Leon felt a little caged inside the designer's suit as he stepped out of the hotel. The sun was high and he could feel the heat warning him up from inside the thick material. He noticed that Fiona was still at the same spot he'd left her, still clutching the phone to her ears and wearing a frown on her pretty face. "Is he picking up now?" Leon asked as he got to her. He'd been in the car when she started calling Gideon but he wasn't picking up. "Yes, but he's not moving grounds, he still says we're both banned from the estate," she replied. There was no need to get into details about how he wanted him out of the picture just because he believed that they had a thing. "What do we do now?" Leon asked as he pulled off his sunglasses. Fiona did the same too and smiled at him, "You look handsome," she said. Leon nodded, but he didn't feel at home inside the suit he was wearing. "You didn't have to, I have a few good clothes I could have worn for this meeting," he said, as he had a
Brian hissed under his breath and his face fell as he saw Fiona's expression. He was very embarrassed and he blamed himself for not listening to Leon when he'd asked if he should say it openly. "That's not true," he spat, just to save face, "It's not true at all," he added as he turned to face Fiona who was pretending to be busy with her handbag to avoid the awkward conversation. Leon smirked as he realized the uncomfortable position that he'd just put Brian in because of his stubbornness. "You do know I'm not lying, Brian," Leon replied easily. But he could tell that Brian was too ashamed to admit it, it somehow messed with his manly ego, especially when Fiona who he was attracted to was seated right there. "You are lying through your teeth!" Brian snapped, all the while turning to Fiona to gauge a reaction. Leon looked at him with a brow raised and then asked, "Maybe I should tell you about the__" he began to say but Brian stopped him right there and nodded. "Okay, fine,
The next day came and Fiona spent most of the day looking for the perfect outfit for the cabinet meeting. She was too exhausted to consider shopping - plus she wasn't in the mood. And she had two outfits delivered and ended up not liking any. The afternoon was quickly giving way to night when she heard a knock on the door just as she was tucking Mia in. It was going to be a busy evening and she had to be sure that her baby was safely in bed while she was out there. "You're going to do just as the list says, no late-night food - except warm cocoa drink if she wakes up, make sure she doesn't watch more than one hour of TV for the rest of the night, keep her warm and leave the lights on. Do you understand?" Fiona asked the nanny and she nodded. "I understand, Miss Fiona. You're stressed out already, just leave, I'll take care of Mia like I always have," she replied with a smile. Fiona sighed, the old lady was right. She was just stressed and getting frustrated. The last thing
The conference room of the second compound was so large that Leon had to look above him to make sure he wasn't outside. The bright fluorescent flooded the entire space, giving it the feel of being right under the sun. Men dressed in crisp white shirts and fancy suits strolled about, talking in hushed tones and toasting glasses. Uniform men and ladies went about with platters of wine and spare glasses. As one of the waiters passed them, Fiona grabbed two flutes of champagne and handed him one. "Are you sure this is a good idea? We're here for a mission, we should keep all our senses intact," he warned. Fiona smiled at him and replied, "This is an elite gathering, Leon, you will stand out like a butterfly in a bee's nest if you pass such champagne without grabbing one. Come on, blend in," she said and winked as she left him with a pat on the hand and strolled to the side of the room, gesturing to him to follow. Leon moved slowly to her even as he scanned the room. There were
Fiona hissed as Cassidy walked away, she looked back at Leon with a frown and said, "I guess you're getting very familiar with the guests." Leon could smell the jealousy of her from a few inches and he snorted. "She's someone I know," he replied casually and removed his hands from her hold. "When do we get to use the tunnel?" He asked. Fiona shrugged and liked it at the entrance, her eyes were a little hard and he could tell that she was displeased with him because Cassidy had come to say hello to him. He could never understand women and jealousy, especially when he wasn't even an item with her. "You should be careful, Brian said we shouldn't speak with anyone," she reminded him and gestured at Cassidy with her chin. Cassidy was at the corner of the hall, with a fresh flute of wine but her eyes remained on them boldly - she wasn't even trying to hide her glare towards Fiona. "Please tell me when you're ready to stop the glaring competition and go find Master Xavier," he sn
The tunnel was darker than Leon would have expected. He could not see anything beyond his nose and he could smell Fiona's floral scent as she almost clung to him. "It's so dark in here," he muttered disappointingly, "I guess we didn't factor that in." Fiona sighed and rummaged through her handbag, she retrieved her phone and was about to turn on the flashlight when Leon stopped her. " We're so close to the gallery that someone might see our reflection from within," he whispered and she dropped her phone. Listening closely, they both could hear the light chattering of people as they conversed in the gallery. "What do we do? I'm not so familiar with these tunnels, I've only been here once and I didn't really...well, I guess I didn't notice much," she said vaguely. Leon didn't enquire any further, he had a feeling that whatever brought her to the tunnel was either very personal or very embarrassing and whichever it was, she wasn't ready to divulge. "Follow me, stay close,"
Thankfully, the room was quiet and there was no one else within. Leon quickly went to check the door just to make sure it was locked and that they would be informed if anyone tried to open it - he did not want any distractions. The drapes as usual were pulled shut and very little sunlight permeated the room. The air conditioning unit was regulated very low and the room was almost too hot - especially for a man that was sick and needed as much comfort as he could get. "This place smells like death already," Leon said and moved to the window. As he looked down, he noticed that many more cars had even parked outside joining the already long line of luxury vehicles. It was clear that what Peters had told him about the meeting was not very far from the truth. It did not really make sense that people would be gathered in the name of professor Xavier when he wasn't even in the meeting himself. "I guess the rich are greedier than the poor," he stated plainly and moved away from the wind
Brian was shocked, he skipped to the bed quickly and sat right beside his elder brother. He hadn't seen him in such an okay state for a very long time. "This is a miracle!" He yelled out and tried to hug Xavier but Xavier pulled away. "What's wrong?" He asked, Xavier shook his head and looked at Brian oddly. "Brother, don't you remember me?" He asked worriedly and then turned to Leon with a curious state, "Does he have amnesia? Could he have lost his memories because of this?" He asked. Leon shook his head and tried walking close to the master, he hadn't detected anything like a memory loss when he tried to heal him. If that was part of his problem then the ring should have shown it to him too. "No, he hasn't lost his memory," he replied. "Well, then why is he acting strange? Why is he avoiding me?" Brian asked and looked at Leon like he knew something and wasn't telling him. "Master Xavier hasn't lost his memory," Fiona cut in and reminded all of them how he'd said he