"Genoa. Geona. Gen...oh...ah...Genoa," Jesep quietly repeated her name to himself, without thinking about it.
"What's that sir?" asked Grady, looking up from his tablet.
"What?" said Jesep. He sat up in his chair. He was in his downtown office, at his desk, his personal assistant, Grady Jabsin, was going over the days schedule. Jesep quickly realized he'd gotten distracted yet again this morning.
"You were saying something?" asked Grady.
"It's nothing." said Jesep, shifting his gaze.
He turned his chair around and let out a heavy sigh as he looked out the window. It was a cloudy morning. It had been raining off and on since last night. The weather suited his sullen mood. After he couldn't find anything on PK Investments, he hacked into the buildings system. Surprisingly and disappointingly it only took him ten minutes. He made some slight adjustments then spent hours going through the buildings security footage. He specifically focused on the lobby, elevator and any movement on the eleventh floor.
He planned to capture screen shots of the siblings, and run their faces, through a face recognition program, but the footage was truly abysmal. The camera's mostly caught the tops of their heads and only parts of their faces and the quality was often distorted. He couldn't get a solid image. For a multi-million dollar building, their security cameras were worth shit. He hacked into the surrounding area's camera but found their footage was also distorted. It took him far longer then it should have to realize it wasn't the cameras, it was them or rather a device they were wearing.
He caught a few clips of Genoa in her sunglasses and realized they were OVA tech. He'd done a few jobs over the years for OVA and owned some of their tech himself, for when he was going somewhere private and didn't want any record of it. Years ago, OVA had made a small device that could offset and distort any picture or imaging capturing program on the market, with ease. It made it almost impossible for anyone to capture your image, without your permission.
He recalled sitting in on a few meetings, when it had first come out. Like any new tech, at first, it was only for governmental use, military operations, various convert missions and the likes. Eventually it moved into law enforcement, apparently it was a big hit with the witness protection program. When it finally became available to the public a few years later, it really blew up, when celebrities started using it, for their family and friends or when they wanted privacy of their own
Nowadays, anyone could get their hands on it. Clearly Harold and Genoa wanted to hide their identities but why? Why? He began to question everything about them. Was that her real hair color or a wig? Was she wearing contacts? Again what color was that. He wondered if they'd even given him their real names. Eventually he realized he was obsessing. What did any of this matter? What did he care about two odd strangers? He pushed them, her, from his thoughts and tried to move on.
That was three days ago and as much as he attempted to move on, she kept drifting in and out of his thoughts. Why. Why. WHY! He kept asking himself, just what was it about her, yes she was odd, but it wasn't just that. He rubbed his temple trying to understand his sudden infatuation.
"Sir." said Grady pulling Jesep from his thoughts.
"Hmm," he said turning his chair back around. "Yes?"
"We could do this another time, if now is not convenient."
"Hmm, no go on," said Jesep, waving his hand.
Grady looked down at his tablet but quickly looked back up again. He put his hand to his mouth and cleared his throat before he said, "Pardon my intrusion sir but I have noticed your attention has been on other things as of late."
He'd noticed. Of course, not much got past Grady. He was the best assistant Jesep had ever had. Jesep sighed again and said, "Yes, I've got a lot on my mind." He put his elbows on his desk and intertwined his fingers.
"Anything I might assist you with?" asked Grady.
Jesep leaned back in his chair and looked up at him. Though it was subtle, he could see an eagerness in Grady's eyes. He seemed to enjoy severing Jesep, another thing that made him the best. It wasn't about the money for Grady but the work and whatever it took. Jesep truly was fortunate to have found such an assistant.
They had met several years ago when Jesep had been in another country. He'd been attending a technology conference. One night he'd been out and about, on his own, when several men recognized him, from magazines and various media outlets. They'd thought he was famous. They had tried to jump him, wanting to hold him for some sort of ransom. He'd held his own for as long as he could, but there were just too many of them, things hadn't looked good.
Grady had appeared almost out of nowhere and saved him. He helped Jesep get to a hospital and even stayed with him as he recovered. Jesep had wanted to reward him, he was rather well off at the time, and offered him a large sum of money, but all Grady wanted was a job. It was a strange request but a job he was given, and by far he was the best employee Jesep had ever had. He was always on time, immaculate in his suits, goatee and glasses. He'd always be ready for anything at a moment's notice. Be it a late night meeting, a brutal deadline, an unexpected change of plans or needing to leave a country, immediately.
