XY XX

THE DEAL

Cinderella's part II, neither Gregory nor Xenia imagined it would give the situation they were in now. Time slipped away just like Xenia did from Gregory's mansion every weekend.

"Douglas will drive you to the airport."

Xenia turned to leave, ready to head down the footsteps of the mansion.

"Eh, where's my kiss?" Gregory pulled the woman back.

The kiss was slow; for this, at least, they always took their time as if there wouldn't be a tomorrow. Xenia pulled away, went down a few steps, and came back to kiss Gregory again. Gregory was two seconds from protesting about her departure, but the arguments, even small, exhausted him.

Xenia still lived in Paris with Sia, and he in London. Round Trips between Paris and London were weekly routines.

Xenia refused to live with him. Gregory found it unfair when he thought she was ready to follow Andrew to New York and get married.

The woman rejected both arrangements to Gregory, leaving the man with bitter thoughts roaming free. When Gregory asked Xenia why she refused to live in London, the answers were always the same:

"I want us to exist as individuals. You have an empire to attend to, and I'm not easy to live with."

And Gregory would reply, "Xenia, I live in a three-floored mansion. The chances of us stepping on each other seem pretty slim."

The woman would retort, "Your house is too big. There are too many maids, butlers, gardeners, and whatever."

"I'll get an apartment."

The verbal tennis match could go on for hours as Gregory, too, had answers to everything, and Xenia conjured reasons out of thin air.

"It will be difficult for Sia to learn English and all," she'd say.

"You know as well as I do that she should learn at this age."

"Gregory, please, I don't want us to lose each other."

"So this is your solution to maintain the flame?" Gregory would ask.

"Yes."

These moments were where Gregory experienced system malfunctions and would glitch by blinking in disbelief before exploding, "It sucks, I don't believe in that bull, seriously, Xenia, what are you afraid of?"

"Everything, Gregory, absolutely when it comes to you."

So they lived apart, and when Gregory spoke of marriage:

"I wanted it before, but now it seems old-fashioned and overrated; we don't need it," Xenia explained.

Gregory would lift a quizzical eyebrow and dig deeper, "when you say before, you mean with Mark and Andrew, but with me, you can't?"

"It's just if we married; we'll have to live together."

"Xenia, please. Actually, okay, forget it, I too have my limits."

For Gregory, it was like living in reverse. Until then, the man was sure it was what Xenia wanted. Guarantees and proof Gregory could not see what other concrete contracts he could offer. Now Xenia yawned at his suggestions as if she was uninterested, and she just desired a relationship where either one could bail out whenever.

No matter who interrogated Xenia, the results were the same as Niki found out when she met up with Xenia.

"So, what's the deal Xenia, do you love him?" Niki asked.

"Like crazy."

"Do you want to spend your life with him?"

"Till death do us apart."