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The Journalist (2)
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2024-10-29 19:42:56The modeling agency she had been signed to didn’t renew their contract, and Steph knew that soon, she would be bankrupt if she didn’t think fast.
Natasha Lodge, one of her modeling friends, advised her to start making money from her social media handles. Steph started a YouTube channel documenting small details of her daily activities.
One day while at a supermarket, she met Stella Pratt, who was impressed by her work. They went out for coffee, and as luck would have it, Stella recommended Steph for a job at her workstation.
In her office at Legacy, Steph was browsing the internet to get updates on the latest news. She had subscribed to Paraiso Daily, a digital news outlet that reported about the happenings in Paraiso.
She searched their page and read that there were signs of a volcano eruption on Mt. Kilis. Suddenly she didn’t feel sleepy anymore. She was alert as she read through the two minutes’ article.
Much hadn’t
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Robert and Steph had been summoned to Stella’s office. After confronting Steph, Stella had come up with a perfect way to solve the dilemma she had.“Thank you both for coming here. As you both know, we previously had conflicts of interest regarding who should cover the Paraiso story. I have carefully looked through all possible options and come up with one that will serve all of us well.” Stella said.Steph had her heart in her hands. She had attempted to play the cards in her favor, but it seems her plan wasn’t going to work.There was no one she could pull Stella down without her going down as well. Robert, on the other hand, seemed relaxed. If he was anxious, he didn’t show, and Steph hated to admit to herself that she wished she had his confidence.“Both of you will go to Paraiso and work on that story. Bring back a good article. You are free to leave,” Stella said.“What did you just say?”
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He followed silently, and after helping himself, he was surprised to find Steph around.“Mmh, what are you still doing here?” he asked.“Waiting to take you back to your room. You might get lost.”“Mmmh,” he hummed in acknowledgment.“Let me introduce you to my sister,” Steph said, pulling him by the hand.In the living room sat a lady with a fair complexion. She had Steph’s eyes though hers weren’t that mesmerizing. Robert saw her and imagined her to be a nerd.“Hello. I am Robert.”“Am Vicky,” she said swiftly while looking at him before they shake hands.“Pleasure meeting you,” Robert said.“Are you always this formal?” Vicky asked before laughing.He shrugged, before responding with a smile, “That depends.”The four sat talking about different topics, and before they knew it was time f
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Steph woke up around ten am, and the sunlight was already glaring in the room. Everyone had woken up by then, and her mom commented on how it was unusual that she was the last to wake up.“Vicky always woke up early to study while you did so to read model magazines. You were never in bed past seven,” Stacy said.Steph threw a glance at Robert, who was in a quiet conversation with Vicky.“What are they talking about?” she asked casually“Have you forgotten they should go to Mt. Kilis?” Stacy said, and Steph felt a lump on her throat. Memories from last night came flooding before her, and she felt so overwhelmed.It was just a fling. We didn’t know what we were doing, she repeatedly told herself silently. It was her usual mantra, especially when she was drunk, but this time, someone else was involved. She was lost in her thoughts still when she served a cup of coffee and went where her sister was.
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Just like a faithful person, Robert took all the photos. His mind was on Steph. Before they came to Paraiso, he had never thought of her as a woman he would get intimate with. He never even looked at her, and given they didn’t share office space, they didn’t interact much.“We have seen enough of this place. I would like to walk around this town. This might be the only chance I have given I might get to work anytime.” Robert told Vicky.He had gotten bored of taking photos of her, and he just wanted something for a change. As soon as he had seen what he wanted to, he would insist they go back home so he could see Steph.Steph was preparing to leave the house to meet some old girlfriends of hers when she heard the doorbell ring. They weren’t expecting any visitors, and she was sure it wasn’t Vicky and Robert because they wouldn’t knock. Vicky had the house key.She went to her mom’s room to inquire if she was
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Stella called Steph but she didn’t answer her phone. She wanted an update of what was going on in Paraiso. Since their departure, she hadn’t heard a word from Steph or Robert, and she was worried they might lose track of what sent them to Paraiso.“I had to send both of them on that mission, so they get closer. Robert needs to settle down, and having known him for such a long time, I think Steph might be the right person for him,” she told herself. “What if my plan worked, and instead of work, they are now romancing?” she shuddered at the thought.She decided to call Robert, who picked on the second ring.“Thank goodness. I have been trying to reach Steph, and she isn’t answering. Is everything okay?”“All is fine. We’re still monitoring the area around the mountain. Don’t stress yourself. You have two capable workers out here. We will get the work done.” Robert said.&ld
