5. Beating Hearts

                                    

                                          
Vienna was working in her office as she was seated behind her desk. She heard a knock on the door. She said "Come in."
Her secretary came in "Ma'am. I have brought you mail. You have a few letters today."
Vienna thanked her. After she left her office, she opened the letters one by one. She opened the last letter. It was an invitation to attend a fashion show as a special guest and also the invitation included the attendance of the after party too. The letter was signed by the designer herself who was a college friend of hers. She really liked Vienna's art work and designs. She liked to pull Vienna into the fashion business and collaborate with her. She wanted her to network with the fashion industry big names. But Vienna was always too busy to accept her invitations. This date was good and she could attend. But there was one problem. Tristan did not like this girl.
Chloe Collins was a friend of hers, Tristan did not tolerate. Vienna always met her when Tristan was not around. There were two reasons for that. Tristan hated her and also Chloe was scared of Tristan. Well the latter was a natural reaction of most people since he was intimidating. But either way it was unfortunate Chloe was in Tristan's bad books. The reason was good enough for Tristan. Chloe's crime was that she had tried to set her up with another guy on a date when they had first met. Chloe had not known Vienna had a boyfriend. Chloe had just assumed she was single because she acted so innocent. Before Vienna could even meet this guy Chloe had set her up with, Tristan had stopped everything. He did not hurt Chloe because Vienna had pleaded to him not to. Vienna had reasoned that Chloe had no idea who she was and she was not single. Tristan had let it go but of course he had dealt with Chloe and had put the fear of god her either way. Chloe had watched her step luckily and had not gotten on Tristan's nerves but if she did, Tristan was not going to let her off easy like he had after her first error.
That was all in the past now. Chloe kept in touch with Vienna  but she was busy a lot. Now Vienna thought it was a good idea to meet up. But she had to make sure Chloe was not going to be in any trouble. Vienna had to find a way to attend this event Chloe had invited her too but not anger Tristan in anyway. If her attending the event caused any inconvenience for Tristan, Chloe was going to pay dearly for it. Vienna was sure of it. If for instance this event clashed with any plans Tristan had for them, she was pretty sure the least that Tristan was going to do was destroy Chloe's career.  Tristan could do that to teach her a lesson if he wished it. Tristan was capable of anything. If anyone came between him and Vienna, he did not forgive them. 
So Vienna could not tell Tristan about this invitation yet. She had to test the waters first and then see if she could attend without endangering Chloe.
Vienna looked at her watch. It was lunch time. As she stood up, her heart skipped a beat.
Vienna saw Tristan leaning to the wall with his arms over his chest. Damn. She had forgotten she was meant to meet him for lunch. She was supposed to be in the lobby 10 minutes ago. Not good.
Tristan said "You have been so busy today to remember our lunch date..."
She smiled nervously "Sorry. I was bit busy... Let me tidy up here abit and I will be right with you."
She then quickly started putting the papers on her desk in a pile hoping to hide the letter before Tristan saw it. 
Tristan started walking towards her desk "I made a booking for us at a nice restaurant... You are late so you will make up double the time Vienna. You will have extended lunch time..."
Vienna looked up and was relived as that letter was out of sight "Ok. That is fine... I am sorry I wasn't in the lobby when I was supposed to and kept you waiting..."