Young Writers Society

The flight is the least of your problems right now. Julian wanted to say out loud. It was a good thing he knew when to say something and when to not. It was part of being an adult. Truly he never thought this rich girl had worked a day in her life. In fact he knew for a fact she didn't. Not everything comes for free, it was a life lesson that Naya was soon going to learn. Julian was the perfect person to be the teacher. Julian drank down at least two or three glasses and was just relaxing it was just him, her and a bunch of middle class people. He didn't mind, but he knew that she did.

She finally put down her magazine and turned towards him. "Why are you doing this to me?" She asked, her chin up and all.

Julian folded his newspaper and craned his neck to look at her. He batted his eyes pretending. "Why, I'm not quite sure what you mean."

She balled her tiny fists and had a fierce look that only models got if they were in the jungle. "Stop it, Julian, you know exactly what I mean. Why? What have I ever done to you?"

Julian placed his newspaper in his lap and carefully examined her, head to toe. She was beautiful. His expression was blank, as per usual. "Lets say I do know what you're talking about, lets just pretend- you see, you've been cooped up thinking that the world as we know it revolves around you. That one day you'll find your prince charming and you'll live happily ever after with no extra cost. I'm here to prove to you, love means absolutely nothing. It's not real, and in order to have your 'happily ever after' you have to pay... I'm not just talking money, sweetheart. I'm talking about real physical and emotional pain. Your fathers money, means nothing. Pride is everything. You'd better learn that since you're married now... Like I said, we're just pretending I know what you're talking about."

And with that Julian lifted his newspaper and began to read again.

Naya looked at him in disbelief. What the hell?

“How dare you sit there and judge me? You don’t know a damn thing about me!”

Julian simply turned another page of the newspaper. Naya's eyes shot daggers at him. She could feel the fume from her ears.

“Y'know, I actually thought your sister was kidding when she told me about you, about your whole 'issue' with love and letting people in, but now I get it...underneath that stone of a face you’re really just a pathetic, deprived and sad little boy...I actually feel sorry you...”

And with that, Naya got to her feet and marched off down the aisle to look for an empty seat at the back, somewhere, anywhere, so long as it was far away from him...

Julian didn't try to stop her. Pathetic? Sad? Little boy? Deprived, yes. He was frusterated. Trying to get through to her was like talking to a wall. He didn't want or need anyone to talk to. He just wished he could have gotten a wife that enjoyed cooking and not talking that would be magical. Too good to be true. He sat and read the newspaper until their flight was over. It was a good twelve hour flight from one plane to another. Thank God that's over.

Cabs weren't exactly Rome's highlight. It was evening by the time they had arrived to Rome, the lights were up and the whole city seemed to be made of stone, light, water, and plants. She still wasn't talking to him. Fair enough. This marriage wasn't about communitcation. This marriage wasn't about love, children, or anything else most marriages consisted of. It was out of favor and becoming even, it was about business.

Julian didn't get the biggest room, he didn't get the nicest room, he got the room that was middle class, do-it-youself type of room. She'd just have to get use to it, no matter how pretty she was.

He opened his bag and began hanging suits up into the closet. Then, he heard a frusterated sound coming from his wifey. He turned around, what is she bitching about now? then he realized what she was frusterated about, and he decided he'd be pretty frusterated too if he really cared. There was only one bed in the entire room. Oh, good Lord...

Just when Naya thought the day couldn’t get any worse...She glared at Julian, slamming her luggage and then herself onto the bed.

“Looks like you’ll be sleeping on the floor,” she quipped. If he was going to be an asshole, so was she...

He laughed, it was an actual laugh. He looked at her. "You are something aren't you? Let me put it this way. I'm not sleeping on the floor."

She gave him a teenage piss off, kind of look. "I'm not sleeping in the same bed as you."

He gave another dull look. This time it was more than a frown. "We're married, you're going to hurt my little feelings."

"Let me put it this way, I don't care..." she copied him.

Very irriatating. It like taking care of a spoiled five year old! A muscle ticked below Julian's eye. He was very good at keeping his temper, he'd learned how to do that with business and what not. He decided, he'd never let someone get under his skin quiet like she had. And, in such little time he had to give her credit for it. He didn't say a word to her, she was bringing on whatever happened next on herself. He knew just how to handle it. Julian picked up his bag and walked into the bathroom, where maybe he could escape her for more than twenty minutes.

He pulled off his shirt, his black leatherlike surfer necklace hung, the only thing that hung at the end was the initals JLA. The initals were not his. He kept in good shape, he wasn't no body builder but he was deffinately toned with muscles. Tan? Yes. He got into the shower, it wasn't big, he didn't care. He washed his hair and his face. He was always good at hygene. In fact, it was one of those if-you-don't-have-it-I-won't-talk-to-you kind of people. After his shower he shaved.

His shower lasted a long half hour. When he got out, he didn't bother with a shirt, the hotel was extremely warm. He on black boxers and jeans. He walked out of the bathroom and noticed that Naya was sleeping, on the entire bed. He gently moved her to one side of the bed, and pulled covers over her. He set his alarm and and went to sleep, he was going to get up in less than 6 hours...

