Rina got to the fashion house exactly ten minutes before 6 pm and headed straight for the runway. The models were there already, much to Rina’s delight, looking well-rested and better than they’d looked the last time. They welcomed her with anticipation on their faces.She searched for Rita amongst the faces, smiling at her when she saw her laughing with another model, her blonde hair catching in the light. It was a great sight to behold, and it made Rina glad she had asked them to return home that day.Dropping her purse in front of the room, Rina gathered them together to remind them of all that Joel had said the previous day, as well as the areas they ought to be looking at improving on. They were going to be walking with the music now, and she expected them all to remember that they were walking in beat with it, and that would affect how long they were meant to wait for the model on the runway before they stepped into it. It needed to be uniform.Joel poked his head in and muttere
But Zayn didn’t come to pick her up. Instead, he sent William early the next morning. He bowed as she sauntered out of the building with a huge smile on her face that immediately flattened out when she realized it wasn’t Zayn.“Good morning, Ma’am,” William greeted, walking around to open the door and helping Rina get in.She waited for him to get behind the wheel before asking. “Why isn’t Zayn picking me up?”“He had to be at the office really early,” William explained. “And he said he wants to have breakfast with you before you go back to the cottage so I’m taking you to a breakfast spot.”Rina nodded, and leaned her head against the headrest, staring at the traffic as it went by. It was barely 6 am, yet the whole world seemed to be awake already, going about their activities, oblivious to the lives of others. Rina thought about oblivion and how much it could make a person insensitive to the feelings of another.It was just like when she was lied against and had all those rumors thr
Rina couldn’t breathe. No. She didn’t want to. It was hard to imagine what it felt like without this moment etched in her memory, clawed so deep that it would be hard to uproot it. She stayed that way, memorizing every bit of the moment, from the smell of his skin to the silent whispers of his clothes as it kissed hers softly.And even when her phone vibrated in her pockets, it didn’t register to Rina. Her eyes remained closed, lost in the feeling of being held, and the notion of being protected. The last few minutes had been unpredictable, and even though it was weird that she found stability here, in Zayn’s arms, she refused to think about it on the spot.Zayn pulled her impossibly closer to himself. Fear had never been an emotion he’d felt before. Even his father used to say there was nothing that scared Zayn Graham, right from his infancy. He’d always taken things head-on, only bothering about the consequences later, when he was done with it.But the minute he’d heard that William
Even though Zayn had said they were going to talk over breakfast, Susan made it impossible for him to get around to what he wanted to say.“Does that mean you were the one he called over to help me change out of my clothes on the night that I was…”“Yeah.” Susan’s smiles were so warm. “On the night he got you drunk.”“Su!”“Don’t worry. I gave him a good scolding that night and ensured he stayed back with you to ensure you didn’t get sick during the night. Next time, he would understand the importance of eating a healthy meal before drinking anything that contains alcohol.”Rina felt really bad immediately. She’d had no clue that Susan was the one who made Zayn stay the night and had gotten all jumpy when she woke up, even going as far as asking him to go sleep on the couch in the living room without covers. That was mean of her.“Ms. Susan…”“What nonsense,” she waved her hands in the air dismissively. “Call me Susan. Any friends of Zayn can call me that. And I would have to add that
Susan took Rina to the room she would be sleeping in on the second floor and smiled warmly at her as she got settled in. The bed bounced and rocked Rina’s bottom as she settled into it and it made her sigh with relief. She was going to take the day as a much-needed vacation away from her life. It had been a while since she had last slept anywhere other than her cottage.She remembered the first two years of her marriage with Finn, and how they used to have bi-monthly vacations anywhere in the world, as long as they both were interested in it. They’d even gone to Africa to explore the rich lands and culture, and Rina had felt her life couldn’t go any better.Finn adored her to bits, or at least, he pretended to. He was attentive to the smallest detail about her, and always tried to make life easier for them both. But after the end of the second year, Finn became different. Although it wasn’t exactly in Rina’s face, it was there, in the little things she didn’t pay attention to, like wh
Rina slept through the day. It was almost 4 pm the next time she opened her eyes, and a bowl of hot pasta was already on the bedside table, waiting for her. She dove into it immediately, registering that her pangs of hunger was what had gotten her up from sleep in the first place.Full, Rina returned to bed after going through her phone for messages and missed calls. The only person who’d reached out to her was Joel, asking if she was still up for their movie date like she’d agreed to it in the first place. Trusting Zayn to handle that, she turned off her phone and went back to bed.The second time she opened her eyes, the curtains had been dropped over the windows and the bright lights in the room had been turned off, leaving only the night light on. Getting up with a start, Rina’s eyes fell on the clock on the bedside table, realizing with a start that it was almost 9 pm. She had slept the whole day without doing anything, and now Rina felt bad for it.So much for making a comeback.
