One week passed since my brother and I last talked. It is saddening that he chooses to give me a cold shoulder than giving me a chance to redeem myself. I am inside my room, packing my things, and waiting for Cyrus to appear in my doorsteps. I use a small suitcase because we’ll be there in the States for three days only. No more, no less.

“Ready to go back here, sweetie pie?” Aicelle asks in a phone conversation. Last week was her flight and she didn’t even hear her say that she was only here for a week. Gosh, is she really my sister?

“I hate to do this.” I zip the suitcase and slump in the bed while I put the phone in a loudspeaker. I look at the ceiling of my room which has stars that glow in the night. It is fun reminiscing how my father and I glue the glow-in-the-dark stars for me to not be afraid of darkness. I miss him again.

I wipe the lone tear that slips in my eyes and smile as I imagine my father smiling at me when I have those bad days. Those bad days that I want my mother to show me a smile too.

“You have no choice. Besides, this is for your own good,” Aicelle says.

I roll my eyes and sigh at what she says. “How can this be good for me? This is pure torture.”

She sighs. “Forget what I said. Enjoy!”

I grunt as she ended the call and look at the ceiling again. I would miss this room and I miss Keil teasing me. If only I didn’t drag Angel with me to go to that bar, we would be laughing and teasing each other right now. Stupid Ashleigh. But I can’t bring back what happened like what happened to my father.

I sit on the bed and straighten my dress. I walk to the door and pull it open as someone knocks on it. It was Keil who is on the doorway and I hug him even though he didn’t return my hugs. If only I could melt the coldness of his heart. I don’t want him to be this distant to me because this is not him. The brother I know is understanding and sweet.

“Thank you.” I gather my suitcase to the door and lock my room. His face is still stoic and won’t even say a single thing.

“Ready to go?” Cyrus asks and gets the suitcase from my grasp. I went to the car first because I can’t stand Keil giving a silent treatment.

He drives towards the airport in silence. The airport valet gets the car from us and sends it to their garage. I immediately line up with all those women with kids in their hands. The line towards the departure area is quite crowded but it was manageable. It only takes half an hour to process and we are given directions to the airplane that would fly to our destination.

I am loving the feeling of riding the airplane in an economy seat because you have the best view of the sky there is and you can see people with their child with them. I feel nostalgic as I see the one kid with her mother and the mother is feeding the child. My mom used to do it to Keil and Aicelle when we ride a plane but not to me.

“You okay, Ash?” Cyrus asks as he holds my chin to make me look at him.

I nod and turn my gaze down in my shoes. No need to look at him, I am still not over his sweet demeanor over that woman. Why am I acting like this? I am not jealous.

“It seems to me that you are not okay,” he paused, “do we have a problem?”

Instead of answering his question, I get my headset and close my eyes. My headset has no sound after all so that I can hear what the flight attendants would say. After a while, I feel Cyrus putting my head in his shoulder. He is my only seatmate, except if he exchanges seats with others.

“Go back to sleep.” He guides my head back in his shoulder. “I will wake you up when we get there.”

I feel his jacket in my thighs and a kiss in my head. I fall asleep after that. How can he be so nice and gentle after what happens?

He taps my shoulders and shakes my body after when he didn’t get a response from me. I groan and glare at him. What a brute!

“We have arrived.” He casually says. Yeah, yeah, as if I care. Hello, you just woke me up, remember?

I grip his hands tight as I feel the plane descend with no signal and he just laughs at me. I glare at him again as he won’t stop laughing. I nearly have a heart attack and nearly fall on my seat and he is laughing.

“Epic!” He exclaimed. I roll my eyes at him. What a jerk!

I open the compartment above our heads and get my hand carry bag and purposely lose my grip on it and it went straight to Cyrus’s head. The kids watching laugh as he keeps on scratching his head. Take that!

He glares at me and a smug grin creeps on his face, making the kids stop laughing. “Take my revenge soon, sweetie.”

He strides faster with his long legs and I couldn’t cope up with his walk. He is inside the rented car when I ask him to open the door but he only signals the driver to go. Argghhhh, I can’t believe he did that to me.

I was about to hail a cab when the car went back with him grinning widely. I raise my hand to hail a cab but he stops it and drags me inside the car. I wiggle my body to get away but he just tightens his hold.

