No one expected that the road accident would turn a fifteen minute ride into thirty. By the time Felicia and Sarah arrived at the coffee shop, the place was packed. Thankfully, Justin had their breakfast ready but the coffee was already cold. Felicia wished that she had told Justin to order when they were a few minutes closer.
“We’re off schedule.” Sarah reviewed the day’s itinerary. She thumbed down her phone and switched apps. She frowned. “I think we have to change locations for the meeting.”
“That traffic is awful. What’s the cause?” Felicia turned to Justin who was about to bite into his sandwich.
“Well, according to the news, the drivers saw a carriage suddenly appear in the middle of the street. They swerved and hit the other cars.”
“Could it be something like, uh, shared hallucination or something?”
Justin shrugged. “I dunno. That’s what they said.”
Sarah looked at Felicia. “It might be shared hallucination. You won’t find fancy carriages in this side of Piccadilly.”
“Well, not suddenly appearing in the middle of the road.”
“I think those guys are just high.” Justin’s remark was met with a giggle and a snort.
Sarah rolled her eyes. “You’re the brightest crayon in the box, Justin. The brightest crayon.”
“Thanks.” He replied, not registering the insult.
“Felicia, your meeting with Y Company is moved to ten to The Restaurant. It’s new, classy, and a few blocks from here.”
“Perfect.” Felicia pulled out her phone to check her messages. “Perfect! Patrick cancelled. Move the rest of my appointments and leave an hour in between.”
“Noted.”
“Oh and insert an hour for my visit to RayComm. I haven’t told Wella yet about me being here.” Felicia cupped the curled ends of her hair and gave them a light squeeze. “How do I look?” She faced Justin.
“Terrific, Felicia.”
“Wrong.” Felicia rolled her eyes and sighed. “You’re supposed to say ‘gorgeous’ with a flourish.” She looked at her cold cup of coffee and back at Justin. “Do get me a fresh cup. This time, get me an Americano with an extra shot of Espresso, all right?” Her smile was enough to launch Justin quickly to the counter. It was a kind of smile that made you feel like her tolerance was wearing thin and her tempter was about to break.
Sarah stifled a laugh. “Now, now. Let’s be kinder to kids.”
“I am being kind.”
“You looked like you were going to fire him.”
“I can’t, you know. He’s not my assistant.”
“Here’s your coffee!” Justin interjected with triumph. He placed the freshly brewed grande in front of Felicia as carefully as he could.
“You pass day fourteen, Justin.” Sarah gave him a slow clap but the sarcasm in her demeanor was lost to him. Sarah wasn’t quite sure if it was a good thing.
The traffic eventually eased by lunch. To still be on schedule, Felicia’s meetings have been moved to The Restaurant which was nearby. The Almighty knew she needed more than a shot of Espresso to get her through the day. Her meeting with Callahan objectively went smoothly but she just couldn’t help but be distracted by his polka-dotted necktie against his aquamarine shirt. It was just atrocious.
“Even Justin noticed it,” Sarah whispered a few minutes after the group from Y Company left. “It must be that bad.”
“Totally.” Felicia stopped herself from rolling her eyes and tried very hard to keep herself from remembering the tacky color combo and the bad choice of texture.
The launch meeting at lunch with Kaleidoscope Hotels, Pella Designs, and Ray Communications was thankfully better than the first. Felicia could count on each companies’ CEOs to actually send people with impeccable style. She especially loved Kaleidoscope Hotels’ uniform. The cheerful pastel pink, silver, and cream combination was just to die for. It was the right amount of color.
By one-thirty, all of Felicia’s official business was done and that couldn’t make her any less excited to see Wella. However, she needed more coffee if she were to survive all the shopping she had planned when they drop by Mayfair later at five. “Sarah, can you check my itinerary for tomorrow and make sure to make room for dinner with Patrick and his family? I’ll make a quick detour to get some coffee. Pick me up after thirty minutes?”
“Aye, aye.”
Felicia picked up her bag and happily headed to the nice green café. As usual, it was packed but that makes for good business. She ordered her usual Americano, sent Sarah a text message that she got her drink earlier than anticipated and that she would be meeting them in The Restaurant. She needed the exercise anyway.
The street wasn’t as busy as a few hours ago thanks to the accident. She thought that it was a good thing that there was a bit of sun while it happened. London’s weather was just too gloomy for her taste. Then again, she loved being able to dress up in the appropriate fashionable layers. Gray, when paired with the right color and cloth texture, will look more than trendy in this kind of backdrop. She took note of a throng of young adults and grinned at their sense of style. She could see it. Pretty soon everyone in London will be wearing her designs. It will be fab. She crossed the street as soon as the pedestrian light lit green and sauntered to the other side of the road.
Felicia’s phone rang prompting her to pull out her Bluetooth headset from her bag. “Hello, Felicia here.” There was a crackle on the other end before the line got cut. She paused, took out her phone, and checked her call history. She tried dialing back but noticed that there was no reception. Puzzled by the sudden sound of a complaining horse, she instinctively stepped back — a few seconds too late. She fell on something wet and coarse. After another few seconds to compose herself, she looked up and found herself face to face with a neighing horse. The voice asking her if she was all right registered later.
“I’m all right. Just…” Felicia looked down at her suit and to where she was sitting before she shrieked. “Ewww.” She bolted to her feet, daintily picking up her bag. “Oh my god! My bag and–” She surveyed her skirt which was caked with mud. “And my dress!” She looked at her shoes in horror. She fixed her attention on the shorter, skinnier man in front of him. “Do you know just what you did?”
