Chapter 4

"Alright, job well done sweetie." Stella welcomed Yzel with those words as soon as she got back from the washroom.

"Thank you for everyone's hard work," she exclaimed praising everyone back for taking good care of her. But above of all, it was her besfriend's plan which help her got through.

Moving on was not like wear today and take off later. It was not as simple as it seemed, and not just about forgetting or continuing moving forward, it was more about living yourself, differently from what you used to be. More of giving your own self a rebirth of your own version.

Yzel changed back to her attire as everyone packed their stuff for the next guest to use the room. Yzel fixed the hankerchief at her hand, and then made sure that the bleed already stopped. It was an absolute nuisance. Stella was actually re-doing her makeup at the front of the mirror while waiting for her to come out from the fitting room.

"Get ready, we're off to our next guesting," Stella said. She turned from the mirror and looked at Yzel with her legs crossed.

"Next guesting?" with confusion at her face Yzel asked. All what she knew was just the interview today and no one mentioned another after this.

"April Skin just confirmed that they want you for an endorsement for their new product launch," Stella said. Her eyes shone sparklingly like a gloss in a lipstick. Stella happily marched to Yzel who was still absorbing what Stella told her.

"Let's get all those contracts okay?" Stella said with a smile as she fixed Yzel's tucked hair from the collar of her attire, and went straight to the door and out from the broadcasting station.

When it came to business, Stella was just as fast as a hurricane. Well she better be when the whole agency was at stake, she better got more revenue to catch up with their loss.

April Skin office was just like few turned from the broadcasting station. Stella and Yzel went to their office with the contract signing for the endorsement and the next thing Yzel knew she was posing for a photoshoot. Stella was not just a great friend, but a lady boss that would do a good job just to keep the business. Well, it was a good oppurtunity for Stella, and on the other hand, that would keep her busy and accommodated. This kept her from thinking about Francis whereabouts.

"Alright, we're done," the photographer said. Everyone clapped their hands in unison, a job well done.

"We'll prepare the script and we'll discuss how the commercial will go," said by the creative director. Stella handed some wiper to Yzel and Yzel removed her makeup.

The staffs were very accommodating, providing Yzel and Stella's crew a place to rest with tables and some chairs. There was also a fan to keep everyone freshed up. Stella left Yzel to rest up and went to the photographer to check for her shots and decide what to use for the billboards and for the campaign. Snacks were delivered in Yzel's table together with the script. Yzel thanked the staff who brought her snacks and shared the biscuits with the makeup artist and her assistant. She reached for the soda drinks in can with a straw and drank it while getting the script on the table. Stella and the directors discussed how things would go on the commercial, and as they discussed, Yzel was reviewing the script.

The script told a story about a young lady who was always left behind in her peer as she was the only one with no partner among them. After her two friends went for a double date, she was left alone in their weekly mall stroll, the young maiden bumped upon a new makeup store. Curious what's inside she went there and discovered magic. She dolled and glammed up with their products and even made her more beautiful. That radiant from their makeup built her more confidence and even boosted her self-esteem. With the products she used, she discovered more of herself and it was just okay to be single. That her life could be still more glamourous if she found her true self, and yielded power over her passion, makin her as one of the successful lady of her own world.

The script was very nice and powerful. Yzel's reality at the moment. Stella approached her as she took a seat next to her and grabbed for a canned soda on the table too.

"So what do you think?" Stella asked Yzel who was just finished reading the script. She closed the last page of the script and put it back on the table.

"It is nice, so me right now," bluntly she say as she took a sip from her drink. Stella faced her as she took a sip on her drink and then spoke.

"Which part are you,  the one who doesn't need a man, or the one left behind because you are now single?" Stella jokingly asked her with a sarcasm. Yzel just looked at her and rolled her eyes, followed by Stella's laugh.

"As if you were dating someone," Yzel butted in. She took the straw from her drink and glanced to the staffs who were setting up the set now for the commercial.

"Not really, but who knows soon?" Stella provokingly answered Yzel who was not turning at her direction with a sterm look. If stares could kill, Stella was probably bleeding right now to death.

"That man right there," Stella said. Then she pointed at the director's direction, followed by Yzel's stare. "We exchanged numbers," whispered by Stella as the man looked back at them and waved his hand. Stella waved back flirtfully, while Yzel stopped her from waving back by putting her hands down.

"There's no happy ending biatch," Yzel said. She turned to a different direction. Stella just laughed at her expression who was in between disgust and sarcasm.

Was it really a not happy ending? To whom? To Yzel who was not chosen by her boyfriend and decided to leave her for his new girlfriend? Or was it to Francis end, for staying with her and not with the another woman he loved? Whatever the answer was, it would just leave a question to Yzel,with the answer she wasn't sure of.

