"Come in. Oh, it's you," he said as I opened the door and got inside. "Look, there's a ball tomorrow evening. Sorry, not the fun kind, boy," he added before I could say anything. "Charity event of sorts."
I looked at him with a mix of annoyance and worry. "You know I hate social events, Andrei."
He almost laughed. "Yeah, so do I. That's why I would like you to come. So I don't die of boredom. Or worse." … Or mess it up.
I sighed. "Count me in, I guess."
"Thank you, Sasha. I'll make sure everything is ready tomorrow."
- - -
It was early evening when I visited him the next day.
"You're early, Sasha," he greeted me with a soft, warm smile.
"I'd have come later if I didn't know better," I teased back.
"I guess you have a point. Anyway, I got you a proper suit, it's in the closet inside." He pointed his head to the safe room beneath his office.
I opened the closet to be greeted by a premium-looking suit bag. I carefully opened it – and couldn't help cursing. He always made me wear a suit – usually navy blue – but this... this was something else. Black tie event. Shit. What kind of charity ball was this? And why did we have to go?
I felt him leaning on the door frame, so I turned around and met his amused smirk. "You don't like it?"
"I... wasn't exactly expecting this kind of...." I trailed off.
"Well, we have to look like everyone else, or we'll draw too much attention."
I took a breath before taking the plunge. "... Andrei, is this any sort of mission?"
"The only goal is to not mess up. So... I guess, no?" His constant grin was making me nervous. Seeing him in such a good mood, when I knew for sure he hated public events, was creepy as hell. Did he have something in mind? Who knows. "Anyway, get dressed, or we'll be late."
I laughed at the joke – I had been quite early – as I got the thing on. It fit like a glove, but that didn't make me hate it any less. And the actual bow tie had to be pretty tight to sit in place. ... He usually didn't make me wear anything at the neck – which considering his obsession with suits and whatnot, was quite a-something.
I was looking in the mirror, trying to decide if I looked gorgeous or totally out of place or both, when he slipped a knife into my inner pocket. I looked at him, wordless in my confusion. He'd said this wasn't a mission, so I had assumed that'd mean no weapons... right? ... Wrong.
"You never know, Sasha. Better safe than sorry."
"I just hope they don't have metal detectors," I joked.
His grin widened considerably. "Well, I hope they do."
