"Madame I would need your help to find a dress." Jean explained to which his boss furrowed her eyebrows.

She looked at him in confusion; "A dress?" Audrey questioned as she took her mug of coffee into her own hands. "Why exactly?"

The butler lowered his head a little embarrassed: "Nathalie." He mumbled.

"Oh, I understand." The woman chuckled and grinned as she took a few steps closer to the tall man who was still staring at the floor. "For the gala tonight, right?"

"Right."

"You're so pathetic when you're in love Armand." Audrey laughed in his face. "But I'm sure she loves to see this helpless side of you."

The language the woman used was a bit unusual for Jean to hear.

Although indeed she was mocking him which shouldn't have felt like anything out of the ordinary, but as the man looked up for a moment; Audrey's face appeared almost serious.

"Madame please-"

"-Jean please!" She cut him off. "Get yourself together and let's find a dress"

There was a sense of bitterness in her voice.

Nevertheless, without wasting any more time, the woman made her way out of the kitchen and headed to a part of the hotel not many people knew existed.

Le Grand Paris was famous for holding many events, even fashion shows for which a runway or at least a great amount of space was needed.

Therefore, the hotel was equipped with just that.

When Audrey had married André many, many years ago, they began the renovation of this hotel, and while keeping the timeless antique beauty of the place, they still ensured that everything in terms of utilising the space was going to be as modern and as efficient as possible.

Because of this, Le Grand Paris had lots of hidden rooms and even more hidden spaces that were only exhibited to the public in times when events were held there.

So, Jean followed his boss into one of those secret rooms that stored archived pieces of clothing.

"Here!" Audrey exclaimed as she turned around to face the butler. "Pick any one you like."

Now she was about to leave, but the voice of the man had stopped the designer in her own steps.

"Well..."Armand gulped. "The issue is that I don't think I'm so strong in this area of clothes. I have no idea what Nathalie would like and I wouldn't want to pick a terrible piece that she feels bad in."

"So you'd rather let me pick a bad piece and blame it on me because she hates me anyway?" Audrey questioned with a dramatic expression, tensing using up the air between her and her employee for a split second.

However, when she saw the face of Jean heat up, she chuckled as a distraction.

"It's because you assume that a woman would understand this better, isn't it?" Audrey rolled her eyes to which the tall man before her nodded shyly.

"I suppose." He sighed. "Or it's just that a lot of time had passed since I last knew her...on a deeper level. Like when I knew Nathalie 10 years ago I knew exactly what she liked in all kinds of things...but now...I'm afraid to admit that I don't."

"So you just fucked now?" The woman asked out of the blue.

Her question completely caught the butler off guard.

"No!" He shook his head vigorously. "We also talked..." His face was even more scarlet than before, and his voice began to trembled.

Soon Armand couldn't even look his boss in her eyes.

All he could do was whisper: "We just didn't discuss things in...great detail."

"So it was all sex."

"No!" Jean immediately protested against that. "It wasn't all just sex. Don't say that!"

With red and teary eyes the man looked up for a moment. "We...I..." He wasn't able to find the right words.

Though time had built up an apparent distance between the two of them, a small, ambitious part of Armand felt that him and Nathalie began to get close again, and deep in his heart he couldn't be happier.

"You see how pathetic you act to save your skin." Audrey's words broke the silence. "You want to be who you used to be. That more innocent, less serious and nicer Jean...or should I say Armand?"

"Say what you want!" He spat, not wanting to hear what nonsense his boss was going to talk of. "I just want to...be with her."

"Well..." She grinned. "That was clear. But does she want the same?"

"Audrey please!" Jean turned away, furious.

This began with him wanting a simple favor, but now it had escalated into a heated argument.

Armand didn't want to engage any further in this stupid fight, so he almost stormed out of the room that they were in.

However, the very moment that he turned his back to his boss, her quick hands pulled him back.

"Face it!" She said. "You can't get back what you had ten years ago!" Her voice grew louder, irritating the butler with every single word.

"I don't want it back!" He argued, also raising his voice. "I want her now! I want what we could have now!"

"That's nothing!" Audrey yelled.

Her temper had grown to a scary degree by now and Jean didn't know what to expect.

He figured that surely enough his boss couldn't have gotten more aggressive.

He didn't even know why she acted so bitter in the first place.

However, in that very same moment, out of nowhere and without any foreshadowing; she slapped him.

"You Idiot." Audrey's voice trembled and her eyes began to tear up. "You are such an idiot!"

With that, the older woman was the one to storm out of the secret room, leaving behind a confused and hurt butler.

All he could do was hold the side of his face tightly with one hand in hopes of the bruising becoming less visible.

What was this for?

Armand didn't even know what to believe.

Did his boss feel betrayed?

Betrayed by what?

Did they ever even have anything that Jean betrayed?

He didn't know.

Maybe her anger was caused by the foolishness and blindness of him, but that shouldn't have justified her uncontrollably aggressive actions.

The butler shook his head and tried to ignore the burning feeling that one side of his cheek was experiencing.

With a sharp breath in he decided to go after Audrey, and if possible, try to question her.

"Madame?" He yelled upstairs to which the slam of a door responded.

She 'locked' herself in her own suite.

Armand sighed: this wasn't going to be easy.

In the meanwhile, Nathalie in the Agreste mansion was trying to hide her anxious face from her boss who tried to finish up pieces of the latest collection right in front of her.

While the dark haired woman typed away on her computer, her boss sew on the final touches to the clothes, and every now and then asked her for advice;

"Do they look good, Sancoeur?"

"Of course." The young woman looked up. "They are excellent, sir."

Gabriel smiled: "Thank you."

For the first time in forever he also felt proud of his work.

It was a rare occasion, but an amazing one.

"Would you like to try one on?" The designer's voice once again broke the silence between them.

Nathalie's eyes shot open: "W-Who? M-Me?" She stuttered. "Oh sir that's n-not a good i-idea."

"Why not?" The grey haired man chuckled. "The dresses are meant to be worn! That's their whole purpose!"

"Well yes..." The assistant gulped. "...But not by me."

"Nonsense." Gabriel shook his head and made his way over to his employee's desk. "Even I could wear them!" He laughed as he offered his hand to her. "Come on, one won't hurt."

"Oh those are some famous last words, sir!" Nathalie couldn't help but giggle along to the silly things her boss was saying.

She was glad that he was able to be this enthusiastic once again.

Plus, his playful spirit was awfully charming.

His smile and his eyes filled with passion brought a sense of happiness to the woman herself too.

So, completely lost in the magic of the moment; Nathalie accepted Gabriel's hand and let herself be dragged towards the dress.

The tall man grinned and took the opportunity just as fast.

"I hope you'll like this." He mumbled while brining his assistant closer to the exhibited piece. "After all it's meant to be one of the best in this collection."

"Really?" Nathalie grinned. "What makes it so special, sir?"

"Gabriel." He corrected her. "Let's not act as though we just met."

For a moment the dark haired woman froze in her own steps and went silent, but it only took a couple of seconds until a smile reappeared on her face and she nodded; "Gabriel."

"So, what makes it so special?" She had to ask again. "I mean it's visibly marvellous, but is there more to it?"

"Oh Sancoeur you can't even imagine." He smirked as his hands began to take off the dress from the mannequin. "You can't even imagine!"

To be continued-