“Okay, nice! You are doing great, sweetie. You are on fire today!” said my photographer, Liam, as I posed for him.
I added more emotion and perfected my poses all these years. Of course, I would do great. Plus I have to make it up for the past few hectic days.
I’m a perfectionist when it comes to my job, and I’m taking it seriously. We were shooting on one of the famous beaches in the province that we rented. I’m in my fifth bikini now, and I lay on the sand, showing my signature fierce look.
“Okay, take a rest,” said Manager Smith as he offered a water bottle to me, “Ellaina dear, I want to tell you something. You see, this is a sponsored magazine cover. You will have a partner in the car shoot.”
I nodded, “Who?”
Manager Smith wasn’t able to finish as a loud roaring of an engine came from the sea, and I turned to see a man jetskiing.
The man stopped and hopped into the sand.
I froze when I saw his face.
Ajax.
Him again.
He removed his sunglasses and asked me, “Hi Ellaina, want to ride on my jetski?”
I instantly turned to Manager Smith, “Why is he here?”
I just saw him last night!
“He will be your partner.”
I blinked, “What? No way!”
“Oh yes, way. I sponsored that shoot after all.”
Manager Smith nodded, “It’s the Sillas company.”
I gritted my teeth, “You didn’t tell me anything earlier.”
He smiled sheepishly, “I knew you would bail out... and I forgot.”
We went to the next location, the Sillas company. It turns out they have a new building here, and Ajax toured us around.
A man came to him and bowed, “Sir, your schedule for today-“
“Cancel it.” Ajax instantly said. His tone was cold and rather harsh, much different from the one he uses when he talks to me.
The man, who looked like his assistant, shrugged, “But the investors-“
“I’ll handle them later. They are not important.”
Ajax then turned to me, “This way, my love.”
We went inside a room where all the equipment for the shoot was.
They gave me a sports suit and tied my hair in a ponytail while Ajax was matched with my sports suit.
He then went beside me and we started the shoot.
He then leaned toward me. The first half was okay, but the next was weird.
“Okay, lean on him, Ellaine! You have to look at his eyes!” said the photographer.
I did as he told me and spotted the small smile on Ajax’s face. “You are purposely doing it, aren’t you?” I whispered.
“Doing what?” he asked, feigning innocence.
“All this. Sponsoring us and having me as your partner.”
He smirked at me, “This is all business, my love.”
“Stop talking you two! Lean your heads closer like you are kissing!” The photographer said in frustration and I glanced at Manager Smith who just shrugged.
I gnawed on my teeth and didn’t have a choice but to lean closer to him.
“Be professional, Ellaine. This is all work. No need to get awkward on me.” He said, his hands on my shoulder now.
“How about you shut up? Who said I am awkward?” I instantly pushed his head closer to me and we were only inches away. I could feel his breath fanning my face now.
He gulped. His eyes stared at my lips.
“Good shot! Stay there!”
I smirked at him, “Who is awkward now?”
We stayed like that, pushing each other’s limits until we were finished.
Ajax turned to me, “Do you have free time?”
“No.” I instantly said without thinking, and Manager Smith raised an eyebrow at me.
“Uhm..you don’t have an a-“
I pushed my manager’s face.
Ajax chuckled, “Can you... tour me around here? I’m new to this country.”
I stared at him deadpan. “I’m a model, not a tour guide, Ajax. Go find yourself your own tour guide.”
He paused, mesmerized, “Can you say that again?”
I cocked an eyebrow, “Say what?”
“My name.”
“Ajax?”
His cheeks flushed, and he had this stupid smile on face now.
“Why?” I asked.
“Nothing. My name sounds nice when you say it.”
“Then I won’t call you by your name.”
Instead of getting disappointed, his eyes were sparkling with interest, “Oh, with what now? Like an endearment? Oh c’mon, aren’t we rushing things?”
Is this man crazy?
He’s meaning a different thing.
“What?”
He thought for a while and smirked, “How about my love?”
