I let Fiona’s words sink in the back of my mind and won’t be affected by it. I won’t be frightened about it knowing that I have Cyrus as my bodyguard. If anything would happen to me, I know that he’ll be there to fulfill his job.

The moment we open the door to our room, we raced towards the bed and I won. I lie in the bed, spread eagle, and raise my eyebrows at him. As for tonight, I want to be the one on this bed and he’ll be on the sofa. I don’t care if it makes me mean but I did not intend to sleep with him. Like literally sleeping.

“Don’t taunt me, sweetie.” He undresses in front of me and I try my hardest not to peek on his physique. “I might bite,” he speaks that sends goosebumps in me.

I sigh in defeat and shift to the right side of the bed. I put two extra pillows between us as he makes his way to the left side of the bed. Even if how weird it is, I usually sleep on my right side of the bed.

“Let’s talk,” he says and I look at his face. His face screams seriousness.

“What do we have to talk about? I bet there’s none.” I move out of the bed and walk to my suitcase that is discarded on the floor since we arrived. I try to sort my clothes in the closet to avoid answering what his question would be. I don’t want to talk to him. Period.

“Who’s that woman?” he asks, propping his hand on the bed and rest his head on it. He looks at me intently as I can feel his burning stares at my back as I turn away from him.

“My co-model.”

I try to get the next batch of dresses from my suitcase when he suddenly appears in front of me. I don’t want to talk about what happened at the venue because it is humiliating. Gosh, what would the investors think about me now?

He leans his back on the wall and faces me. “Really? I don’t believe you!”

I scoff at him. “Then, don’t.”

If he doesn’t believe what I said, it’s fine with me and if he believes, it’s fine also. He raises his two hands in the air and went back on the bed. As I finish putting my clothes in the closet, I saw him putting the pillows away.

“What are you doing?” I ask him with my hands in my hips.

I don’t want to know where this would be heading again. I don’t want to be his conquest and I come here for one purpose only and nothing else.

“Putting this away?” He asks as if I didn’t know what he is doing.

How I want to erase that grin in his face! How I want to throw this suitcase on his face!

“Put that back or you’ll sleep on the sofa?” I dare him and it works.

He put the pillows back where I put them. I give him a thumbs up even if his face is dropping.

“I see. You don’t like sharing a bed with someone,” he mumbles and turns his back on me to strip his pants. Gosh, if he won’t stop, I would—argghhh! I hate him.

“What are you doing again?” I turn my back at him.

“Stripping?” he asks like he didn’t know what he had done.

“This is illegal. Super illegal!” I storm off and open the balcony doors.

The calm wind touches my skin along with the mist it carries. It’s a cold summer night and being here is like opening the scars of my past. I look at the night sky and it is void of stars but the lonely moon still shines brightest. So magical!

I remember trying to reach for the stars when I was a kid and my father would encourage me to look at the moon and be amazed at it. I love the stars and my father loves the moon. He would always say that I will be like the moon in the sky someday where everyone would admire; flawed yet beautiful.

“You can go back now. I can just sleep on the sofa,” he says from inside the room and it brings me back from that reminiscence.

He is bringing with him his pillow and blanket. I close the balcony door and walk towards the bed. Guilt consumes me the moment I saw his sad face.

“You can sleep on the left side and I will be on the right side. If that okay with you,” I whisper.

His face lit up and runs towards the bed and drop his body in it. He pulls the duvet on his body as I take my side of the bed. I turn off the little lamp on my side and try to close my eyes without feeling affected by the person beside me. It’s so hard to be calm when another person sleeps beside you.

“So, what’s your plan tomorrow?” he asks and I clutch my heart in surprise. I thought he is now asleep.

“Nothing. Go back to sleep.” I could feel him switch position and scoot closer to me. “Don’t you dare come near me.” That made him stop scooting over. After a few minutes, I can feel my lids getting heavy and I doze off to sleep.

The sun rays touch my cheeks as someone opens the room curtain. I try to open my right eye and see Cyrus talking to a room service crew. He brings the meals in a coffee table and ready all the utensils for us to use.

