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“Don’t you think this sounds incredibly suspicious?” you frown, securing your comms in your ear, “That invitation was super cryptic, are you sure this is the guy Thomas was talking about? Because I don’t imagine he’d willingly put his most prolific client on the line, no matter how ostentatious he may be.”
“Ostentatious?” Rafayel snorts, tossing you an offended look over his shoulder as he adjusts his collar, “Thomas wouldn’t know what to do with himself if he lost me. I complete him.”
“You’re avoiding answering my question,” you grimace, “What are we really doing here? Do you have any idea who this man is? And he just goes by the name The Curator? Isn’t that weird?”
“Hmm, it is weird. But doesn’t it make you even a little curious?”
You give him a long look before shrugging, “Clearly you think something is going on if you’re dragging me along.”
“Nah, just think of it as an eccentric date night, huh, Cutie?”
“Who needs their bodyguard to go with them on a date night?” you whine. When he spins around, he surprises you with eyes sparkling with so much adoration that your complaints die in your throat.
“Come on. It’s gonna be great.”
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“Mr. Rafayel, please be reasonable. The Curator specifically requested you and you alone, and—”
“And what? If he wants me to go, he should be just fine with having my bodyguard along as well,” he says, tilting his head impatiently, “He’s lucky I came at all.”
While the guard who speaks to Raf stumbles all over his words, you watch as the quieter guard slips inside the room. A moment later, he returns and murmurs something to his still-fumbling companion. Lowering his head, the silent guard gives you and Raf a look over before gesturing to the room.
“Thank you, Mr. Rafayel, for your patience. I apologize for the delay.”
“Yeah, well, you should be lucky things didn’t get out of hand. My bodyguard would have chewed you up and spit you out in a minute flat.”
Though it’s hard to keep your flat expression, you manage well. And when you follow Rafayel into the room, you hear the two guards murmuring behind you.
Though your hair is standing on end with anticipation, Rafayel strolls into the room so casually it’s as if he were walking into his own studio.
The room is grand, with pillars from floor to ceiling, every wall layered with beautiful works of art, and luxurious furniture arranged on plush rugs as if one frequently entertained guests here. But the mysterious benefactor who has summoned your boyfriend doesn’t seem to be interested in meeting him here.
Another door, another set of guards, and, finally, you and Raf are face to face with The Curator.
He’s a tall man, an extremely thin man, with long, spindly fingers steepled in front of his face. It’s almost comical, how much of a villain this man looks. That this man is the owner of such a beautiful collection, of such a contrastingly colorful home, doesn’t fall flat on your sense of irony.
“Good evening, Mr. Curator,” Rafayel greets him.
“Rafayel Qi,” he acknowledges with a slight hum, “We finally meet. It’s a pleasure, although I wasn’t expecting us to have company.”
“That’s just my bodyguard, pay them no mind.”
The Curator’s sharp gaze considers you for a long moment before he looks back toward Rafayel, “Was there something I did that made you feel the need to bring your bodyguard along?”
“Not particularly,” he says dismissively, “So tell me, Curator… to what do I owe the pleasure of being summoned to your beautiful manor? After having a look around, I’m beginning to understand the significance of your title.”
The Curator continues to look over Rafayel with an appraising gaze that makes you even more uneasy. Finally, he clears his throat and folds his hands on the desk, “I hear you are someone worth knowing if one wants to know more about the ancient kingdom of Lemuria."
Peering around the room, you take in how different this office space is from the other rooms you’d passed in this manor. It’s unsettling, how dark the furniture is here, how dim the lights are. How much… cheaper things look in this room. Replaceable, unlike the prized possessions outside this door. If you had to guess, you’d assume this was some kind of decoy office. But why would anyone need to set up such a guise?
You take a tiny, nearly imperceptible step closer to Rafayel, quickly focusing in on the conversation being held.
“We won’t be having any problems, will we Mr. Qi?”
“Problems? From me? I’m just an artist. I paint stunning pieces of abstract art for a living,” he says, looking down at his fingernails, “I wouldn’t know how to put one of your men down. Not even if you handed me an extremely in-depth file of all kinds of blackmail that could be used against them—both by the government, or by the several other businessmen’s associates whose pals have been swindled or disappeared by them.”
The Curator stands abruptly, his eye twitching. Rafayel merely smiles.
The door bursts open and your flight instinct takes over as you grab hold of Rafayel’s wrist, dragging him toward you and pulling him over your shoulders as the door bursts into flames behind them.
The sounds of yelling and angry, heavy footsteps ring in your ears, but you don’t pause your stride for a single second, pushing away heavy curtains on the opposite wall to reveal a large balcony with stairs, streaks of red fire randomly appearing in your periphery. Still, you don’t stop until you have made it out of the manor, plopping Raf onto his feet as he instantly slides into the car and starts the engine. It revs to life and the shouting men point their guns at you as he peels out, gravel flying out from under the tires, their guns focused on you before…
Boom!
Something in that decoy office explodes and the far end of the manor begins to crumble in on itself.
Your heart pounds as you turn and look at Rafayel, whose eyes are focused on the rearview mirror, making sure the two of you aren’t followed. He drives in silence for a while, until he’s finally certain you two are safe from any immediate danger. You look at him in surprise when he suddenly pulls over and throws the car into park.
“You just blew that manor up,” you breathe.
He snorts, letting out an exasperated laugh, “And you literally carried me out of that place like a doll!”
You two look at each other, eyes wide with leftover adrenaline, and you burst into belly-aching laughter.
“That was insane!”
“I truly wasn’t expecting you to do that, Cutie. But I had to just go with the flow.”
“You knew something was going on all along. Thomas never sent you there.”
“Of course he didn’t. But now you know why I needed to bring my Bodyguard along. What would I have done without you?”