It looks like Cyrus is the boss as he leads me to Yasmin’s office. He keeps on ignoring me since we went inside the elevator and Yasmin has this wide grin in her face. I want to think that he’s affected but I don’t want to assume things. I roll my eyes at her as she chuckles and leads me on a sofa.

She breaks the ice and sent Cyrus outside. “Cyrus, could you give us a moment please?”

He only nods and silently walks outside the office and I can see him clearly in a one-way mirror wall. He gets a chair and looks dejected. I feel guilty for what I have done.

“What is that? Did something happen to both of you?” she asks.

She cages my face in her hands as I look away from her gaze.

“I made him jealous of Fred. Aren’t I fantastic?” I ask her and she looks unhappy. Well, I wasn’t happy either.

“No, you are not fantastic, I tell you. What do you expect he would feel? Happy?”

That made me fall into silence as I look back at Cyrus and he keeps on glancing in our way but he can’t see nor hear us talk. He clutches his hair and leans on the chair he is sitting on.

“I am just making fun with him because he brought me humiliation earlier.” I pout as I hug her from behind. “Okay, fine. I am going to say sorry.”

“What did he do to you? Tell me.” She faces me and detaches from my embrace. She is back to her calm mode again and it’s creeping me out.

“He pulls me into his body and I end up above his body.” She just looks straight to Cyrus as I narrate to her what happened. “I am telling the truth, Yas.”

She bobs her head up and down while deep in thought. Each moment passes, I feel anxious about what she will say. I am anxious that she is thinking right now. Gosh, I don’t want to be anxious.

“You must have made or said something that he doesn’t approve,” she says and walks to her table.

I release the breath that I have been holding for a while. W-wait? Did she just say that it is my fault without trying to tell me the exact words?

“Well… Yas, which side are you on? You are my friend; you should be on my side,” I say and look at what she is doing on her table. I pout as she is avoiding looking at me.

“If he is in the right, I would side with him but if he is wrong, then, I am on your side. In this case, I am not siding any of you,” she paused and look at me. “So, do you accept our propositions?”

“No. still no.” I am not going there, for goodness sake.

“Then, you leave me no choice.” She smiles wickedly like she is planning something evil for me. She walks in front of her table and snaps her fingers like counting numbers using it.

“Fine. Fine, I am going. Just give me a week.” I roll my eyes at her. She’s good with manipulation and anything I am not into. It looks like Vladimir is the only person she can’t manipulate and I can’t help but be happy that there is someone she can’t trick.

She reaches for the stacks of paper and walks to the sofa I am sitting. I already have too many papers to sort, to sign and she still gives me these.

“Before you give me that reaction, that is for the states,” she says as she shows me another set of papers. “And this is for the fashion runway that you need to sign. Give this to me before this day ends.”

“but--”

She shuts me off by placing her hands in my face. She snickers in my attempt of sending her death glares. I close my eyes and count to four to relax my mind. As much as I want to strangle this woman, I don’t want to give her the satisfaction of thinking that she won.

“Now, say sorry to him or I will give you more than that.” She points out the papers that are in my hands. “Also, don’t be late at the meeting again.” She waves at me and on my way to her door, I was pouting. Cyrus raises his eyebrows as I open the door.

He murmurs but I can still hear what he said, “Not professional enough.”

I roll my eyes at him and walk with force marches. If only Keil isn’t angry at me, I would have asked him to fire Cyrus from being my bodyguard. My life isn’t in danger and I don’t need someone looking at me and following me all day. I have to get my personal life back and Aicelle is the key.

I went inside the conference room as we arrive at it. Cyrus gives me weird looks but I lock the door for him not to hear who it is I am talking to.

“Hello, dear sister.” I laugh as I heard her grunt in the phone.

“What? You disturb me in my sleep. What kind of sister are you?” She yawns and there are things thrown on the floor in the background. Oh, mean girl, where did you go last night?

