With tears in her eyes, the woman busted into laughter. Her laugh was peaceful and joyous, not to forget, beautiful.
Ares tilted his head as she laughed into her hands and buried her head down into the space between them. "Di-did I say something wrong?"
With his hands still on her shoulders, the actress shook her head, "No." but remained in that position.
"Then why are you laughing?..." From the tone, he sounded hurt and confused. "I'm serious..."
Eirene slid her hands from her eyes and spoke while her mouth was still masked. "I- didn't know you were raised on a farm."
Ares blushed a little. "Ah, yes... I grew up in the countryside and used to help my grandmother and the neighbours with farming until I came here for university..." He was almost going to get into details about how he loved it there when he remembered why the topic was brought up in the first place.
The boy lightly slapped his cheek to snap out. "Eirene, I'm serious. I'm here, even if you don't ask for me. I'll show you that you are lovely and wonderful and awesome and a dream and an idol and charming and stunning and you are beautiful-"
"T-that's enough." With a face like a rose, the actress placed her index fingers on his lips like an X to seal them from giving her any more compliments.
Although his mouth was blocked, Ares continued with what he was about to say. "You are beautiful, even in here." He placed a hand right over where his heart beat.
Eirene's hands slowly slid down from his mouth as she tried to cover her own face again, but Ares held her wrists to stop her. "So, will you let me be by your side?"
In a room where everything was shut out and surrounded by silence, it was almost as if they could hear their own loud heartbeats. Both watched the other's expression closely. Ares was looking at her with big pleading eyes, and Eirene looked back with a blushing, contemplating face.
Just as the atmosphere between the two was getting sweet, a harmony of dogs' barking got the two looking for their phones.
The boy found his first, and seconds later, the woman. They both looked down at their phone and at each other. They had the same ringtone.
----
"Where are you? Are you lost?" Asked Eric but his friend on the other side didn't give him an immediate response.
"Uhh..."
"Everyone is waiting for you, especially Ms Queen. You know she's busy, right? Her schedule must be tight. She'll be mad if you wasted her time any longer than this."
"I-I know."
Eric sighed. "Do you need a lift? I can call my driver to pick you up and bring you here ASAP."
This time, his friend was fast with his answer. "That's not necessary! Give me a minute, I'll be there. I promise."
"Okay. We'll see you soon. Take care."
"Bye."
"Bye."
Just as the phone call ended, Karson asked Eric, "Where's he?"
Eric shrugged and reached out onto the table for a chocolate bar. "I don't know but he said he'll be here in a minute. I doubt so."
"Mmm." Karson raised his eyebrows in agreement.
-----
"Eirene, are you still in the restroom? Are you alright? I just finished with my call. Do you need help?"
"Erm, its alright..."
Jaxon only took a few seconds to understand his actress's current situation.
"As much as I'd like you to have a love life, there is someone picking us at up Qatar at five in the morning for your magazine shoot, and our flight is closing in. We gotta leave."
"...I know, but..." Eirene paused before she hesitantly asked, "Can I get three more minutes? I need to... settle things."
Jaxon sighed before he checked the watch. "Three minutes."
"Thanks."
"Alright."
The manager tucked his phone back into his jacket pocket. He then swept the notice board off the floor and walked in nonchalantly into the men's restroom to return the board.
In bold black on the yellow background, the notice read, [DO NOT ENTER! The restroom is closed for cleaning. Thank you for your understanding.]
Jaxon received a weird stare from a man in the middle of his business but pretended that he didn't notice, and exited the room before any questions could be asked.
He whistled his way back to the room the boys, and the fan-girl waited. After he heard a come-in, he popped his head. "Back from the dead."
Estella smiled at him. "Hey. Where is Ms Queen?"
Jaxon entered but didn't sit. Instead, he began collecting the things he and the actress left in the room. "Oh, she had an emergency call, and we just remembered that we have to leave for a photoshoot in Qatar."
Eric also spat out his milkshake, "You are leaving now?! To Qatar?"
"Yes." The manager replied as he laughed. "We were supposed to be there today morning, but they allowed us to postpone it until tomorrow. We cannot delay it any longer."
Karson shook his head, "Where is Ares?"