Francis was a nice man. Hard-working and very clear on what he wanted. He was loyal to his dreams and would not stop perservering until he got what he wanted. Yzel had no idea, what happened on them for Francis to break up with her like that. She never noticed anything new or suspicious anytime they were together, neither nor, any instinct that her man was cheating. Yzel had no clue at this time, until the bomb exploded, leaving her nothing but memories.

Stella stood up to talk with the directors as she commanded the makeup artist and Yzel's assistant to get ready. Yzel's assistant went with Stella to get her wardrobe while the makeup artist was getting her ready.

Yzel looked at her reflection at the mirror as she was getting ready and could watch herself as the makeup artist did her thing.

Before Francis, Yzel was a powerful woman. She came from a respected family and worked herself off to establish who she was without any intervention from anyone in the family. She worked hard to bring herself where she was now, and she did it because she helped herself. And no, she would not fail this time.

Yzel took a deep breath and recompose herself. She then changed her outfit and she was now ready to have the camera rolling on her.

She could make it again. To conquer the world, not because had her back but because she was better and great.

How great Yzel's self was after the her breakup was the entire opposite of Kendrick.

After his breakup with Veronica, Veronica terminated her contract as their endorser, and the company started to struggle on their marketing. The revenue went down by 12% and still expected to go down by another 12% upon the termination of Veronica's contract. She didn't care to pay the company for the early termination of the contract, and Kendrick was left nothing but problems.

During Veronica's contract they were able to get with international deals, and to build foreign investors, which kept the company top one across the country. With Veronica's termination of the contract, most of the newly investors cancelled their investments which made the company lost many potential business.

Kendrick gotta do something before the company suffered from a massive loss. With Veronica as the face of the company, he needed to think of someone or another strategy to solve this problem right away.

And that was the reason why there was a board meeting, to prevent the company from massive loss. Veronica influence might be a big factor from the investment backouts and cancellation, but that shouldn't be the case. Business should be still business and never should be mixed with any personal matters. Kendrick felt so guilty about their breakup and putting the whole company at stake. Did Veronica really need to go this far?

"Why don't we guest a cooking show?" one of the manager suggested while everyone moved from their seat and thought about what was suggested.

"We can get TV appearances, showing out of our new recipes with a new personality as we have our chef cook together at the show," the another manager elaborated.

"Alright, let's try that," said by the man who sat the very front of the long table. "Get the list of the broadcasting station with a lifestyle or cooking segments and show me the personalities who is most talked about right now," he added. He tapped his fingers at the table as his someone took doen notes of what he had said.

"Then we can have Kendrick to do the show." Someone suggested which made Kendrick turned his head and the man on the front changed his expression. There was an awkward silence on the office as everyone knew about their break-up and the troubles that brought about that.

"That could be a nice idea," said by someone which broke the silence in the room. "Since with the breakup issue, it will be catchy for some to see the show as they will be curious of who will be this nation's goddess guy before the break up. I mean, as long as the breakup will be involved, people may find it interesting," explained by the lady at the second seat from the front on the long table said.

"It made me look at the internet who the guy was, and I remembered who it is, so it kinda works." Someone seconded the motion.

"Kendrick?" the man at the front asked Kendrick as they listened from the suggestions.

"Anything for the company sir." He answered which followed by meeting adjourned.

As soon as the meeting was over, the marketing team called different stations to get an appointment for a segment or a cook show to commercialize their food. Some contacted agencies for new endorsers and other tried to contact media influencers to help them promote their brand.

After few days of getting an appointment and scheduled, eight broadcasting stations, including the top three broadcasting stations in the country confirmed a guesting, and these were submitted to their head marketing together with the possible new faces of the company who had thr potential of being the new face of the company.

"Ow, she's beautiful," exclaimed by one of the people from the marketing team. They check the list of the potential candidates.

"Yeah, but I heard she just came from a break-up too." One of them said as she stood up to get a water from the dispenser.

"Interesting,"  commented by other one. "Is breaking up a new trend right now?" jokingly she added. They all stood up and submitted the candidates to their head.

Days went by so fast for the company who was at risk of getting bankrupt for the investment who got cancelled after their biggest endorser terminated her contract. Everyone was busy working for promotions and media exposures to keep the balance of the business.

Same with Kendrick. The issues that the company was facing made his mind occupied by exploring new tastes and recipes that they can promote on their guestings. Kendrick was still thinking of which recipes he would share, the new recipe or their best-sellers. Sharing the recipe of the best-seller menus would definitely made people to tune it, but since they known the taste already, they would just cook it at home, instead of coming to the restaurant and experienced their food, compare to their new recipes that was not release yet. That would still hook more and new customers to come over. After deciding, he got his folders and went to the meeting with their new endorser.

"Good morning, welcome to The Night Class," said by the head of the marketing team said. They welcomed Stella and Yzel who was entering the office.

"Thank you," Stella said. The two of them sat next to each other with folders on the table.

Few more minutes Kendrick went it, followed by some tea.

"This Kendrick, our head chef from one of the stores of our pub." Introduced by the marketing lead to Kendrick to the two ladies who was scanning the contract.

