CHAPTER 24

"BUT HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE??" Lauren asked in horror.

"What do you mean by that? Did you honestly think he was completely gone?"

For a very long time now, honestly, since forever, I have been receiving a lot of gifts from someone who Lauren and I nicknamed 'RedLotus' because of his style. He had a tendancy of sending me a resin-coated card with coffee filtered snowflakes printed on them. As usual, the card would have a very beautiful red lotus at the back and nothing else but a handwritten message inside. This guy was so serious.

Along with the card came usually flowers, cards, cakes, chocolates, teddy bears, make up palates, designer dresses I've never seen, expensive perfumes etc.

This person had exhausted all the space in my wardrobe and I literally had to give away some of the things to charity.

Things got worst when he sent me something every week and it became of concern to me.

Adam suggested we talk to a private detective but it was a dead end.

He found nothing.

No lead. No trace. Nothing.

We then decided to host a live telecast where I announced I was suddenly a target threat to a group of unknown pursuers and I didn't even know why.

For a year, this 'super fan' disappeared. I was happy that I'd have my life back without expecting to find a flower bouquet from an anonymous sender.

And now....turns out he was back...

"This guy just never runs out of energy, does he?" she let out a depressed sigh and I parted her on the back.

Apart from Adam, Lauren was the other person that knew every detail about my private life. She knew each and every single thing there was to know about me and it made me happy to know that she knew me for who I was. A lot of people out there saw me in magazines and in TV hence their perception of me was very different from Adam's and Lauren. These two people knew me for who I was outside the celebrity coat.

They knew what my face looked like outside make up and that was a great honour to me. I didn't take it for granted knowing that if someone else was in their place, they'd have left a long time ago.

I was glad and happy that I had them.

"Hey... don't worry.... we'll figure it out...." she pacified me and I calmed down.

"Do you think by any chance he's the one that had my room decorated last Friday?" I asked curiously. I just switched hotels so how did this person even know my new hotel address? Only those close to me knew it. How did he get his hands on it.

"It's possible....but let's not forget that Drake Anderson's also on our list of suspects...." Lauren reminded and I nodded.

"I still don't understand he managed to turn the tables on Natalia in a second. I mean, everyone is now against her....I wonder what the future of the company is now...."

"I see.....so Drake purposely tarnished Natalia's reputation so that it would damage the company's reputation and you'd consider taking up his offer...." Natalia bit her lower lip and scratched her chin like she was deep in thought.

"You have an insane way of making impossibilities a piece of cake...."

"Yeah right.?! If only wishes were horses....." she stood and walked about the room.

I sat quietly and tried to not think about anything that would cause me a headache.

I was sick the past days and the only productive thing I did after that was shooting Bvlgari's advertisement video.

I had to think of something that would erase the dark cloud that had fallen.

Lauren was right when she said Natalia's actions may jeopardize the company's progress. But she also stressed about Drake and his feelings which made me think about him with caution.

Now that the media was on my side, signing the contract wouldn't be an issue but his feelings for me became a worry.

What would I do?

Suddenly, my phone rang and I figured it must've been Adam. We hadn't talked for the entire day. We actually had plans to go for a tour around the city and I immediately called in my hair dressers.

"Hello? Adam?" I asked without looking at the caller ID. I tried to be in a composed state so that he doesn't suspect anything.

"Adam?? Are you kidding me??" a beautiful feminine voice laughed and I immediately removed my phone from my ear and looked at the caller ID. Ciara-Quinn.

"Oops...." I laughed back and she cleared her throat.

"Thanks there. For a moment I thought my voice had become hoarse.....making me scared for my next record label....." she joked and I rolled my eyes although she couldn't see me.

"Oh please....says the singer who just landed FIVE Grammy nominations making her the fastest accumulating artist ever with four Best Pop Vocal Album nods in just a year...." I replied in a very snooty tone.

Ciara was a very good singer.

I started listening to her music after we co-starred in movie together. I immediately fell in love with her music. She got a chance to sing on the movie and after releasing the song as a stand alone after the movie, she got an MTV award for it.

She was a star in the making and I was so so proud of her.

"I might just join you in the music industry...." I joked too and got her to laugh.

"Says the world famous actress who got three awards for best actress in a roll....I think you're doing better in that department....If you follow me we might end up fighting and I would want that...."

"Your sense of humour is very attractive...." I tipped into her joke and we laughed for the next minute.

Phone calls with Ciara were very amazing. They would last a minute and yet be filled with joy to take us through twenty four hours.

She's a whole dose of goodness.

I couldn't without her.