It felt like years before Jack finally let them go. Mei Li almost shed tears of happiness when she stepped out of the building.
"Why did you enter the audition?" she wailed.
"I didn't. I only accompanied my friends. He saw me walking," Ryn almost cried too.
Mei Li glared. "I don't believe you. You told me you don't want to work under him anymore."
"Save your nagging. I need to say goodbye to my friends," Ryn stopped her and rushed back inside.
Mei Li rubbed her temple. She had a headache as well and it's real.
Ryn approached her friends, noticing how they quickly kept silence when she was near.
"Err… is something wrong?" she asked hesitantly.
"You… You didn't tell us you're a real model," Racheal became their spokesperson.
"Err… because you've never asked?"
"You're always like this. We never asked. We never said. Are you happy embarrassing me in front of everyone?" Irene couldn't control her emotion and burst out.
Ryn cocked an eyebrow. Was Irene blaming her?
"You must be laughing seeing I struggle so much. You must be laughing when you came for my first photoshoot. Was it funny?"
Ryn took a step back but her face did not show her emotion. She had a poker face mask and it oozed coldness.
Some of the girls shivered.
"For someone who is still new in modelling, you have a lot of things to learn and the first important thing is your attitude. I'm sorry. Excuse me." Without waiting, Ryn turned around and walked away.
None of them noticed a girl standing not far from them, watching everything. The girl smirked.
"Attitude? Can't you believe what she said?" Irene choked out. Her body shook with anger and frustration.
Where could she put her face after what happened? Everyone knew Ryn started to show off during her turn, meaning that it was because they found her performance bad then they did this.
It must be Ryn who told them to make it harder for her during the audition. Didn't Ryn go into the room way earlier? She had the time to badmouthing everyone!
"Calm down, Irene."
She glared at them before stormed away.
~*~*~*~
Ryn handed the Cola to Mei Li, starting to get worried seeing how traumatic her manager was.
"Are you okay?" she asked again.
"Why I have the feeling he will pop into my dream. Ryn, it'd be a nightmare," Mei Li grabbed Ryn's hand. Her eyes were getting wet again.
"He won't. He'd be busy popping into my nightmare," Ryn coaxed.
"Maybe I should go to the church and pray hard," Mei Li quickly gulped down her drink and grabbed her bag. "Do you want to follow?"
"No. Mika is picking me up. You should go now before the traffic gets worst."
Mei Li nodded. She grabbed her bag and walked back to her car, leaving Ryn watching her quietly.
Ryn let out a sigh. It seemed like when her career as a model waz exposed in the campus, she could no longer be the quie and boring Ryn. And it seemed the new friendship she was just having among her classmates were gone.
"How cheap is my friendship in their eyes," she murrmured bitterly.
It was hard for her to start opening herr heart, even for friendship, butt now it was gone. Just like that.
"Comparing to Irene, I am still new in the group. So it shouldn't suprise me much when they turned their back on me."
To say she was not dissapointed and hurt was a lie. She was sad and bitter but what else could she do? She couldn't force them to accept her when they think she betrayed them.
"But what actually is my fault?"
She shook her head. "It's not important. Whether they want to keep this friendship or not I am still here, living my life. Hmm... Where is that girl?" She looked around, looking for Mika. Mika just messaged her, telling her that she was near.
She waited for another fifteen minutes before a familiar girl walked into the cafe. Ryn shook her head in bemused seeing her in her lolita outfit.
"Mika, over here," she waved her hand.
Mika's face brightened up seeing Ryn. She quickened her steps and when near, she jumped into Ryn's arms, shocking Ryn.
"I miss you."
Ryn could only pat her back and once Mika finally released her arms, Ryn rubbed her head.
"We just met few days ago," Ryn pointed out.
"But it feels like years," Mika almost wailed.
Ryn patted her head again. She pushed her still unfinished drink to Mika.
"Drink some. Then we can leave."
Mika did what was asked. She quickly drank the chocolate shake. Then she followed behind Ryn. She was so happy today, she could even dance.
"I've booked movie tickets tonight," Mika started the car engine and drove forward.
"We're going out tonight?" Ryn groaned, exhausted at the thought of her energetic best friend planning their outing.
"Of course," replied Mika happily. She glanced at the mirror to check her favourite dark purple lipsticks and smiled.
Ryn checked her phone. She just realized she hadn't taken a photo for today's posting in her Instagram. Hmm… but Mei Li didn't say anything just maybe. Maybe she was excused today. She smiled at the thought and kept back her phone.
"By the way, why are you so crazy with exercising? You used to sleep around this time if you have no job," Mika suddenly asked.
"Hmm..? Oh, I've been chosen for the GX runway next week so I need to stay fit."
"Wh… What? Wow… congratulations, wife. You're the best," Mika cried. If she was not driving, she would jump back into Ryn's arms and hugged her tightly, jumping around.
"Thanks. And stop calling me your wife. What if Jason heard it?" Ryn pointed out.
"He knew and he didn't mind," Mika shrugged dismissively. She did not want to talk about her boyfriend. She wanted to talk about her best friend who just managed to get into the biggest show in the whole world and why Ryn didn't say anything about it. Luckily she had the mind to ask.
"Luckily Jason has quite a lot of patience being with you. He should receive a medal for that," Ryn commented dryly, already bored with the topic of GX. Of course when she got it at first she was excited but with Jeremy kept disturbing her peace, she felt like GX was just another job for her. Nothing to be proud of.
"When is the show? Do you have free tickets?"
Ryn pursed her lips, refused to answer.
"Ryn~"
"Fine. I'll give you two. For you and Jason. Treat it as your date." Ryn finally succumbed to Mika's puppy eyes. "I'll tell Mei Li to give it to you."
"Great. It's going to be so much fun. I knew it would. I can feel it in my blood," Mika's eyes sparkled at the thought.
Ryn refused to talk. If she even said a word, the headache she kept mentioning would be real. Better kept quiet and let Mika day-dreaming.