Mou finished his last meeting at 10pm. He opened the car and watched as Stella followed behind.
He wondered if he would get tired of seeing the same scene for the next couple of weeks... Maybe not.
"Bring us back to the hotel." Mou ordered as he opened his laptop once again to finish up his work.
Once they arrived at the hotel, Mou went to his room. Stella acted accordingly, making sure to continue her act until she went back to her room an hour after Mou did.
Stella closed the door and immediately clutched her chest, her breathing was irregular as she could feel the blood bubbling up her throat.
*Cough* *Cough* Stella slid down the door as she felt the pain increase in her lungs.
Stella's expression however, didn't change. She kept an uncaring look on her face. She wiped away the blood and stayed by the door for the rest of the night. Unable to put pressure on her body to move.
...............
"Amy. How was filming?" Tracy asked with a small smile on her face.
Amy smiled back as she took a seat. "All things considered it was good. I'm certain that the film will become big." Amy was impressed with the director and her supporting actors.
It was her first big film since her reputation was improved. The director wanted an actress that had good looks and could act in action scenes.
Since Amy had been training under Di's ruthless training regime the action scenes were easy for her. Of course, she had to act like a 'normal' woman. She couldn't be a monster during acting because that would change people's views of her.
It was unfortunate but it was the entertainment industry. It was expected for people to act in certain ways.
As Tracy nodded she remembered the conversation she had with Cerim earlier. "Oh yeah, the boss said that you would need to sort out the issue with your previous manager... Apparently, it is too much trouble for the company to deal with a man with such a terrible reputation put pressure on to you." Tracy wasn't happy with the decision Cerim made. But what could she say? He is her boss after all...
Amy spaced out. Her former manager and ex-fiance. Vince, his reputation was dragged in the mud after Zou was exposed. Along with many people in the entertainment industry, the trust he had built over the years crumbled. As more of his scandals rose from other actresses and former stars who had their careers cut short due to him abusing his power for Zou.
Since he was invaluable in creating opportunities for his company. Vince kept his job. His connections in the industry were amiable. Since he held so much dirt on others...
Amy sighed when she thought about him. She honestly loved the man until he completely changed when she became an actress. He became her manager and things were good for a while. They kept their relationship a secret since it would hamper her career. But over time, he became colder to her. Then started to abuse the fact she was in love with him to take her roles and distribute it to his other artists.
She accepted it until she became overburdened with it all. Not being able to keep going with a mentally abusive relationship. She wanted to be free of him. But he refused, using their relationship as a weapon.
Then she was helped by Stella... At first, she followed her because she ran out of hope. But then she followed Stella through those alleys... Then she was brought to the base that she now goes to train daily.
Stella gave her another chance at life. Although she knew the path she would be going on was dark and stormy. She decided to follow Stella, as she clearly saw something in her and she trusted that.
She trained like crazy ever since, she now was completely confident that she could meet with Vince on her own and it wouldn't even be a problem.
"Mmm." Amy replied non-committedly. She had some plans for the man...
...............
Amy finished her work at the company and walked through the night. She picked up a disguise at her apartment and walked to the largest club in the city.
She knew that Vince often stayed in the club to drink and pick up women. Often times she wondered why she degraded herself for a man who would cheat on her daily and then use her. But love makes a person blind...
Amy entered the club under the eye of the security guard. He didn't care much about the woman entering. He knew what she was there for...
...............
Mou woke up in the morning with a strange feeling. After completing his morning routine, he went down to pick up some food.
He saw Lennard at the table which they agreed to meet every morning, but no Stella...
"Where is he?" Mou asked quietly as he sat down.
Lennard shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, I thought he was with you." he was being honest. Stella's and Mou's rooms were placed so that Stella could protect Mou well...
This worried Mou. He knew more than anyone how Stella often woke up early. She was more of an early bird than himself! She often woke up at 5am when they were at the villa. While he woke up an hour later...
But it was now 9am, so not seeing Stella alarmed Mou. But he kept his troubles to himself as he ate first.
Lennard was surprised upon seeing his boss eat his food so fast. Mou was someone who would eat well when he wasn't working. Since when he did work, food wasn't on his mind. Lennard knew that his first meeting was at noon... So what was the rush?
Of course, Lennard kept these thoughts to himself, he didn't question Mou's actions as he needed to finish some work off as well.
Mou finished eating quickly and went back upstairs. Upon reaching Stella's room, he was about to knock on the door until he realized what he was doing.
He berated himself inwardly, the whole point of having Stella on the trip was to break relations between the two and make the bodyguard and boss relationship professional. He walked into his room and decided to phone her instead.
Mou called once and got nothing, he narrowed his eyes as he started to get a little nervous. He couldn't hear her phone in the other room since the hotel had good privacy and the walls were thick.
He waited again... He got nothing, as he reached for her laptop. He tried calling her for the last time before he acted.
Just as he thought she wouldn't answer the phone went through.
"Gerd?" Mou asked in a slightly shaky voice.
"Yeah?" Stella's voice came through the phone.
Mou was still worried. Not the fact that she didn't answer, but...
"Stella, why aren't you speaking in a male tone?" Mou asked, slightly intrusively.
Stella didn't reply for a little bit. "The phone line is private right? You said yourself." Stella replied, it made Mou blank.
He did say that to her before, he mentioned it on the flight...
"Mmm, have you had breakfast?" Mou moved on to the thing that was bothering him.
Stella didn't reply for some time once again. It made Mou more worried when she didn't reply at all. "I did earlier. Why?" Stella asked, making sure her voice was as neutral as possible.
Mou was silent. Did he just catch Stella in a lie? He was certain that Stella didn't leave her room...
"Alright, the first meeting is at noon. Just make sure you are ready to leave in an hour." Mou was incredibly suspicious of what was going on.
Mou ended the call and sighed. He hoped he was just overthinking. Stella had no reason to lie if she had eaten right? He felt like he was losing his hair due to the stress this is causing him.
On the other side of the line. Stella slumped onto her bed with her phone in her hand. She felt her body protest at the movement. But she was tired...
Stella was still on the floor asleep by the door when Mou called, she woke up after the second call by she struggled to get over to her phone as she was in so much pain.
Stella wasn't thinking much so she didn't pick up on Mou's worries. She was just thankful that his calls woke her up and she wasn't seen in such an embarrassing position with blood over her suit...
Stella struggled to get herself up. She didn't even wash off the makeup she had to wear. So her skin looked ghastly right now.
Stella forced herself to deal with the pain. After all, she had felt more pain in the past. This wasn't much, but would her body keep up for much longer?