Chapter Thirty eight.

Elena's POV.

It has been a week since that peculiar encounter at the office, the thought of it alone still made me laugh aloud. Those people were a bunch of ass kissing scumbags, no offense.

 We had finished at the office and went for the meeting with the crew, but our journey had not been unconventional, rather we had come face to face with Valerie, the queen herself dragging a woman by the hair, turns out she had not obeyed the rule and had gone ahead to wear a simple boss T shirt  tucked into her sky blue jean trousers.

When Valerie noticed us, she sneered, her lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but Katie did not give her the chance to spew her rubbish, instead she dragged me and hurried us out of the building like she had done the first day, only this time she did not have that scared look on her face. The meeting went quite well and after that day, the whole week has been quite uneventful, now it was remaining only one week for the shoot, I was nervous of course, who would not be, this was not child's play, this would mean massive recognition, not that I did not already have that.

 I stopped my reminiscences and focused again on the piece of work before me.

The jigsaw puzzle was proving more difficult than I imagined, I groaned, talk about having a bad day.

 Picking up my phone, I went through my social media and trending topics, all I could see was Lorenzo's name which baffled me. I immediately clicked on the hashtag with his name on it and came face to face with a sultry picture of a beautiful woman and darling Lorenzo, his face was blurred, obviously for security purposes, but that did not stop me from recognizing his silhouette, there was no way I would not know this man who gave me the jitters, this man whom my body reacted to in a totally different way, my cheeks heated up as I thought of this, then my eyes roamed back to the picture and I clutched my hands into a fist, my face scrunched up in displeasure.

He ditched me the other day, only for me to see this? real cool. I dialed up Katie's number and she picked up after two rings, why was I not surprised.

"Hello." she said groggily.

"Were you sleeping? did I disturb you? I will just hang up now."

Katie sighed, "yes, I was actually sleeping, it has been long since I had an afternoon nap, but it is okay, what is the problem.

" Have you seen the pictures circulating on the internet?" I asked, my temper rising.

" What, pictures will always circulate on the internet, you do not have to worry about the pictures, I have not seen it yet, but I know that it is not as important, just remove your mind from anything you have seen, I'll be going back to sleep now. " she replied, and that ended the topic.

" okay, enjoy! " but she had already hanged up the call. Why was she in such a haste, I did not even tell her about which picture was circulating, but she had already plunged into advises and sermons, I had an inkling of suspicion that she was aware of the treacherous picture, I sighed and shifted the jigsaw puzzle away from me, laying my head in the table.

 The woman's face was vaguely familiar, round pouty lips, round face, cute doe eyes, platinum blonde hair, where had I seen her, I could not place a finger on it. she looked elegant and I could tell that her clothing was really expensive, I racked my brain and turned my mind upside down just to remember her.

After trying, and failing, tragically, I resigned myself to my fate, I did not know the woman, but that man, that infuriating man.

"ughhh" I groaned.

 He was surrounded by beautiful rich women who would rush to be in my position right now, but what does he do? he looks for the nearest delivery girl which just so happened to be me and takes her as his contract wife.

was that what I was? a contract wife? it did not really sound bad, but it sounded weird all the same, and now I am here, not knowing if I am jealous or angry.

 I stood up, made my way in a beeline straight to the bedroom and changed from my really over sized sweater and extra large joggers chosing a nice floral gown that had a kind of mermaid design, though it was not long, wearing black flat heeled shoes I carried my phone and left the house, I was making myself depressed with all these thoughts.

Sure Lorenzo could take pictures with anyone he wanted, but then I also had the right to go anywhere I wanted without telling him and without anyone's supervision, if Katie called I would not pick up the call, that would get her worked up and after a few tries she would inform Lorenzo, that would get him in quite a mood, after some time, I face palmed myself, how could I be so stupid, there was a tracking device in my phone that I did not know how to turn off, if I carried it, the whole mission will be a failure as they would know where I am all along, I would have to keep it at home, maybe switch it off.

With that I tossed the phone in the bed after switching it off, let him have a hard time too, just like me.

I put on the gown and flats and left the bedroom, feeling refreshed at this new game I was playing, who needs a jigsaw puzzle when I could just do this.

 The dress felt nice on me and I could not remember the number of times that I swirled  and turned around in front of the mirror, I was tall and wearing this made me so comfortable.

Now I had only one problem, I did not know where to go, if I went to the botanic garden, that would give Katie an easy guess on where I was and I did not want that to happen, the mall would be better, but the last time I went to the mall, well, I got into a ruckus it was not going to happen again, but I did not want to encounter something like that again, though I had saved a person's life, I smiled at the memory of Annette, she was doing quite well now and the last time I spoke to her, she was on a date with Tyler, the man was a widower and clearly needed a break, they would make a great couple and I was sure that he would love her kids, she seemed excited that the fire in her love life has rekindled, I was happy for her too, my own love life was filled with uncertainty, if I even had one. I could just go to fancy restaurant and treat myself to a sumptuous meal, that was not such a bad idea. I entered my car and started it, the engine revved and before I knew it I was on the road to one of the fancy restaurants in town.

When I stopped and looked up at the sign, something I was used to doing since I was at GRILL PLAZA, the adrenaline or whatever hormone that had pushed me to take this line of action had reduced, I just really wanted to have a good meal, drink some wine and go home to my warm bed, that was my only wish, the time was already three o'clock in the afternoon, I had some time to spare before going home.

