Running Away to London

by Geiza Stefany de Oliveira

  She looks right at me, looks like she has Stockholm Syndrome.

  “It is a bad situation, which I don't wish on anyone. I'm so sorry about all this. He can die of stress because he is in the place he should not be and someone has to tell him that.”

  Kim shrugs.

  “He likes what he does, he just needs some time.”

  Elliott Pollentier is arrogant and maybe he is just being strong by everyone. Kim is right, he can collapse or whatever. But I can not help him... maybe I could, but it would be wrong.

  Besides all that, what would I get? A nice boss or a process? My boss is still human, but I can not be his savior. I am also just a human being. Kim and I said goodbye after she told me a little more about her work with Mia.

  I have got the rest of my weekend to enjoy. I enjoy this sleeping a lot because the week will be intense. That is why I schedule physical exercises to help me with my back pain. I comprehend that rarely I sit while working.

  I am always walking everywhere. My boss stays seated most of the time, he is always running out of time for something. I seriously think and reflect on his situation. I do not even know him, honestly, but should I go over my pride to try to help him slow down?

  Chapter 9

  It is only Monday and I already enter my boss's office with many orders in my hands. I know these are from samples that some couture brand sent to the next issue of the magazine. Outside Mr. Pollentier's room, there is a lot of movement.

  “Good morning, Liz.”

  Greets me the Pollentier’s new assistant. He is 22 years old, dresses better than me and has a handsome boyfriend. The tall man comes from Japan. When I arrived in Milan, he was already here.

  “Good morning Hisashi.”

  He always watches my shoes as I walk into my boss's office. I do not greet my boss because he does not greet me either. Sometimes we pretend to be a ghost in here. The day is rainy, the weather is ripe for hot chocolate and Christmas movies — the rain always reminds me of Christmas.

  Today, however, the day is a lot of work. My boss is standing ready to see the samples that have got arrived, next to him, has a beautiful girl who notices me.

  “Is she your new assistant?”

  I turn after leaving the boxes stacked on the carpet. They stare at me, Elliott, in turn, is serious as ever. The girl, however, stares at me holding her pendant — she has a small diamond stone. Seeing them like that they even look, family...

  The teenage brunette with long straight black hair and clear blue eyes is Mia Pollentier. She is about her brother's height, so she is much taller than me. I notice the huge Gucci bag on her shoulders, she wears black pants with white boots and a huge plaid top over it.

  “This is Luiza.”

  “Oh, you are beautiful! I'm Mia, Elliott's sister.”

  Mia approaches me and squeezes my hand. She smiles so politely at me that I am embarrassed for a moment.

  “Nice to meet you, Mia. I am Liz.”

  “Oh, there she goes!”

  Suddenly she takes my hand and makes me spin to see my body. I get very flushed, even joking on her part.

  “Have you ever been a model, Liz?”

  “Well ... it's been a long time, but it happened only once.”

  “I knew, your way of walking and this body denounced you. Come on, let's talk!”

  Immediately we hear Elliott clear his throat, Mia stares at him and lets herself scold for him:

  “Another day, Mia. We have got a lot of work here.”

  “Okay, nice to meet you.”

  She says.

  “The pleasure was all mine!”

  We said goodbye. She is the one who comes out of here lighter, with her head up and walking quietly. My boss stares at me from top to bottom which does not happen much. It reminds me of what happened in Milan, so I look away and keep an eye on the agenda.

  Today, he dresses completely in gray. Mr. Pollentier wears Italian social shoes. It is interesting how he dresses, I realize how much he likes sets. Miraculously, it is fine with the samples. What happens is that today you have got a meeting with the team, so things can get complicated.

  The Pollentier Magazine looks like a tuneless orchestra. Everyone here is thinking of doing their best, but that best is far from what Mr. Pollentier wants. I move from side to side outside the room. My heels clatter on the carpet, I can not help but spy on just a little.

  Today is worse than anything I saw when I arrived. Elliott Pollentier is very angry with the team because they have got absurd ideas about what the company values. I understand when someone's idea is too progressive or treats women as objects in a cool way.

  This makes me reflect on what Mr. Pollentier wants for the editions. I know he wants female empowerment, well-being, architecture... the problem is that the team started acting like everyone was in Babylon, which makes me laugh. I compared some past editions with the current ones and the content is clashing.

  “It's all crap! You are producing content that suits people who do not value the beauty or lifestyle of our customers and nothing else the magazine represents! What is wrong with you? Our readers are not buying because this doesn't represent them and I will no longer tolerate this subversion!”

  I can hear why he screams and the sound is muffled. Something tells me that everyone will be fired now. Everyone around has only ears for the meeting room. I walk slowly to the closet, because I know I will be safe there. Before I reach the elevator, people leave the meeting room stomping.

  A screaming starts on the floor and I pray to God that my boss does not see me now. Honestly, I am worrying a lot more about the company than about it right now. Anna Wintour once said, "You're nothing without a good team." And no matter how good the team here is, they are not in harmony with the boss.