“A beautiful one,” I chuckle after saying it and I heard her groan. “I have a favor, sis. Can you command Cyrus not to follow me every time and let him speak to me? Pretty please.” I pace back and forth and look at Cyrus outside while whispering to my sister on the phone.

“Why would I do that? It’s Keil’s plan. Talk to him,” she says. Yeah, right, as if Keil is willing to talk to me after what I have done.

I grunt to her response. “I hate you.”

She laughs on the phone. “You don’t.”

I end the call at her. Someone knocks in the door from outside the room.

“Miss, the meeting will start in a minute. Can you let us in?” Katarina, my secretary, asks from the other side of the door.

I unlock the door and Katarina appears in front of me and went straight to the projector. She looks out of herself today. Her face shows tiredness and her hair is still a bit messy. She combs her hair using her fingers and continues to turn on the projector of the conference room.

“kata, have you seen Cyrus?” I ask.

She only nods and points out the elevator. I peek at the path that leads to the elevator and I see him welcomes a new girl, someone I didn’t know. My head boils the moment they laugh together while walking towards the conference room.

As they arrive, Cyrus didn’t even meet my gazes and glares. I scoff as he offers her a seat and the happiness in his eyes is there. I am not going to be jealous; he is not my type. I am not jealous.

“Please be seated, everyone. The meeting will start now,” Yasmin says and sit beside me.

Everyone sits on their respective chairs and proceed to start the meeting. Kata and the other secretaries started to provide the notes for all the board members. My eyes look at where Cyrus is and found him in the lounge seat outside and I look at the woman he brings here.

“You seem silent today? What’s with that face?” she murmurs and went back to listening to Katarina’s presentation. I begin to focus and listen to Katarina’s explanation.

“As you can see here. This is the demographics and statistics of those who use our products and here are the sales of our magazine issues for the past 5 years. It has exceeded the percentage of expected sales of 4.7 %.” Katarina says and everyone applauds.

“Mister Yukimura stands from his chair and proceed to the small podium. “I believe that Miss Rin already accepts being the company representative.” I nod and he continues to speak, “I also heard that you are about to sign a contract with a cosmetic company.”

“I am still reconsidering their offer,” I answer him to not give him false hopes.

Katarina looks in my way and I give her a sweet smile and mouth a congratulation to her.

“Miss Rin, I believe that this company is good at managing their clients. I believe that you will consider working with them,” Kata says.

“I can see that when it comes to their management, I have no problem but the main concern for this is the lack of financial stability of the company. I am not saying this because I think they are not capable, no, they are capable. But how can they stand tall in this industry when everything starts to crumble down inside?” I ask them and they all fall into silence especially that woman with Cyrus.

“I think that’s how you get in. I believe you could give a second chance for this company,” Yasmin says and I raise my eyebrows at her. I want to laugh at Yasmin’s suggestion but her look right now screams seriousness.

“Fine, a second chance it is.” I look at them and they start to leave the conference room without saying anything.

“Katarina, give me the notes that I ask you and also the contract they give us,” I say to Katarina as she was the last one to leave.

She scurries and Yasmin taps in my shoulder. “You’ll be great. Don’t worry, I will be on your side, just trust me on this one.”

I hug her and she went outside the room. I thought I am the only one alone in this room but I make eye contact with the woman Cyrus brings. She smiles at me and I also give her a small smile. No need to be jealous of her, I tell myself because, in the first place, she didn’t do anything wrong for me except for the fact that Cyrus is sweet to her.

“Hi.” She waves at me and walks with elegance towards my chair. “I am Lia. How was Cyrus? Is he treating you right?”

I am speechless, to say the least. Why is she asking me that?

“He’s g-good,” I answer her and started to go outside the room, but she stops me in my shoulders.

“Take care of him for me.” After that, she went outside first and I was left alone.

What did just happen? Cyrus leads the woman inside the elevator and I went back to my sit. My heart contract in pain, no, this is not jealousy. I can’t be jealous of him because there is no us and I am sure that even if I have the guts to confess to him, he loves somebody else.

