you like it?" Xenia said, and the men on her side of her table regained their composure.

"Black."

Gregory saw the snippers glint in Xenia's eye as she got up and walked to the coffee machine.

Everyone remained silent while Xenia prepared the cup and the coffee poured. They held their breath when she posed the cup before Sanchez.

Safe, Gregory thought.

The reflection was a second too soon, as the sound of what seemed to be one of a spank burst into everyone's ear-drums.

Xenia saw red, and Gregory understood he was about to become the witness of a murder.

XY XX

"Cassie, can I borrow your office a few minutes? I need to talk to Xenia."

"Sure."

The office was soundproof and precisely what the auditor needed. Gregory tossed his bag on Cassie's desk and started, "okay, Xenia, what was the stunt you pulled last night?"

"Gregory, the man, is rude. I mean, he spanked me."

"I know, but you don't walk out on a meeting."

Xenia motioned to touch her forehead, "excuse me, are you out of your mind? The man is a misogynist; I wasn't going to take his bull."

"But I was there, so was Kendrick and Francis. Do you truly believe something could happen to you?"

"But something did happen, Gregory. I'm a woman, and sitting there tolerating his remarks is like silently consenting to his behavior. And I'm sorry no job is worth being humiliated and harassed as that man did."

"Xenia, your superior asked you to stay, and you walked out. I understand your point, but you can't do that. If we were in the army, you would spend a month in jail for insubordination."

"We're not in the army, and I'm a civilian, Gregory, with rights. I have the right to protect myself by any means if I feel insecure and I felt endangered. Sorry if it made Astoria lose millions, but hey, it's not like Astoria will share the money with me," Xenia said while she waved her hands all over the place, "I am not an office hoe who will giggle when a sexist jerk spanks me. So fire me, sue me, do whatever if that what makes you feel like a man. All you see is the flipping contract. Where's your humanity, Gregory?" Xenia advanced and made the man back up against Cassie's desk.

The last sentence, if it wasn't for that last sentence.

"You are incredible, Xenia; you are more stubborn than a donkey. You know I tried to understand why a hard-working woman like you was still a consultant.

"Why didn't she get the position? Then it hit me like a lorry driven by a drunken driver on frozen ground. You've got too much pride. You think everyone is terrorizing you and the whole world is against you. You know why Cassie is up there, and you're still at the bottom? It's because she knows the battles to fight and the ones where she needs to step down.

"Do you think Cassie doesn't have it rough, finance, business, defense? It's a whole man's world where women have to be strategic and sagacious. You lie, and you expect people to let you off scot-free and respect you when you don't have an ounce of tolerance for anybody else and allow yourself to judge my humanity?

"The apartment, your so-called lesbian life, all a lie. Yet you are capable of holding a straight face to judge, rant, and rumble as if you were motherfucking Theresa."

"I have my reasons." Xenia snorted.

"What reasons? You push people away. I thought it was your orientation, and then I met Sia. So tell me, what made you become a refugee begging for asylum in the LGBT territory? A man? What did he do cheat on you, leave you pregnant to fend on your own?"

Now it was Xenia who found herself backed up next to the office door.

"What don't look at me like that? You want to cry, play the victim again. I'm not taking it anymore. Do you know what? You are a misandrous hidden behind a weak feminist, and I don't know what else. Thank your lucky star I met your daughter. You have the time while I'm here to leave the apartment. This is your final warning you pull off a stunt like that again, and you are fired."

"So, I'm not fired?"

Gregory rolled eyes, "there are laws, Xenia, and in France, you are pretty well off. You'll receive your warning in three days."

Gregory was red with anger. The last time he yelled, in the same manner, he was under bombs in Afghanistan. The man usually held his temper even though he was always on the brink of explosion, but now he was furious.

For Gregory, Xenia won the battle if she stayed in the meeting room. Instead, she decided to beat in a retreat-like the weaker sex Sanchez loved to crush.

"Can I leave?"

"Go."