The man looked smaller now, a little scared. He shook his head, casting his eyes down to see just how much damage he had incurred and looked puzzled.
“This—” Felicia raised her glossy white bag. “Is a limited edition Louis Vuitton bag that’s practically a collector’s item! This— ” She pointed at her shoes. “Is a custom-made Stuart Weitzman! This— ” She gestured to her suit. “Is a suit designed exclusively for me by Versace! No one else in the world owns a similar suit. And this!” She tried to reach for her sunglasses and to add to her horror it was nowhere in sight. “Ugh! My Chanel glasses! They are all ruined!” She stomped her feet in frustration. “Can you at least get me back to my apartment and we can talk about how you can pay me back!” She breathed in. “And what is with this?” She gestured at the carriage. “Are you doing some period drama? You should have a permit to shoot here, right?”
Felicia became more frustrated when she realized that the man didn’t seem to understand her. “Do you have a permit to shoot here?” She was more than upset. She became even more upset when she saw her venti cup lying lifelessly close to the gutter. She noticed then that the road looked different. When she looked up, she saw that Piccadilly street didn’t look like Piccadilly street. In fact, the whole place looked antiquated.
“Miss?”
“Where am I?” Felicia looked around and felt strange. It was that kind of strange you feel after waking up from a very disturbingly realistic dream.
“In London, Miss.”
“I know that but this doesn’t look like London. I mean where are the shops?”
“Shops?” The man looked panicked. “They’re by Bond Street Miss.”
“Oh my god. Seriously?” Felicia walked towards her empty venti cup and picked it up. The road was miraculously clear which was quite a contrast to the busy street she was crossing earlier. “Did I really walk into a period drama set or am I just, like, in a period drama set?”
The man mumbled something which Felicia deciphered as an apology.
“Well, whatever. Just show me your permit and then I can contact your manager.” Felicia stretched out her hand. “Or, you know what? Forget it. I’ll get your manager’s number and contact them right now! That’s a perfect idea.” She reached into her bag to look for her phone. She found it lying on the ground a few inches from one of the horses hooves. She eeped as she swooped it away.
A tall man descended from the carriage. “What is all this ruckus about?”
The ‘driver’ walked up to the man in a nervous frenzy probably attempting to explain what had happened. The taller man looked angry and barked something in French. It was too low so Felicia didn’t quite hear it. She frowned. What kind of co-star would be so mean?
“Is that your manager?” She walked up to them and faced the taller man. “Hello. Your talent here didn’t quite see me and he got my suit, bag, and shoes dirty. He also kind of made me lose my sunglasses in the process so I was just telling him I needed to talk to you.”
The taller man, who Felicia thought wasn’t exactly as tall as he looked, gave her a leveled glare.
She raised an eyebrow. “What?”
The guy didn’t answer her. Instead, he glowered at the poor actor. “Remove this chit from the road,” He said in clipped French and thrust a small satchel to the shorter man. “Give her this and tell her to leave!”
Felicia placed both her hands on her hips. “Like, don’t call me a chit. I mean, who goes around calling girls chits like we’re some receipt you get from a Filipino bar?” She walked up to the guy, effectively blocking his way to the carriage. “And you know what? You shouldn’t be talking to your talent like that as if you’re from the mid-18th century where servants grovel at their master’s feet.” She snapped her fingers in front of him. “Do you get my drift?” She returned his glare. “And don’t you go all French on me, boy.”
Felicia turned to the poor man and smiled at him. “Sorry I got you into trouble. If he fires you, I’ll get you a job at my firm.” She checked her phone and pursed her lips when she noticed that there was no signal and that the cute glittery stickers were marred with mud. “Ugh. I hate this carrier.” She was going to walk away to look for a better spot when she was whirled around. She was facing a very angry face. It was not a hot, attractive, angry face, she thought ruefully. “What?”
“Who are you?” He breathed in English.
“Who are you?” Felicia emphasized the pronoun.
“Jonathan Everett Lyons.” He said it like he was some hot shot that she ought to know.
Well, fat chance, Felicia thought. Unless you’re Bill Gates and you earn 30 billion dollars or more a month, you’re not in my book. “I don’t care if you’re one of the best managers or just a cosplay pervert who gets off on Pride and Prejudice but you have no right to scold your talent since we both didn’t see each other because, apparently, that thing–” she pointed at the carriage, “and I suddenly appeared out of nowhere.” She crossed her arms. “Now if you can give me your lawyer’s number, I’ll get my lawyer to talk to them so we can get into a mutual understanding about how you’re going to pay for what has been ruined in the process of your talent’s method-acting.”
“I beg your pardon!”
Felicia was on her wit’s end. “How many times do I have to explain it so you’ll understand? Do you want me to say it in English, Greek, German, Chinese, Japanese or do you want me to translate it in all five?” She was going to claw his eyes out if he doesn’t stop playing dumb.
After what seemed to be a very long moment, the guy turned his back. “Let’s discuss this in my carriage. We’re interrupting others from their business.”
She expected to see cars lined up behind his ridiculous carriage but found a queue of carriages instead. It struck her then. This wasn’t 2013, London. It was something else. She felt like cold water was just dumped on her. She’s going to miss her ambush shopping appointment with Wella if she didn’t do something.
< Chapter 1 | Chapter 3 >
Author’s Notes
Thanks for reading! Chapters 3 to 5 are still in progress and will be available later in November. See you again in November!
The Night Whispers 