Jesep thought for a moment. He supposed it wouldn't hurt to have another set of eyes on this 'problem.' "There might be." He said putting his hands behind his head, "There are two people in my new building that have caught my attention. Siblings, a man and a woman. specifically I'm interested in learning about the woman."
"What are their names?" asked Grady.
"I only have first names and they could be aliases."
"I see," said Grady.
"The woman is supposedly named Genoa and he older brother is Harold. They live on the eleventh floor. Genoa is rather strange, she might have some sort of mental disorder. The brother claims to be an investor but I highly doubt it. I've already looked into the information the building has on them, they're going under a shell company named PK Investments."
"Have you run face recognition?" asked Grady.
"I was unable to get any clear images. I believe they are using OVA tech scramblers."
"I see," said Grady, he adjusted his glasses and then took notes on his tablet. After a moment he continued, "Please allow me to look into this matter for you. I should have something by this evening."
Jesep smiled and nodded, "Alright then, but keep this between you and me."
"Of course," said Grady. He looked back down at his tablet and began reading the days schedule once more. "You have a ten o'clock with Mr. Weston at the Elric, and then an 11:45 lunch reservation at the Bu-ton with Miss Eliz Noris-"
Someone was here! Someone was at the door! This was quite a strange occurrence indeed, thought Genoa as she painted. She wondered just who it could be and what they could want. She looked to Harold and he groaned, getting up from the floor. He'd been setting up another canvas for her, when someone had buzzed the front door.
She knew he was annoyed as they valued their privacy. Of course, she knew it was for different reasons. For her it was to hide from the shadow man, for her brother it was to hide her from the world. After the accident she'd had such difficulty re-adjusting to everyday life. Harold was always trying to protect her. After a few too many public misunderstanding, he decided it was best they stop interacting with people altogether.
Once her paintings became popular enough, Harold hired an agency that specialized in privacy. They helped put a layer of protection between them and the world. Sometimes Genoa thought Harold wasn't just trying to protect herself but himself as well. She'd become his entire world. He'd given up everything to care for her and she knew she didn't always act normal. He was always worried that someone might want to take her away one day and lock her up.
If he only knew...if he only knew, like her Harold didn't have a choice. One day the shadow man would come for her and they would have to part forever more. Maybe...maybe after she was gone, he could take the money she made from her paintings and have himself a real life. She thought he deserved to be happy for once and to just take care of himself.
Harold dusted himself off and gave her a stern look. "Keep painting! Don't forget, you still have one more to go!"
"I know," said Genoa pulling from her somber thoughts.
"The courier will be here at five to pick everything up for the gallery. I DO NOT want to leave everything until the last minute, like last time."
Genoa nodded, "I'm nearly done with this one."
"I'll believe it when I see it." he grumbled before leaving the room.
He shut the door behind him and a moment later she heard it lock. She painted for a while but found herself far too curious. She kept wondered who it could possibly be. She went over to the door but couldn't hear anything. She moved her hands over the lock and closed her eyes. Sometimes if she focused really hard she could make things move, small things, mind you and it didn't always work, especially when she was being watched and was under pressure. Still she gave it a go. She took a deep breath, relaxed and heard the click. She smiled and nearly touched the doorknob. She quickly realized her hands were wet with paint so she pulled the door back just as she opened the lock, with her mind. She snuck into the hallway and stayed along the walls until she could just see her brother talking to a woman.
"Oh wow! You have really nice place! Again, I am so sorry for the misunderstanding!" the woman said. Genoa couldn't see her but watched the woman touch her brother's arm.
"Yes, I'm just surprised your card works for our elevator." said Harold scratching his head. He sounded weird.
"You know what I think happened. I am friends with Agantha Malek, I don't know if you know her but she also lives on this floor. Anyway, we're close, she's out of the country right now but she had them make me up a card. I think, what they did was make it for your place, instead of her place."
"Hmm," said Harold. "I suppose that is the case."
No way Genoa thought, you would have still needed a code plus the card. Clearly this woman was lying. The woman laughed and her brother strangely laughed along with her. Genoa hadn't heard him laugh like that for a while. He must have liked this woman, now Genoa wanted to get a closer look. She moved out from behind the hall wall until she could see what the woman looked like. She was gorgeous! She had all the right parts, in all the right places. It was like she'd stepped out of a magazine or a movie. She was so unreal. She had on big sunglasses and held a large designer purse.