Katarina knocks and gives me the papers; I immediately sign it without reading much of it. I trust that she already outlined this. We walk together to our offices and papers greet my sight. I sign them one by one while waiting for Cyrus to arrive.

3 p.m. and Cyrus is not here yet. What’s taking him so long? Maybe, he is with his woman again.

I press the intercom and asks for Katarina’s presence. “Send this to Yasmin, please. If you see Cyrus on your way, could you ask him to--- nevermind.”

“Should I still send this to miss Yasmin?” I nod and she closes the door on her way outside.

I grab my bag and head straight to my photoshoot venue. It is in a private restaurant and I am loving the ambiance they have. On my way here, I just hail a cab because Cyrus didn’t show up his face the whole afternoon.

“Miss Rin, the set is now ready. The dress is here and Ginger will be here any minute.” The attendant showed me inside a private room for me to dress and Ginger arrives.

“Ma’am, thank you for understanding my situation.” She starts to put pins in my hair to stop it from falling in my face while she’s doing my makeup.

“Is your brother okay now?” I ask and she nods her head. She puts the cream in my face and all the necessary makeup to have light make up.

“Yes, he is just resting now. Tomorrow, he will be discharged from the hospital.”

“Miss Rin, are you ready?” the attendant asks from outside.

“All done.” Ginger answers for me and she helps me in my hairstyle. She puts the pins away and starts to put the setting spray in my face. “Now, go and show them who’s the boss.”

I laugh and open the door of the room and walk with confidence towards the set. I sit in a stool and look at the view outside while sipping their famous milk tea. The camera snaps and the photographer walk around me, finding different angles.

Next, they give me a dessert and I use the spoon and was about to eat the dessert with elegance. The main course is a braised duck with honey glaze. My mouth waters at the smell of it and I look at it like longing for it to be tasted.

“Good. Nice one and we are done.” The photographer offers a high five for me and I reach his palm for a high five.

I start to stand from the stool when my heels break on its own and the photographer catches me on time. “T-thank you.” I stammer as I feel uncomfortable with our position.

“You’re welcome.” He brings me in a nearby chair and inspects my foot and it was swollen, to say the least. “Ice. We need ice!” he shouted to the crew that is still cleaning for the props.

The crew immediately brought the ice and he put it in my swollen foot. I keep on winching at the contact of ice in my burning foot.

“What did you ride to get here?” He asks while he keeps on putting pressure on it.

“A c-cab.” The pain in my foot starts to become unbearable.

“I’ll send you home. I am Dusk,” he says and offers his hand for a handshake at me. I accept it and look away, that’s when I saw the dark face of Cyrus.

“No one’s bringing you home,” Cyrus says. He’s fast. He was on the door and the next thing, he was right next to us.

Dusk knotted his eyebrows at him. “Who is he?”

Before I could answer Dusk’s question, Cyrus answers it. “I am her boyfriend. Got a problem, dude?”

Boyfriend? I want to tell Dusk that Cyrus and I aren’t lovers but I don’t want to hurt Cyrus ego. I just let him without correcting him.

“None.” Dusk back away and tend to his camera. He cleans his camera and goes to his area while smiling at me.

“What are you doing here?” I ask and start to stand but the excruciating pain is there. “Ouch.”

Cyrus guide me towards the car in front of the restaurant. “I am bringing you home.”

“My bag.” He runs inside and gets my bag inside the restaurant and he went back fast.

He takes over the wheels and starts to drive away. His face is so dark and I lift my eyebrows at him. What’s his problem?

“Why did you let him hold you?” His knuckles now red as he grips the wheels hard.

“What?” I can’t believe that he dares to ask me that question when he is the one touching that woman earlier.

“You let him hold your feet.” He shakes his head and focuses his attention on the road.

“And then?” I ask him another question and he looks at me, pissed. Gosh, I don’t understand this man.

“I can’t believe you.” He drives faster and I remain silent on our way home as he almost let the car fly.

“Hey, talk to me. Ash, I am jealous because it is easy for you to talk to him than me.”