A Millionaire, His Suit, And Poor Me

“Don't forget my birthday!"shouted a soft voice from behind us. “I won't let Christmas shadow him! Not this year.”

Jace slammed the door of our apartment, thus ending his boyfriend's constant discussion about his birthday, before handing me a cup of coffee and walking away haughtily.

“He will be my death,” she whispered, pulling a cap over her scratched forehead. “I swear it, Noras."He uttered another aggravated grunt and ran down the stairs. “What should 1 take from him?”

And of course, I'd forgotten that Jace and Louis couldn't really be mad at each other. Like, never. They were this couple th; everyone found absolutely too perfect and therefore hated, but that we secretly wanted to be. It's infuriating.

We ran through a now snowy Brooklyn as fast as we could, trying to avoid the mass of people on the way to work. I had survived my little depression and I was ready to go back to living my normal life, in pre-Henris mode.

My roommate wrapped his arm around mine as we walked through the streets. “We have a meeting as soon as we get to work. There's been a ruckus about Kimye's cover and Victoria is absolutely annoyed by it all, so we have to get ready.”

“I thought the one this morning would be the only one of the day," I complained. “I hate meetings. And I broke the coffee machine again and she knows perfectly well that it was my fault.”

“Again?”

“The little blue button wouldn't turn on and I pressed it too hard!”

Jace let out an incredulous grunt. “How is this possible? You're the only one who always breaks it”

“He hates me."

“Because you're breaking it”

“Because he hates me," I huffed, passing another too-slow pawn. “He hates me so he cracks up and hates me even more afterwards. It's an endless cycle.”

We made up, by pressing my shoulder against hers. “We will no longer discuss the feelings of inanimate objects” Jace announced. “There are more important things. Like, this page they sent us that morning. We have to finish it by Friday." “The portfolio I received from the photographer was crappy, though. We need another one.”

He nodded as we pushed open the revolving door of the Vogue office, which was already adorned with Christmas decorations and smelled of Chanel no 5 and coffee. In the corner was the sensational white tree with silver and gold decorations.

Everything was absolutely wonderful, and although I didn’t want to admit it to Jace, I loved every detail of the Christmas period. It was joyful and bright, and probably the best time to experience a breakup, considering that it was impossible t be sad, when there were little elves, Santa Claus and snowflakes everywhere.

As expected, Jace frowned at the decorations and we found ourselves in the communal office. It was, unfortunately, devo of any Christmas decoration. I was trying to find a way to include the holidays without offending my wincing colleague.

I had just sat down in my chair when the door opened, and I was almost hoping that Henris would burst in as he usually did when there was a fight. Instead, I found Sophia with rosy cheeks clutching a huge box. “Hi"She exclaimed happily, closing the door with her hip.

“This box is literally bigger than you!"

“Even heavier” He growled. *I found some Christmas decorations in the closet and your desk is boring. Let's decorate

it There was a strong yes! from me and a slight “hell, no fucki"from Jace. She stuck out her tongue at him. “Two to one. W win. We decorate.”

“This isn't even your office,” he reminded her.

The intern gave him a mischievous smile as she took a snowflake out of the box. “Good. Just like your apartment is not Louis's. I got it."

When our office was decorated with silver and bright white snowflakes, I had almost forgotten about the whole episode c nervous breakdown, it was Christmas and I didn't need Henris when I only had five people who I considered my best friends at work.

I sat to Victoria's right at the meeting, right next to Alice and opposite Aaron. Next to my swarthy colleague was Jace, and flitting around us, bringing cups of coffee to everyone present, was Sophia. The promotion more than a month ago had apparently freed me from this position.

My boss brushed his bangs out of his eyes, diamond rings sparkled in the light. “Is everyone ready?" There was a murmur unenthusiastic yes. A pause. It looks good. The January coverage will be different. The UK office wants something big afte the complete Kimye coverage fiasco.”

“But wasn't it our best-selling cover?”

“Yes,” Victoria said, annoyed. “But some people are psychopaths and that’s obviously not enough. Let's think about it." And that was all I needed to get away from the meeting, because thinking meant thinking about what Jace said a few day: ago, about the balance between what I needed and what Henris was able to give, and whether that was enough for me.