She turned to search his face, looking for anything that might give away how the conversation had gone. There was nothing. Not even the regular residue of hatred he had for Joel, that he carried everywhere like a badge. He had an amused look instead, as he swirled his glass of wine in one hand. “Don’t tell me you went to see him yourself?” Rina asked, knowing that something beyond the ordinary must have occurred. “What did you tell him, Zayn?” “Nothing much, actually,” he answered, shrugging, still with that amused look. He seemed to be having a lot of fun with the situation and was making no attempt at hiding it. “I just had a business meeting with him. He seemed really okay with the conclusions we arrived at before we shook hands.” “Zayn,” Rina tried not to let the anxiety she felt seep through in her tone. “I’m sure one of the items for the meeting didn’t include informing Joel that he couldn’t go to see a movie with one of his models whose identity was supposed to stay anonym
Rina mulled about it all through the night, tossing and turning under the comfortable sheets. She had promised herself that the issue of being Zayn’s contract wife was only going to be a bother for her after the fashion show when she had the whole burden of getting the models ready for it out of her mind. But now that Zayn had brought it up, it was hard to shelf it back up in her mind.Rising from underneath the covers, Rina pranced barefoot through the room, then deciding she needed a glass of warm milk, walked down the stairs to get one from the kitchen. She walked into the darkness, forgoing the need to turn on the lights. The hum of the refrigerator was her anchor until she stopped in front of it, pulling the door open to get out the carton of milk.Grabbing a saucepan from its hook, Rina poured a healthy amount into it and turned on the stove, balancing the pan on it and leaning on the countertop, counting the seconds in her head. She tried to be as quiet as possible, not wanting
Zayn stared at the clock hanging above the door in the conference room. The meeting had spanned longer than he had planned for it to, yet there were still some important deliberations to be made. Usually, he would have asked his assistant to continue with the meeting while he caught some sleep, but the issue at hand was the opening of a branch of Graham Conglomerate in Hong Kong, and he needed to be there to see the different pieces form one huge picture.“The space isn’t ideal,” he murmured, bringing his gaze to the projected building on the screen. “It is too small, and I really do not like the windows.”“The windows?” One of the foreign investors repeated, his small eyes regarding Zayn like it was the most ridiculous thing he’d heard.“Yes, Mr. Stone. The windows.” He scooted to the edge of his seat at the head of the table and clasped his hands. “The windows are usually one thing that gets overlooked when picking out the perfect site for a company’s activities. But not me. On a ra
Joel didn’t want to stall anymore, especially since he could feel the distance Rina had been trying to put in place since the fashion show. He felt it in the smallest of things, like how she refrained from telling him where she lived now that her cottage was not in the best shape for habitation, or how he never took her home again since the first time.Although she still smiled at him each time they saw, their hugs were more formal, and never lasted long. It was as if she was deliberately trying to put up walls around herself. It was either that or her subtle way of saying goodbye. And Joel wanted neither.“Do you remember the first day we met?’ he started, as their table got cleared of the second course, and their dessert of ice cream and cake arrived. Rina took a spoonful of her preferred chocolate flavor and closed her eyes as it melted on her tongue. She loved the tinge of bitterness that hid in its taste, and how it remained at the back of her throat. Weird as it sounded, since R
By the time Rina arrived at the diner, it was almost 9 pm. Handing her keys over to a valet, she sauntered in, the clack of her red bottoms hitting the tiles. She hadn’t wanted to waste time on choosing another pair of heels, exacerbated by the fact that Rina still thought the clothes and shoes in that room belonged to one of Zayn’s numerous women. So, she opted for a simple white dress instead that fell to the middle of her thighs and clung to her body like a second skin, accentuating her curves. The halter neck, Rina’s favorite style, was the perfect touch to the shape of her shoulders and her hair was put up, with hastily curled ringlets flowing from the bun. Her face was scrubbed clean of every makeup, leaving only glossy lips.Rina’s outfit made her look so vulnerable that the moment Joel saw her approach, his heart did a little backflip. He had to clear his throat and get his lines right in his head as she navigated the tables, locating the booth he had picked for them at the en
