Rina got up with a start, wincing as the headache came in immediately, hitting her head all over. She held a hand to her forehead and leaned on the headboard, staying that way for a while until the first bout passed. She felt like she would throw up at any minute, and her eyes still felt like she was asleep, even though she knew she didn’t want to return to bed. Reaching for her phone by the nightstand, she checked for missed calls and messages, yet ended up ignoring the five missed calls and three unreplied messages. Her head banged again, demanding her attention, and this time, Rina didn’t think she could ignore it.Yet, there was something trying to nudge her consciousness, something she had missed even though she’d only just woken up a few minutes ago. It was present, nudging her to pay attention to something else other than her migraine. When she heard the loud thump on her door, Rina jumped and yelped from the sudden shoot of pain. That was what woke her up, and not the migraine
Even with the whole chaos outside her cottage, Rina refused to step out of her house when she had done nothing wrong. So when Zayn’s man insisted they had to leave, she wrapped her hands around her frame and looked up at him defiantly, still seated on the couch. “No.” Her voice was strong and assertive, even though a mixture of egg white and yolk dripped from her hair and face down to her body, staining her robe and skin. “Why should I run away from my own home? That’s a cowardly act.” The man tried to be patient, seeing as he didn’t have any other option. Zayn had left strict instructions to be gentle with her, unless he wanted that day to be his last. “Ma’am,” he started, trying again. “The window in your kitchen has been broken. That means it is only a matter of time before the angry fans out there gains total access into your home. You cannot be in here when that happens, because whoever leaked your address meant war. So, you need to leave here now.” Rina shook her head. It mad
They went through a trap door Rina had never noticed in her basement, and it made her wonder what else Zayn had discovered in her cottage that she had never noticed after years of owning it. Oleg went before her, pulling out the rug from atop the door and stepping aside to let her through. Rina looked up in apprehension when she discovered he wasn’t going with her through the dark hole.“I have to close it up and lock the basement doors so they wouldn’t notice the trap door if they gain full access inside,” he explained. When he saw that Rina’s worries only increased, he said, “We will make sure that doesn’t happen. The guys outside only need the signal that you are out of there before they go into action. They don’t want to hurt you in the process.”“And you?” Rina whispered, scared that someone might have come in already, that the kitchen door wasn’t strong enough to keep them out. “How will I know where I’m supposed to go?”“Just hide away from view at the entrance. I will be there
“Ma’am,” Igor started the minute Rina ended the call. “I couldn’t help but overhear you telling someone you were going to spend the night at their place. I’m sorry, but that might be impossible. Mr. Graham left strict instructions for us to take you to his mansion. Susan is already expecting you.”Rina regarded him through the rearview mirror, mulling over what he’d just told her in her head. Although she knew it would be a great opportunity to see Susan again after so long, Rina also needed to talk to George. They were time-stretched already, and if she was going to come right back at the public, Rina was going to need a concrete plan. She couldn’t do that from the comfort of Zayn’s mansion, especially given the fact that he wasn’t home.“I will call him,” Rina said, retrieving her phone again. It felt like Zayn was hanging around his, waiting for the call to come through, because he picked up the minute her call went through.“Rina,” he breathed. “Are you settled in? I didn’t think
Dinner was a feast, and Rina had a feeling that it had everything to do with her. George and Isaiah seemed to have grown even closer in all the months that Rina’s career had taken a huge tank, and she loved to see them exude such sweet love. It was exactly what she’d hoped for when she was much younger, to be in love so much so that it was hard to hide it. And when she met Finn, Rina had thought that was it, that she had gotten her forever.But even forever could be misidentified.“Isaiah made the meals,” George said when they were down to desert, a large bucket of cold chocolate ice cream and scones.“Of course,” Rina chuckled. “It couldn’t have been you. You would set the whole kitchen ablaze.”George opened his mouth in mock horror and Rina waved it away. “At least, you are good at being a manager,” she muttered. That bit was true. Throughout the period she worked as an actress and even after she retired, George always had her schedules prepared beforehand. There was never a thing
They moved from the dining room into the living area, and George grabbed a writing pad along with a pen. Getting his laptop booted, he ran through a list of agencies and the possibility of them scouting Rina after all the information on the internet and tabloids. Rina sat with him on the rug, going through the names one after the other and crossing them out with information they were privy to.Since they had gone through all of the comments left on the internet, they were able to identify which of the agencies totally hated her, which of them were indifferent due to their lack of seeming interest in the news circulating the internet, and the third group was those who commented but had nothing bad to say. They were not a lot, but Rina was certain they would find.They went through the list carefully, and each time they hit a stumbling block just when they thought they were about to get something great, Rina sighed exasperatedly and slumped down on the floor. A few seconds later, she wo