I wanted it to be enough. For a while, he tried to take me ice skating and buy ridiculously beautiful bags that I wore practically every day. But it wasn't enough when he skipped the hospital for a meeting.

“Noras?"exclaims Victoria. “Did you hear me?”

“What does it matter if people are psychopaths?”l blew, pressing the top of my pen. “So what if they want perfection in every magazine? And damn, the magazine cover is literally hitting our all-time best sellers. What if it's not perfect enough for people who expect everything? You can't always get what you want. The cover was great. The best we've ever had. The f**k the psychopaths who are waiting for the world. We tried and that should have been enough."

His right eye narrowed. “Interesting thought. Unrelated, but, interesting."

“It should have been enough for people in need who were waiting for the best,” I continued, leaning on the glass from th table. “They have to move on and realize that not everything can be perfect but that they can really, really try".

Five lost glances were staring at me, each in a variable state of confusion, shock, or understanding. Because Henris was t damn cover of Kimye and I was the psycho who expected too much from the best Vogue cover they had ever seen. Obviously, I was now at the point of comparing the love of my life to a fucking magazine cover. But, again, they also consider that, drunk, I asked Henris to buy me a febreze after shouting that I loved him... I hadn't hit rock bottom at that point.

which ended up being a kind of encouragement.

Jace grabbed me when we got out of the meeting, he jumped on my back and snuggled up to me. You're the psycho in ne and Henris is Kimye's cover! I got it! That's a great comparison, by the way. Esteem.”

“We obviously both have work to do," I replied, shrugging my shoulders in front of him. Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have not yet reached a completely respectable level of fashion, but they are working on it. And Henris was striving to be better boyfriend. And I'm a psychopath.”

“You both are, to be honest.”

“Annotated”.

He chuckled deeply and opened the door to our office. “So, what are you going to do now? Making a killer cover for this month?”

“I don't know,” I mumbled. “I don’t know how to call her and tell her that I completely screwed up and that I want to kiss. her and that I'm really sorry.”

“It seems like a good way to apologize.’

The phone rang the moment I opened my mouth to answer, cutting the sentence in half in my mind. I looked at it wistful “Don’t we have an assistant for this kind of thing?”

“l am angry with the assistant" The phone rang again and he gave her a suspicious look. “She voted against me and now our office looks like an exploded Christmas tree.”

I nodded, looking around, observing the excessive lights and the shiny objects that hang from the ceiling. Then the phon rang again, bringing me out of my Christmas calm, so with one last groan of frustration, I pressed my finger on the speake button. “The office of Jace and Noras."

“Noras."

And holy shit, the voice was deep and hoarse and so distinctly Henris that goosebumps rose on my arm and my heart stopped beating and I was pretty sure that's exactly what it feels like to drown. And then I hung up the phone.

The phone rang again a few seconds later, and I pressed my finger on the reject button again and again, until Jace looked me with fierce eyes. The process continued for a good minute until the calls stopped, leaving the room silent.

My mouth opened wide and I turned to Jace. “That's all I have. What?

And then my cell phone vibrated against the table. I jumped to the other side as fast as I could, grabbing the phone in my hands and unlocking the screen with my manicured fingers. A new message from Henris Steve.

jace and I sat in silence. It didn't take long for the door to open, surprising me even though I was expecting it. And there, a black jacket, a white shirt, jeans that hugged his legs and cheeks flushed by the wind, was Henris.

“We need to talk” he said softly, then he shifted his gaze to Jace. “Alone.”

My roommate left the room without a word and without looking over his shoulder and Henris literally stood right in front me. He had bags under his eyes and looked very, very stressed. But he was also so cute that it almost hurt.

I looked at him expressionlessly. “Hello.”

“Talk to me. Pause. Henris ran his hands through his curls in despair. His cold demeanor was beginning to dissipate. “Cou you come with me and talk to me? At my place.”

“Yes. I mean... Yes. I want to talk to you."

Henris just nodded slowly, his eyes a pronounced green following me as I finally managed to get up from my desk and make sure that my trembling legs did not give way under me. We walked side by side towards the exit of the building, no words exchanged between us.

Outside, James was waiting patiently by the familiar Range Rover. Henris's hand rested lightly on my hip, helping me get into the parked car. “Don’t stumble."He said softly.

And then we were on the road.