Eden stepped on the stage with her heartbeat accelerating by the second. It was the first round of the competition. If they passed it, they would be qualified for the final round. Eden peeked out the curtains and looked through the crowd to find Bennett but she couldn’t see him anywhere. She held the mic in her hand and paced around behind the closed curtains. She could almost hear her heart beating in her ears, deafening the loud chatter coming from the crowd. I can’t do this. I can’t do this. I can’t do this. I can’t do this. I can’t do this.Eden felt a hand rest on her shoulder, breaking her reverie. She turned around to see the one thing she had been dying to see. It was Bennett, smiling down at her reassuringly. He could tell that Eden was panicking and he embraced her into a bear hug, tightly pulling her closer to his chest.Eden felt her heartbeat slowing down and her breaths becoming stable again. She closed her eyes, inhaling Bennett’s familiar scent. “You can do this. Stay
When Eden walked down the stage she saw Bennett smiling at her from a distance. She ran over to him and hugged him tightly as he lifted her up and twirled her around. She giggled loudly, her face red with excitement.Bennett kept her down but didn't stop hugging her. "You did so good, I'm so proud of you."Eden held him tightly and rested her head on his chest. When she pulled away she saw her friends smiling at her happily. She left Bennett's arms and walked over to them to get bombarded with hugs and cheers."Oh my God, Eden I got literal chills," Grace said as she showed her her arms. "See, I still got them."Eden waved her away, feeling shy from all the compliments.Eve came down the stage and waved to Eden. She walked over to her to ask what happened."They're announcing the contestants who qualified, come," Eve said and held Eden's hand, taking her away from everyone else.The announcer stood on the stage with a mic in his hand."The judges have made their decisions. Here are t
Eden walked around in the park alone for 15 minutes, trying to clear her thoughts. It was when she saw James Neilson she realised that her guard wasn't around. James was her classmate who lied in front of the whole class that he interned for Bennett Mason when he clearly didn't. Eden had steered clear of his way and tried to avoid interaction with him as much as possible because she knew he didn't like her.She took a deep sigh when she saw him walking towards her. Her guard was nowhere to be seen and she accepted that she was just going to have to take shit from him. Ever since she came back to college after the Carter incident, she caught him staring at her many times as if he had something to say. She knew he was dying to give her snarky comment or make her think that she was stupid.Eden looked at James and before he could say anything, she snapped at him, "What?""Okay, first of all, you don't have to be so snappy," said James. "Second, I didn't come here to annoy you or anything
"Eve," Eden said as she held her shoulders and pushed her away from herself to look at her face. Tears and snot were running all over her face as she cried. "Eve, listen to me," Eden said once again to get her attention.Eve wiped her tears and looked into Eden's eyes, "Eden, I'm so sorry.""Are you going to keep apologizing or are we ever going to start practicing?" said Eden, smiling reassuringly at Eve, subtly telling her that she had already forgiven her."I don't care about the song or the competition. I can't believe what I said, I just want you to be my friend," said Eve."Okay, I'm not going to lie," said Eden. "You really did hurt my feelings, but you owned up to it and realised it was wrong, that's all that really matters to me," said Eden."Why are you always so nice," said Eve and she wiped her tears with her long sleeved shirt and smiled at Eden. "I thought you would never talk to me again.""Of course not," Eden said and pulled her into a hug. "You're one of the people w
Eden closed her eyes as she waited for the announcement to be made. She had given her all into performing the song and she had a lot of hope that they were going to win. If they lost, it would break her heart. Not because they lost but because Eve would get depressed. There was a deafening silence in the atmosphere as everyone anticipated the results."And the winner is… EDEN, DAN AND EVE!"Eden opened her eyes and looked at Eve's face. None of them could believe it was true, but when it finally sank in, they started jumping and shouting, while the other contestants on the stage clapped for them, clearly not too happy with the results. Eden hugged Dan and Eve tightly with tears filling up her eyes. She pulled away from them and ran down the stage, straight into Bennett's arms. He picked her up and kept hugging her for a long time and then kissed her."I absolutely knew it, you know," said Bennett as he wiped the tears off Eden's face. All of them stayed back and celebrated their vic
Grace's Point Of View:Grace looked at Eden with teary eyes and hugged her. "Are you sure you're going to be okay?" she asked with a shaky voice, trying not to break down in public.Eden smiled and squeezed her shoulder. "God, you worry so much. Bennett takes good care of me. Your girl is in good hands, I promise," said Eden, trying not to cry because it would only make Grace cry even more.Grace was finally leaving for Italy for her new job. Though it saddened Eden that they won't be able to hang out regularly like they usually did. Eden knew this was going to be a huge change in her life and she needed to embrace it. She had gone through bigger changes and made it through.Betty and Chester had left two days before and Grace was worried that after she and Theo left, Eden would feel lonely every time Bennett isn't there. She remembered meeting Eve and Dan and the competition and saw how nice they were to Eden. Things had cooled down with the media about everything that happened and l
Grace dried her hair as she got ready for work. Theo was still showering as she got ready. It was a big day for both of them, it was Grace's first day at work and Theo was being announced as the official manager at the new store. It was a triple story building. First floor was a lobby, second was only for the showcased diamond jewelries and the third was a trial area full of huge mirrors where men and women could try on jewelry and see what looks best on them. Theo knew that being a mere manager was beneath him but he understood that they needed someone on the inside to look after things so nothing goes wrong. There was one thing that Theo never told Grace. He was only going to be in Italy for 6 months. While Grace thought that they were going to live there together for a long time, Theo didn't have the heart to tell her the truth. She was so genuinely excited that when he saw the sparkle in her eyes, he thought it was not something he wanted to tell her and ruin her happiness. Thoug
"Dante?" Grace said, not understanding what he was doing here or how he could speak English. "What are you doing here?" "It's nice to meet you also," said Dante, with broken grammar and a heavy Italian accent. "You learned English?" Grace asked. "Yes. I realised I might meet another American beauty who didn't speak Italian," he said, still smirking at her. Giuseppe interrupted and said, "Oh, you two know each other already?" Grace turned around to look at him in confusion. "This is my son, Dante Lombardi. He came here from his college in Pisa to help me during the summer break." Grace didn't know how to feel about it. The last time they met, he was shamelessly hitting on her and Grace had rejected him because she was with Theo. She was scared that this might affect her chances to grow in the business. She knew she would have to get on good terms with him in order to make sure everything remains well at her job. Grace turned to Dante and smiled, extending her arm to shake his ha