Rina got off the floor in the blink of an eye, her lips parting in astonishment. “Are you sure?” Her voice came out in a whisper, and she made no attempt to correct it. There were more pressing issues, like the presence of Zayn in the apartment where her manager lived. Was he trying to blow out their cover?“I don’t get it,” George muttered, trying to wrap his head around the sudden presence of the most powerful person in the country. He knew that as a result of the nature of his job, he interacted with influential people in the country, but Zayn was just on another level. George knew where he belonged, but the Graham family, and Zayn in particular, were way out of his reach.Yet, he was there at the door, ringing the doorbell again.“Aren’t you going to answer that?” Isaiah asked, staying rooted to the spot. “We can’t know what he wants if we leave him out there now, can we? Maybe he needs you to do something important for him.”George took a deep breath, and cleaned his hands on his
“You didn’t have to come all the way down here.” Rina finally found her voice as the elevator doors dinged open, sending them out to the lobby. “George and Isaiah are perfectly capable of keeping me safe for the night, and as many nights as it would take to get my cottage back in order.”“I don’t doubt that,” Zayn murmured, his hand on the small of her back as he bounded out into the night. “But I prefer knowing you are in my house. There’s a lesser risk of another attack. You can do that for me, can’t you?”“But you could have asked Oleg to send the message up,” Rina continued, even though she knew she was losing the battle. “That would have saved you all the time in the world, time you spent getting on that flight and flying back here for hours. Didn’t you have a meeting to get to?”In truth, Zayn had to push his schedule downwards to make time to fly back to the country, and even though it wasn’t exactly favorable to him since he had a meeting to get to the minute his plane touched
Zayn sauntered through the high gates he had grown behind, steeling himself for what was going to happen in there. He hadn't been careful enough when it came to this, only discovering mere minutes ago before his father's call came in. This was the reason he always said feelings never ceased to complicate things, and yet, he had fallen victim to it. Zayn should have known better. If he hadn't been so occupied with trying to make sure Rina was fine, even though he knew that was an excuse to be around her, perhaps, he would have noticed this development before it got out of hand. Now, he was left with the task of salvaging it, but his brain wasn't working in that direction. Zayn was worried about Rina, despite everything. He had whipped out his phone on his way to his father's house to call her, but changed his mind mid-way, deciding to call Susan instead when he was done with this little issue. He tried to think about a way out of this, his mind reeling and his eyes darting around the
The moment the call dropped dead, Rina pulled herself off her bed, wincing slightly as she moved to the bathroom. She had a quick bath, and part of her was grateful that Zayn had decided to leave for his mansion. If he had remained in the villa, she wouldn't have been able to do what she had in mind. Zayn's clear instruction rang in her head, but Rina shrugged it off as soon as it occurred to her. She used her anger as her ammunition – anger that she had fallen in love with Zayn when she shouldn't have, anger that she had given herself a false hope that he would come around and admit his feelings knowing fully well that the great Zayn Graham doesn't give two fucks about love and whatever it came with. Walking out of the bathroom, Rina sauntered into her walk-in closet and pulled off something simple from the hanger – a pair of black wide-legged pants and a matching button-down shirt. Pairing it with white heels and a black tote bag, Rina applied light make-up on her face, almost unno
Confusion set in Rina at once, wounding its arms around her so tightly that she didn’t think there was any route of escape. She sat up at once, pulling herself until her back pressed against the headboard, with her head reeling from what she had just heard. “I think you got the wrong person,” she said finally. “My parents are well and alive, and I know their lawyer as well, because it is the same lawyer I use. And his name definitely isn’t Marco.”“Pardon me,” the voice returned, sounding solemn and sad. “What I am about to do is probably not right since it is the first time we are speaking and it isn’t exactly a conversation to have on the phone. But at the same time, I know you wouldn’t meet up with me, unless you are entirely sure about what this is. You are a public figure here, so that means you are really particular about your security.”“You sure did your research,” Rina murmured. “No. Not exactly. I was just so surprised that all this time, you were right within reach while I
