Chapter Text
“Gate E is now open, leaving for Paris, France in an hour.”
Chloe slowly got out of her seat and walked to the forming line at the check-in. It had been years since she had been on a plane, and the thought of flying made her a little queasy. But it was not the flight that worried her as much; it was the worry of actually arriving at her destination.
Paris.
It was a place that did not bring her many great memories, and was a place she vowed to stay away from ever since she left for New York City. Chloe remembered the day she left, the day when she broke all ties with everyone she knew and left no notice of her disappearance. Now, at the ripe age of twenty-four, she focused on one thing: avoiding all confrontations with her father and sister as much as possible; additionally, anyone who held a grudge against her.
As she walked, she spotted a bathroom to the right in the corner of her eye. Chloe thought of hiding in one of those tiny stalls and letting her flight take off. But, she was offered an opportunity to be interviewed for the position of supervisor for the company, Gabriel Agreste, courtesy of her mother. Run by Gabriel Agreste, it is a highly successful corporation, both domestically and internationally. If she gets the job, Chloe would be making a very grand salary after her first year at the company. With this idea in mind, she felt a little better. Another idea that spurred hope was knowing that she would be flying first class. Maybe the strong wine would calm down her nerves.
The flight went by faster than Chloe wanted it to. She tried to start reading The Times by Marc Anciel. Although he was a splendid writer, her restless nature got the better of her. The chair began to get uncomfortable, and Chloe immediately began to regret not bringing her travel-sized putty. All she could do was gaze out of the window, fixated on the sad, grey clouds that lay below. Looking at them made her even more upset; it was like a bad omen for the future. The familiar feeling of unsettlement filled her system, and she involuntarily began to pick at the armrest attached to the leather chair. Paris is huge, there is no way I could run into them. I could avoid everyone who more or less hates me. Maybe they wouldn’t care if I were here. Maybe they won’t even know who I am.
She clicked her tongue with disdain. Why do I care, Chloe thought, scratching her nail more fervently. I'm probably more successful than everyone there anyway. I-
Her thoughts stopped when she gazed down. To her surprise, a gaping hole was formed in the armrest where her finger was picking.
Her flight landed at 18:30 in military time, and it was already dark by the time Chloe left the airport. Although there was no fresh snow in sight, there was a harsh wind, and it was cold to the point where she could see her breath. The stench of rat pee and gasoline penetrated her nose. It was certainly not a warm welcome, but Paris was not a place that was welcome to the daughter of ex-mayor Bourgeois. A tiny part of her missed him, but most of her wanted nothing to do with him. He is still incompetent and has a hard time not choosing favorites. However, these feelings quickly went away when her phone began to ring. It was the landlord for the apartment she would be leasing. She accepted the call.
“Hello?”
“Is this Chloe Bourgeois?”, the lady’s voice sounded over the phone, raspy either from lack of water or from smoking too much nicotine.
“Yes, this is. Are you Mrs. Graugshem?”
“Indeed I am. I just wanted to verify that your mother will be paying for the first month. Audrey Bourgeois, that is?”
Chloe stifled a scoff of surprise. Audrey Bourgeois, being generous? This was new. But, she’ll take advantage of Audrey at any chance. “Yes, do you need her bank information?”
“No. But another thing I called you about was the closing of the lease. I am afraid we are going to have to push back our agreement until next Monday.”
Chloe’s heart stopped. “Why is that, Mrs. Graugshem?”
“You see, my sister got into this horrible motorcycle accident, and she is currently in the hospital. I am so sorry. I am sure you can understand, considering this is a family emergency, and I am terribly worried about her…”
As the lady kept rambling on, Chloe wanted nothing more than to tell her off. She has already notified the moving company that she will need her furniture in Paris tomorrow. This is so ridiculous. Her sister is not going to be leaving the hospital anytime soon, and she could have seen her after the closing agreement. Now what am I going to do?
She huffed. “Well, that is unfortunate...I guess. I will see you next Monday.” Chloe then hung up the phone and began to look for any available hotels nearby.
When searching the web, she quickly began to realize that every hotel room was booked. More or less, everywhere that was accommodating to her needs was booked. It did not help that it was nearing Christmas and that many people traveled to Paris at this time. Chloe finally settled on staying in a run-down-looking motel that was near the center of the Gabriel Agreste company. At least it is close. But give me a break, she told the universe. Nothing was going her way; first, she could not get into the apartment until next week, all the decent hotels were booked, and she had slush stains all over her pointed, black boots. Chloe was exceptionally upset about that last part. She then began to walk, hoping that everything else in the future would work out.
Her destination was about a ten-minute walk. As she strolled across the street and turned left to the parking lot of the hotel, a calm melody caught her ear. Chloe stopped, registered the beautiful tune, and backtracked to where the sound led her. It led her to a street to the left of the hotel, where tall lights lined up. A man not much older than herself sat on a paint bucket, strumming to the song, “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” on his guitar.
She noticed that the man was of slender build and had shaggy black hair with dyed blue tips. He wore a washed-out denim jacket, and underneath sported a worn-out Jagged Stone t-shirt. Not an outfit made for this weather. The man then stopped playing and looked up; his eyes were a calm turquoise blue and were almost opaque. Very pretty eyes, she thought.
Chloe then realized he had stopped playing.
The man looked at her expectantly, a brow arched. She suddenly felt a little awkward staring and quickly looked down. “Please continue what you were playing, it was very good,” she mumbled, embarrassed. The man did not say a word; he merely turned the other way and continued to strum the guitar. Chloe almost turned away to leave when she felt an unsettling feeling in her body. She could not help but feel a little guilty for this man, who was in the cold wearing nothing but a denim jacket. With an internal sigh, Chloe fetched her wallet, pulled out twenty euros, and set them in the open guitar case in front of him.
His eyes flickered over to her. “Please buy yourself a coat,” she said, looking at him. “I know it isn’t much for a good coat, but get something warm nevertheless. It can get cold out this time of year.” The man looked like he was going to reply; however, Chloe was already walking away.