[Thank you for your jacket. I'd like to return it. Do you have time any day this week?]
Eirene saw the text was considered read, but the other wasn't typing in a reply.
Maybe Ares was in a class.
It was her rare off day, but she was at the company office to catch up with her coworkers and relax. Even if it was her day off, it wasn't like she could go back home and relax since it was far and the office was one of the places she felt comfortable.
She glanced at the dark-red silk suit placed neatly in a bag resting next to her.
Right after they exchanged numbers at the emergency stairs in the middle of the party, she sneezed a little too violently, making Ares give his suit jacket to her. She wanted to return after the party, but since he and Scarlet were called back to the hall and she had an early morning the day after, she couldn't give it back.
For the whole week, it rested in the closet of a hotel next to her clothes. During that time, although she was busy and exhausted every day and night, she'd dream about him and the things that happened at the party. And yesterday night, she jumped awake, dreaming vividly about a passionate kiss between them.
In fact, it was so vivid that she remembered how his eyes looked at her right before, and the softness and warmness of his lips on hers. And even when she tried to brush it off, she couldn't get a wink of sleep afterwards.
She then knew if she had this by her side any longer, her mind and desires were going to run wild and give her heart attacks.
As the actress sighed, she heard distinctive clicks of photos being taken. She diverted her eyes from her phone and had several photos taken.
"Haaaahhh. You are so beautiful since the day I laid my eyes on you." The not-so-secretive paparazzi sitting in front of her sent a kiss to the pictures she just took. Then the paparazzi looked up with love filling her eyes. "Will you be my wif-"
Before she could even finish the question, the actress replied shortly. "No."
"Damn it." The paparazzi tsked dramatically and gave the woman a cup of black coffee she brew. "But I won't give up. I will make you my wife and cherish and pamper you until my last breath!" Her proposals were all rejected but seemed like she wasn't giving up any time soon.
"Thank you," Eirene said as she received her drink.
Her name was Ginger Daylight, one of the actresses/models under Team Onyx, a small entertainment agency Jaxon and Eirene started.
The girl then skipped her way to sit next to the actress and snuggle up to her. When she did that, she sneaked a peek at the conversation on the phone half-accidentally. "Ooohh! Is that your boyfriend, my future wife Eirene?!"
Without a hint of surprise, Eirene pressed the power button on the phone lightly and blackened the screen. "No, Ginger." She then took a sip of a coffee and continued, "I thought you were going to shoot an advertisement overseas."
The young model/actress wrapped her hands around her senior's arm. "I was. But when I heard that you were back, I wanted to see you as soon as possible!! So I finished it quickly." The young girl vibrated her whole body with oozing happiness and energy.
Every time she met the actress, she acted like that, but Eirene didn't get annoyed. Matter of fact, the actress felt the girl's presence lifting her moods.
Ginger Daylight was everyone's younger sister. She was the mood maker and always made those around her happy, and Eirene wasn't an exemption. And she was a hardcore fan of Eirene ever since she was ten when she saw her in a movie as an evil mermaid queen.
From there, the young actress would watch every single film or even a video with a glimpse of her idol and fangirl her over.
She even had an alternative account where she would just scream to the world how much she loved the actress.
Eirene raised the corner of her lips and asked, "How is your first starring movie going?"
Ginger sprang to her feet and jumped like a bunny. "It's going AMAZING!!" She then used a lot of hand gestures for additional information. "I knew acting was going to be fun, but I didn't know it could be this fun!! People around me are so nice and kind and the whole atmosphere is very enthusiastic. I had a hard time not smiling in the funeral scene."
Eirene patted the girl's head softly as she did to her daughter, Theia. She was glad that nobody was bullying or criticising the young actress for being from the same agency.
When Ginger was around, she always felt like she had another daughter, and her mother's instincts were awakened. Also, the young actress played with her daughter as if her younger sister and always played with her whenever she was around.
"I'm glad that you are not being left out." The words of the senior made the younger frown with pouting lips full of attitude.
"Well, they used to, but nowdays they don't."
Although Eirene could guess the reason why, she still asked, "Why's that?"
