"Later, Plum, I love you," a cheesy female voice resonated in Jayden's office. "I love you too," Jayden replied, staring at the laptop screen before the video call was disconnected. There were evident hints of how tired he was in his voice. He had been working on an important contract bid for two days now, but still was not satisfied with the outcome. It was a major contract that would take Jayxtech to another level. Today was going to be a long day since it was Friday, the day when the long-awaited Vinci annual gala would be held.
This year's edition was going to be special because it was the one hundredth and twenty-fifth founders' anniversary. Jayden was already exhausted from work, and the thought of the gala just worsened it. He decided to give his girlfriend, Petra a call, which she willingly accepted due to the time difference; it was already night there and she was done with her set for today.
She was excited about her first box office action film, but as a spoiled young actress from a rich home, she had a belly full of complaints from the director to her assistant and even the lead actor. She was having issues with them, and it was not even up to a week since they started filming. Jayden was not expecting to listen to a long list of complaints, but who was he to complain about it? He was the one who decided to call her. Jayden was hoping to just hear her voice and talk about each other's day since they had been apart for a long while because Petra decided to have two movies sets back to back.
Normally, he would not have any issues listening to her complaints because Petra always had something to say about everybody, making Jayden wonder at times why she still bothered to follow her career if she did not like it. Today was different; he was going to attend that Gala filled with not just so many prominent figures with a total stranger pretending to be his girlfriend, but also his family and some other families from the clan. Petra did not even ask him how he was going to manage the situation.
For the first time, Petra's voice actually sounded annoying in his head. He had been distracted throughout the day thinking about the gala, and it was even affecting his work productivity. He hated the thought of being caught, then having to go on numerous blind dates. Just the thought of it was already giving him a serious headache. He hated the feeling of being weak; his mother could be the sweetest person you could ever meet and also be the most treacherous person too. He knew she was ready to destroy JayxTech just to keep him on a leash. He had to get stronger to control his life.
After the video call, Jayden decided to check his bookings on Family Fantasy, only to realize that it was canceled. The room temperature dropped several degrees
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Zoey Young: I am sorry I won't be able to fulfill the bookings due to some personal reasons. Sorry for any inconvenience.
The booking was canceled thirty minutes ago. The tier 2 escort Jayden rented was Zoey Young because she bore some resemblance to Petra and had good reviews and ratings. She canceled a few hours before the gala. Jayden grunted in annoyance.
Since there were still some hours to go, maybe he could make another booking. He did not bother to check the tier 3 and focused on tier 2, but none were available either; they had an appointment at that same time or were not accepting jobs today. Because he was in a dire situation, he decided to check out the tier 1 escorts.
There were a lot of tier 1 available, but most of them were either too young or did not have enough reviews. So he took his time to go through their profiles; he needed someone who was at least an undergraduate. After going through several profiles, there was a particular girl who grabbed his attention. She was pretty, up to the level to be compared to an Immortalis, which are blessed with perfect bodies according to what suits you best. Her figure was the opposite of Petra's petite, slender body. She was 5ft 9" (1.75 m), which was considered tall for a girl, and her body was donned with perfect curves that accentuated her figure. But what left him spellbound was her cute dimple smile and those sparkling purple eyes. It was impossible for a normal human to have purple eyes; he was sure they might be contacts, but they were beautiful. It was the first time since he started dating Petra in college that he had to accept the fact another lady was beautiful and to be honest, she was more dashing than Petra. Her eyes reminded him of a purple topaz stone he once bought for Petra.
He was very sure she would leave a good impression on his mother, even though she did not have any reviews but surely for her to be contracted she must have the qualifications too. Her profile was not bad because it showed she was presently a college student. Since there was no other better choice, he decided to book her but he was a little nervous if she would accept on such short notice. Lilac Davison, that was a name he was sure people wouldn't easily forget.
Jayden did not know it was Vanessa because of the stark contrast. She was not putting on any makeup on her ID picture. Instead, in the profile picture, she was wearing makeup and her hair and eye color were different.
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Venessa was with Sinclair in one of the fast foods joint on campus. He was tutoring her for free as a good friend he was because Venessa grades have not been to great of recent. When he investigated her former job thoroughly he discovered she was going through a lot of stress which was greatly affecting her studies. He kind of felt guilty for that.
During their private session he was surprised at how difficult it was for Venessa to understand most of the principles which was a far cry from the Venessa he knew in their fresh man year that easily understood with minimum explanation. If care was not taken her CGPA was going to be greatly affected this semester.
Venessa felt like crying because she finding it very hard to grasp what Sinclair was explaining. If not for the fact he had to adjust and break down everything she would not have understood a thing.
" I think we should schedule classes because if you don't pick up Vee. You are going to cry in the examination hall." Sinclair had a grim expression which looked very funny to Venessa that she could not help but crack up.
Sinclair rolled his eyes at Venessa's behaviour 'how can she be able to laugh in a situation like this.' he could not help but muse in his head while he also left out a soft chuckle that resonated with his charming baritone voice. " Stop laughing it is not funny what have you been doing through out the semester I thought you claimed that you studied every Sunday."
Venessa still cracked up more just realizing that she had been doing everything wrong the entire semester no wonder none of her programs successfully ran. " It is so funny how I am just see my failure in front of me. Is it too late to change departments? Like do you remember that meme brain not braining, study not studying. Like that's my present state. When did I get so dumb Sinclair. I graduated high school with one of the best grades in my school but look at me now." Venessa shook her head at her predicaments she was so caught up in her financial problem that she was ages behind in her studies.
" It is not that bad, you are a smart student is just that maybe your mind have not been into your studies of recent and stop laughing at yourself. How about you come over to my apartment Sunday evenings or afternoon then we can run over each course together. Two heads are better than one and I am sure before the exams you would have caught up with everything." Sinclair offered Venessa.
" I think I would take you up on that offer because it is too late now to change departments." Venessa left out a nervous laugh before she saw an email notification from Family Fantasy. She followed the email link to her profile and saw a request for this evening to a date as a rental girlfriend. It was short notice but Venessa accepted immediately. She had nothing better to do and studying would just break her more.
Jayden left the office early and was heading to Miles's place hoping he could help him out. When he saw the notification that his request have been accepted. He then ordered the driver to take a U turn home. He had to find a way to convince Lilac to go to the gala with him even though tier 1 could not attend such events and the time of the event was longer than there limits.