“No-“
“Then babe?” he continued.
“Can you stop-“
“Oh, how about it, darling?”
I sighed. That’s it. My last straw in dealing with this man was, “Ajax, fine. I’ll call you with your name.”
He nodded, “Alright, that’s negotiable. Endearments can be made later.”
“There is no later. This will be the last time I see you.”
“Last time? But what about touring me? I don’t have a tour guide.”
I scoffed, he’s too clingy! and a bit obsessive! Not my type! “Tsk, if I know, that’s just your move to be with me.”
He then pinned me to the wall, “Yes. It is. It’s just because I can’t get enough of your beautiful face.”
I turned away from him, seeing other staff looking at him.
“Drop your hand.”
“Agree to be my tour guide first,” he said stubbornly.
“Go ask your other women.”
He shrugged, “I don’t have any.”
I scoffed at him, “Liar.”
He leaned in and mumbled, “Then I’ll prove it. I would like to court you.”
I creased my eyebrows at him. He’s rushing a bit... isn’t he? “Court me?”
He nodded, his eyes filled with determination, “Yes. I heard it's part of your culture.”
Did he research a bit about the Philippines? That’s a bit good.
His flirty tone turned serious now, “My stay here is only for three months. I want to spend my time with you while I’m here.” He said,
“After that, I’ll disappear from you.”
I contemplated for a moment, wondering if this man was scamming me.
I’m maybe making a decision I’ll regret.
Or make a deal with the devil.
My mouth instantly answered without thinking deeply, “Fine.”
Ajax held out his hand for me, “Then, now that you agreed, let me have your number.”I paused, “Huh? You can ask for that from my manager.”Ajax glanced at Manager Smith and chuckled, “Yes, I know. But it would be rude of me to just ask him. I want to personally ask you so you’ll be informed.”Wow, rude? He’s only thought of being considerate now when he just got in her life like a tornado? I just shrugged, “Alright.”I then typed in his phone number, and he had a lopsided grin on his face.“Then I’ll call you later.” He winked, waving goodbye.I could feel someone looking at me and I looked at Manager Smith who was smirking at me now.I raised my eyebrows, and he came closer to me.“I can see that smile. Have you seen your photos together? You look cute.” I blinked. Give it to Manager Smith for being the most random manager. He’s now shipping me with anyone.“I gotta go now. I’ll go home now.” He nodded and I went to grab my belongings, and my model shoot bag before walking to the
Good morning. What a great day today is. I woke up with the sun rising, and I couldn't help but think of you. P.S. You remind me of the daisy flowers blooming in a sunrise. Your sun I blinked, seeing the message notification on my phone as early as the morning. I reread it, knowing damn well who it was without seeing the number. Who else would dare to text me something as cliche as this? No one. No one but Ajax. I do not know him well enough, but based on his approaches to me, he would say this. I do not know him well enough, but based on his approaches to me, he would say this. I didn't bother to reply. I prepared for my day, took a shower, and prepared my favorite avocado bread toast and my morning milkshake. Have to stay healthy to maintain my body after all. What does a girl have to do to keep her job and not become jobless? I grabbed my earphones and listened to my favorite playlist with my workout pairs, water bottle, and a bag filled with a change of clothes.