Genoa knew it was a designer purse because she'd seen similar ones in stores. It was rare but sometimes Harold and her went to the big mall. She recalled getting asked to leave one of the fancier stores, when she went into with an ice cream cone, a few years ago. She hadn't wanted to buy anything anyway; she was just trying to understand why anyone would pay so much for a purse. Maybe you had to own one to understand. Maybe it was more than a purse, now that seemed exciting. Perhaps she'd ask for one, her next birthday, but doubted she'd get much use out of it. She also doubted it would make her look anything like this woman.
Genoa wasn't without assets, mind you but her sexuality wasn't really something she had really explored. No, not when her nightmares were filled with- with- Genoa caught herself zoning out, she quickly snapped out of it and sighed looking at the woman. She tried to figure out what made her so...so attractive. Perhaps it was the way she carried herself, with an air of confidence and seductiveness. Genoa admired the way she talked to her brother. He didn't often talk to anyone, why if this woman were anyone else, he would have asked her to leave, several times by now.
Genoa wished she was more confident and that she could talk with other with such ease. She always got so nervous, thinking everyone could be the shadow man but she reminded herself they could also be her love. While most her nights were consumed with twisted nightmares, sometimes she'd dream of another. It was rare indeed but she knew there was someone else out there, who loved her with all their heart as she loved them in return. Sometimes thinking of her love, knowing that they were forever doomed to be torn apart, would hurt so bad that she'd not want to think of them.
Still, over the years she'd painted a few pictures of the feelings she'd get when she thought of her love. She never allowed Harold to sell those paintings. She hung them in her room and about the condo, hoping one day she might see him again before...before everything fell apart. Of course if the shadow man wasn't real like her brother said, then...then she supposed her love wasn't either.
She frowned at the thought and then looked at the woman once more. The woman flipped her hair about, twirling it in her fingers as she talked with Harold. She pressed her chest forward and bent one of her legs, she touched Harold shoulder and Genoa saw them draw close to one another. Without thinking about it Genoa tried to mimic her pose, she flipped her hair, pushed her chest out and bent her leg.
The woman's head turned in Genoa's direction and she lowered her sunglasses. Their eyes met and Genoa realized the woman had caught her, trying to copy her stance. Beyond embarrassed, she darted back down the hall and into her painting room. She knew she was too worked up to make the door shut so she careful used her foot to push it closed.
Alone she let out a heavy sigh and shook her head. She felt like she could truly die of embarrassment. She tried to tell herself it didn't matter, what the woman saw...the woman didn't matter, why she'd probably never see her again. Genoa nodded to herself and went back to painting, should she get caught messing around.
After a few minutes Harold came back into the room. He looked as if he were in a daze. He went to shut the door but just before he did, he paused surprised, "I could have sworn I locked this?"
Genoa realized she'd forgotten to lock it. She quickly changed the subject, "Who was that?"
"That was...uh," her brother's cheeks turned rosy. "was no one. Ah, she was trying to get to our neighbors. She got our place by accident."
"Really," said Genoa. She paused for a moment then said, "You know, if you want to date, you can right? I'm perfectly capable of watching myself."
He let out a heavy sigh "Do you remember the last time I left you home alone, Genoa. You filled the pool with bubble bath."
"So I like bubbles, it's not like I set the house on fire." said Genoa
Harold shook his head and dropped back down to the floor. "Just drop it okay. I'm perfectly capable of deciding if or even when I want to date."
"Then why don't you?" asked Genoa, "You're not getting any younger, you know."
Harold didn't respond he just groaned. He finished putting together the canvas and then set it against the wall. "Are you nearly done with this one?"
"Just about,"
She moved her hands about some more before stepping back and nodding, "Okay, all done,"
She smiled at him and he took the painting down, setting it off to dry with the others. He put the new canvas on her easel, "Alright you have three hours."
"It will be ready." she said, "But will you be?"
"For what?" he asked.
"You promised we could make pizzas and watch movies after we got everything for the gallery done."
"Don't you worry, I've got everything under control." said Harold.
"Except for your love life,"teased Genoa. She flashed him and smile and he glared at her.
"I told you to stop. stop. STOP!" he turned and marched out of the room.
Genoa walked up to the window and stared out it for a few minutes, thinking of the woman and of how she made her feel. She looked at her reflection in the window, at her painting clothes and her hair. She wondered if maybe it was time to start paying more attention to her appearance, maybe she could reconsider her wardrobe, or change up her hairstyle. Just because the shadow man was coming, didn't mean it was today or tomorrow. Maybe she should consider living a little...while she still could.
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