  I decide to go to the front line of the war. I realize in seconds that my boss is leading and not following anything that was thrown at the table for him. However, it is not easy to lead people who think that everything should be about them and not to the company. If Mr. Pollentier is like his father, then I know he is seeking to satisfy the needs of readers.

  Things are getting clear in my head now because I am making a giant effort to see the man under that arrogant one. I see every day how much talent he has for the work he does, and his details capture things I would not see with the naked eye. He grew up in these corridors, it makes sense. He does not apologize for who he is.

  I still hate this man, but Pollentier Magazine matters to me. I pick up Hisashi's agenda, into my boss's office, ready to take the appropriate action.

  “Liz, get your bag and coat now!”

  He interrupts me as I write. I look at my boss with a frown, though afraid to be fired. This is the first time he calls me Liz.

  “Yes, sir.”

  As Mr. Pollentier takes his coat, I prepare to go with the Hisashi agenda. My cell phone is already beeping, people already know what happened here and the situation will be very ugly. I stay with my boss in the elevator. No one dares enter until we leave.

  He snorts, is about to explode. I try to look firm, like my boss's bodyguard. We walked together side by side in silence until we found the parked supercar. Oh God, what are we going to do? I start to get a nervous wreck, not for the company, but for me.

  My boss stops and triggers the control that makes a Ferrari 458 Spider blink. Why is all of him Italian? I pout, annoyed. We walk a little farther and suddenly Mr. Pollentier comes to the same side as me. He opens the door for me, facing me, and then extends his hand to me.

  I look into his eyes, wonder if this is some sort of bad joke! Without patience, I hold his warm hand and slide into the Ferrari. I see my disgruntled boss in life walking around to sit next to me and drive his car. Inside it has a peculiar smell, mixed with Giorgio Armani.

  I feel the comfortable luxury it has. I have got never been to a Ferrari before and I can say that I love breaking it today. Elliott knocks on the door and starts driving bluntly. He is silent and cont
inues as he takes us out of the building.

  It would be amazing if he told us where we are going after what happened, but the silence remains. We are going to Belgravia, near Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace Gardens.

  When he leaves the B310, everything starts to get intense. My sight begins to accelerate as if we in a video game, the streets are wet and he is a jerk. Ferrari goes faster than a racing game, advancing signals, and every moment I am afraid something will hit us!

  “Elliott, please...”

  “What's it?”

  Exasperated question taking his eyes off the street and placing them fully on me. He looks me angry.

  “Please control yourself! We will hit something, but that...”

  Taking my eyes off the street and staring at him, Elliott is looking at me nonstop with his superior look.

  “Can you please look at the street?”

  I scream, venting my anger. In seconds, he looks at the street and then sighs:

  “Liz!”

  I feel his arm pinning me to the seat before I even react something violently hits us both... within seconds we turn and rollover. Scream, terrified, hear cracking, things breaking... everything goes dark and I see nothing the instant my head hits.

  Chapter 10

  My body hurts, the only thing I hear is the screams of my uncontrolled boss. I do not have got the strength to open my eyes, my head hurts a lot. I lose consciousness very quickly... I open my eyes entering the hospital.

  “Will she be all right?”

  I hear my boss ask in a tone I never heard, right next to me while I am on the move. I lose consciousness once more before hearing the answer. I wake up with a caring doctor in front of me.

  Looks like my head was cracked by a very sharp ax... I was not wearing a seat belt, I feel my body burning... I look around bewildered. I get up at once but fall instantly without balance...

  “You suffered a brain concussion.”

  The doctor explains, trying to calm me down and I despair. I can not take it anymore, my heart speeds up and I am about to freak out. Scream in good Portuguese sound!

  “That idiot, I swear if I see him he won't have 5 minutes left to live!”

  I have got to calm down and accept what my boss has done to me. I bet all the money I own that Elliott is fine! In the meantime, I have got to say what I am feeling... I am terrible. I cry for the first time in months. I screwed myself up in this accident.

  An intense fear runs through me, no one can comfort me because I do not want to. God, what if I can not get back to normal? I can not have sequels! I cry a little more until I get my head tested. That bastard will pay me for all this!

  Chapter 11

  I open my eyes feeling a little sick. My head hurts absolutely. I turn on the stretcher to try to ease the pain, but I find my boss walking over to me. Everything about me changes instantly.

  “Go away, Elliott, before I mess up!”

  I scream wanting to get out of this stretcher and jump around his neck. Elliott looks at me strangely, he stops beside me worriedly.

  “I'm not leaving.”

  I take a deep breath.

  “Look what you did to me!”

  My tears roll down my cheeks.

  “No, don't cry like that.”

  He dries my tears, making me disgust with his thumbs on my skin.

  “I tried to protect you.”

  “With an arm? After driving like that? This can only be a big joke!”

  “Not quite, Liz...”

  “You are unbearable!”

  He takes his hand away from me.

  “An irresponsible, thick and arrogant! People hate being around you! I hate having to stare at you and see that look you think is better than everyone else because you have money! I hate you, Elliott! Your business will sink because you are unable to manage it! Do you want to know what? Your father must be very ashamed of you! Now leave me alone, you asshole!

  He stares at me, disappointed. I smiled, strangely. Looks like I did not affect him, by any sentence...