The light pored in through the window waking Naya from her sleep. For one heavenly second she'd completely forgotten about yesterday’s events but as her eyes adjusted to the light, reality came crashing down onto her like a ton of bricks.

She turned slightly to see Julian, regrettably, fast asleep next to her, his bare and surprisingly toned torso exposed from beneath the covers. Naya noticed how he didn’t look as intimidating as he did when he was awake. There was actually quite a serene look on his face.

She got out of bed slowly, trying to make as little noise as possible. The last thing she wanted to do was wake him up so he could aggrevate her some more. No siree. Her plan was to have a shower, get dressed and head out, all before Julian could wake up.

Naya stepped into the shower and was relieved to find hot water coming out of the taps. From how Julian had behaved on the plane she wouldn't have been all that surprised if he'd brought her to a hotel with no running water...all so he could 'teach her a lesson'...

She swore under her breath bitterly as she remembered his words before releasing the water. As it sprayed down her body, she wondered how she could survive this marriage. It hadn't even been a full day since the wedding and she'd already had enough. Julian was just so cold, so unlike anyone she'd ever met. It was inconceivable for her to even imagine spending another day with him, let alone spending the rest of her life with him.

With a heavy sigh, Naya stepped out of the shower dripping wet. She tried to stay positive. She was in Rome afterall, she may as well enjoy herself.

Maybe I could head down to the beach or hit the town for a little shopping spree...

With those pleasant thoughts in mind, she wrapped a small towel around her body and looked around the bathroom for her bag.

Great...

She'd forgotten to bring her bag with her.

She slowly opened the bathroom door and peered into the bedroom. Julian looked like he was still fast asleep...thank God! Tip-toeing carefully into the room, she passed the bed and approached her luggage...only to see Julian staring up at her.

Naya clutched her towel tighter around her chest, flushing.

Oh, Lord, kill me now...

Julian thought he had died for a second and gone to heaven, then he saw the face that was attached to the beautiful body. Oh yes, she was his type. Sad to admit, he was slightly turned on. She stood there frozen. Just staring at him. He wanted to... Nevermind. He had to wipe a hand down his face, he pinched the bridge of his nose. He noticed his necklace was twisted all the way to the back, he untwisted it and pulled it back to where it usually was.

"You might as well have choosen plastic wrap." He was indicating the towel covered barely anything.

She glared at him, she was trying to be intimidating. She was too small to pull it off though. "And you might as well draw that frown on, to save your face the trouble."

This time, it was a true frown. "I don't have time to put up with you today." He threw the covers off, he forgot to take off his jeans, so he was still wearing them. "I have a business meeting in two hours." He searched through his bag and pulled out about five hundreds. He threw the money down on the bed. "Here, take this with you. Keep yourself entertained." He went into the small area these people called a kitchen and turned on some coffee.

Naya threw Julian a look of disgust. She didn’t even bother to look at the money he'd just thrown on the bed like she was some tramp off the street. She turned her back to him and dried her hair before changing into a tight white vest, loose check-shirt and short demim shorts. When she was done, she slung a bag on her arm and stormed out of the hotel room, slamming the door shut behind her.

On her way out of the building, she grabbed a map for tourists she found in the hotel lobby and ventured through the narrow bustling streets of Rome to try and locate the nearest internet cafe. Before she could do anything, sunbathing or otherwise, she had to find out some news from back home. The man at the lobby had said she'd find one close by. Luckily, after a good five minutes of walking she finally managed to locate a small side building with a bright blue shop sign that read ‘Internet Point’.

She stepped inside the small shop and suddenly felt a little out of place. The shop was full of young Italian students and only a handful of tourists.

“Can I help you, signora?”

Naya turned her head to see a familiar looking young Italian guy walk up to her. It took her a while before she realised that it was the same guy from the plane who had helped her with her luggage. She noted how he was much more cute up close. He had short black curls, lovely olive skin and an adorable smile.

“Oh, hello,” he said, pleasantly surprised. “What a coincidence?”

“Yeah,” agreed Naya, awkwardly tucking a loose curl behind her ear.

“I’m Enzo,” he said, putting out a friendly hand.

“Naya,” she responded, and they both shook hands.

“Naya...” he repeated slowly, “interesting name...so what can I do for you?”

“Well I did want to book a computer for, like, an hour. The hotel that I’m staying in doesn’t really have any wireless coverage,” she looked around the packed room, “but it looks like you're full...”

Immediately, Enzo whistled pointedly towards a teenage boy sitting at one of the computers and said something to him in Italian. The boy huffed before logging out of the computer and walking out of the shop.

Enzo turned back to fher and signalled for her to take the boy’s seat. “All yours,” he smiled.

Naya looked up at him, slightly confused.

“That was my little cousin,” Enzo explained.

Naya smiled, “Right, well, thanks...” she said before taking out her wallet.

Enzo put out a hand to stop her. “It's on me,” he smiled. “Let me know if you need anything.” And with that, he walked off to go see to another customer.

