Rise of the Billionaire actress

“You look awful.” Karen poured out two cups of tea and Esther took one.

“Gee.. thanks.” she replied after taking a sip.

“I’m serious. You look so terrible, maybe you should cancel the event and have some rest. I could handle it, you don’t need to be present.”

“Of course I need to be present. It’s my first job with such a high profile event and if it means I get to sit beside my cake, and smile while you do the work, so be it.”

“True, but your body is saying something else. I still can’t get used to seeing you in pain over the pink lady.”

Esther attempted a smile that ended up a gnash. Yeah, she was in pain.

“I’ve taken something. Hopefully, before the evening, I’ll feel better enough to do my job.”

Karen tutted and picked up her phone. Her friend’s eyes narrowed.

“What are you doing?”

“I think the question should be who am I calling.”

A groan left Esther as she got up, tired of her tea at this point. “Don’t even think about it.”

“Too late.” Karen placed her phone by her ears and immediately broke into a grin. “Hello!” She said as the line connected.

“Karen. How are you doing?” Daniel felt a bit weird getting calls from Karen, but following Esther’s refusal to pick up his calls at times, Karen became his willful informant.

“Fine. Awesome.” She smiled at a wide eyed Esther, “Could you please convince her against leaving the house?”

“What do you mean?”

“Esther isn’t feeling her best but she’s hell bent on attending the event despite telling her I’ve got it covered.” She reported to her dismay.

Esther clenched her fists. Was she regretting introducing them both? Hell yeah!

“Karen.” Her voice warned.

“Where are you? Is she with you right now?” He asked and she let out an affirmative noise. “Hand over the phone to her.” He ordered and she was happy to do so.

“Here you go.” She passed along the phone to a seething Esther.

“Daniel.”

“Don’t go. I’ll have things handled. Take a rest.” He urged as soon as he heard her, but she shook her head.

“I won’t. Don’t mind Karen, she’s being a bit dramatic.” She let out with an eye roll.

“I don’t think so. It’s that time, isn’t it?”

Hairs stood on Esther’s arm. He remembered. He actually remembered?

“What are you saying?”

“You’re avoiding the question. So I’ll take that as a yes. Get some sleep and chocolates. We’ll handle the rest.”

“That will be highly unprofessional,” She stated, angry at this point, “Who are you guys to police my affairs? I’m a grown woman for goodness sake,” she gritted, ” I am done with this conversation.”

Esther passed along the phone without waiting for a response.

“Uh-oh, I think we pushed it.” Karen said, and earned a malicious look.

Daniel felt at loss for words, apparently, she was still the stubborn woman he knew.

“Just, don’t leave her, okay?” He managed to say, “I’ll be in touch.”

“Yes sir.”

Karen did a mock salute after she dropped the phone. She was off work today and it only made sense for her to be with her sick friend. Getting to speak with a world star was just an added bonus.

******

“I’ll understand if you don’t want to be in the same room as him, but please, think about the fullness of things.” Mr Austin said over the phone, “this is the best opportunity to mingle with top people and enlarge your coasts.”

Aaron swept his fingers through his hair. “Are you sure he’s coming? Last I checked, he was too busy to attend frivolous events.”

“This isn’t a matter of if he’s coming. He’s going to be there. I need to know you can handle it and not throw a fit like the last time.”

“I didn’t throw a fit.”

Mr Austin rolled his eyes at his statement, “Of course that’s the only thing you got from my entire sentence. There’s no time, make up your mind.”

“I don’t care. We’ll be good as long as he stays away from my path.” His eyes blazed as he thought back on their last encounter. ” And he better be ready.” Aaron held a cynic smile after the call, the night was going to be interesting, after all.

Time flew and evening came. Doris sent a decent team to get Deloise ready for her appearance at the event. She was supposed to oversee the preparations but due to her flight getting delayed and eventually cancelled, she was arriving a lot later than expected, but the show must go on.

“You look so gorgeous.” One of the ladies said, and Deloise blushed.

