back on his workaholic days, florian would wake up every day at 6:00am and one hour later, he was already on his way to his office with one coffee in hand. now it’s been almost a year since the last time his mornings looked like that. yet it still feels refreshing to be up and about in the early morning. it puts him in a good mood. today he has a meeting with the director of the kaos museum. florian can’t be still for too long and his mind is already working on new ideas of how he can make himself useful. taking over the family’s art foundation might be one, if only to honor his mother’s memory.
florian made sure to have a quick espresso before leaving his house this morning, so he’s already wide awake and functioning by the time he gets to the museum. there’s a hint on a smile on his face as he wanders around. he had never been here in the morning and it looks almost ethereal. it makes florian feel as if he has traveled to another time. he almost takes the stairs, but for some reason, flo opts for the elevator. he’s already inside, clicking on his floor when he hears someone outside. he has manners so of course he holds it, waiting for whoever seems to be in such a rush. “putain, i should’ve taken the stairs,” he thinks to himself as he finds ara walking inside. he had completely forgotten she worked here.
florian winces, then tries to move to his little corner of the elevator. this would be over quickly and he can pretend like it never happen. but then she turns around to look at him. and then the elevator comes to a halt. “i really should have taken the stairs,” he thinks again. he stays frozen for a second, trying to process what is going on. what feels like a rom com cliché suddenly seems to be his reality. when he finally recovers, he doesn’t speak, immediately, he turns to the little board filled with buttons, quickly looking for the red emergency one.
ara watches as he fiddles with the buttons of the lift, wondering why this had to happen to her, and today of all days. finally, florian seems to find a panel to flip open and presses the emergency button. there was usually a half an hour break between the night guard and the day guard, before the museum opened. she glances at the time on her phone and it was right in the middle of that period. ara sucked in a breath of air, hoping there was a guard there early for their shift. it only takes a moment before the comm statics to life and a voice comes through, “Γεια σας?”. ara recognizes the voice and her heart leaps a little, silently thanking the heavens for someone answering, as she moves towards the speaker, “Καλημέρα, Damion, it’s ara, um- we seem to be having a bit of trouble with the lift in the east hall. uh- it stopped moving.” “oh, miss ara!”
for several minutes ara tries her best to explain their situation and damion speaks on the phone with the fire department, trying his best to sort of the situation. ara’s heart sinks when she hears him sigh. “i’m sorry miss ara, there’s not much we can do but wait. the storm last night knocked out the power for this side of the island. they said it may take up to an hour for them to arrive, since it is not technically an emergency and both you and mr. agreste are not in any danger.” ara takes a deep breath at the news, why is she not surprised. she already was late and missed breakfast, so what’s another power outage tragedy to add on to the morning. she knows it’s a little dramatic but she can’t help it, especially when she’s is trapped with someone who either stared at her with daggers in his eyes or fled to be the farthest away from her, and she was also hungry. “i’ll inform the director of your predicament. try not to worry so much- you too mr. agreste. you’ll be out soon enough. we’ll try to conserve the backup power, so we’ll have to stop using the comm for now. i shall update you when i can.” “yes- of course. thank you, damion.”
her back presses against the wall of the elevator and she sinks down, her skirt pooling around her like a dark lagoon that could perhaps just swallow her up. but it doesn’t so she just rests her head against the wall, closing her eyes, trying to ignore the thumping of her heart because she could feel his eyes on her.