Naya watched him go with a smile.

Bless him, he's such a gentleman...

The first thing she did once she was logged on, was look at the High Society column of all the newspapers from back home. To her relief, Jace hadn't been mentioned in any of the articles which meant that he hadn’t gone public with Naya’s secrets yet, but how long could she be that lucky? He had declared war on her, and as soon as she’d return home, he’d definitely keep his word. She needed something for leverage, something to gain the upper hand with him if and when he threatened to expose her secrets.

With a determined glint in her eyes she opened up a search engine and typed in ‘ANDERSON CORP & THE MICHELSON PROJECT’.

Julian didn't even notice that Naya didn't take the money. The hotel was so cheap that they didn't even have maid service. It wasn't a cheap hotel, it was actually very nice, it was just a do-it-yourself-type. Money for Julian was no object. In fact it wasn't even something to be proud of. Julian stripped down and changed into a business suit. It was fairly uncomfy from what he was just wearing.Julian locked the door, only hoping that Naya had take the other key. If not, that was going to suck for her. He go into a cab and told him where to go.

The meeting was about three hours long, with short potty and water breaks in between. The meeting was about stocks and bonds and a couple of off sided projects that could make the company more rich. When the meeting was over. Julian headed to get a present for Jenn, since it would be her birthday soon. Naya, didn't know or have to know about it.

He walked into a girly/wintage looking shop. He started to look around, he knew that Jennifer loved coffee, so he wanted to find her a mug that said Rome or something like that. He started to look around when he felt a small hand on his arm.

"Do you need help finding anything?" A perky voice squeaked.

Julian looked at the woman, she was a short black haired blue eyed beauty. Now was the time where Julian wished he wasn't married...

**Blahhhhh *

Fifteen minutes into her information digging, Naya came across a hoard of information that seemed to confuse her more and more. She’d discovered that Anderson Corp’s last three investment projects crashed and burned at the last hurdle resulting in the greatest loss in the history of the company. Jace came into the equation more recently. During his many ‘business’ trips, he’d made friends with ex-criminal and shady German trader, Hans Michelson, who had been enticing Jace ever since, to invest his illegal research project.

What Naya failed to understand was what all this actually meant. Jace had been making shady business deals since before she could remember, what was it about this particular project that made him so nervous and so desperate to keep it a secret from his family and from Julian? She sighed and settled her chin on her hand in defeat. Maybe she should've paid more attention to her Business classes...

“Everything okay?”

Naya turned to see Enzo approach her.

“Yeah, everything's fine,” she replied, straightening up and logging out of her computer.

Suddenly her stomach rumbled. It was only then that she realised she hadn’t eaten anything since last night.

“Someone’s hungry,” smiled Enzo.

Naya felt her face flush. “I kinda skipped breakfast,” she sheepishly explained.

“Well, I’m just heading out for my lunch break, would you like to join me?” he asked.

Naya wasn't sure if that was such a good idea.

“It’s just a free lunch,” Enzo assured her. “My friend Luca owns the place...”

Oh, what the hell, Naya thought to herself. “Sure, that'd be nice,” she smiled, picking up her bag and heading out with him.

Together they walked through the city to a place filled with cute little shops that had tourist things like mugs and t-shirts and hats. As they ventured down the narrow roads together Naya couldn’t help but enjoy Enzo’s company. He seemed so lovely and warm, so unlike Julian...

Julian didn't reconize this girl, but she seemd to be very interested in him. He didn't need help but the words just wouldn't come out of his mouth he felt like his jaw was sew shut.

"No." He finally answered. He backed away a little bit.

The girl moved forward. "Are you sure. I can help you with anything... Anything at all." She batted her blue eyes.

Julian knew she was dangerous-just the way she looked. "Yeah, I'm positive. Nothing at all."

The restaurant was small but adorable and had the most delicious smells coming from it that it made Naya’s stomach rumble even louder.

They took their seats outside and were given menus by Enzo’s friend, Luca, who Naya happily noted was also extremely attractive and sweet. Jeez, why couldn't mom and dad hitch me to an Italian guy?

“So, what do you fancy?” Enzo asked her.

Naya scanned through the menu, it was all in Italian. “Well, seeing as I don’t understand a word it says in here so...”

Naya stopped mid-sentence. In front of her she could see Julian walk out of one of the local shops just a few feet away from the restaurant. Damnit, she thought to herself. She hoped to God, he wouldn’t see her...

“Naya, are you okay?” Enzo asked, looking at her strangely.

He had done it. As soon as Enzo had said her name, Julian’s eyes locked on her’s. For a moment, he just stood there and stared at her, but then, to Naya’s horror, he began to approach them...

Julian was more annoyed than a bull. He didn't even feel his hand tighten on the bag that he was carrying. He honestly wanted to punch the guy sitting next to her. He began to approach the table, he pulled a stray chair. His suit was a little warm, but he was a cold bastard he didn't mind... Much.

"Is this seat taken? No? Wonderful." He sat down, right next to Naya.