“Thank you.” She said, looking at her reflection from a full length mirror. Her heart fluttered at the sight that looked back at her.

She felt utterly beautiful in the dress. She loved how it wrapped her form, and brought out the colour in her eyes.

“Our work here is done. I hope you have a beautiful night, ma’am.” One of the ladies said and led the way out of her hotel room.

Aaron was adorned in a tux. His aura was unapproachable and occupied a larger portion of the room when he came in.

“You look breathtaking.” He ended up saying after every other word fell short to describe her beauty.

She shyly bowed her head, revealing the crown braid on her hair. “Thank you.” She squeaked and took in his grandiose look. “You clean up nicely too.”

“Yeah right.” Aaron walked up to her with a bent arm, “shall we?”

She placed her arm between his, “Don’t you think we might be a bit too early?” She said, having cold feet.

“Don’t get scared now.” He tutted, “I already promised to keep an eye out for you. This event will be seamless, trust me.” He said, all the while looking into her eyes. “Besides, we are the star of the show. Whenever we show up, we’ll be right on time. The car is here.” He added arrogantly and a smile threatened to break on Deloise’ face.

“We shall.” She replied coquettishly in answer to his previous question. There and then, she felt painfully aware of his presence and everything else.

She somehow managed to match colors with him. It was either purely a coincidence or Doris had something to do with it – a matter she didn’t feel like unearthing at the moment. First things first, she needed to make it out of the event unscathed.

“Let’s take a picture.” Aaron took out his phone and captured the moment on his phone. “Again.” He said and they took more than she kept track of.

“I wonder how the shippers will feel when they get to know it’s all scripted.” Deloise broke the silence as they were driven to the event.

Aaron was on his phone, no doubt uploading the pictures on his socials. “They shouldn’t. That’s the whole point of it right?”Property belongs to Nôvel(D)r/ama.Org.

“What if it leaked out, what if they caught on?”

At this point, Aaron perceived she was doing everything and anything to hide her fear of getting caught by her mother. He was yet to know the details but knew it took a major toll on her.

“Then let’s make it official. Would you like to be my girlfriend, Deloise Tanner?”

Aaron didn’t skip a beat and his eyes were fixed on hers. Deloise couldn’t grasp a hold of her accelerated heartbeat. What on earth was going on and why did she feel like a fish out of water?

“You joke too much…” she said in a haze.

“You should know me by now.” His eyes sliced in a wink, “we’re here.”

“What?”

Only then did she realize the car had stopped. He managed to put her in a trance with his words. Her heart seized at the amount of press outside, waiting to get a picture of the guests.

“Calm down. Just breathe through it. I’ll be by your side all the way.” Aaron said through her panic, and took hold of her hand. “Are you ready to get out there?”

Her grip on his hand tightened. “Let’s do this.”

******

Through their stay at the event, Deloise was on her toes, scanning through the area in search of any familiar face as she greeted others. On the other hand, Daniel was present and kept his eyes focused on the entrance.

Despite his warning against their showing up, he got a text stating they were on their way – that was an hour ago. He was beginning to worry when they weren’t forthcoming or picking his calls.

Just when he decided to leave the event, he got a text stating they got a hiccup with their car and are back on their way to the said event. He breathed out a sigh of relief, glad it was the car and not her.

Meanwhile, Anna got wind of the party and for some reason decided to show up. Dressed in a tight black corset gown, she maneuvered her way into the event in search of her target.

“I’m so sorry!” She bumped into a guy,

“What’s got a hot thing so distracted?” A smug voice said, eating her look with a starved expression.

Her face turned sour as she remembered him. “Maybe if you had a sense of direction, we wouldn’t be in this mess.” Sass dripped from her tone.

“I will not -” he said, but was cut off by the appearance of two people.

His lips turned into a smirk, “What an unpleasant surprise.”

Aaron and Deloise stood, each sporting a disbelieving then frosty look, as the room fell a few degrees lower.