Her door cracked open slowly, but it sounded so far off, like someone was making a scratching noise somewhere in the distance. She hissed and thrashed on the bed, willing whoever it was would leave her to her sleep. Just when she thought the source of the noise had gone, she heard it again, nearer this time. It echoed in her ears, pulling her out of an abyss she’d had no idea she had settled in. The space beside her on the bed dipped, and her eyes fell open slowly.“Hey.” His eyes appeared bothered, but at the same time, guarded, like he was trying so hard to be there with her, and at the same time, keeping something away from her. “How do you feel? Does your ankle hurt?”Rina shook her head, but the sudden sharp pain there gave her lie away as she winced. “You should stay in bed for as long as you want, until the pain subsides. Susan will ensure you have everything you will be needing for the three weeks the doctor advised that you remain in bed.”“But…”“Rina,” Zayn breathed. “List
“What happened to her?” Susan asked later that evening after they’d put her to bed. The drugs she was given at the hospital for the pain were bound to make her drowsy, and despite how hard she fought to remain awake, because George had come to see her, she still had to succumb to the pressure of sleep. It was important for the healing of her ankles and Zayn was finally relieved when he closed the door behind her. “She tripped.”“But that isn’t all. Something made her trip.” Susan read it easily from his eyes, tilting her head and waiting for a response. “I’m not sure,” he sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I know you might think I am chasing shadows because of how much I have been trying to protect Rina.”“I don’t think so,” Susan replied. “If somebody was trying to hurt her, you would be the best person to know. Nothing I say is valid if you believe in your guts that what happened earlier wasn’t an accident. And you shouldn’t give it a rest until you get to the end of this.”
All of Rina stilled with those words hanging in the air. She had thought about it a million times, about how it would feel when she finally told him. But no amount of mental preparation would have ever prepared her for that moment. She searched his face intently, even though she wanted to hide away from him at the same time. Rina waited for him to scold her, to tell her that their contract had fallen through because of her errant feelings, and that he was no longer interested in getting married to her. But the only thing that circulated round the small space was silence, loud enough to pierce through eardrums. “I am not saying this so you have to say anything in response, or feel a particular way towards me. I just wanted to have it out there. We have been through so much together already, or rather, I have been through so much with you standing by me all the way, showing nothing more than understanding. If this isn’t what you want, I think it would be unfair to keep it away from you
Zayn was at Rina’s first run on set, at one corner of the stage, watching closely as Rina acted a scene for the third time. For some reason, the director had decided to start with the middle of the script, running it up to the beginning, and then down tlo the end. It opened with the scene where Zico and Rina found that they were in love with each other, finally giving their love a chance, much to the hatred of Mandy, who was now the second female lead. The scene played out in a cozy bedroom setting, with Rina walking in with Zico at the end of a long stroll. The plan was to get a bottle of water from his house and then move to hers. But their emotions got the best of them, the sexual tension in the room heightening. The director had asked that the scene be re-acted a thousand times because there wasn’t enough chemistry, and Zayn was beginning to lose his patience. His hands folded into fists by his side, as he glared at Zico’s hands wrapped around Rina’s waist. He could see the reso
Kayla watched Rina speaking to Regina from the top floor and crossed her arms across her chest, wondering what their conversation was about. It couldn’t be anything related to acting, as the submissive look in Regina’s eyes and the haughty look in Rina’s didn’t exactly depict that. Angling her head, Kayla remembered she had seen Regina with her right-hand man just the previous night before he had taken her home from Scottsdale. They’d been out in the garage, talking about something, with their eyes hiding the beginning of a budding romance. Perhaps, that wasn’t all it was. She should have paid more attention, maybe even listened in on their conversation before interrupting them in that manner.Her right-hand man would never divulge any information about Kayla. Or at least, that was what she thought. But just to be safe, Kayla made the decision right there to play her last card. She had been holding on to it for as long as she could remember, but maybe it was time to let go. Smiling cr
Rina got the news of her playing the lead in the new part of the movie, and excitement coursed through her as she made her way down to Scottsdale to sign some papers and get her script. George couldn’t go with her as he had a meeting outside town with a new client, so she went with Igor instead, sitting at the passenger’s side of the car while he skillfully navigated the traffic to get her there on time. Things had gone back to normal since Finn got arrested, and it was like the drama had finally come to a halt. Although, the one thing Rina wanted, which was for Zayn to tell her how he felt about her, was yet to happen. He was still measured and controlled in how he related to her, barely even grazing her skin each time they were in the same room. He'd stopped coming into her bathroom like he usually did each time she was having a bath but now stayed away from the villa as a whole, returning only when entirely necessary. Rina could feel him running away from something. She had notic