Her brows met and her nose scrunched up, disapprovingly. “There’s nothing wrong with telling me what you feel. Doesn’t it feel good to have the pain let out of your chest for once?”
William smiled at her then nodded. “You’re right. Thank you, Valentine.”
He was hurt because of his family and she treated him unfairly. Somehow, she felt her heart open up to him. She wanted to reach her arms out wide then give him a hug. She struggled to find words.
Knocking came from outside the glass doors, then Missy and Pepper came inside, two pairs of shoes on Missy’s hands while Pepper had one pair of shoes with her. The both of them stopped in front of the couple as they shifted their eyes from Valentine to William, then vice versa.
“Are we disturbing something?” Missy asked, giggling nervously yet alarmingly.
“Did you two need more privacy?” Pepper asked.
“No,” Valentine
She blinked multiple times, trying to keep her balance, as she attempted to sink in his words. Why was he looking only at her? Did he want to eat lunch with her only? Did it mean Missy’s charms didn’t work on him? She was becoming nervous and scared (that he might have really fallen in love with her), plus the coldness of the air conditioner made her worse.William cleared his throat, “no, I mean let’s all have lunch together. We have our own cafeteria here, so we don’t have to go outside,” he rephrased his first sentence. “You can take off those shoes, Valentine, your feet need to rest.”“What about the shoes?” Missy inquired.“I’ll just have Lucy return those after her lunch.”Quickly, Valentine replaced the six-inched heels with her own shoes. She sighed in relief, knowing that it had ended. Though, she was permitted to take a few-minute breaks earlier while she was being tra
They started eating their own food in silence. The silence they’re all giving indicated how tired they were for the entire morning as they had themselves focused with their own lunch. As minutes went by, the canteen now became packed with employees coming for lunch. When the quadruple finished, Missy checked her phone.“I’m full,” Missy sighed heavily in relief then leaned her back. “What time are the models coming, Will?”He emptied his drink then placed it on his tray. “I had Lucy mail them to come by one sharp.”“Well, we’re still twenty minutes early,” Missy said as she patted her tummy. “Let’s talk. V, what do you want to talk about?”“You do know I’m not good with starting conversations, M.” Valentine playfully glared at Missy then laughed.“I’ll start for you, sweetie.” Pepper volunteered by raising her voice up to be heard
Valentine decided to divert her attention from the two to Pepper and the models. She felt guilty for underestimating the company. All these thirty models were divided into three categories. The first ten models—including Missy—were the ones with skinny, yet wonderful body. The way how square their shoulders were and how their collar bone popped out was definitely every man’s type of women. The second ten models were thick, just like her, they had side rolls, back rolls, belly rolls, and jiggly arms and thighs. Some were curvy, some were not. The third ten models were plus sizes women, they were beautiful and confident with their own body.She smiled as she noticed that she was indeed, mistaken. She thought their models must be skinny because they’re advertising lingerie. Valentine loved the way how every woman in the room moved their hips as they walked in catwalk. This caused her to not mind the surroundings and be a part of them.However, afte
They arrived at the company and met with the twenty-nine other girls with Pepper at the top floor. They exchanged morning greetings before they proceeded onto their rehearsal for their public appearance later. Hours had passed and their rehearsal had finished. William and Missy chatted once more, he excused himself as he called out to the models for their attention. He decided to give them two hours to prepare before the fashion show would start. They were given time to return back to their homes to freshen themselves up and return to the company building for them to be escorted to the venue. When they arrived, they were immediately greeted and pulled right away by their hairstyle artists and make-up artists. There were sixty-two of them. One hairstyle artist and one make-up artist for each model. They were rushing, dabbed foundation, contour and colors onto their models’ faces. Tension, whispering, and laughing scattered everywhere inside the room. It was ne
Missy and William’s bond gotten tighter as days passed by after the fashion show. While all Valentine had to do was deny her feelings for him, she still couldn’t hold herself back from showing hints of jealousy. One time she rolled her eyes at the two while they were talking more animatedly than before, and even hissed at them even though they ‘thought’ they did nothing wrong.Every time she’d watch or catch a glimpse of the both, she wanted to slap them hard in the faces. Missy had become too touchy-touchy with William and clearly, he was enjoying it. What made her wanting to choke them to death more was every time Missy and her were alone – she’d share every moment, jokes and every word William told her. However, she hadn’t mentioned anything about their kiss.Aside from that grievous sudden closeness of theirs that caused her jealousy, there was one thing that eased her, however. It was William’s mother. Valentin
Bras of various sizes, colors, fabrics, and designs lined up on the left, while panties on the same categories lined up on the right. The both of them separated as they searched for a perfect pair. However, she seemed to not have found one that can be matched with the dress.Her eyes landed on Richard who was farther away from her. He had his back against her. “Richard?” she called.“I’m not sure about this. I can’t believe I’m choosing without her either,” he laughed as he neared her with a pair of undergarments on both of his hands. Both had the same designs but different color. They were both in satin for the breast covers, designed like an upside-down spin top with lacing of what seemed to be like styled into a peacock’s feathers. “Royal blue or black?”“What do you think fits her? Think about her skin color.”Richard paused to think as his eyes travelled from fabric to fabric. &l
While on the car, William handed each of them small white envelopes. Valentine wanted to ask what it was but he spoke first. It was their salary for taking part in the runway stage, for saving his fashion show. He said he had Valentine’s doubled, because she joined in, despite of her being a beginner. While Missy was as the same as the other models.He mentioned that for the entire week, her sudden and unexpected appearance, together with the wonderfully-designed lingerie the Lux Style company had shown to the public became the talk of the city. He was proud of himself.Not two minutes later, he and Missy were sharing words once again.Later that evening, Valentine checked the time. It was already 10 in the evening and she had been practicing on how to tell William about four things she wanted to tell him. One was Mia’s promotion to be the shop manager, two was Mary or her mother to be hired to work at the shop, and third, about her father. Lastly, h
They pulled away. Valentine finally felt comfortable being at home. She missed stepping onto the tiles that she grew up with. She expected the aroma of cigarette and alcohol combined, lingering themselves in the open space. Instead, it was flowery, and cozy.“I arrived about three days ago. I didn’t expect you to be here since I’ve seen your face shown in the television. You’ve been the talk of the city, Val,” he said, sounding amused. “What have you been hiding from me all these years? I only got myself in an accident then there you are, married to one of the famous and successful faces of our city.”Billy’s voice was wrapped with various emotions. He was proud, he was surprised, and he even sounded upset — in which, Valentine presumed he was for she had been ‘hiding’ her relationship with William all this time.“About that… I’m…”“No,” Billy sai