I slowly open my eyes to the light and soft caressing that I feel on my cheeks. It has awakened me, and its sensation is undeniable.“Good morning, Aurella.” Vincent appears before me. Fresh from the shower and only wearing jeans.“Good morning.” I greet him in return before turning my back on him. I faced the other side of the bed rather than facing him. “What time is it?” I cover my head with a pillow to block the sunlight from hitting my face. “It's past 7 am.” I heard him say. I sigh, “Okay. You can leave if you want to. I will continue to sleep, I stayed up too late.” I instantly feel his weight at the edge of the bed. He goes silent for a little while and then he starts to bid his goodbye.“I guess, we'll see each other again next week.” Oh, I hope not. “ Oh, by the way I cooked you breakfast.” Until now, he still hasn't known me all too well. I don't eat breakfast. A coffee is enough for me. “Thank you for the one last night. I'll leave now, Aurella. Bye.” It took him a couple
“Girl, your fit looks so cute!!! So fabulous!”“That's CEO Aurella Aglauros right there!”“Hermosa, hermosa, hermosa.”I dramatically roll my eyes as my loud friends step inside my jewelry store. I was talking to a customer interested to buy a gold necklace until they decided to interrupt my mediocre convincing skills. I had to pause and ask one of my saleslady to give the customer the assistance she needs.And then, here are my friends.Liv, Paige, and Elle.“What are you guys doing here?” I sounded mean without even trying to.Paige gives me a deadpan look, “Wow, ungrateful bitch.”“Language, Paige. There are still some cameras here.” Liv convinces Paige to think of her career first before spitting out words that might ruin her. Elle on the other side just shrugs her shoulder as if she doesn't give even just a hint of care.My ladies are also well-known personalities just like me. They also have their own careers that they aim to protect. But sometimes, they like to be carefree just
My eyes are quick to glare at Elle because of what she said. It's been years since the last time we saw each other yet she's still a huge fan of Bryce Tryst. She's still trying to push me towards someone that I hate with every part of me. “Elle, what are you trying to do?” Elle just shrugs her shoulders and sweetly smiles at me. “I'm not trying to do anything. I'm just telling the truth. Bryce Tryst is the man you love the most.” Paige fakes a cough to enter the conversation, “If I were you, I wouldn't want nor ever try to piss off Aurella that way.” “Uh-huh, we all know that she hates that particular him and that she never wants to hear that him.” Liv adds. If there's only a way to make them all forget about Bryce Tryst's existence, I would make them forget. They're my friends, yeah. But they find it amusing every time that man's name is mentioned in our conversations. They know I despise him, yet it feels like they are willing to do anything just to bring him up. “You know wha
“So, you're saying that you won't be able to hangout with us tonight?”I stare at my reflection on the mirror as my red sequin dress gleam in the sunlight from the window.My peripheral vision sees Liv pouting because of what I said. “It's not like I don't want to hangout with my friends. But you know Amir. He will never let me go anywhere else, and I can't do anything about it.”That made my eyebrows arch. I've been hearing the 'I can't do anything about it' for like an eternity now. I can't even remember the exact day that Liv has become a slave of her fiancé. They just happened. Popped out of nowhere and problems arose. Everything that her fiancé has connections with, she deals with the consequences even though she does nothing wrong.I can't quite comprehend her fiancé— Amir Giordano.“I'm certain that Amir will understand.” I try my best to sound reassuring as much as I can be. “I mean, just a small change must be considerable for him. He will understand. We also can't do anythin
“You must be joking. You never owned a club.”Despite the strong punch of embarrassment I feel deep in my guts, I still force myself to play it cool.There's no way that Bryce will ever be allowed to witness me in my other versions. He's only allowed to witness the fierce version of me. The version of me that he can't read; the version of me that he had known for years.He's my competition. He has always been my competition. It has to stay that way.“Woman, do I look like joking to you? Am I laughing? Did I even utter something funny? No, right?” He smirks at me. And even if the whole club is only lit by the playful colorful lights, I can see every inch of his lips and the boastful attack it tends to hit me. “It's been years, Aurella. Do you think that you're still aware of everything?” I remain on my ground. He's not deserving of the words that come out of my mouth. “Everything has changed. For me, and for you too.” I don't like the way he's speaking. The tone he's using sounds like
The noise coming from my alarm clock invades both of my ears and it results in making me groan. I always forget to set my alarm clock to wake me up a little later than the usual time. And who else is here to blame? No one, but me. I used to get up very early and start my day energetically even before the clock strikes 7 am. But that was before. I constantly have to remind myself that everything has changed. Even the slightest detail included in my morning routine. I reach out for the alarm clock on the bedside table to turn it off. And then I bury my face back into the soft pillows as I try to inwardly convince myself to do all the plans I made last night. I have a strong feeling that I will fail and disappoint those plans. Right now, every part of my body agrees to the idea of staying in bed even for the whole day. Laziness has now taken its finest and ultimate form. I fear that I wouldn't be able to conquer it. But since I'm not a kid anymore, I choose to climb off of my bed. Usi
"Break up with him." Confusion instantly reigns Liv's system. She looks at me with a frown. "What? What do you mean? Are you out of your mind? My mother will kill me." Right, her mother will kill her. They were fixed; they were fixed since college. "You're the one out of your mind, Liv. He has been controlling since we were nineteen, yet here you are. Still letting him control you like it's a job that lasts forever." Liv takes a sip of her iced coffee as her eyes look outside the glass window instead. Avoiding my slight glare, and probably gaslighting herself that I'm wrong. We're now in an expensive and exclusive café. Quite far from the heart of the city to avoid the people who will probably die if they can't take a picture of us. "He's my fiancé now. You know that. I can't just back out like we didn't spend years of being together in a relationship. And you know too that I love him. He owns me, Aurella." Why does that sound like Amir has finally mastered the art of manipula
“Can you befriend Bryce for me?” I plaster my best smile in front of him. But even though it's my best smile, I know it looks the opposite of it.“Befriend Bryce? Bryce who? Bryce Tryst?” He is somehow... confused.“Yeah,” I inwardly tell myself to erase the pretentious smile on my lips. It almost felt like I was tearing my own self apart. “Bryce Tryst.” I know that I have to look down for a moment because I feel like I'm being filled with so much shame right now. But to be honest, the amount of confidence that I hold right now is unbelievable though.I don't want to pay someone else to do this for me. I just need someone obsessed with me who's willing to do everything for me. And there's no one else who's super obsessed with me but Vincent. Only Vincent Percival.“That doesn't sound like a simple favor for me. It sounds like it has something else. Like, a hidden agenda maybe? Or maybe I'm wrong.”“Sketchy, I know. But I don't know what to do anymore, I'm losing my mind.”Am I serious