People don’t take trips, trips take people - Antoine 26

In the weeks that followed, Antoine found himself spending more and more time with Fifi, at first it was almost a courtesy as he didn’t know how to refuse an invitation. Take last Tuesday, for example, where out of the blue, Fifi had approached him and invited him and Lily out for dinner that evening. Of course, he had agreed to go, only later finding out that Lilly had already made plans that evening and couldn’t make it.

Hoping to reschedule, Antoine had approached Fifi, “erm… Fifi, do you have a moment”? He asked nervously.

Fifi smiled, “Yes, what’s up, Zara”, she asked in her cheerful voice.

“Well, you see, I’ve just found out that Lily can’t make it to dinner tonight, can we reschedule”? Antoine said not knowing why this petite girl made him feel so nervous.

Fifi crossed her arms just beneath her bosom, “so, you don’t want to spend time with me without Lily, is that it”? She said pouting.

“Err…no… it’s not like that…it’s just...I....”.

Fifi giggled, “I’m just messing with you, Zara, if you want, I can ask Annisa and her new boyfriend to join us, or we could just cancel, it’s not like it's a special occasion or has to be a onetime thing or anything”.

“Err… no… you don’t need to cancel, we can go", Antoine announced without thinking,  "actually, I've been meaning to get to know Annisa a little better”, he replied smiling, “you know, it’s kind of hard to speak to her, with her French being so limited, in fact, I’m a little scared of her, to be honest”.

Fifi giggled again, “what scared of Annisa? she’s like the nicest, kindest person, I’ve ever met, and I’ll tell you a secret, her French is much better than she lets on, she just doesn’t want to be put in a position with her staff, where she feels uncomfortable, you’ll see later, wait until she has a few drinks, her French is probably better than mine”.

“Better than yours? But aren’t you French”? Antoine asked confused by her statement, having wondered previously, how she had come to have such a strange accent.

It was Fifi’s turn to look nervous, “Err… yes, of course, I’m French, I… just… well... it’s a long story, perhaps I’ll tell you about it one day”, Fifi said, “Well, I better try to look busy, I’ll see you later, Zara”, she added before turning eloquently on her stilt-like heels and sauntering off across the room.

So, later that evening Antoine found himself in a restaurant close to the bridal store, sat between Fifi and Annisa, who, just like Fifi had said, turned out to be a different person outside of work, laughing and making jokes about how she was the only non-blonde at the table.

(See image 48)

After the dinner, spending time with Fifi became more and more common for Antoine as he found her to be nothing like what he had expected. From the outside, she had this scary aura about her, always dressed immaculately, her makeup and hair done to perfection, and she was never seen in anything but the highest of heels. But as Antoine slowly got to know her, he found that the person beneath the façade was relaxed, caring, and really fun to be around. In fact, apart from her ultra-feminine appearance, when relaxed, she acted more like one of Antoine's old male friends than the face of an internationally famous bridal company.

The dinners soon became a regular after-work activity, sometimes others would join them, but mostly Antoine and Fifi would just go alone, chatting about their day, and how difficult it was to always try to act graceful and feminine, neither realising that they had more in common than they knew.

Regular shopping trips soon followed as Antoine found himself accompanying Fifi out to buy clothes and shoes. She seemed to think he was some kind of fashion mogul, buying anything he recommended. He couldn’t blame her for thinking that, as Zara was supposed to be a fashion graduate, having spent years studying fashion trends and the latest styles. It also didn’t help that Marianne had made him wear all those terribly high heels for so long, as Fifi now believed they had similar tastes, forcing Antoine to continue wearing uncomfortably high heeled shoes, just to keep up appearances.

Soon, Antoine found himself, accompanying Fifi almost everywhere as he started to joining her at interviews, store openings, and PR events. Before he knew it, he was hardly spending any time at all in the stockroom, each day now was now different and full of variety, and as much as Antoine told himself, he shouldn’t be enjoying himself, and that he should be coming up with a plan to get his old life back, the truth was, he was just having too much fun to even consider it.

(See image 49)