  “I brought your mother.”

  “What?”

  “Take a few days, Liz.”

  That is all he says and I do not know why, but I do not scream that I quit... I keep quiet watching him get out of here. I cry a lot more until my mother arrives. She spots me in the bedroom, shocked to realize my condition.

  “Oh, my daughter ... I'm so sorry...”

  My mother hugs me carefully, smelling of candy. I love her perfume, but today is killing me. We are equal in everything except the emotional one. In that, I did just like my father's asshole.”

  I have got her light eyes and her silky blond hair. My mother taught me to be vain, to love high heels, to be always spotless, and to desire things that the accommodated majority are unwilling to pursue. She is an excellent lawyer and 50 years old.

  "We are going to your apartment, Liz, and you will soon be brand new.”

  She does not admit what's happening to me and neither do I. When I finally get discharged from the hospital, my head still hurts and I feel dizzy all the time. That is why I go out with my mother in a wheelchair. In front of her, I hold her cry.

  If my mother sees me cry, she is likely to give me the greatest sermon of all. She was always stricter than my father in many ways. Strangely, my mother looks a little like Elliott.

  “Oh my God! Do you still live in this horrible cube, girl?”

  I take a deep breath. My flatmate Rebekah — the most empowered woman I've ever seen in my life, a beautiful Jew — looks at me in shock. Today she has loose, wavy hair and wears a black sweatshirt set.

  “What happened?”

  She approaches and my mother puts in front of me to intervene...

  “She crashed into a Ferrari with the deliveryman. Can you prepare a soothing tea for her?”

  My mom insists, his hands-on-hips.

  “Mom, Rebekah doesn't have got to do this...”

  “I make you some tea, obviously you need a lot.”

  My mother takes me to my room after I thank Rebekah. I just wanted to know how my mother knows about the accident. A suspicion crosses my mind: Elliott may have talked to her.

  I lie down after having a shower. I drink the tea Rebekah made, my mother tries to kick her out of my room after I tell her how it went. Now, just the two of us stay here.

  She sits next to me, I notice how she lost weight and seems to be working out. After the divorce, she gave up on life, unlike me.

  “So, I think you should go back to Brazil.”

  I take a deep breath. I love my mom, but right now she is trying to get me crazy.

  “If I come back, my father will stay behind me and not leave me alone.”

  She frowns at me like I am 12 years old with a tantrum.

  “Sweetie, he is still your father, even after all that has happened.”

  My mouth is open, looking at my mother.

  “Are you serious?”

  “I know we fought a lot, but it's been a year, Luiza. It is time for us to leave this behind and get on with our lives.”

  “You guys came back?”

  I feel like crying remembering all the trauma I experienced with their separation in Brazil. I can not stand the idea of going back there one day.

  “Of course not! I won't go back to your father, even if he begs me on my knees in gravel.”

  I take a deep breath. My mother sits like a girl by my side. She smiles at me, holding my hand as she used to. I miss her so much, and I want to hug her now.

  “Please, don't ask me to go back to Brazil. Dad has let me down like no one in my life. It's horrible when he gets behind me and I have to push him away with the harshest, most foul words.”

  “It's because you love him and he's still your father.”

  “Frankly, I don't understand you.’

  “Oh, sweetie! I told you, it's been a year. Remember how things used to be in Brazil. Everything I see around you has nothing to do with who you were except for
your work. Even so, let's face it, a costly course that your father paid you was thrown in the trash when you agreed to work to get coffee and iron clothes your boss.

  She makes me feel stupid. I look away just wanting a rest. Everything is fine with my mother: she stayed with my father's house, bought a new car and is still dating a man younger than her. However, with me, nothing goes very well.

  “Excuse me mom, but leave me alone. I need some rest.”

  She is the one who takes a deep breath.

  “I'll enjoy London a little, but don't forget that you can't escape reality forever.”

  Chapter 12

  Reality is a shit. It would be amazing if everyone could live in their reality, one in which you see with glasses Dior. I had my peers, a perfect boyfriend who was in love with me in Brazil.

  He was the systematic neighbor, who had got two cat puppies and was always making renovations. One day I had to knock on his apartment door to complain about the infiltration he was making into my apartment.

  There was intense anger in me. I was still paying installments for that apartment in Buritis, a beautiful neighborhood in the capital of Minas Gerais. That day I was in a bad mood and has got come from the market ready was going to throw my diet in the trash. However, the infiltration made me go upstairs and knock on that man's door.

  I never had seen him. His voice, however, was flashy and manly. Anyway, he answered me in a good mood. His puppies immediately surrounded me, much to my annoyance.

  “You're ruining my apartment!”

  It was the first thing I said, to his astonishment. His beauty and cheerfulness did not impress me at that moment.

  “I'm sorry, it was the boys...”

  “I don't care, man! You'll fix the crap you did on my ceiling!”

  I turned my back on him thinking I caught it so lightly. I laughed at his Fred Mercury mustache. I got home seeing my ceiling destroyed once more and went straight to the kitchen to open the jar of chocolate ice cream. I had just graduated, was working and earning more than any other job in my life.