To Color Your Life

Zoya frowned. By her count, Christian Denver was the ideal candidate to head the Pharaoh group of companies. Knowing the man's ambitions, she was sure that this was his goal.

"Grandpa likes you. We are perfect for each other in terms of personal qualities. This union will be beneficial to everyone. I see no reason to refuse." She said it with the same ease with which she hummed the melody to which they were currently dancing.

Denver looked at Zoya again, as if he saw her for the first time. She seems to be a fragile girl, but where does such a pressure come from? Was she a military tank in a past life? Just to go ahead, not a single step back, despite the open hints of her opponent to stop all this?

"I do not love you. You do not love me. Is this not a sufficient reason?"

Hearing this, Zoya rolled her eyes, "Chris, are you serious? Since when do you care about such trivial things? My grandfather also didn't love my grandmother when he married her. However, they had a good family life. Trust and respect are much more important than love."

Christian stopped, grabbed the girl by the arm, and dragged her out of the dance area to one of the snack tables that stood to the side.

"Eat!" he thrust a plate with sweats into her hand.

"What for?" she stared at the chocolate dessert.

"Just do it!" the man barked, losing patience, "Girls of your age should love sweets and watch tearful vampire movies, and not think about all this nonsense that you just told me! What happened to you?! You're only twenty-one, Zoya! Why is there so much pragmatism in your pretty head?! A marriage of convenience!" Christian waved his hand. If she said she wanted to be President, it wouldn't sound as absurd as a marriage proposal. Is he a stud stallion chosen for racing?

This child was a pain in the ass for him since she was five up until the age of fifteen. But if then he saw in her eyes a childish naive love, then now there was nothing. Calculation only. Falling in love was just a game for the audience.

"What happened to me?" the girl challenged, "Christian Denver happened to me! Brothers happened to me - that's what!"

Zoya put the plate back on the table with a bang and walked over to the man, "You showed me that love has no meaning. Your refusal was enough for me to understand it. Both of my brothers almost went to the better world because of this very love. So tell me, why do I need to waste my nerves on this useless feeling? I'm not interested in this. I already have a family that I want to protect. And I just need a partner with whom I can build trust and raise children."

Christian did not expect that the harsh words spoken to the girl seven years ago would have such an effect on her. He did not remember what he answered her to her confession, but he remembered when and where it happened. In the hospital. The day his brother died.

The man closed his eyes and exhaled. "Zoya, listen to me." He put his palms on the girl's shoulders, "Your life is just beginning. Why do you need a wedding with a person you don't love? Look at Emily with Justin? Don't you want the same?" He had now given a lot to be in the groom's place.

"I'm not interested in this," Zoya replied calmly. "I want to choose a husband, guided by reason, not hormones."

Christian dropped his arms and shook his head. It was useless to prove something to the girl. All the Evans were stubborn worse than rams. What can one say, he himself was the same.

"Tell me that when you really fall in love. I'll look at you."

"Ha, you're the one to talk, Mister Ice Heart. This will not happen to me."

"Who knows? Maybe your love is very close and is about to hit you on the head? Okay, I hope we don't come back to this conversation again. Don't look for a meeting with me. Your proposal is not interesting to me, Miss Evans."

Denver nodded, turned and walked away.

Zoya watched the man's broad back and frowned her brows in displeasure.

"Tsk, love, love… Since when has he been worried about this nonsense? I'm not the last fool to think about someone all night long! Ha! Or whatever happens when one is in love?"

The girl hugged her shoulders as if she had a chill. She glanced around the table with dozens of mini-desserts and reached for one of them, "Madness... It feels like if I think about it a bit I will start throwing up with rainbows. Better to eat something."

"If you feel sick, you better eat that one." An unknown voice burst into Zoya's world, deafening everything around. The girl rubbed her ear, checking her hearing.

Following the voice, she felt an unobtrusive aroma, similar to a mixture of coffee and something else.

"That cake is made with lemon and blackberry. It is sour and should help relieve nausea."

Her body felt the man's presence before her eyes could see. Every little hair on her skin rose as if she had been electrified.

She turned her head and her breath got caught somewhere in the center of her chest. And she herself was lost in her own reflection in golden eyes as if she was trapped in the mirror-world.

"Did you say something?" said Zoya, but did not hear her own voice. Although, apparently, she still said it out loud, as the man answered.

"I thought you said you were sick. Therefore, I recommended that you take another dessert. Sorry if I made a mistake."

What's with his voice? Zoya could not take her eyes off the man's eyes, while everything inside her was screaming about hearing this voice again. Was he a voice actor? He had such a pleasant timbre. 

"No, you didn't make a mistake. I really feel like I'm a little crazy."

Anxiety was reflected on the guest's face, "Should you be taken somewhere where you can rest? This is my first time here, but I can ask Emily. She may know. Should I call her?"

"Uh... no, you shouldn't. Everything is already fine. Thank you," Zoya smiled, not understanding why she wanted to smile.

"Are you… are you Emily's colleague?" She did not immediately make out the man's blond hair, curly bangs falling over his forehead, a clear oval of his face. He was shorter than her brothers and Denver, but there was something about him that made Zoya unable to look away.

Hmm, maybe, he was a model? she thought.

"Me?" the guy smiled as if surprised at such an assumption. "What are you, no," he laughed, and Zoya held her breath as she listened to the man laugh. "I'm just a barista."

"The barista who makes the best coffee in town!" a girl jumped up to them and grabbed the man by the elbow. Something tingled unpleasantly in Zoya's chest.

"Sam, Emily is looking for you. It's about the Nefertiti cafe," the girl said. "Sorry," she pulled him towards the bride, and the guy had no choice but to nod to Zoya and follow that girl.

The man had already disappeared between the guests, and Zoya still felt the aroma that smelled of him - a mixture of coffee, cinnamon, and something else... Maybe an orange?

She was very fond of oranges. Perhaps that was why a strange feeling was now spreading in her stomach, unlike anything she had felt before. She wanted to follow him to unravel that secret element of the scent. Maybe if she asks, he will smile at her again?

Zoya really wanted to see his smile again, but she remained standing still, not daring to take even a step.