Chapter 7 Meeting Tina.
1294 Words
-Vivian-
"Do you have your old phone here?" he asks and I take my phone out of my pocket.
"Ricco has given you a new one, right?" he asks and I nod and take out of my other jacket pocket the new phone, which is still in the box.
Chris laughs and he presses a device on his desk.
"Brian my office please." Not much later, the door opens and one of the men I just met from the security room walks into this room.
"These are Vivian's old and new phone, do you want to put everything together, tracker on it, the security you name it. Orders from Ricco. The old one must be destroyed at the airport, time intercontinental." He commands and I have no idea what he means by that.
But Brian nods to Chris and he takes everything.
When he turns around again, Brian winks at me and walks out of the office.
"When we're done here, you can pick up your new phone from Brian." Chris lets me know and I nod.
"Vivian," Chris sighs, and he folds his arms over each other.
"I'm going, to be honest with you." He starts.
"I understand why Ricco sent you here, you're a beautiful girl, but you're just a girl." He continues.
"Is that a compliment?" I ask and he laughs.
"Yes, that's a compliment, but that also means you'll have to work hard." He starts his tone seriously again.
"I don't have girls working here, they're all real women."
I have no idea what he means by that.
"I would appreciate, that if I tell you something, or ask you something, that you stop nodding, use your voice, you didn't get it for nothing. It is important in this work that you talk and loudly." He is just as serious about it as Stefano was.
"The music is loud here in the evening. You've been dancing, possibly out of breath, and a man is being pushy. How am I going to hear if you need something?" He asks and I look at him with wide eyes.
He laughs
"That's what I mean." He smiles. "You're still a girl. That's not a problem. I called Tina, she came here to dance and was still a girl too."
He starts and pours himself some drinks and he also offers me a glass of water.
"Tina also always talked softly and reacted uncertainly when her opinion was asked. I always had to challenge her and help her to make her fight for what she wanted and by dancing here she has become very confident, she makes her voice heard. It has made her strong and some even say a little too strongly." He laughs and he looks at his phone.
"Ah, she can come in at any minute now." He tells me.
"How do you know?" I ask and he looks up again and waves his phone.
"I know everything that happens here on the ground and one of my men sends a message that Tina has just been dropped off." He smiles and there is a knock on the door.
"Yo!" Chris calls and the door swings open a beautiful brunette enters the office and she smiles kindly and she hugs Chris and he also hugs her
"Woah Tina, you're gorgeous." He compliments her and the woman named Tina laughs loudly.
"You too Chris, but what's new." She waves him off
"Well, this is Vivian," Chris starts and he points to me and Tina turns to me.
"Okay, okay… I get it." She smiles and she walks up to me and instead of a hand, she hugs me
"Hi Vivian, I'm Tina, I'm family. Welcome to our dance family, what brings you here?" she starts and I see that she is looking at me up close.
She fidgets with my hair and she just keeps talking and laughing.
"Tina, just be careful with Vivian, Ricco has sent her here. Her father is in trouble and Vivian's life is at stake." He informs her and I see Tina looking at me and she hugs me again.
"Glad Ricco does that, welcome again and I hope you start to feel at home with us and if there's something I can do for you, where's your phone, then I'll put my number in there and then..."
"TINA CHRIST, RELAX!" Chris raises his voice and Tina laughs
"Sorry, I'm so glad I'm here, no mommy or two crying babies." She smiles at him and Chris hugs her and kisses her temple.
"I asked you because Vivian is also quite shy here. She actually has no idea what she is doing here and how it all works here and I was actually hoping that you can train her." He asks her and Tina looks at me
"What's up with Grace?" she asks and Chris laughs
"Grace is a fantastic dancer, but Grace has never been insecure, I think when I put Vivian down with Esmay and Grace now that it might end in crying."
My eyes get big.
"Oh well." Tina sighs annoyed. "Don't exaggerate." Then she looks at me
"No, he's just scaring you, Grace and Esmay are just very present and have a clear opinion and have been going along in this world for a while. They have never had to learn to make their voices heard. I had to learn that too." She says lovingly
"So if you want, I want to teach you too," she asks and I nod.
"How does that work exactly?" I ask and Tina grins.
"I'm going to give you a tour of this beautiful property, I'm going to introduce you to all the girls and we're going to do a fitting with all the clothes, the thing is… if we're going to fit, Christiano." She points to the man next to her.
"Approves an outfit. He ultimately decides what the ladies wear and what the ladies do." She tells me.
"I think you're going to start dancing with us in the studio to practice and you can work here behind the bar?" She asks and she looks at Christiano and he nods.
"I think that's good. She first needs to gain more confidence to dance." He nods and then they both look at me
"Okay," I tell her and Tina laughs.
"Oh this is going to be so much fun!" squeals Tina and Chris shakes his head laughing.
"Where do you live?" Tina asks and I shrug my shoulders.
"Huh? You don't know where you live?" she asks, surprised, and I laugh.
"All I know is that Stefano has to take me to an apartment in the city, he got a key from Riccardo," I tell the both of them and Tina and Chris exchanged a look.
"Stefano!" Tina opens the door of the office and Stefano enters
"Yes?"
"Where is Vivian going to live?" she asks Stefano and he grins.
"Apartment in the city."
"I said that too, didn't I?" I ask and Chris grins and Tina grins too.
" Right. Yes. Yes, you did." She laughs.
"The apartment in the city. It's beautiful there, big and luxurious." She nods at Stefano.
"Stefano lives there too." She tells me and I look at him and he nods. "And.."
"No, he's back to the villa," Stefano starts talking before Tina can finish her sentence.
"Oh?" she asks in surprise and then they talk to each other in a language I don't understand.
"Italian?" I ask and Chris laughs.
"Yes, you learn it someday," he exclaimed.
"Riccardo's girl." Christiano grins and I look at him questioningly.
"Come, we're going," Stefano says laughing and Tina shakes her head laughing.
'Riccardo's girl' is what lingers the whole way to the apartment.
- Writer