And a tall foreigner-looking man, about 6’2 inch walked toward us. Ajax was taller, but the loud man approached us. He had brown hair and brown eyes and his tanned skin was glowing. He had a fit and muscular body, almost the same stature as Ajax. "Ajax! Man, Why are you here? It’s the first time I've seen you working out in here!” He chuckled. Ajax’s mood suddenly changed and his face formed into a scowl, "You know, Phoenix; you need to shut your mouth sometimes.” "That’s harsh. You were not answering our calls when we invited you to hang out. You didn’t even tell us you were going here in the Philippines, man.” “Right Eion?” The man called Phoenix asked and another man appeared with an expressionless face. He had raven hair and dark green eyes and was taller than the man named Phoenix. The man named Eion nodded. Another one appeared and greeted Ajax, “Ajax, you’re here? You didn’t tell us, man!” The three men suddenly swarmed in, blaming Ajax for ghosting them and I stood b
“You don’t have to do that,” I said. “And since I promised to be your tour guide, then just…wait for me by your car.” He scowled at that, “You don’t want to appear in public with me?” I just crossed my arms in front of me, “People assume things. I am sure that you know how it works in the entertainment industry.” “Alright. I’ll Keep that in mind.” He said, feeling sorry. “I didn’t mean to ruin your career. I know how much you're worked hard for it…But let me at least take you out for lunch.” He offered and as much as I wanted to refuse, he was giving me a sad look, his eyes were puppy eyes and his lips were pouting. I rolled my eyes, “Fine.” I ended up saying yes to him as his smile grew larger. “Just one lunch out okay? I can’t risk getting seen by the public with a male ever again.” He nodded, “Yes, I won’t ask again.” Ajax the offered to carry my gym bag and guided me to the parking lot where his gray sub, a latest edition was parked. A few men in suits were in the
Leah glanced at me and she nodded excitedly, happy that she get to have a conversation with him, “Uhm…yes..” Ajax’s jaw clenched at that, “I know you are not close with her so don’t push yourself. I’m warning you.” I blinked at that, my eyes instanlty snapping to Ajax who was dead serious. Leah on the other hand seemed too shocked to even react. It took her a few seconds to process it before clearing her throat, “Uhm..excuse me?” Ajax raised his eyebrows, “Yes?” She gulped, “You’re rude. I am just trying to-” “You’re wasting every second I get to have a date with Ellaina.” Ajax said firmly, his tone saying he does not really want to tolerate Leah any further. “Don’t bother finishing your sentence. Leave.” And watching Ajax defend me like that made my heart skip a beat. No, wait a minute…no….just no, Ellaina. You are just getting yourself in trouble. Leah, who was too stunned to reply now, glanced at me as if asking for my help. I shrugged, “You heard him. Leave us alone.”
I wasn’t even finished saying that as he was quick to maneuver the car. He was humming a tune happily. “No, no, I won’t let you change your mind! Let’s go now!” He exclaimed and I chuckled at his enthusiasm. Silence soon followed but I could feel his stares at me. “So? Where are you taking me?” He asked after a while of driving in silence. I just shrugged, “Just somewhere.” He nodded, “I see you like keeping it a secret. That makes me more excited.” I raised my eyebrows, suddenly having an idea in my head. Oh no, Ellaina, your mischievousness is kicking in… “Just turn right in that alley.” I pointed and he did as I ordered him to. I could see that we finally lost the media and we were going to the place I was familiar with... This was where we used to live when we were still not having enough. This is where
As we walked, I looked around. I’m not lying but I’ve been here last year since my schedule was packed. It’s nice to see that the town has improved a lot. Well, other than the few unsafe spots…of course crimes are still happening but it's not that prevalent compared to the past. I spotted a street food stall selling chicken intestines, chicken feet, takoyaki, fried banana, egg waffles, and balut which is a duck egg. There was also some refreshing juice like coconut, pandan, mango, and avocado. I gulped, suddenly craving all of the food. “You want to eat there? Let’s go.” Ajax grabbed my hand as he guided me there. It was a bit packed as there was a lot of buying and I managed to squeeze in. It’s thanks to my height that I was able to insert myself into the crowd. “Miss? Can I buy some chicken feet and…” my voice seemed to drown
