Page 98 of A Diamond Deal
Poppy half turned and placed her glass on the tall table of oak. ‘Sounds good.’
The TV was cleverly disguised as an ornate gold mirror, so the pretty moving pictures were not the focal point. So in this room conversations could happen. Books could be taken from the shelves. Stories could be shared.
Poppy had no more stories. Books—she couldn’t concentrate long enough. And so it had become a kind of ritual. To fill the silence with a hum, while they just sat together. Sometimes they talked. Sometimes they didn’t.
The reflective glass changed to an image.
Two chairs sat opposite each other on the screen. It resembled a lounge, with cream rugs and armchairs. Poppy knew this show.Anna Talks.
Anna walked onto the stage. Her suit as neutral as the set. Beige. Hands waving at a crowd the camera zoomed out to capture as they all applauded her. Poppy liked this show. She liked how at first it seemed frivolous. Just moving pictures, celebrities, politicians, on some kind of promotional tour. But Anna, her questions were always so simple, but they got responses no one expected.
A live show, it wasn’t rehearsed or scripted. She went deeper. Beyond the interviewee’s public status. She brought her guests to life. Showed the human beneath their too bright smiles.
It was escapist TV. She got to focus on someone else’s life—their problems—rather than her own.
Anna took her seat. ‘Today we welcome a tycoon who has been in the press for numerous reasons.’ Her eyes sparkled at the camera, as if she knew a secret and so did the audience. They chuckled.
‘He’s won many prestigious awards for his due diligence in the workplace for mental health. And most recently, his personal life. Never before has he given an interview… Please, let us welcome—’ she raised her hands, turned her attention to the obscured glass doors that would welcome her guest ‘—Mr Konstantinos Ariti!’
Poppy’s blood roared. It drowned out the applause booming as the doors opened. He didn’t smile. He didn’t wave back at the audience. He walked towards his host, and sat down in the chair designated for him.
He wasn’t dressed in a suit. He was…casual. Dark blue jeans, a round-necked black jumper. His hair, it curled around his ears. His usually clean-shaven cheeks hidden behind a beard.
Anna stretched her hand out. ‘Welcome.’
Konstantinos did the same. ‘Thank you for having me, Anna.’
Their hands fell.
Poppy’s heart raced as she watched Anna do what she did with every guest. She paused for a little too long. She looked at her guest as if she saw them. Saw beneath whatever script they usually gave to their host, and she was waiting for them to forget it. Their rehearsed words. To forget their lies and give her only the truth.
‘How are you, Konstantinos?’ she asked.
He didn’t move. Konstantinos sat there as still as stone, absorbing her question. ‘I want,’ he said, and he paused.
The tiny pause, the tiny hesitation, it made Poppy’s heart pump.
‘I want,’ he said again, ‘to tell you I’m okay, Anna.’
‘But you’re not?’
‘No.’
Anna didn’t push. Didn’t ask him why not. She waited.
And so did Poppy.
‘I am sad, Anna.’
‘And it’s important for you to tell us this?Why?’
‘The truth,’ he said, ‘it is power, and for so long I have not been truthful. I’ve said the right words. Won awards for teaching others it is okaynotto be okay.’
‘And why was that important for you to do?’
‘My mother.’ He swallowed. ‘She wasn’t well. She was…mentally ill. She took her own life because no one reached out to help her. Not my father. He thought her sickness was a weakness. He locked her away from the public when her health deteriorated. He left her with me. Trusted me to take care of her.’
‘Do you blame yourself for your mother’s death, Konstantinos?’