“What’s wrong with you?” I ask and grumpily sit in the backseat.

“Nothing’s wrong with me. What’s wrong with you?” He looks calm now, different from the laughing idiot from earlier.

I remain silent all the way to the hotel even if how many times he tried to tap and pinch my side. It’s not working for me. I am not falling for that trap.

As soon as the car halt, I immediately got out. I plan to ditch him and stay in my room the whole time.

“Ma’am, here’s your key,” the hotel receptionist says and gives me the key to my room. It is a black card, accentuated with gold and silver. Hmm, classy.

I immediately went to the room given to me and let those attendants get my bag. As soon as I see the room, I fall in love with the peach background with a gray outline. There are a king-size bed and a coffee table inside the room. The balcony is facing the city and the city lights are beautiful.

“Amazing!”

I jolt as I heard a man’s voice. I turn around and saw Cyrus with his grinning face.

“Cheshire,” I whisper and went back to looking at the great landscape.

“What? I didn’t hear it,” he says and stands beside me.

I move away from him, nearly knocking the vase beside the glass door of the balcony. “Get away from me.”

“No, sweetie. This is my room too.” He motions his hand towards the place.

My mouth went agape. I can’t believe I am sharing a room with this man. No, this can’t be. I need to punch that Vladimir for what he did. If this isn’t stupid enough, then, I don’t know anymore.

“So, shock?” Cyrus asks but I just dismiss him. I go out of the room and call Yasmin.

“Yas, what did you and Vladimir do? Why am I sharing a room with my bodyguard?” I ask half-shouting.

“For your safety. Anyway, I am having a sexy time with Vladimir. Don’t disturb us.”

She hung up on me. Cyrus laughs and I am pissed at him. Gosh, this is so frustrating!

“Go out to the bar, go to the city or meet with your woman. Just. Just leave me alone for now in this room.” I went inside and lock it. I sit behind the door and I could hear him laugh from outside.

“She’s funny.” Who is he talking to?

“Your girlfriend seems pissed. You should make a move to make her feel happy again.” A woman’s voice? What a flirty man!

“Yeah, she’s just jealous.” Me? Jealous? In his face.

“Okay, see you around,” says the woman, and I could hear the sound of the elevator. I open the door and drag Cyrus inside.

“Jealous, sweetie?” I slap him and he grabs both of my hands. Our face is mere inches away and he keeps on glancing in my lips.

I look away and he loosens his grip in my hand. He caresses my face and I can’t take it any longer. I grab his face and aim for a kiss. He presses his lips in me and sides his face for better access.

Knock. Knock. “Sir, Ma’am, this is room service.”

We pull apart and look at each other, heaving deeply.

“C-come in,” I say while still heaving. Awkward!

Cyrus opens the door for the room service crew to come in. “Here’s the list of menus and drinks. Also, you can use the intercom to order food from the cafeteria. It is my pleasure to serve you.” The room service crew goes out and Cyrus looks at me again with a grin in his face.

How I badly wanted to erase that grin! I pinch myself as I remember how I initiated that kiss. I slap my lips many times as I want to erase what we have shared. Please, please, it was only an illusion. It never happens, it never did.

Cyrus laughs and keeps on pointing to his lips. Argghhh!

•••

Day one of the conference

“Ashleigh, nice to see you here,” Brielle says. She’s a famous model now and my co-model from before. She is also a friend of my sister, Aicelle.

“Nice to see you too, Brielle! How’s London?” I ask as we hug each other and take a seat in one of the reserved tables.

“Same as always. Where is your sister?” She looks around, trying to find my sister.

“She’s with mom,” I say and swallow the lump in my throat. I love my sister but mom always favors her.

“Oh, who’s that guy with you, then?” She asks and squirms in her seat.

“Uhm, my bodyguard,” I answer and feel the awkwardness that we are talking about other people rather than ourselves. Her eyes sparkle in amusement and have that dreamy eyes towards Cyrus.

“Can I? Can I ask for his name?” The look in her eyes screams flirty. Brielle is flirty with men who would catch her attention and it seems that Cyrus caught her attention. Who wouldn’t catch his physique? He is hot, charming, and nice to everyone. Well, except for me. He’s only nice at the beginning.

