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Indeed, I was up to something, but it wasn't going to be anything that would actually hurt my younger brother. I guess it was my way of setting things right.
Ian
Paris. Even before getting to the hotel, I had witnessed close to twenty couples kiss each other in public. I always thought those kinds of tropes only existed in the pages of a corny romance novel or in a scene in a romantic comedy. But this was Paris, the romance capital of the world. Who decided that? The French, authors, or whatever, I had no idea. But they were indeed living up to their reputation.
I settled down.
The conference wasn't going to be a one day thing. Although the event wasn't meant to start till the following day, there was going to be a mini- networking session. The conference was for people who had achieved a lot this season. I heard there was going to be an award presentation to outstanding people in each field.
Normally they'd tell the recipients ahead of time. As Ethan didn't tell me anything there were two possibilities: he had forgotten he was going to get an award or he wasn't getting an award. I prayed to the stars above that the latter was the case, because I wasn't in the mood to give a speech. Anyway, I needed to go for the networking session. I wanted to have a basic idea of how people who knew Ethan would act around him, so I could reciprocate accordingly.
As I stepped out of my hotel, room I noticed a flash of blonde hair. My heart skipped a beat as I noticed a woman a few meters away from me with her back turned to me and the golden hair right below her neck. I didn't need to see the face.
It wasn't her.
"I thought you'd have gotten over her by now," I said to myself with a sigh.
I wouldn't have been able to forget about her no matter how hard I tried. She still haunted my memories, and it didn't help that I went through the texts sent between me and the false persona. I relived the moments we shared, again and again. It felt like I was doing more harm than good to myself.
Time and time again, I found myself compiling texts or making the attempt to call her, only to stop myself halfway. It wasn't one of the best states I had ever been in.
Lovesickness: a word and disease I never thought I would one day associate myself with and be unable to cure. Well, besides some true medical diseases. I left the hotel and head down to the event. The location was in another hotel's event hall. The place was grand, a little too big for an event that was only expecting fifty to sixty guests. As expected, I knew little to no one here, but…
"Dr. Ethan Sullivan. It's a pleasure to meet you in person."
"Dr. Sullivan, I've heard so much about you."
"Ethan Sullivan, so good to finally meet you."
Luckily for me, most of the people who knew Ethan had never met him in person. It was a good thing because they didn't know how he acted; that reduced the level of acting I actually had to do. Most asked for advice concerning stitching and the likes. All I did was to tell them what I had observed from Ethan, along with everything else he had taught me.
We brothers often took time to learn from each other. We didn't spend all our time focusing solely on our strengths, just in case we ever encountered an emergency case that the other person had a proficiency in. Well, it was just little bits of information, but enough to keep the guests impressed and fooled.
"You sure do know a lot, Dr. Sullivan," a voice remarked.
The voice. One so familiar that I had almost forgotten about how melodic it actually was. My heart started to pound. I turned and there she was. Dressed in a beautiful black evening gown, with a slit to show off her beautiful left thigh. The emerald jewelry highlighted the beauty of her eyes.
And those lips, glossed to enhance her natural beauty. Dr. Natasha James.
"Natasha…" I called softly.
She didn't know I was going to be here. As usual, she had met Ethan. She started walking toward me and leaned to my ear.
"It's nice to see you again, Ian," she whispered.
She knew at a glance who I was. She smiled and walked away, while I remained frozen in place, unable to say anything either.
"Oh, is that Dr. James?" one of the guests asked.
"She's as gorgeous as the rumors say," another remarked.
"Did you hear? Apparently she's getting an award for her help with the UN," someone said.
"A true prodigy," another uttered.
Natasha wasn't really a prodigy. Just someone who worked extra hard to meet the expectations of everyone around her. I could tell because she was the woman I loved.
"I didn't know she was going to be here," someone said.