“What time is it?” I ask as I look for a clock.

“6:00 am. Why did you ask? Don’t worry, the press conference will start around 9,” he says and went back to preparing the table.

I arch my eyebrows at him and walk to the coffee table. “How did you know that it’ll start at nine?”

He stops pouring cream in my cup. “Brielle told me about it.”

“So, you’re mister friendly now?” I ask him and he just chuckles.

“jealous?”

I roll my eyes at him and get a piece of pancake and swallow it. “As if.”

He laughs and sits in front of me. He joins me in eating the breakfast and we eat silently.

“What other things did you learn?” I ask, not looking at him.

“Hmm? I also learn that you easily become jealous,” he says and laughs by himself. I pity him and his dead jokes.

“Funny. For your information Mister Friendly, I am not a jealous person. You have a girlfriend, so you should limit your time flirting with other girls. That is still considered cheating!”

I stand and walk to the closet. I grab the dress I would be wearing and make my way to the bathroom to take a bath. I wear a simple dress for the conference and put on some light makeup. The moment I went out of the bathroom, the coffee table is now clear and Cyrus is nowhere to be found. I left a note to him that I will go to the hall early to make sure that everything is alright.

“Is everything at its place?” I ask one of the crew and he nods at me.

I look around and saw some reporters from the entrance that wanted to get past the guards. I went towards them and they all become quiet.

“Hi, everyone!” I wave at them and the lights from their cameras keep on flashing at me. I smile at them with my sweetest smile even though I hate how the lights nearly blinded me.

“Miss Ashleigh, do you plan to come back?” the red-haired reporter asks and I just shake my head.

“Miss Ashleigh, there are rumors that you tried to kill yourself. Is it true?” a man asks and I don’t know how to answer it.

“Miss Ashleigh, I saw video footage about how Miss Brielle slaps Miss Fiona. Is it true that you three are never gonna be back from the being the models of yesterday?” the red-haired asks again.

“Miss Ashleigh, is it true that you quit because you elope with your non-showbiz boyfriend?” a reporter with jet black hair asks.

All of their questions make me stay rooted in my place. I can’t seem to find my voice and my head hurts with the constant nudging and the lights from the cameras. I forget what I am doing here and their questions keep on bugging me.

“Enough!” Brielle shouts as she appears in front of me and still heaves a sigh. “Go now. This is why I tell Cyrus to be here at nine.”

My mouth went agape and big muscle arms wrap around me. Cyrus cups my face and I can’t help my tears to stream down. Cyrus keeps on wiping the tears away from my eyes and I am thankful that he drags me in a secluded alley. It seems like I am still the fragile girl from before, nothing changed.

“It’s okay. It’s okay. I read your note and I am sorry for being late.” He kisses my forehead and I can’t help but cry harder than before. “You are still beautiful!”

I laugh and hug him for dragging me away from the crowd. “I don’t know what I will do if you didn’t show up.”

“Now be a badass and lift your head high. You still have to face them no matter what. This time, remember that I am beside you,” he says and somehow, his voice soothes me.

I nod and go to the comfort room. I sprinkle water in my face and wash it to erase the makeup from it. I go out of the room and Cyrus waits for me outside. We walk to the dressing room together and we see Brielle already in there.

“Are you now okay, Ash?” she asks and cups my face.

“I am. I can now face them.” I take a seat in front of the mirror and Brielle walks behind me.

She gets the brushes and starts to put cream in my face and light makeup. “You don’t have to.”

“I have to, Brielle. I don’t want to be the coward again,” I say and let her do her magic with makeup.

She gives me a small smile. We look at the time and we relax for a bit inside the dressing room. Quarter to nine, Brielle walk with me to the alley back to the hall.

“You ready, Ash?” she asks and pats my back.

“I am.” I walk with confidence and look back at Brielle as she gives me a thumbs up.

“Good morning, everyone!” I greet everyone inside and the room is filled with applause.