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Steph was shocked. She was also elated. She had wanted that. Just a few minutes ago. But why couldn’t she just say yes to his proposal? Didn’t she love him enough? What was wrong with her?“I perfectly understand if you can’t give me a response now. Think it over. I know you aren’t sure if I am serious or not. You can forget everything in the world but never forget the fact that I love you.” Fred said, and Steph nodded silently.“Can I ask you something?” Steph said after a while.“Go ahead. What do you want to know?”“When you stopped answering my calls and texts, I was convinced that it was because you had found someone else to love. I don’t understand. What really happened?”Fred walked and had his back to Steph. He then told her that it was because he was struggling to survive in Holland and didn’t want to bother people from home with his problems. It hurt to cu
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For two whole days, Fred had been waiting for Steph to give him feedback. He was acting like some love-sick child. He decided to call her to find out what she had decided, but she wasn’t answering his calls. Then after a while, his calls weren’t going through.“What the hell Steph? Do not play such games with me. You can’t avenge for the mistakes I made years ago. Get back to me as soon as you can.” he sent a voicemail, but still, there was nothing.He asked his late dad’s help to get the carry ready for him because he would be leaving in a while.“Okay, sir”He was at Steph’s home, and there was silence all over. It seemed as if there was no one at home. He was about to leave when he heard a noise from inside the house and rushed there.“Who is it? It’s Fred. Please let me in.”He heard things being thrown against the wall and was sure it was Vicky doing so.&ldq
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Robert and Steph were sited with a group of journalists comparing notes on what they had learned about the mountain so far. This was a new experience for both of them. They had expected the others to hide their findings because they were all in business, and getting the most selling story was their objective.“Steph.”Steph turned to look at who had called her and saw Fred standing there like he owned the place. He looked at the group of people Steph was with but didn’t bother to even say hi.Knowing he wasn’t there for serious business, Steph ignored him, telling him that she was busy and would only see him when they had a break.“Your work is important, but so is your sister. You have to come with me now,” Fred said.Steph stood up, and so did Robert. They hurried towards Fred, who looked at Robert in disdain.“If I were you, I wouldn’t have come here?” he said.“It is a go
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More Than Pleasures Steamy Diaries The Painter (15)
She knew she was. She made heads turn, and her presence alone could make even the strongest man weak to his knees. Single men, dating, married, poor or rich all wanted her, but she went for Paul thinking he was the saint he portrayed himself to be.She could have said no, but she was confused. He might change, she thought, but now he wasn’t going to.He proved that over and over again. Dorothy got tired but didn’t know how to break up with him, and she was grateful he was finally gone, although she didn’t like the circumstances surrounding that fact.“Here is your tea,” she said as she placed the cup of tea on the table before Aston in his studio. She took a few sips of hers before placing her cup on the table too. “The weather outside is beautiful today.”“Yes. Yes, it is,” Aston confirmed, although his eyes never left Dorothy. “How about we go somewhere else while this dries?” he suggested.“Sure.”Together with their teas in their hands, they walked out of the studio. Instinctively
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Stella observed the interaction between the two, and once again, she knew she had lost Aston to Dorothy because he never looked at her the way he was looking at Dorothy, and that spoke volumes.Stella stood up and straightened out her dress.“I’ll check on you later, Aston, and nice to meet you, Dorothy,” she said with a smile and walked towards Steve.They bid each other farewell, and she left the room.Steve sat down in the chair Stella had just left vacant, crossing his arms over his chest again. He said with a strange emotion in his voice, “You mentioned something about you thinking Paul would change. Has he done something like this before?”Dorothy let out a heavy sigh before replying, “Yes. Yes, he has. Many times.”“Will you be able to testify against him in court?” Aston asked as calmly as he could.“Yes, I will. I think I’ve had enough of him,” she finalized.“Well, I admire your courage, my lady,” Steve commended, further encouraging Dorothy. “By the way, did you meet the pa
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‘’We caught this young woman trying to force her way into the ward, and we suspect she might be part of the paparazzi,” the first police officer answered.Steve observed Dorothy noting that she looked familiar then he remembered her. ‘It’s fine, boys. Let her through.The police officers released her arms, and Dorothy threw them a disdainful look, then sent a grateful one Steve’s way.He opened the door for her, and she walked in, thanking Steve with a smile.Steve closed the door with a gentle click and faced Dorothy. “He’s right this way. I’m not supposed to say this, Dorothy, but he’s been expecting you.”Expecting her? Did he want to see her? Did this have something to do with her, or did he just want to see her? She wished it was the latter.Wait, this is Steve, Aston’s best friend and the owner of ‘From Our Hearts’ gallery, but how did he know her?Steve seemed to sense her conflicting thoughts. He sighed and then said, “I can assure you that there’s nothing to fret about, and w