George stepped out onto the foyer, accompanied by a scowling Rina. She hated that Scottsdale had treated her manager that way, knowing how hard she worked to get him access in there. But worse, she wasn’t comfortable with the fact that her drama had affected him and that he hadn’t let her speak up on his behalf. It almost felt like he’d been waiting for that moment, to get those words off his heart and walk out of the doors, never looking back. He did it with his shoulders squared and his head held high. Still, Rina couldn’t decipher whether it was bravado or plain stupidity.“You would still have your job if you’d just let me say something,” Rina muttered as they took the turning to the parking lot. “Now, Isaiah is going to have your head, and maybe blame me for your death as well.”“I spoke about this with him already,” George explained, his voice still on the usual wavelength, not dampened by what just happened in there. “We decided it was best I left rather than work in an environ
Rina didn’t want to get into a confrontation with Regina, but she seemed to be asking for a scene. Her dramatic gasp echoed through the restaurant, causing the already staring crowd to gently whip their phones out. Eyes shone in excitement at the sight of another Rina drama, but she really didn’t want to have to do that.“Who said you were better than me?” Regina drawled, wanting to have the last say. “What’s to say that you weren’t sleeping with the producers to get your roles? They always claimed you were the best thing to happen to Scottsdale, but now that I think about it, it was all about what you had to offer, wasn’t it?”Regina was only being spiteful, intending her venomous words to hurt Rina. But she stared back with a stoic expression. She was certain of herself, certain that everything Regina said was lies. And in truth, she expected it. It was the only thing Regina or anyone else held above her – the lies going around on the internet.George, on the other hand, couldn’t be
She was a bleached blonde, the bangs of her hair getting into her face as she sauntered closer to them, a sneer desperate to be expressed. Her lips were set grimly, but her eyes told another tale, like she was about to launch out the foulness in her if given the chance. The rest of the cafeteria drowned into nothingness as Rina focused on her, her long legs approaching the table. She was in a white two-piece suit that would have given each stride power if it hadn’t been for the expression on her face.It was a twisted version of a mix of anger and hurt in an unbalanced proportion, and George must have noticed it as well as his hands reached across the table to tap Rina. She looked back at him to answer the question in his eyes. But before she could form the words, Regina was already right in their faces.“I never thought you would be able to claw your way in here,” she drawled, with venom dripping from her tone. “You don’t seem to get it, Rina Powers. No one wants you in here. If the
“What is the update?” Rina asked, after laughing at his rather weird but true joke. She grabbed her cup of ice tea and nibbled on her straw. “Did you hear back from any of the agencies?”“Actually, I did,” he answered, grabbing his phone like he didn’t read the mail over and over again, the contents ingrained in his being. He had to, because he didn’t like the tone of the message. And his thoughts were confirmed before he reached the end of the mail. Phone in hand, he hit on the mail icon, and tapped the starred message, looking back at Rina.“It’s bad, isn’t it?” she asked, angling her head. It was apparent on his face, distress lines appearing on his forehead. “Come on. Get it out.”“Okay,” he sighed. “One of the agencies we reached out to was actually excited to have our mail. At first, they responded with so much fervor that I thought we already had this in our pockets. They wanted to know when you would be able to come over for a meeting to get your schedule and pay rate sorted o
Rina got into the street, navigating the traffic to the last place she wanted to be – Scottsdale Entertainment. She hadn’t been there since she started working for Joel Osteen, after returning countless times to ask that her blacklisting be looked into. She was seated at their conference table when Kayla’s eyes swirled with feigned tears, asking that the board give her something to do other than leaving her penniless.And they had dared suggest she was a guest at a podcast that spoke about the lies that she had been accosted it, they’d wanted her to paint a picture that they were true, so people paid even more attention to them.The more thought of it repulsed her, and half way to her destination, she almost made the decision to turn around. But she needed to see George. He had been in meetings all day and couldn’t come around to see her anywhere else. He had pleaded with her to meet at the coffee shop just outside Scottsdale Entertainment but Rina didn’t want it to look like she was
After ignoring the disdainful remarks of some of the designers at the fashion house, of course, with Joel trying to do damage control as much as his abilities permitted, the day finally came to an end and Rina could leave the building. It was a myriad of activities and emotions going on all at once that it was hard to focus on one thing at a time. But maybe that was what Rina needed.She walked through the hallways, moving from the media department downstairs to her office on the second floor, carrying her head high even though she heard the whispers of some of the people she met on the way. Joel addressed the designers and the rest of the employees after lunch, telling them that Rina was a part of the company and they needed to accord her the respect she deserved, irrespective of what they’d heard about her.But opinions had already been formed and one of the hardest things to do was to reshape an already formed ideology about someone. It was going to take something mind-blowing and