With a straight face, Orion apologised, "I'm sorry for messing up with your schedule."
The man waved a hand in front of them, "Nah, it's okay. Although a change of plans happens often, this is the first time I've seen Eirene not annoyed and looking forward to it. I'm actually happy about this." After he had Eirene's coat, his coat, and her bag on his arm he stood up straight. "Alright."
"Are you not going to take this?" Asked Omal, talking about the yellow shopping bag that the actress brought.
"Oh no. I think your friend is coming to get it very soon." He winked and wiggled his eyebrows. He turned around and was about to take off when he realised one thing. "I'll leave my contact info. I'm trusting you to not misuse it." He magically brought out a pen from his coat and wrote down his phone number on a napkin.
Estella snatched the napkin as fast as a meteor killed the dinosaurs and held it close to her heart. "Are you kidding me? I'm a Nixie. I don't do sh*t like that. Swear on my heart. " She tapped right over her heart with her right hand like a fist twice. "And if one of us even dares to think about leaking it, I will end him." The way she glared at the boys, even her fiance with no mercy was a comical scene to watch.
Jaxon laughed. Eirene's fans were surely loyal. "I'll be counting on that. See you."
"See you!" A chorus of parting words sent him off.
----
After a phone call from Eric ended, Ares silently began collecting the drinks and used utensils back onto the tray and waited for Eirene to finish hers.
The two shared a brief eye contact before they looked away shyly.
"Sorry! Go ahead." The boy hurriedly did a one-eighty-turn and sealed his eyes shut after noticing that the actress needed to wear her clothes.
"Thanks..."
The boy turned back when she told him she was dressed, but they didn't know what to do, so they sat in awkward silence.
"I didn't mean to listen in but do you need to leave?" Ares asked as he remembered Eirene asking for some time with him on the phone, probably with her manager.
The actress shied away from his gaze and stared at her hand doing its own thing.
To be honest, Ares didn't need an answer from the woman as he would have said the same thing if he had to leave without thinking for a second.
"I didn't want to end it there..." Eirene answered while still looking down.
Each of those slim fingers looked more delicate than those from the eighteenth-century paintings.
Ares's untamed lips were about to break into a smile before his brain reminded him what kind of situation they were in just minutes ago. It wasn't time for happy laughs. That would be inappropriate...
Probably because the boy didn't give a reply, the actress stood up. "I'm sorry for everything. For keeping you here and making you listen to everything. But thank you. You made me feel better."
Without skipping a beat, words flew out of Ares's mouth. "You don't thank me. I'll make sure you'll never have to feel what you felt today!" Only this time, he couldn't help but slap his forehead harshly. "I sound so creepy..."
"No, you don't." Eirene removed his hand which was almost rooted to the forehead.
"Then whenever you feel that way, I'm one call away." With a red hand mark straight from comics, Ares told her seriously, causing her to smile. "What?"
The actress shook her head and placed her own hand in replacement. Her hand was a little for a human, but it felt nice against his hot forehead. "Thank you, Ares."
-----
"Wh*re!" Omal announced as Ares got into the room they had been waiting for a long time. "There is a wh*re among us!"
Karson added as he sipped on his drink. "And a liar."
"What?" Ares asked and found the yellow bag Eirene was talking about when he dropped her off before she and Jaxon left. Inside was his suit jacket from the party.
He tried to suppress his lips from turning upward but ended up with a smile that was only slightly better than that of a Grinch.
The model pointed at the window proudly and accusingly. "I-we saw you. How can you do that to us? We basically raised you. We are your parents, and you hide this from us? I thought you were already past the rebellious phase..."
The way Omal shook his head reminded Ares of his mother every time his father got terrible taste in clothing or when he showered her with compliments for no reason. For the latter, he knew his mother was trying to hide her embarrassment by making a difficult face.
But he didn't care. He shared a moment with Eirene, which taught him about her and a valuable lesson. He enjoyed and learned. He was also looking forward to meeting again as she promised.
An audible gasp from Estella caught everyone's attention, and before one could ask what was going on, the scream of agony filled the room and most likely to the corridor. "UHHHH, F*CK! I forget to get an autograph from Ms Queen!!! F*CK ME!"