Special Guest

She had excellent eyes. 

Pretty and brown, large and garnished with elegant makeup fit like a 14th-century doll. But that was not the point I was trying to make when I said she had excellent eyes. That was an added dividend. What I meant by 'excellence' was her ability. Her ability to find problems even in the busiest of places.

Which was what Delilah did, when her eyes came across a face she had seen so long ago, at a party celebrating another anniversary of the company she worked in. Prior to this encounter, she was just walking around the ballroom, chatting with the guest, and drinking expensive champagne that she knew she would never be able to taste or find anywhere else. Dressed in a grand fashion, she wore a sleek red dress and bronze earrings to encapsulate her look. Delilah had only really attended this event out of the necessity of her work (and maybe to snoop out a promotion if she's lucky.) She wanted to move up in her position for years now, and that all depended on her attendance.

She stood near the tables that hold all the fancy catering and polished silverware, watched as a waiter come out from the kitchen doors, and went on rounds all over the room offering drinks to all the fancy guests. It was then when her sights caught a certain figure.

He was tall and lanky in stature. Standing straight and proud as he conversed charmingly with an elderly woman, probably a stockholder or an investor as Delilah had never seen her before, the aged lady giggled in an approving way at what the man had said. But that didn't matter to her, because as she watched him afar from the sidelines, watched as even her boss came and began happily chatting with him. All she could focus on was that face. A complexion, though changed from years, still hold the same characteristics as she remembered during her childhood and adolescent years. 

There were times she would sometimes think of him, in drunken nights when liquor had poured smoothly down her throat like water would or in sorrow-filled nightmares when the days had taken a bigger toll on her than she expected. Delilah would look back to that face and maybe the past.

And now he stands there, not in her mind or daydreams but instead out in the hard real world where she had strived to survive in, where she had left everything in her past behind. With his two shimmering black eyes and a knife-sharp smile that could cut her up. Such a contrast to their old days before. Back when they were children, playing around in a nameless neighborhood, living near each other in a nameless street, within another nameless, old, town.

She should probably do something instead of staring at him. Perhaps leave, or possibly grow some courage and approach him, or maybe even— ah, it seems she had chosen the first option as the sounds of clacking heels hitting the floor as she tactically retreated to the balcony doors just behind her.

Delilah strode to the doors that would lead to her exit, having already thought of the only two things in that would calm her racing heart now: alcohol and sleep, only to be blocked in her path by her boss, Mr. Philis standing there. Smiling and twirling his french mustache like some movie villain would do, only instead of a scheme for world domination, it was a concern question directed at her.

"Delilah, why in the rush? Are you okay?" He was a good boss. Nice and charismatic. A perfect leader and an even better supervisor. Which made her feel bad for having felt annoyance against him.

She replied hastily. "Nothing... Just tired," she took a deep breath, "and maybe a little drunk. I thought some fresh air would freshen me up that's all."

"That champagne's getting to your head already?"

"Well, you know how to pick the best ones, sr." They laughed.

"That I do, that I do. But say, I actually need to see you for something." His voice changed from humor to businesses-like in an instant. Delilah merely raised a questioning brow. "It is quite important."

He scratched at his chin then, "of course if you don't want to that's completely fine. I understand you must be feeling under the weather tonight, I could–"

"No, no it's fine sr." An important business opportunity? She couldn't miss that. The promotion she's been aiming for years now would be finally in her reach. "I feel well, thank you, just what is it that you want?"

Mr. Philis gave a smile and with a twirl of his finger, they went back to the ballroom. He then explained. "Well, it's about a certain guest attending tonight. He is a new investor, you know new money and all that jazz, and recently after a few sales' fail we had with a product, there's been rumors of him stopping funding." He then turns to look at her. "I need you, to work your magic powers of convincing people, to keep his money in this company, do you understand?"

"... magic powers of convincing?"

He grinned. "You know you're good at that. Don't lie."

"No need to, I can just convince you that I'm not lying." Delilah crossed her arms, cocking her eyebrows. "And yes, I understand what I need to do."

"Perfect! Then let me introduce you to him." Mr. Philis then hurries her forward to a group of guests near a corner of the room, talking and sipping champagne together.

Incidentally, the same social group with him at the smack middle of them all. Delilah felt like freezing. There he is, closer now, his details more dark and familiar and deep as the sea, this up close. Her instincts tell her to run. To hide away and pretend the past never happened but it's too late as their eyes met and Mr. Philis began cheerfully talk to the group.

"Good evening everyone, I hope all of you are enjoying tonight." There's a ring of mutual appreciative murmurs as the guest nod. "I'm afraid I'm not here to share a drink with you all," a round of laughter bubbled, "rather I like to introduce our special guest here to someone." He then gestures towards Delilah, who stands behind him timidly, giving out a forced smile and a crooked wave. "This is Delilah Roselyn. Our assistant manager here at Philis Enterprises."

The special guest, which surprise surprise, was of course him. Because her life can not not get any worse. She could feel his eyes wash over her, perhaps in judgment? In hatred? She could handle those two, maybe, but there's also a fear of him not recognizing her. And for some reason that felt worse than any anger or disgust he could throw at her.

Just as she thought she was having a mental break down, Mr. Philis snapped her out of it. "Delilah..." She looked up in surprise at the guests staring at her. Red in the face she quickly regained herself. "Ah, yes, it's a-a pleasure to meet you Mr...?"

He spoke softly. "Michael Todd." His voice was unreadable, with no outward emotions she could at best comprehend. Just a neutrality that made the heavy feeling in her stomach sink deeper.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Mr. Todd." Delilah settled on going through this with this pretense. If he knows her or not, is not the greater matter right now, she just needs to do her job. "It's nice to see new faces around here."

He grinned. "Thank you. And please... call me Mic." Delilah's eyes widen as she stared up at him. His eyes twinkling in a playful manner. He knows. He remembers. Why does that make me feel so happy? She wondered but shook it off as he– no, Mic continued on. "Only businessmen call me Todd, and only old people call me Michael. I prefer Mic."

"Well then, Mic it is. And you can just call me Delilah. Or Deli if you like."

"Deli? As in like the deli food?"

She couldn't help but snort at that. "Just like deli food."

"I don't think I'll be forgetting your name anytime soon then." He says, gently swirling his flute of champagne.

"You better not. We just met and it would be rude to forget someone's name so soon." Michael laughed humorously while Mr. Philis smiles at me in agreement. The other guest had diverted to their own conversations, leaving the two of them behind.

Delilah contemplates about her earlier burst of panic and how stupid it was for her to do so when Michael finished laughing only to stare at her. His eyes conveyed many emotions and yet also none. It left her puzzled.

"So, if you would like, we could talk more on the balcony, the party has just started and we still have a lot to discuss, correct?" He asked. And in those words, she knew it was his way of asking about everything. About the history between them. About the years where they drifted; she, chasing her dreams away in a 9 to 5 job and him doing whatever he did in those years, and while she's scared and nervous to tell him, she knows it will all be alright. Because she knows him and he knows her.

"Of course." And he leads the way.