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She opened her eyes and brought her fingers up to see them coated with her juices— and Aston hair she had been supposedly pulling happened to be her shower curtain.She just fantasized about Aston pleasuring, but it was better than anything she had ever had with Paul, and the best part —she didn’t regret it.She wanted more of it. She wanted to make it real, so much that she was started to became inpatient and frustrated.The reality of her situation dawned on her when she got out of the shower. She stared at the ring on her finger, and for the first time, she felt trapped.The ring became heavy on her finger, and it began to feel like a heavy burden on her. She slipped the ring off her finger and placed it on the drawer bedside of the bed.Suddenly, she wasn’t sure she wanted to spend the rest of her life with Paul. She closed her eyes to picture Paul in her life as she had always done, but this time, Paul was replaced with Aston.And that moment, it became apparent to her that she w
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Dorothy turned around to see Paul standing there, arms folded across his chest and his eyes shooting daggers at Aston, who ignored him, by the way.“So I’ll call you and let you know how it goes, okay?” Aston asked while looking at Dorothy, who nodded excitedly like a kid.Aston smiled and then replied, “Bye Dorothy, and take care of yourself.”“Okay!. Bye Aston, and thanks for visiting. It really means a lot,” Dorothy said, as she walked him to the door.He stopped for a moment and took a look at Paul, who was still standing in the doorway.“And you too, Paul. It was nice to meet you,” she added, and with that, he walked out of their flat without waiting to hear Paul’s grunt of a response.Not wanting Paul to ruin her mood, Dorothy hopped past the grumpy Paul happily to their bedroom, humming a song.The only thing in her head was that her art was going to be at an exhibition– something she never expected to happen.For the rest of the day, Dorothy was in high spirits humming a favor
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Dorothy turned around with a smile. “Hello Mr and Mrs Harris. Wonderful weather we have today, yeah?”“Absolutely,” Mrs. Harris chirped while Mr. Harris only nodded.“Let’s go in,” she said to Aston leading the way. “How do you like your tea?” Dorothy asked as they entered her flat, locking the door behind them.“Anything is fine, thank you,” he replied with a smileDorothy walked to the kitchen, and moments later, the sound of a kettle whistling was heard, followed by cabinets opening and closing.Aston took this time to observe the interior decor of the flat. It was an average-sized flat with clean white walls decorated with prints of beautiful paintings.Different artifacts, frames, flower vases, and books sat well arranged on the shelf.Wine-colored drapes framed the windows, and the inner lace curtains remained drawn, allowing the sun rays to enter, casting a golden sheen into the living room. The decor was simple yet beautiful and welcoming.This reminded Aston of the typical co
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“Oh, thank you so much. You have no idea how much this means to me. And believe me, when I say coming from you means so much more,” she said.“I thought I was doing horribly, so I stopped painting for a while. I only began painting again when I came across your works in a gallery. I was in awe of hyperrealism. It was magnificent, and I knew I wanted to know how to paint like you,” she explained excitedly. “Meeting you here might be the best thing that has happened to me this year.”It was Aston’s turn to feel flattered, and he did ever so much. He had received a lot of compliments, but in a weird way, Dorothy appreciating his art made him feel he did something for someone, and it made him feel good.“I’m sure you’ll learn a lot from this class, and I can give you pointers if you want.”“You know I didn’t exactly enroll for this class. Mrs. Michael is my aunt, and she just allows me to join in and last week was my second time here.”“That makes sense. I didn’t think you paint. I though
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For heaven’s sake, he wasn’t some teenager going through hormonal changes, so why couldn’t he stop thinking about Dorothy’s body and, even worse, smiling and blushing at the memory.‘’I guess we can now deduce my idea wasn’t laced with foolishness after all,’ Steve said with the smug look still on his faceAston scoffed, rolling his eyes at him, and said, “Don’t get ahead of yourself. I am still not convinced the class will do me any good.”“We’ll see about that, mate. We’ll see.”The whole weekend felt like torture to Aston. He longed to see Dorothy again, and it seemed the weekend was taking too long to end.Everything was confusing to him; what he was feeling about Dorothy and why he was feeling that way didn’t make any sense to him, but he just wanted to see her again.When Monday finally came, Aston could hardly wait till 3 pm when classes started, and by 12 pm, he was already at the building waiting for Dorothy to show up, but she didn’t.Class started, and she was still nowhere
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In one swift moment, a bang was heard, and the whole dining table came crashing down, sending a wave of shock throw Dorothy.She had seen this happen so many times, but she could never get used to it. He promised to change.He said he was going to be better, but after two years and nothing had changed.The last time, it was the TV that suffered it, which took a while to replace, and now, the dining table had also felt the impact of Paul’s fist.The table was ruined; dinner was ruined too.“You love being a whore, eh? You love letting different men run their hands all over your body under the guise of art, right?” He barked the vile words pacing the dining room.The words made her feel she had just been prickled with over a hundred pins.“I am not a whore, Paul!. I am not! I love art, and you know it!” She yelled at him.He scoffed before he said, “Oh c’mon. You’re just using art as a cover-up. You enjoy the way these so-called artists of yours touch you.”He then grabbed her shoulder