Yzel, closed the folder and reached for his hand for a hand shake while Stella smiled at him as she checked for the terms of the contract.

"I'm sorry about the losses of your company, and your endorser's termination of contract," Stella said. She turned the back of the folder and put the contract down. Yzel just sat there and listened how Stella did the business.

"Yeah, and we are thankful for accepting our proposals." The marketing lead thanked them for giving them a chance to review their contract for the campaign.

"I wanna do this project, not because you need me, but because I wanna do something different," Yzel butted in. This made Stella grabbed for her tea and tasted it.

"And thank you for giving me this oppurtunity to see what you can offer," she added. Stella cleared her throat, and put her tea down.

"You see, Yzel didn't know how to cook, but she is willing to learn. I know that you already make schedules and appointments for your guestings, but this will the first cook show Yzel will have, but she is willing to learn," frankly Stella stated.The marketing lead was shock to know about Yzel's not knowing about to cook, and shook his head while making a face.

The company couldn't delay any longer for they were not sure for how much investments they would lose as they waites for her to learn even the basics of cooking.

"Ahmmm, about that?" the marketing lead lost his confidence with disappointment on what he heard but Kendrick butted in.

"I can teach you how to cook," loudly Kendrick said. This caught the attention of the other people in the office.

"I will do most of the cooking, but I can teach you some slicing or washing of the ingredients and small stuff," Kendrick added. He took a glanced on the marketing lead with a face of frustration.

"That sounds like a nice idea," Yzel exclaimed as she turned to the marketing lead.

"I can learn some things today and get ready for your TV appearance soon," she enthusiastically said as her eyes sparked like a star twinkling in the night sky.

"Our first guesting, would be on Saturday, and that was like two days from now," Kendrick said. He was looking at Stella who just sipping her tea and listened to Yzel and Kendrick talking.

"So I guess, we can work things out then?" Stella said as she turned to the marketing lead, catching him off-guard to close a deal and got the campaign.

After few departing words, Kendrick brought Stella and Yzel to his pub. Yzel carefully watched how things were done while getting amazed on how each food tasted. Food was the best comfort ever.

Stella had to leave to meet with some clients for Yzel's photoshoot and would pick Yzel up after her meetings. Yzel said yes and started her day by

opening her I*******m account and posting a picture on The Night Class pub.

"You are quite a celebrity, huh?" Kendrick said while bringing her drinks and desserts on her table, as he sat down on the chair opposite to Yzel's side.

"I'm actually fashion designer, and social media is my expertise," confidently she said as she took photos of the food.

"I was just in a breakup scandal lately, and got messed up for two weeks, and I am trying to get back on my own now," honestly she explained while editing her photo and typing her caption in.

"What a coincidence," Kendrick said. He was leaning forward with his hands under her chin.

"I just came from a breakup too, just recently," scornfully he added. Yzel's attention swifted to the person at her front.

She put her phone down, and put one of her hand under her chin as she stared at Kendrick.

"Do you have wine?" Yzel asked while staring at her. "Alam mo sabi nila, when you get hurt, you need alcohol to heal the wound faster," she smirked. Kendrick laughed at what Yzel said.

"Isn't it to early to get drunk?" Kendrick said as he rested his back at the backboard of the chair.

"Not really," Yzel said.  She leaned backwards and shook her head.

"In France, they drink wine in the afternoon," she said to Kendrick. Kendrick called for a waiter to bring them some wine.

The wine came and the two talked about how shit love was. It made them happy, turned their life upside down and constantly chose their love and forgot about themselves. Them, who knew how to love right, ended on ruininh themselves, pushing their emotions off to the cliff.

"That was sick," Yzel exclaimed after Kendrick shared her story.

"But come to think of," Yzel said while trying to keep her posture and denying that the wine had her controlled. "They were lucky to have us, and it's their loss and not ours," she said.  Yzel reached for her glass and held her glass and raising it to make cheers over their pathetic selves.

The bottle of wine was just on its half, and Kendrick knew that Yzel was already drinking too much. Yzel was swaying sideways, but still could manage her balance, and had been so talkative about how she was fooled by her ex-boyfriend breaking up on her on their anniversary.

They both opened themselves to hear how frustrating and annoying loving was, not minding the people around them. For once, this was the first time they both felt being listened to, with no judgments and nothing with just honest conversation that they even didn't know if it was the alcohol who talked or they just letting their sadness be emptied with a glass of wine as their strength. Drunk talks where still the best.

"Cheers to our new life!" Yzel said not minding the people around them as she raised her voice to cheer themselves up. Kendrick just laughed at her as she drank bottoms up with her glass, and down her head went on the table.

"Yzel. Hey, Yzel," Kendrick said. He saw Yzel hit the table, and the next thing Kendrick knew, Yzel was already snoring on the table.

Kendrick just shook his head and smiled as he drank his glass bottoms up.