"Because they realised that they were the fools all this time," The girl angrily said and crossed her arms. "Those stupid little b*tches... Nobody has a right to judge someone for what they went through. Maybe apart from judges... Everyone's equal!!"
The last sentence was loud that it brought another person into the room.
"Are you disturbing Ms Queen again, Ginger?" Another actor in the team, Winter Joy, asked with cups of coffee in both hands. "Welcome back Ms Queen. Oh, you already have one. Guess I'll just drink both then."
Ginger half snatched the cup from the older man. "Nooo! Give me that!!" After she checked the content and realised it had no sugar or milk, she went to the counter in the corner of the room to add them.
The older man and woman chuckled at the girl hurriedly adding whatever she liked.
Unlike Ginger, Winter's name didn't define him. He wasn't a cold, quiet, bad boy, but more like a kind, dream older brother to everyone in the company.
Winter took a seat in front of the actress, and both watched and waited for Ginger. The younger was about to sit next to Eirene again but was stopped by the actor to sit next to him.
"It's been a while. How are you and your daughter?" The actor struck up a conversation.
"I'm doing good and Theia too from what I hear from Viorel."
"Ahh. It's been a while since I met my future daughter in law. I miss her." Ginger sighed and shook her head.
Winter chuckled and looked at the girl next to him, "You propose to her again?"
The girl replied in a duh tone. "Yes. I won't stop until I get a yes."
"That sounds like a vow to stay single all your life."
Ginger squinted her eyes. "I don't want you telling me that. You are lonelily single."
"I'm chose to stay single." Winter corrected.
The girl shrugged, "That sounds like bull*shit, but let me not get into that for now."
Winter laughed and drank his coffee. As his eyes drifted, he noticed the paper shopping bag next to his senior. It was about the size of an adult male's abdomen but what surprised him wasn't the size but the style. The main colour was soft yellow with floral patterns, which was sealed with a maroon-coloured ribbon at the top.
He knew Eirene for five years and knew that she rarely bought anything and when she did buy them, it would be in darker tone bags that she preferred. So seeing such a colourful bag next to her was a little bit of a surprise.
"Did you receive another gift from your fans, Ms Queen?" Winter asked after he came to a reasonable conclusion.
Eirene eyed the bag next to her with parted lips. After an awkward second, she answered, "It's actually a gift to someone... from me."
Winter didn't choke on the drink, but his eyes were ready to bulge out from the sockets.
"That person is blessed. They better be grateful or I will come and beat them up." Ginger deathly glared at the bag. One could almost hear a scream coming from the poor thing.
Eirene dryly chuckled, and at the same time, her phone dinged. She checked with lightning speed and saw that it was from the person she had been waiting for. Unconsciously, the muscles around her mouth loosened and formed a soft smile.
[Srry for the late reply. I don't have anything important this week so any day would work]
[*Sorry]
She was so absorbed in the message that she forgot the people around her. They watched her like the person from the painting The Scream.
Another message came in. [I know the situation, so if you can, could you come to this location?] Ares sent a pinned location on a map and typed, [I promise it's not a shady place and never in a hundred years I'd do anything to you]
Eirene chuckled once more. It was already a rare occasion to hear her chuckle. But twice in a day meant that somebody was ascending from the heavenly sound.
[Okay. How about on Tuesday from about six to seven?] She replied.
[Works for me] He replied immediately. She then saw him typing more, but somehow, he sent an incoherent message. [I can't wj&E5Sd?"]
[?]
[Sorry.]
[My phone was acting weird]
[No worries] She replied and raised her eyes from the phone to find two people smirking at her.
The junior actress sang, "You are in love~~"
----
"You almost sent it to Ms Queen!!" Ares furiously turned to his friend, Omal.
"I was going to, but you deleted it!" Omal sighed and supported his chin with his hand. After Ares typed 'Works for me', he snatched the phone to continue 'I can't wait to see you' to spice up things when the boy snatched right back and deleted some.
They got into a little fight, and the final result was that.
"I can't believe it." Ares sighed and scratched his head.
"One day, you are going to thank god for having a supportive friend like me. One day."
The boy looked up. "We'll see about that."