Chapter 19: Everyone Fears The Snake
ADRIEN’S POV
"Like it?" Orion asks cheerfully as he saunters into the building.
The building in question is a large, modern hotel situated right in the heart of New York’s entertainment district.
A hotel that has ’I PROIKA SOU’ molded with fine gold and melded into the front of the building.
"It’s...something." I’m not even sure what that means and I honestly don’t want to know why he’s even asking this.
This is just a stopgap before we go to his actual job— a front for his other business that he loves more than anything.
"Tell me you love it." He stops walking right in front of the doors and turns to me, eyes glittering with something unreadable.
"I love it," I reply monotonously, my voice neither rising nor falling.
He turns and walks into the building without a second glance at me, but I catch the sides of his lips tilting upwards in a pleased smirk.
What a prick.
"Keep up, duckling." He gestures me over like a dog, striding up to the reception desk like a man who already knows how everything is going to go for him.
Immediately he steps in, the lobby goes silent. Not even the slightest bit of chatter is heard. The receptionists at the front desk rise to their feet in greeting, while the other guests send him curious glances.
Their gazes burn even from across the lobby, causing something in my chest to twist. It was like this then too, we were in a hotel like this then—
"Stop thinking so loudly." Orion hisses as he side-eyes me. It’s impossible for me to think loudly, so I guess the one who’s thinking out loud is him.
He probably remembers that day...but not as clearly as I do.
"I’m sorry." I wonder just what he remembers. Does he remember everything as clearly as I do? Down to the smallest detail like I do?
I honestly doubt it.
He ignores me and strides up to the receptionists bowing to greet him, and makes his way to the front desk— a charming smile already in place.
"It’s been a while, darlings. You must have missed me as much as I have missed you...right?" He flirts so smoothly, an unwelcome thought slips into my mind.
I wonder if he’s fucked her?
"We did, Mr Orion! Every one of us did! It’s been a while since your last booking." The receptionist on the right chirps cheerfully. She sounds genuinely happy to see him.
I can’t imagine anyone being genuinely happy to speak with the personification of insanity...but there was once a time—
"Oh, but Niko told me he’s been taking good care of you? Was he lying to me, darling?" His grin doesn’t slip, but that easy smile is replaced with something sharper.
"No he wasn’t. Mr Niko has been coming here frequently, Mr Orion."
This is the second time she’s referring to him that way. Why does she keep calling him Mr Orion? It makes no sense.
Why not call him Mr Vassilis?
"That’s great to hear. Though, I thought he’d been done with that by now." It’s an odd thing to notice, but I just realized he hasn’t looked at the other receptionist. Not even once.
I’m getting a freakishly bad sense of deja vu over here.
"I’m not exactly sure what you mean, but Mr Niko does seem to be enjoying our services, and we always do our best to serve him well." She bats her eyelashes playfully at him. "And you too of course."
So, they did sleep together?— They probably do it a lot for her to be this comfortable with him.
"And here I was thinking that I was the only one you were providing with good entertainment," he slumps forward, faking sadness, "it seems that everyone is lacking a sense of loyalty nowadays."
She lets out a short laugh at his antics. "That is definitely not the case..."
This is what I hate about Orion. I mean, I hate the man, but this is one of the things I really hate about him— his ability to draw people into his sphere like it’s nothing.
If you handed Orion an axe and told him to chop off this woman’s head, he’ll ask you to play a tune so he can get into character— like an axe murderer. He’d treat it like a joke.
He’d treat everyone and everything as a joke.
This isn’t real. This friendliness he shows her is the farthest thing from reality. She doesn’t know how terrifying he is...none of them really do.
No one but me.
"Well, I have business inside as usual, so I’m going to have to cut our lovely meeting short." he smiles charmingly.
"Will you be taking a guide again today?" Her smile falters slightly. Fast but still too slow for me not to catch.
We didn’t just come here to ’meet a friend’, did we?
"It’s good that you asked, because I will in fact be taking a guide," his gaze settles on the second receptionist, "and I have decided that my guide will be this lovely, young gentleman."
I swear she sighs in relief. The moment Orion’s attention shifted to the other receptionist, her shoulders seemed to slump in relief.
The other receptionist looks up at Orion, face pale and eyes wide. "M-Me, Sir?"
"Yes, you." He responds cordially, already making his way across the room to the elevator. "Hurry up. I can’t guide myself, you know?"
Why would he need a guide? He’s clearly familiar with this establishment, and he’s even more familiar with its employees, so why is he asking for a guide?
And why is that woman’s first reaction to sigh in relief at not being chosen? She was just flirting with him two minutes ago.
"Don’t start lagging behind now, duckling," he turns to me, lips twisted in a cruel smirk, "it’s about time you threw away the idea that you’ll understand everything if you try enough."
He walks into the elevator with the receptionist following closely at his heels. Why the hell would the guide be following the one who ’needs’ to be guided?
"I don’t understand what you mean, Orion. All I want to do is understand what you’re doing." I step into the elevator after the sweating receptionist.
He peers over the receptionist’s head and down at me, dark eyes narrowing playfully. "And you will understand...when you finally decide to tell me what you know I want to know."
I guess we’re both not going to be exposing ourselves to each other then. Maybe going along with his whims isn’t so bad.
After all, it’s always been do or die with him.
"As I said before, I do not understand what you mean...Orion."
The temperature in the elevator plummets. Orion raises one dark eyebrow neatly, expression tinted with something that looks strangely like—
"I wonder what makes you believe that innocence suits you. Maybe it’s time I disavowed you of that notion..."