“The press conference will start now,” the emcee says.

“I am here to promote our soon-to-be-released issue. This time, I will be collaborating with more local and international models. Also, we will collaborate with different famous brands from Europe, Asia, and America.” I put my microphone down and wait for someone to stand and ask a question.

“When will be the proposed launching of this issue?” the reporter asks. This time, I haven’t seen the reporters from earlier.

“It is already planned to be released within this year,” I answer with confidence.

“What famous brands would there be?” one of the reporters asks.

“The company is still planning on what brands should they take to collaborate,” I answer and I glance at Brielle.

“Miss Ashleigh, is it true that you turn your back from the modeling industry because of your boyfriend?” one of them is bold to asks that question but I am over it.

“No. My ex-boyfriend had nothing to do with this.” I look at her intently and shift my gaze to the emcee.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now over. You may exit on the side door of the hall silently.” The emcee mutters a sorry and announces more information to them.

“You did great!” Brielle gives me a hug and we join the others in the next hall for lunch.

The hall is packed with different races from all over the world and there is an exhibit of our past modeling career. Someone from the elite group raises his cup and offers a toast to the success of this conference. Brielle, Cyrus, and I join the tables of those businesswomen.

“You are amazing, sister Ashleigh!” Myrtha, one of our new models in this branch exclaims.

“Thank you.” I bow at them and we continue to eat and calls it a day.

I call for Cyrus’s attention as we walk towards our room. “Cyrus, could you accompany me to the city? I just want to breathe.”

He seems hesitant to be with me. “It’s dangerous.”

“That is why I want you to be with me so it won’t be that dangerous,” I say and smile at him.

“And you think you are safe with me?” he asks and still hesitant to accompany me.

“Yes, because you are my bodyguard. Besides, I trust you so much,” I whisper and put my hands in my pocket. I am quite nervous to ask him and his silence is making it uncomfortable for us.

He looks at me like he can’t believe what I told him. He looks away the moment I stare at his face. Oh, he’s blushing!

“You are red as a tomato.” I nudge at him.

“Oh, shut up,” he nervously says.

We are now outside the hotel and walking down the street with our hands touching once in a while. He takes a grip on my hands and I let him be. It is beautiful with the moon hiding behind the clouds but it was still seen in our position.

“It’s beautiful!” I raise my hands as if wanting to touch the sky with my own hands.

“Just like you,” he whispers beside my ear and it tickles.

“Flatterer.” I point in a bench and we took a seat. I look around and found that we are in front of the restaurant where we first met.

“Hey,” he nudges at me, “that’s the restaurant where I saw you cry.” I nod while trying to forget why I went to that restaurant that day.

“I know.” I gulp as nervousness slowly creeps into me.

“It’s okay.” He taps my shoulder before he asks, “Want to pay a visit to that restaurant?” I nod even if my heart contracts in pain.

We are outside the restaurant door when someone gets out of it and locks it. “Sorry, Ma’am and Sir, this restaurant is now closed.”

It pains me how this restaurant had so many visitors before and now, there’s no one except for the crew.

“Why?” I ask out of curiosity.

“No one wanted to come here again since the owner fell ill. Sorry, but we are closing now and this place is for lease.” The man walks towards his car and I can feel the pain they have. Maybe this restaurant has also been part of their life just like mine.

“Guess, we should head back now.” Cyrus holds my shoulders and leads me to where we walk again. “I’ll just treat you to another restaurant tomorrow.”

“Let’s go to the hotel’s rooftop restaurant. I want to drink for this sadness to go away,” I suggest. I still feel sad for the restaurant owner that no one will follow the path he set for his child or children.

We arrive at the rooftop restaurant and the cool breeze sent shivers into our skin. The night sky becomes more vivid and more magnificent as the moon moves away from the clouds to show his true light. Cyrus sits beside me and we order steak for the night and a wine.

I look at him and a smile is evident in his eyes. I wander my eyes around the surrounding before settling my eyes on him and asks.

“You have been here before?”