Sailing Close to the Wind || Cora x Robert | Alternate Universe
This was supposed to be part of CobertWeek 2017, but things got lost in translation and it took me almost 3 years to even type this up and post it. Anyhoo, enjoy! Let me know what you think!
The prompt is: Pretend relationship.
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Cora Levinson feels her heart knock inside her chest as she walks the long hallway leading to the office of her boss. She’s not entirely sure how this meeting is about to pan out, not really sure how it’s going to go. Gwen, her boss’ assistant, had called her from the office line and had politely told her that her boss had asked to see her.
She’d bit down on her lip in anxiety, but she knew. She knew what it was for.
It is, after all, a very clear cut what’s about to happen, or at least, it's a very clear cut to her what needs to be done, or not be done anyway.
It’s a waiting game at this point.
Honestly, it’s all a very stupid mistake, after all. She’d not been paying attention, absorbed as she had been with the new project. As an architect, she had wanted to be hands-on. She hadn’t wanted her design to be butchered by the hands of an engineer who did not consult her or didn’t bother to consult her.
She takes pride in her work, on being hands on and available for her clients. If anything, she’s reliable and competent, knows the in and out of her own design. She likes to see it first hand as it is built, having a say on how it is built. She’s also known for being on time, on driving hard to get to finish projects on her given deadline.
And that is exactly what’s gotten her in this mess in the first place.
It appears she is able to keep with her deadlines on all of her projects, but not in other things in her life - the ones that make it possible for her to even have projects.
Sighing, she halts her steps once she reaches the office. The door is closed, a heavy, dark brown surface - cherry wood, beautiful, she’s always thought so. She isn’t exactly excited about this particular conversation she’s about to have, and is in fact dreading it. She raises her fist and knocks on the door lightly.
“Come in,” she hears a muffled voice from the other side. Slowly, she opens the door and peers into the room, finding herself face to face with her boss. Rosamund Painswick is the Chief Operations Officer, an Architect by profession, with an MBA from Oxford. She ran the business with other members of her family - a brother, if Cora remembered correctly.
Cora noticed another strange face that is almost familiar, but she couldn’t quite place it in her head. They were sitting on the couch on the other end of the room.
“Hello, Miss Levinson,” Rosamund greeted with a terse smile.
Cora tried to read the room. Tense, that’s all she can think about. She swallows and urges herself to come in, telling her feet to their part and move. Her legs are shaking but she tries really hard to notice, or let it give in.
"Uh, hello," Cora greets although it sounds more like a question than a greeting, and she fights a grimace as she pushes herself forward.
She watches her boss, and notes that the way her red hair glows in the late afternoon sunlight streaming through the window makes her beautiful, but decidedly scarier.
Relax, Cora, she tells herself. You are not here to be executed.
"Have a seat," Rosamund invites politely, gesturing to the chair in front of her desk. Rosamund's blue eyes are trained on her form, and they are icy as they are warm, and Cora has had first hand experience of the ruthlessness of the woman, as well as her generosity. Rosamund is known for her designs as well as her stance in the boardrooms.
Rosamund is only a couple of years older than Cora, but has already accomplished so much more than Cora could ever imagine. Rosamund Painswick is formidable and more than capable, of course, but she is also a member of one of the wealthiest and well-known families around.
Their family - Crawley - owns the biggest firm in town. They've built many skyscrapers around Grantham, which parts of had been - from what Cora has heard - owned by their ancestors in the early days. A good number of infrastructure in London had been designed and built by them as well, spanning decades and generations of Crawleys.
When Cora had moved to London to study Architecture - much to her mother's consternation and her father's concern - she had planned to move back to New York and work her way up in some other architectural firm there. She had been hopeful, given how well she'd been performing her school and the series of internships she'd managed to get - it all looked very well in her portfolio. But then, she'd fallen in love with Grantham, one of the busiest, most beautiful places just outside London, when she'd managed to get an internship with Downton Designs.
They had offered her a position just before she finished her internship and before she graduated from her degree. The visa process had also been quick and easy, sponsored by Downton Designs themselves, and she'd worked for them right out of University - almost two years ago now. Going back home to New York with such a wonderful prospect in one hand had become such a far away dream, and it fell down on the list of her priorities.
After all, Grantham is just like New York, almost, with the added bonus of being thousands of miles away from her mother.
It's been a win-win situation for her.
Cora reminds herself that it's not going to be as bad as she fears. She already has a couple of contingency plans in place.
She hears Rosamund clear her throat, effectively waking Cora up from her reverie. Cora looks up with wide, apologetic eyes.
"I'm sorry," she says, sitting up and straightening in her chair. She swallows the lump in her throat.
Rosamund nods and folds her hands on top of the desk daintily. "We seem to have a problem," she murmurs, and boy, oh boy, don't they. "What happened?"
Cora is certain her boss already knows exactly what happened, but launches into an explanation of her current predicament anyway.
It's a stupid thing really. A colossal mistake. An oversight on Cora's part. She had been so absorbed with her new project - the first really big one after almost two years in the company. She had, of course, worked on many projects before - big ones where she's the junior, or smaller ones where she's lead or working solo - but this is the first one she had worked on a really big one where she's the lead. She had wanted it to go so well and so smoothly, to produce great results. She'd been tied in meetings left and right, that she had forgotten the deadline for her visa application. Her best friend and roommate, Phyllis, had reminded her of course, but she still had forgotten. She had missed the extension as well, and had only realized with such a sense of dread, when she'd received the letter telling her that her failure to submit required documents and complete her application had now subjected her for reapplication, which means she has to go back home to New York.
Cora breathes deeply as she finishes her story and looks up at her boss. The other woman's face is unreadable, and Cora feels her heart sink further into her stomach. She licks her lips and turns her gaze to the other man in the room. His lips are pulled down in a frown, and his brows are furrowed. He looks just about as readable as Rosamund Painswick is.
She turns her attention to her boss and watches her nod. "Alright we'll get back to you, Miss Levinson."
And with that, Cora is dismissed.
