Athena sat quietly as Julio and Yehezkel walked over to the shade she sat in, with Damien.
The afternoon had gone by calmly, irrespective, she thought deeply about those thought-provoking words from Theodore's lips.
'Did it ever occur to you that he may already be aware?'
The statement haunted her. The probability, the mere possibility of it being true weighed like a gallon over her shoulders.
She watched the men as they walked. Yehezkel in his tall, lean muscular build. Julio in his somewhat tall and fit build.
Julio was in fact tall but because he walked beside Yehezkel, his height became hard to tell.
"Have you both had something to eat?" Yehezkel spoke, his gaze at them both before landing on Damien.
"No" he paused, "It's much better when we're all here, so we can eat together"
With a small firm nod, he turned over to Athena, "And you love?"
She shook her head, "Not quite hungry yet"
"Mm" he nodded, "But when we gather you must at least give yourself a taste, yes?"
Athena smiled with a small nod.
Soon, Duke came along and finally they were all complete.
"Wonderful" Julio clapped, arousing the attention of everyone, "We must toast" he stood "Before we never see each other for months"
A soft laughter enveloped the small group.
"I present to you all, the best wine on earth" Julio began, "And we all know my judgement", "I choose nothing but the best"
Quickly, a trolley was rolled over to their gathering with 2 buckets full of bottles of champaign engulfed in ice. Wine glass cups were shared and quickly, Julio grabbed 1 bottle and popped it cheerfully, igniting an exciting applause.
Damien stood, took over and shared the wine amongst them.
"All those who drove" he announced, "Forget it"
"You must be joking" Julio frowned.
"So, we toast with an empty glass?" Duke asked with furrowed brows and a basic what-the-fuck expression.
Unfortunately, Julio and Duke drove.
Damien stood proud, "Here's some water" he opened up a bottle of water and poured out for the pair.
"This is just for the toast" he smiled at them and once done, stood in the middle and watched them all stand to their feet. "A toast" Damien began with his glass lifted.
The rest followed.
"To health, to our families and mostly" he paused, "To us"
They drank, clapped and cheered.
In the midst of the joy, Athena's phone hummed and somehow, she knew, stood and walked aside, away from them all.
Yehezkel turned and watched her leave, ever so quietly but he said nothing. Nothing out loud, nothing to himself.
Duke headed over to pour out some Champaigne for himself when he turned and noticed Yehezkel's demeanor had changed.
Subtle anxiety and a distant anger.
Duke knew better than to ask about Yehezkel's worries and so he sat close, threw an arm over his shoulders and urged him to cheer up.
Steadily, with a glass half full of water, Julio watched as Cathalina and her assistant stood at a distance, chatting lightly.
Irrationally, Julio placed his glass aside, took up two fresh wine glass cups and filled it up to a quarter before heading over to the pair of plainly suited individuals.
"Hello"
The pair watched him with skepticism.
"Afternoon" Cathalina began "Mr. Julio"
"Afternoon Sir" Nick spoke, with a nonchalant gaze.
"Mm" Julio hummed before inhaling and throwing on a small smile, "Believe me or not" he started, "I'm not here to bicker, instead…" handing them the glass cups of wine "-Taste this".
"You will get a bottle" he shrugged "If you so desire"
They both took a sip. Nick raised a brow in favor while Cathalina gave a subtle shrug with a small nod. Julio stood proud.
"Wonderful" he said with a firm clap "A bottle it is" with a small nod, Julio turned and strode away.
Gulping down all that was left in the glass, Nick turned to Cathalina,
"Not done yet?"
She swallowed down the last of her wine before handing over her glass,
"Thank you"
As Nick walked aside, Cathalina watched and witnessed some sort of tension between Yehezkel and Athena. In the few days of being around the both of them, hostility had never been the case but to her surprise, she saw something different in that moment.
The afternoon turned to evening with a warm orange sunset along the clear, faded, amber skies and this only meant that the end of their exhausting shift was drawing near.
"Evening"
Cathalina turned around to see one of Yehezkel's friends who seemed to be much closer to him than the rest heading over to her with a warm smile.
"Our time here is almost over" he began, "I don't know the duration of your contract with Yehezkel but" pause "Everything that has to do with him is very much important"
His firm gaze at her seemed to be pleading that she take her job seriously and she couldn't help but wonder what made this Yehezkel of a man so important. Her curiosity only grew by the minute as he spoke.
"Sir" Cathalina began, "I and my team are one of the best", "We have been given a responsibility and we will fulfil it to the best of our ability, irrespective of the situation"
He nodded.
"We have come across many people in our lives", "Some under disguise, a few with intentions and endangering agendas" he turned to her, "We are men of wealth, status and responsibilities so I hope you understand my concern"
She nodded firmly and watched him leave, walking away calmly over to Yehezkel.
Nick walked over,
"Who knew our client was so cherished and pampered"
Cathalina chuckled,
"He warned you too?"
Nick nodded before throwing on a mimicking face, "~He is of great importance~"
The sight of Nick's face and mocking tone threw Cathalina into a short giggling fit that reminded her of how little she had laughed for a long time.
She was happy. Grateful.