Sara was very excited today, she had been training for several weeks, and it was almost over. After this, she can concentrate on her modeling career. This was her first assignment after her scandal she was called to model for a very famous clothing brand.
She had followed all their beauty regimen, and together with the exercises, and the training with Diana, everything was paying off. Her skin was glowing, her body more flexible and toned, and she looked more radiant than ever, this gave her the confidence she needed to tackle the task at hand.
She got to the studio early so she could make a good impression, but as soon as the cameras were clicking, so were the tongues wagging. She could not hear everything they were saying, but she could feel the stares and the buzzing around her.
She heard snippets of their conversations. There was one of her having bad behavior. The word drug was thrown around a lot, but the worst one was that they blatantly accused her of seducing Blake so she could join his company.
By the time she was done, the consensus was that she was an awful model that had no talent whatsoever. She was involved with drugs, and sleeping with Blake was her ticket to her success.
Sara did not know whether to get angry or cry, this was just way too much for her first day back on the job. But she held her cool, these were, after all, just lies, she had integrity, and as far as she knew, they were just jealous.
Pretending not to hear anything, she went about doing the thing she was good at. She had to be professional, stooping to their level will not help her case. Not everybody was mean to her, so this helped her get through the morning.
Not knowing anybody, she headed to the cafe to have lunch. She was reminiscing about the lunches she used to have with the Star Light employees. How they used to pamper her and make sure all her favorite food was available.
She was always in the spotlight, and she enjoyed the attention, but these days she would rather the people veer their attention elsewhere, all the gossiping and taunting was getting to her, suddenly she felt sad, "Maybe I should just go and hide at home until all these blows over."
"May I sit here," said a voice that cut through her dejected thoughts.
Looking up she saw a familiar face, they didn't really know each other, but just like Sara her face was plastered everywhere. Her name was Emily, and she was one of Anderson Industries' top models, and she only endorsed high-end advertisements.
Emily was one of those models that have an expressive face that never fails to capture your attention. She was what everybody refers to as tall and skinny, but now that you look closely because she was trained by the Anderson company, she was toned in all the right places. Her highlighted dark brown hair was perfectly shaped to frame her perfect cheekbones and beautiful brown eyes.
They had never been personally introduced, so she was a little apprehensive that Emily had approached her, so she put her guard up.
"Definitely, be my guest," Sara said politely, it was nice to have company, after the day she's had. Hopefully, this won't turn out bad.
"I was at your shoot, you were pretty natural and very confident, it shows on print," Emily said with a smile.
"Thank you!" Sara thought that her compliment seemed genuine.
"Sorry, I did not notice you were here, are you shooting today too?" Sara asked.
"Yeah, I have one scheduled after lunch, I always wanted to talk to you, but we never got the chance," Emily said.
Sara just nodded, waiting for Emily to continue. She squared her shoulders, waiting for the onslaught of mean words and insults.
This did not escape Emily, and she chuckled, "I didn't mean it in a bad way. I liked your work. I always thought you were a nice person and wanted to say hi to you."
"Oh, thanks! I also like your work. You're much more beautiful in person.
We can chat over lunch if you want," Sara smiled, feeling more relaxed, she felt that Emily just really wanted to get to know her.
Emily gave a smile that showed her dimples. "She really looks good even without too much makeup," Sara thought.
Talking to Emily, she now understood why people loved her, the media just adored her because she was very charming and natural. She was the type of person who knew when to turn her game face on and off, and right now, she had it off, and she felt very genuine.
They were laughing at some mishap from one of Emily's shoots when she smiled at someone behind Sara and said, "I think someone is here to see you."
When Sara turned around, she saw Blake standing behind her, she was surprised because she didn't tell him she was going to be here today.
"Hello Mr. Anderson," Emily greeted him.
Blake nodded at Emily as he stood next to Sara, he was wearing dark-colored glasses, so Sara could not really read his expression.
"I'll leave you two alone, it was nice having lunch with you Sara," Emily said as she got up.
"Wait! Don't you want to finish your lunch before you leave?" Sara asked.
"I forgot the time, I have a shoot in ten minutes, I better get to the studio, give me your number so we can talk some more," Emily said in a friendly manner.
After they exchanged numbers, Sara switched her concentration on Blake.
"Aren't you busy? Why are you here?" Sara asked.
"Hmm... I know how to make time in my busy schedule, unlike you," Blake scoffed as he sat on the chair in front of her.