I didn’t have any choice but to do as he wanted. I went into the fitting room to change and when I returned, Ajax was already paying a the counter, along with the other souvenir keychains, pins, and all random stuff. And he bought about a hundred. “you bought a lot.” “I’ll be giving this to my family, my workers.” I didn’t know he would be so thoughtful. “We have somewhere to go to right? I; 'll h=just have them deliver m orders.” “You know you could save more money if you bought t another store. this shop isrippingg your money.” “Don’t worry, I have a lot. And think of it as my way of helping this store.” We then walked hand in hand. I pushed his hand away but he was persistent. “Hold me, I might get lost.” I didn’t have any choice
THEON’s POV AFTER A YEARI was laying in bed with my wife, and she stared at me.I fell deeper into her long red hair as I inhaled deeply, smelling her shampoo scent, the same scent I call home. I gazed at her eyes, the same eyes I fell in love with.This is my home now. And I would never replace her with anything else. “I love you,” I mumbled, caressing her pregnant stomach. She’s six months pregnant now with our child and this has been my morning every day. I then grabbed an envelope and made her read it, “Happy birthday, babe.” I then kissed her passionately. “Thank you for carrying our child.”She gasped, “Did you feel that?”I blinked, “Felt what?”“A kick! Our baby is kicking!” She gasped and I rained kisses on her again.“Okay stop, I’ll read this first.” Saphira chuckled, and read my gift. Good day, Ms. Saphira. We would like to inform us that your request on buying an acre of land on the moon has been granted Frthermmore-“She stopped reading and glanced up at me.“Is this
Jeric arrived ad drove me t ou destination with my eyes blindfolded. I decided to go with the flow instead of asking more questions as this might only make or break the surprises that Thon prepared for me.It must have been half an hour driving in Silece and when we arrived, Jeric guided me forward.“go to the left Forward. there.” I heard another person was present besides Jeric.“Mathoe?” Ia sekd.“hi.”“why are you here?”“Oh, nothing, I happened to walk by…just kidding. I came here for the food..”I still have no clue what place he is so I rusted Jeric’s directions. “You can take off your blindfold, ma'am.” He said and I did as he told me. I adjusted to the sudden light and I noticed that we seemed to be in an empty room.There were flowers everywhere and roses on the ground and with balloons.Jeric gave me a chair and I sat down, looking for any sign of Theon.I waited for a minute when suddenly, music started to play. “Here we are all alone in this room (Oh)And girl I know w
“I will have you in this desk twice until you beg for mercy,” Theon whispered as he teased the hell out of me when we arrived at the cottage we were supposed to be staying in tonight. My prayers go to Snow's workers who are assigned dot kill this room because I don't know what the bed will look like tomorrow. It's like it's not him whenever he blurts out sexy and dirty words to me. but I am loving it. “Is that seat taken?” points to his lap, not backing down too. We had developed into pure bliss the whole night. and the cottage was filled with moans and groans of pleasure, desiring each other. The trip to Snow’s resort was already over. We only spent one night there before we had to head back for Arson. Arson wasn’t pleased when we returned. He missed us too much so we decided to take him to dinner outside.I am glad that Theon is also opening his doors and letting Arson outside and letting him experience what a normal child would. He also let us dance by the rai and even joined u
“Hi, I believe you know me already,” Snow said, winking at me. She must be the life of the group with how quirky and bubbly she has been. She has been entertaining all of us since earlier. She has hazel eyes and chocolate brown hair and a petite frame. She’s the smallest of the women. “This is my husband. Eion Hudson. We are both half Filipino half American, in case you wonder.” The handsome man with jet-black hair and emerald eyes beside him nodded his head in silence and kissed her on the forehead. “He’s a man of few words but possessive. He owns this resort originally and named this after Snow that’s why Snow’s resort. And they own some shops and stores across the country.” Explained another handsome man. I could see he is a bit goody. He has been cracking some jokes for a while now and he had a nice smile. He nudged Eion, “Hey, thanks me man. I am always your spoeksperosn here.”Eion rolled his eyes at his friend.The goofy man faced me, “I am Phoenix, by the way. The only full
