"I feel like anything I could've possibly planned for this week would not have given you as much joy as this has."

Rose smiled. Sebastian was right, this last week had been perfect. It had involved multiple late nights and an unending stream of calls to people ranging from contractors to journalists to florists. It was a miracle Rose's voice hadn't gone hoarse from all the yelling she did over the phone, and a miracle that Sebastian had any nails left at all. He was an anxious nail biter, as Rose had learned. She, on the other hand, didn't seem to feel any anxiety at all.

"I've missed this," Rose sighed, stretching in her chair.

"You're phenomenal at this, you know?" Sebastian said, sitting down on a chair beside her as he refilled their coffee mugs. The once pristine workplace was tearing at the seams. There were diagrams and notes and scribbles and documents strewn all around, courtesy of Rose.

"I know," Rose said with a cheeky grin. "But I kind of had to be."

"Storytime?"

Rose nodded. This was something of a ritual that had been birthed during the past four days. They were almost constantly together, mostly talking business, but every now and then, the conversation would veer into a different territory; one that included mulling over past experiences and sharing the stupidest of anecdotes. It had been happening frequently enough for it to earn itself a title of its own. And, even though Rose knew they were wasting precious time talking about things that were essentially redundant, she couldn't help but look forward to it.

"Storytime," Rose agreed, delving in. "The Beaumonts were extremely kind, taking me in. But it was a calculated move, which I learned very early on. You know how my birth parents died, right?"

"A factory fire, right?"

"A Beaumont factory fire, yes. There was a safety inspection due, and there were some issues that needed to be fixed. The rest of the staff was already gone, but my dad had received orders from higher up to stay and fix it. So he did. My mother came to pick him up that evening. She wasn't even supposed to be there. But. Well. She was."

"I'm so sorry," Sebastian said quietly, gently touching the back of her hand with the tips of his fingers.

"Whatever the issue was, was big," Rose continued. "And my... my father was tinkering with it all on his own. It wasn't a one person job. He shouldn't have been... but yeah. Doesn't matter now. There was an explosion, they both went up in flames."

Rose quietned down, staring at Sebastian's fingers on her hand. And even though the words were about her parents, her mind was far away, flooding with the memories of something completely different.

Someone completely different.

"I was in the car," Rose continued after a pause, pulling herself back. Her eyes were still fixed on their hands. "I was in the car, waiting, as my parents burnt to crisp inside."

"I... I didn't even know about that," Sebastian murmured, wrapping his hand around hers. "That must have been traumatic."

"It's one of the few things I remember. The wait. And the confusion. For days afterwards. But that was the magic of the Beaumonts. Nobody ever even got to view this as something negative. They steered the narrative so quickly, they were hailed as heroes."

"They adopted the poor orphan of a lowly factory worker, changing her life forever," Sebastian said, his face grim. "That's... smart."

Rose laughed humourlessly. "Now you get it. Yes. It was a brilliant move. The fact that the fire took place should have been on them. There should have been lawsuits. But instead, they mourned for my parents, and adopted me. I still have news clippings saved from those days. It's all framed as this miraculous tragedy, that helped bring poor orphaned me to the home I was always meant to be in."

"I... wow. I don't know what to say."

Rose shrugged. "I learnt about all the details much, much later. Safe to say, I was speechless too. But I always knew that they had done me a huge favour, and I would have to spend my whole life trying to repay them."

"That's not fair," Sebastian frowned. "That's a horrible burden to put on yourself."

"It made sense to me, at the time. And it wasn't something that was ever disproved by my parents either. Their love always seemed to... how do I put this — it flourished before the cameras. During every interview, they showered me with affection. Every now and then, they'd even shed a tear. Talk about how lucky they were that I chose to grace them with my presence. Then the cameras would turn, they'd go back to work, and I wouldn't see them for days at end. So I figured, the only way to earn their love was by being fucking phenomenal at everything related to media, at all things PR."

"I feel like I should learn time travelling and give baby Rose a hug."

"Oh, definitely. There was much shortage of those for baby Rose," she said, her face slightly less dour. "It was all for the better, though. Eventually I stopped trying to do it to please them, and started to do it because I actually like it. Managing media outlets, spinning mishaps into good publicity, planning last minute launches and parties... I enjoy it. And I have them to thank for it."

"I think you have yourself to thank for it," Sebastian corrected. "You're good at it. You enjoy doing it. That's all you. They just put you in a strange situation. You're the one who made something out of it."

"Look at that," Rose grinned. "You're quite the spinner too, maybe you'd enjoy tricking some journalists with me."

"Clearly, that's what I'll be doing all of tomorrow."

"Don't look so grumpy!" Rose chided, smacking his arm lightly. "It'll actually be kind of fun."

"Will it now? Looking forward to fake romancing me, are you?"

"Nope, just looking forward to the hotel you're surprising me with," Rose said, matching the grin on his face.