Two promises.

Zoe’s POV

It was the 7th take.

“Cut!!!” The director didn’t raise his voice, but the frustration in it was loud.

“What the fuck is wrong with you? Will you pull yourself together?” Zain was the one who raised his voice at me.

I was literally murdering my role. Tears swelled in my eyes and my throat constricted. I was failing. I never failed, but that didn’t mean I didn’t recognize the failure approaching me.

My eyes met Eloise’s as M.J. whispered something into her ear. She spoke at last. “We’ll have to cancel today’s shoot. I’m sorry to waste everyone’s hard work today. Lunch at Feast and Chill? Bills on me,” Dr. Eloise said lightly, and everyone’s expression got a bit lighter.

M.J.’s eyes met mine. He said nothing, but I got the message. *Zoe. Van.*

“What happened?”

That was all it took for me to burst into tears and spill everything to him—my mom’s words, my fear of failure, everything.

“Were you always a good doctor?” M.J. asked me. I thought the question to be odd. Was he going to send me back?

“Well, mom made sure I was studying even before I got admitted into med school, so I was always ahead of my mates. I studied. I studied a lot,” I explained in between sniffs.

“Acting is not going to be any different. Well, maybe slightly more enjoyable. But if you want excellence in anything, Zoe, you’ll have to work hard. Study. Give it your best. Your mom doesn’t dictate your success. You do. And I see potential in you. I always have, from the first day I set my eyes on you. If I didn’t, neither of us would be here,” M.J. explained calmly.

And then he went on both knees. “I, Jeremiah Lake, swear on my life never to make you do anything you do not want with your body. Whatever contract you’ll sign will state your terms—what you will or won’t wear. I swear. Do you believe me? Do you trust me?”

I nodded, because at that moment, I did. “Yes.”

“Good.” M.J. carefully cleaned my teary eyes. “And next time? This isn’t med school. If you do not feel up to it, you do not have to show up, okay?”

I nodded.

I made a decision that day: if I wanted to build a new life forward, I had to let go of my old one. I had to let go of my greatest embargo. I had to make sure my mom would not come again to drag me down. I could not risk it; she had too much power over me.

“I don’t want a phone. For now. I can use my laptop and the apartment wifi to access the internet if I need anything,” I begged M.J.

“What if you need me?” he asked, worried.

“I’ll send you a mail,” I joked. But it became real.

I made my way to the restroom to wash my face and ran into Arman.

“Finally decided you do not belong to this world?” he hissed.

I took a deep breath. I would ignore him. He had a valid reason to be mad at me this time; I had wasted his effort today.

“Are those tears? Is that how you get out of trouble? By spilling tears?”

“Shut the fuck up!” I hissed. I hated how I sounded.

“There. I knew you weren’t the princess you make people believe you are,” he snickered.

“I see.” My voice turned cold. “And what do you think me to be?” I asked. I was interested in his answer.

“A fake? A pretender,” he bit out. I moved closer to him with each name he called me. “A monster hiding behind a pretty face.” And now I was inches away from his face. My heels gave me a little leverage, but he was still taller.

“I think that it takes one to know one. Is that what you are? A fake? What’s behind that rehearsed expression? What part of you is real?” My voice turned hypnotic. I knew from experience that tone had as much effect as words on people.

I saw something go off in his eyes. My words had struck a chord. I knew it was best to stop and took a step back. “Don’t play on people in their time of weakness, else you birth a monster.”

I don’t think he moved, but I didn’t confirm because I did not look back. I had washed my face and reapplied my makeup before I came outside again, and then, he was gone.

“Zoe.” Dr. Eloise called for me.

Fuck. I was hoping I would escape her today and face her some other time when I had gotten my shit together.

“How are you?” she asked.

“I’m so sorry about today,” I started, but she held up a hand.

“I asked how you were.”

I nodded. “I feel a lot better now,” I breathed.

“Good. I understand that you have personal challenges and all this is new to you, but I hope days like today will not come often.” She said the words lightly, like I had spilled coffee and not wasted a day’s worth of effort.

“I’ll try as much as possible to make sure today doesn’t happen again,” I promised.

Eloise smiled. “You’re only human. Don’t push yourself too hard.”

I intended to keep every promise I made today. I was going to believe Manager Jeremiah’s words. My success was in my hands.

And like Arman, I would build myself into something successful that the world would love. Maybe that love would fill the gap that my mother’s inability to love had dug in my heart.