Theon took me the next day to his office for his ‘Bring your family in the work day.’“Good morning!” I greeted his coworkers who were supportive of us. “You two suit together, sir!” One of them commented. “Ever since Saphira became Sir Theon’s girl, he’s always been in a good mood.” I chuckled, this was not the atmosphere they had last time. They were all tensed and nervous every time Theon was present. uI am glad things improved and their nervousness about him changed.“Sir Theon is not moody anymroe.”“And we can joke around him now with your presence.”It ess a bit embarrassing as his secretary avoided his eyes on us. Maybe because he still remembers when he walked in on us doing the deed at Theon’s office the last time… Thank goodness that our stranded issue at Samal was not reported by the media due to the fact that Theon was one of the famous heirs in the billionaire world.Theon’s schedule is very packed as he had conferences here and there. This is because this father r
“Are you ready?”Theon softly grabbed my hand for support as soon as we arrived at his home, with his brothers behind us. I breathed in, preparing myself before hopping out of the car and going inside.My feet were dragging me and it felt so scary. And nerve-wracking to meet the parents.Theon decided to freshen up ourselves first and make ourselves presentable. We went through the back and I went to my room here. When we were prepared, we returned to meetup on the second floor. “Tsk. Why are they even here?” Matheo rolled his eyes as we walked. “They are getting old and senile.”“Let’s just show our faces. They might have been worried about our incident…”We went to the living room to find his father pacing around as he was talking to someone on his phone with some Italian words I don’t understand. Her mother was very calm as she sipped on her tea and she looked up once she heard our footsteps.“Theon. My son.” She stood up and kisses the three of them on the cheek, “Rameo, how a
Rameo, who was an expert at this, sighed, “It’s the caterpillar rash..he must have laid some…we need to treat that with creams, ice packs, or vinegar.”“Vinegar?” I gasped, that would be too painful!Matheo disappear to find anything that could help us. Anything that might have been washed ashore. When minutes later, a loud scream from a girl, followed by a man’s appeared. I recognize the man as Matheos and it was inside the woods. “Omg!” The girl yelped. Wait, A girl?We insanity ran to the source of the yell to find Matheo on the ground, and in front of him were five women with a flashlight on.They were looking at us with the same shocked expression and Mathoe stood up. “Hey there, ladies.” He started to flirt with them and I hit him in the head.We have people here other than us! we are finally rescued!This would be very helpful for us!My mouth went wide in shock, “W-who-I mean how?”“Uhm….are you guys alright here? I think it is not a good idea for camping.”One of them comme
Judging by the shape of its head, I instantly knew it is a python. Too much watching from discovery channel made me this way.“That’s a python, chill!” I said, reassuring him “Python? Wow!” It didn't even reassure him. I think I just traumatized him. “It’s not poisonous.” I said, “and it seems to be still growing. Its mama might be around somewhere.” “Mama? You mean there is a bigger python here?” Mathee looked so shocked right now as if he could faint anytime. I rolled my eyes. “Is this your first time seeing a snake?”I caught the snake and threw it away. “Goodbye, snakey. Awee, you must be lost. Find you, mama.” “Wow! You have an Amazon woman right here.” Matheo commented.“Good job, babe.” Theon complimented. After that incident, we were awake the whole night because of Matheo. Our backs are also snipped by little crabs and we were wrapped with mosquitos.This was the most uncomfortable sleep I had ever had. Plus the leftover fish we had last night seems to be missing. I th
I showed him my panties and he gasped. “But you’ll be all naked down there!”“So?” I chuckled, “At desperate times like this. We have to use desperate measures. And relax, they are far from here.”He then looked at me worriedly, “Be careful moving!” It didn’t take an hour for us as I instantly got four fish! I decide to get more so we could have two fish each and reserve some for tomorrow in case it might be high tide and we couldn’t fish. When we got ten fish, we decided to stop and head back. I put my panties back, just cause Theon was scared for me. The sky was getting dark now so we have to be quick. We had an overall view of the island and according to Rameo, we are blessed we have everything we need here…coconuts for water to avoid dehydration, sea for fish, and tall trees for shade from the sun. Since the sun was out earlier Matheo climbed the trees earlier to get some coconuts. I was surprised he managed it so we don’t need to worry about our water source for now. Food