He looks in my way with Brielle in his side. Wait, she’s that fast? He seems uncomfortable with Brielle’s presence. He asks for my help but I just shrug my shoulders. You are on your own now. Brielle went back to our table.

“He’s quite a challenge but nevermind. He has a girlfriend,” she sadly says. The smile in her face fades.

“Really? Then, this is the first time someone rejected a Brielle?” I joke at her and she just laughs about it. “Anyway, I know that you are quite a busy person. What makes you come here?” I ask her and she shakes her head.

“This Lolli Mag company is launching another magazine issue and a friend of mine told me about it,” she answers and looks at me again, “why are you here?”

“Lolli Mag’s representative.” She seems shocked by my revelation. Who wouldn’t be? After I quit being a model with her before, who would think I would be back as a model?

“Really? Then, great. I am going to invest in your company,” she exclaimed and many eyes are on us. This time, I am the one who seems shocked, to say the least.

“You are an investor?” I ask and look at the people around and they mind their own business again.

She has this playful grin in her face. “I took a break from modeling. I haven’t seen you on the international runway again. Did you take a break too?”

“Still modeling for local brands.” I look at Cyrus and he looks at me intently. I sigh before continuing, “it has been 2 years since I last step in this place.”

The pity in her eyes is visible and I don’t want her to pity me. “Sorry.”

I shake my head. “I still can’t move on from it and mom’s condition is getting better now. I still blame myself for it because I was there when my father died.” A lone tear falls in my eyes as I can only remember the car accident but not the faces.

“Miss Rin, you got to go. They are waiting for you to make a speech.” Cyrus interrupts at the right moment and I mutter a ‘thanks’ to him.

I stand in a small podium, looking at the wide cameras and gaze at everyone present here. “It’s been a long time. Now, I am back in this place…”

Most of them laugh at my introduction and I give them my sincere smile even though the pain still resides inside. If only I could give justice to his death.

“For anyone who doesn’t know me yet, I am Ashleigh Rin, a representative from Lolli Mag. Our company decides to venture out and wanted to release the new magazine first here. Then, it would be distributed to other countries. The company also partners with different brands of clothing, jewelry, and many more. The company longs for your cooperation.”

I walk down the aisle and saw the smile on Cyrus’s face. Everyone I passed by congratulated me and wanted to invest in our company.

Someone takes over the podium. “I believe there will be a press conference. It looks like the models of yesterday are having a reunion. Why don’t you tell us why you quit, Ashleigh the Famous?” Fiona, one of the models I work with before, says and looks at me with a smug face.

Brielle went to the stage and tried to drag Fiona down the side alley but Fiona escapes. We are now amidst the audience and Cyrus is on standby but I nod my head at him, signaling that this will be okay.

“I don’t have anything to say about my departure, Fiona,” I say casually and look at the audience. “All this time you are still mad at me. I haven’t done anything wrong to you.”

“Really? What a bitch!” Everyone gasps the moment they heard Fiona, Miss Prim and Proper, says things like that.

“Enough!” Brielle is now in the middle of us and signals one of the guards to take Fiona away.

“Brielle, if you think dragging me out of here is making you save that ungrateful bitch, then you are wrong!” Fiona shouted as she pries the hands of the bodyguards that drag her.

“Stop!” Brielle shouted. I am shocked to see Brielle this mad. “You don’t know anything, Fiona. You don’t know anything!”

“Then, you could tell everyone here why you quit modeling.” Fiona still taunts Brielle to answer what many people wanted to hear.

“Brielle, you don’t have to answer it,” I say and stand by her side.

“I have to.” Brielle stands confidently and looks at the eyes of the audience. “I quit because the happiness I found is not there anymore and the industry becomes toxic.”

The room is filled with silence when Fiona suddenly said a snarky comment.

“What a lousy reason!”

Everyone was gaping their mouths open as Brielle slaps Fiona in her face. Fiona can’t believe that Brielle did it to her and she couldn’t fight back because she is restraint. Fiona looks over at me and laughs before saying something that makes me anxious.

“This is not yet over. Just wait for my revenge, Ashleigh. It will be worth the wait.”