"What happened? Are you angry?" Sara asked when she saw his furrowed brows as he removed his shades. She had no idea why he was wearing his angry face. "Did she make him angry?" she wondered.
Looking at her clueless face, Blakes mood got darker. He was thinking about her so much that he started to miss her. "How can this woman be so clueless," he thought, he expected her to be like all the other women calling him constantly, he even had excuses set up for her, but she didn't even bother to call or text him. It was like they were not even in a relationship.
"Sara, what are we to each other?" Blake frowned.
"Boyfriend-girlfriend I guess…," Sara answered uncertainly.
"There's no guessing, we are boyfriend-girlfriend," Blake said, for a moment he got happy, but his mood changed when she said the word 'guess.'
"How should you behave when you're in a relationship?" Blake questioned.
"What do you mean how?" Sara answered his question with a question.
"It looks like I've been too lenient with you," Blake snapped.
"Come here!" Blake held Sara's hand and dragged her to sit on the chair next to him.
"Blake you should behave, everyone is watching us," Sara said, looking around.
"No one here will say anything, don't worry," Blake said.
"You have to listen to what I have to say because I will say this only once, I am your boyfriend, and you need to give me importance. You should update me with everything happening in your life.
Remember that day I asked you to come to my house to cook me breakfast, I expected us to drive home together, but when I came to see you, they said you already left, you didn't even let me know.
Today was your first photo shoot, and you didn't even bother to tell me. I should be that person in your life that you contact first when something happens. There was no call or message from you, I know your schedule, and you are not that busy to fail to call me," Blake said.
She was stunned, "He wanted her to do what now? Be the first person she informs on everything happening in her life? Call and text him every day?" She was feeling dizzy, hearing his demands.
What she didn't know was that all the Aristocratic heirs never beat around the bush or play games to get the woman they want. They were very expressive and never wasted time, else they lost their women to someone else.
"Sara, did you understand what I said?" Blake asked. He laced his fingers with hers and placed it on his lap. He started drawing circles on her hand to stop himself from pulling her onto his lap and kissing the daylight out of her.
"But I thought we should maintain a cordial relationship, we only act the part when we need to. Texting and calling was not part of that," Sara said as she came to her senses, his hands were wreaking havoc to her resolve, having him this close was confusing her.
"I have decided, and that's final, you call and text me every day, and you need to tell me what you are doing," Blake snapped.
"What? You cannot force me to do that," Sara said, raising her voice. She was a free bird and loved her freedom above everything else. She hated it when someone dictated what she needed to do.
Blake was very arrogant, and he's always used to having things his way, so he was treating Sara like one of his subordinates to get what he wanted.
He knew he should treat her more delicately and gently, but she keeps on pushing his buttons, he will need more patience than necessary, and he did not have that.
In their group, Aiden was the gentleman type. Tristan was very cold and only showed all his feelings only to Ava. Dimitri had a dark and broody personality, and he didn't talk much, he did not waste his energy on things that were not important to him.
Blake was mischievous and a little childish, he never had the patience to wait for things, he always got what he wanted.
"You see, I'm doing this because there's so much hate targeting you these days, and I need you to tell me everything," Blake saw Sara raising an eyebrow.
"I'm… I'm… worried about you, how do you expect me to protect you... if I do not know where you are?" Blake said with so much difficulty, he didn't know how to explain that all he wanted to do was to keep her close to him at all times so they couldn't hurt her again.
He's never laid his feelings on the table before, and he did not know if he was doing it right, she was different from any woman he's met before, and he never in his life expected he was going to feel this way and lay it out just like that.
Sara was surprised, she had to stare into his eyes and check if he was joking. He looked very serious and nervous at the same time, she didn't know why, but her heart fluttered when she saw his concern.
Apart from her family, this was the first time someone else was truly concerned about her.
"Okay, I promise I will call and text you to let you know," Sara nodded her head slowly.
Blake relaxed, hearing her response. "Tell me about your day, did you encounter any problems?" Blake asked.
"No, everything was good," Sara said softly. She was still confused, this was a different Blake from the one she was talking to earlier, he looked more charming when he was nicer and did not have that scowl on his face.
She told him how excited she was on her first day. How she had tackled all the demands from the photographer and the director. she was using her hands to demonstrate and articulate her story. She became animated when she was talking about her work, and this made him smile. This was how he imagined it would be like talking to her every day.