William had been over the moon when Marissa had walked in during the party.  Tina had had her back turned, talking to the director of the film, when she’d heard a ripple of excited chatter spread around them. Even the director paused in mid-sentence, "Is that?…."

 

Tina had turned around, and hadn’t spotted Marissa until the small crowd around her parted slightly, as William took her lightly by the elbow, to walk her to his table.  Their eyes had met then, and Marissa’s widened in surprise upon seeing Tina.  After a slight pause, Marissa bent down to whisper something to William, then walked towards Tina.

 

"Tina," the other blonde greeted her briefly, and hesitatingly extended her hand.

 

"Marissa," Tina nodded, greeting her with icy tones. She shook Marissa’s hand. They exchanged a long look, stood apart stiffly, then Marissa walked back to William, whose mouth was agape.  Afterwards, William had worried that the frosty interchange would throw a wrench in the studio’s plans to work out an innovative product placement series of deals with one of Marissa’s corporations.  While Tina had doubted it, she’d agreed to lunch with Marissa, after William’s assistant managed to schedule one for her with the other blonde.

Tina took another sip of her drink while Marissa continued, "The corporate head of the luxe division couldn’t make it back to New York in time from Shanghai, because I’d asked him to catch a later flight so that he could meet with the patriarch of a top Indian family on my behalf, who was swinging by Shanghai," she explained briefly.  She took a sip of her wine, "He was a good friend of my father’s, and he recently retired as Chairman of his family corporation.  We needed to pay our respects to him, since it’s my generation running things now: myself on my family’s side in our corporations and his sons in their family corporations. And we need to keep those bonds strong."

 

"Do you know William well also?," Tina asked, draining the last of her drink.  She looked at the waiter, who signaled he’d be bringing her another one. She nodded at him, then turned back to Marissa.

 

The other blonde was close to finishing her own drink.