I entered the restaurant and was ushered to a plush seat, the people were not much and the place was really spacious, such that the atmosphere was warm, peaceful and comfortable.

 I placed my order and waited for my food, which was brought by a young waiter, probably in his mid twenties, he was handsome, but a different person occupied my mind, I sent him a nod and he looked besotted by me, well that was not uncommon and did not in any way make me uncomfortable, rather, I enjoyed the sneaky looks that he sent my way. I started on my food and what can I say, it was divine. The meal was so delicious that I did not notice the man standing by my side.

"ahem" he cleared his throat again and I looked up, finally noticing him.

" can I sit here?" he asked politely, flashing me a dimpled smile, I was rather surprised, the place was far from filled up,why did he want to sit with me, but I nodded none the less, since my mouth was filled up.

"You do not remember me, do you?" He asked after he had taken his seat. I looked at him again, studying his face and perfectly gelled hair, he did looked familiar but I was known for having a very bad memory and not remembering insignificant things.

I shook my head to signify that I did not in fact recognize him. He smiled.

"I am Harry, nice to meet you, again. I believe we had a dance, or more, at your welcome ceremony." He introduced himself politely, I remembered him now, he had been so polite to me on that day, even offering to get me a drink, which I of course had declined, I felt bad for calling him insignificant just a while ago, but I was happy I had not said it out loud, like I tended to do sometimes.

"You do not have to beat yourself up and look so apologetic, you have probably seen a lot of faces of recent such that you can not remember all of them, with time you will get better and maybe even become a professional, like me." He cajoled and we both laughed.

"Yeah right, you probably just remembered me because I am too beautiful to be forgotten." I teased back and he scrunched up his face as if in disagreement.

" Anyway, it is insane how much food you are able to fit into that slim body of yours, how do you not get fat?" He commented.

"I guess.." I did not know how to reply to that.

" Excessive gym sessions?." He asked, I wanted to disagree, my gym sessions were anything but excessive, but since I did not have any other tangible excuse I went with that.

"Excessive gym sessions." I agreed.

"I figured" he said,

'no you didn't' I wanted to reply but kept silent and let him continue.

"well, you seem to have garnered your an admirer" he used his eyes to motion to the waiter that had served me, who was still peeking glances at me.

I smiled in his direction and he immediately blushed and turned away awkwardly, keeping his eyes in the floor and shuffling away.

"You are such a tease" Harry commented, shaking his head.

"No I am not, I was just being nice, and you were wrong, I do not have one admirer over here, I have two" I announced.

He looked curious, " who could be the second person" he was now looking around and straining his neck to see if any other person was looking in our direction.

"You." I stated.

    A pause.

Then we both burst out laughing, I felt at ease with him, I had almost forgotten what it was like to have a guy friend.

" By the way, what do you do for a living?" I asked

"oh I am an athlete, I play basketball.

"I see" I sipped the wine, my plate was now empty. He was plays basketball, that explained his really tall  and muscular build, and he was really good looking too.

"You are a model, if I am correct." he said

"You have certainly done your home work, I am a model, but I also hope to venture into other fields once I have my stance in the modelling Industry , like acting, I have a flair for acting and entertaining." I explained

" I know that you would make a good actress, you definitely have the talent, from what I have seen, and the looks. " He winked and I smiled, taking another sip of my wine

 We talked about a lot more things, my mind had been completely removed from Lorenzo and that woman, that familiar woman

Then it struck me

That woman was Camille Richfield, the woman that had been trying so desperately to be close to Lorenzo, I now knew why I could not recognize her at the first place, it was because she had gotten a new hairstyle, her hair was no more straight and reddish brown like before, but instead it was now curled and platinum blonde. My blood boiled, she was definitely trying to get attention by posing so intimately with Lorenzo, and the bastard had let her.

I gulped down my wine in one go and Harry looked shocked

"Woah, woah, calm down, you don't want to get drunk on alcoholic wine, do you?" his face showed concern and I wished it was Lorenzo that was sitting opposite me right now, showing such concern, but then again I did not understand this overwhelming feeling of jealousy, I was supposed to be grateful that he had at least given me a roof, a career, but no, I was jealous, and there was no denying it

"Hey, do you know a nearby club?" I asked

"Uh yes, but do you want to go there or are you really drunk" he asked, placing a hand on my shoulder

" no it's not that, I am completely fine, I just... it has been long since I went to a club, since I recently moved into this city, I don't really know any clubs." I lied, what I really meant was that since I was moved to the elite part of town, I did not really know any clubs, but then again, I had never been to a club, now, I was feeling rebellious

" sure, I will take you there one day, just give me your contact number and your home address." I did so hastily, I now considered this man a friend

I looked at the time, it was past five in the evening

"I guess I will have to leave now"

"let me drop you off." he suggested and I agreed

We got up paid our bills, him paying for me, and left. Outside, I told him not to worry as I had my car, to save him the stress

" Are you not tipsy" He asked

" No, I think I will be able to drive just fine." I replied

 Just then, a black vehicle pulled over I front of us, was it a Maybach or limousine? I did not know

" Get in" a deep rich voice commanded. I did not need any telling who it was and I was not surprised that he found me, it was always a lost cause

I turned to Harry who looked to be on the defense

" This is my ride, I will call you later." I promised, he nodded and I entered the car not paying any attention to the man beside me.

Author's Note

Hey guys, who missed Elena's point of view, well, I certainly did, so her you go, enjoy🥰🥳