“You are right,” Zayn breathed. He obviously wasn’t used to doing this, but that was what got to Rina mostly. It was the fact that he was willing to apologize for something he’d said, even when the whole world knew Zayn Graham wasn’t one to apologize.
“I shouldn’t have jumped to a conclusion, especially not after everything you’ve been through. The whole world doesn’t believe you right now, so I shouldn’t pull that on you as well. The basis of a good contract is belief in the other’s judgment, so I’m going to trust yours going forward as long as you do the same.”
To anyone else listening, it was sure to sound like propositions in a formal meeting, But if they came closer, they would notice how Zayn held Rina’s gaze. He watched her intently, his eyes slowly caressing hers. Rina found herself unable to say anything, spellbound by the moment. Her lips parted slightly, and she squirmed underneath his gaze, feeling the temperature in the room go up a notch.
Zayn blinked, then turned away from her, bringing the rim of the wine glass to his lips. He covered his smirk with it, taking his time to savor the taste of the wine on his tongue, before pushing it down. It wasn’t in his top twenty brands he enjoyed, but he wasn’t going to point that out now.
“You’re wrong,” Rina breathed, recovering from the moment. She sat up and held his gaze. “Not everyone in the world believes all of the allegations leveled against me.”
Zayn tried not to sound cocky, or worse, displeased. “Joel, right?”
She nodded, watching his face for any displaced emotions. Zayn knew what she was doing, so he kept his expression straight.
“He told me today,” Rina continued. “He’d been a fan of mine way before I even got married, and he said when he heard the news, he could tell at once that they were lies. I was so relieved hearing that.’
Zayn nodded. “Was that the good news you had to share?”
Rina scooted to the edge of her seat, excitement easily seeping into her tone. Zayn wanted to feel indifferent since all of this had Joel written all over, but he couldn’t help it, now when she was smiling openly at him, obviously pleased with the turn of events. So, Zayn urged her on with a smile of his.
“He wants me to come work for him,” she announced.
“Work for you…” Zayn thought about it for a second. “That’s great news. But in what capacity?” He knew he was about to find out where Joel had been all these years and what he’d been doing.
“He is opening a fashion house. O. S. N fashion house. He needs all the publicity he could get and thinks I’m the best person to draw attention to his line.”
“How?” Zayn knew the answer even before he asked.
“Modelling. It’s nothing new since I did it alongside acting back before I made the stupid decision of leaving my job for a family that didn’t care about me. But you get the idea.”
“Hmmm.” Zayn didn’t think he did. “What happens with all the bad publicity, then? And before you go all bad publicity is still publicity, I want you to think about how this affects you. How it affects us.”
“I don’t get it.”
“People’s responses differ, Rina, and you cannot be certain they’ll welcome you back with open arms. Is Joel willing to put up with the possibility that his business might remain stagnant because people wouldn’t want your brand, or does he have a strategy in place to tackle that?” Zayn had easily moved from proposed contract husband to business mogul, ticking off the figures in his head.
“I can make it work,” Rina said, not backing down. “This is the best shot I’ve had in a while, and I’m not letting it go.”
“That’s not what I’m asking you to do,” Zayn replied. “But you can draw their sensation elsewhere. First of all, ensure you sign a contract with Joel. If possible, and I’m not trying to force anything, but if possible, you could get it over to me to go through as well just to ensure your interests are being covered by the terms of the contract.”
“Joel wouldn’t cheat me.” She was quick to jump to his defence and Zayn didn’t like the sound of that one bit. But he let it slide for now.
“Okay,” he muttered.
“And what about the strategy?”
He didn’t need to think about it. “You don’t have to show your face to the public,” he started, placing the glass back on the table. “The fashion house can be started off on the idea of anonymity. You’ll be the first bridge between the brand and its prospective customers, so all you need to do is create an allure and compelling need in them. There’s no way to do that better than being anonymous.”
Rina nodded her rapt attention on him.
“You can model his outfits without showing your face. That’s bound to spur curiosity and thirst in your prospective audience. It’s a win-win situation for you both. After a while, you can decide to reveal your identity but that’s totally up to you.”
Listening to Zayn, Rina realized that she would never get over how smart Zayn was. And if she had ever doubted what this contract would give her, this was more than enough proof that he didn’t need to show his powers out there to get her what she wanted.
“I’ll communicate it to Joel, Zayn, but you have to promise me that you will never reveal who you are to him. I don’t know a thing about the sponsorship request he’s been making to your company, and honestly, I don’t even want to bother myself with it since it’s none of my business. But what I care about is him finding out about our contract. I still want to keep it a secret. Today was just too close. It cannot happen again.”
Zayn nodded. If he did something contrary, at least he could argue that he never said the words out loud.