Rina wished she could have coffee at the coffee place across the street from the fashion house, but it only took one appearance to get people talking, she had to make do with preparing her coffee from home. Today, because the weather was hotter than normal, she made a tall glass of ice cappuccino and went through the hassle of taking it along with her in a taxi, because she still didn’t think it was time to take her car to work.
The taxi driver was warm today, even attempting to smile as she got in. She had a pair of dark shades on as well as her regular vintage scarf that never ceased to tag along each time she stepped out of the cottage. But sometimes, people recognized her through the camouflage and constant change in hair color. This time, Rina wasn’t sure if the driver knew she was the one.
She alighted a stone’s throw from the back door of the fashion house and managed a thank you when the driver wished her a beautiful day. She was still reeling from how politely she had been treated on her way there, which was very bizarre since everyone else seemed to think of her as the devil when Joel bumped into her.
“Oh, Rina,” he ruefully regarded her, steadying her with his hand on both her arms. He allowed them to slide down after a while, then sighed. “I’m sorry I didn’t contact you throughout the weekend about our seeing a movie. Did you try to call me?”
Rina was about to shake her head, but Joel continued without waiting for a response, just diving right in. “I had to travel out of the country. It was a pretty important trip for the fashion show and I didn’t have enough time to call.”
She squinted at Joel, the wheels in her head turning. If the situation had been different, Rina would have afforded a smile at the whole circumstance. But from her last conversation with Zayn, she wasn’t sure what to do anymore.
“Mr. Graham linked me up with some top fashion icons and I just had to see them. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. You understand, don’t you?” He took her hands in his and looked into her eyes. “I just had to go. We can reschedule for this weekend? How does that sound?”
Although this was exactly what Rina had told Zayn that she wanted, she slowly and carefully withdrew her hands from Joel, with a small smile on her face. It still felt odd her thinking about someone else that way. Rina could bring up the regular excuse that she had just gotten out of a relationship with Finn, but she knew that had never mattered where Zayn was concerned. In fact, it never crossed her mind, because each time he was around, Rina was unable to think about anything else. He consumed her totally in his presence, and Rina hated it since it was obviously not his intention. He wanted nothing to do with her in that light, and he had made that very clear the last time they were together.
Still, going out to see a movie, as harmless as it sounded, felt really weird to Rina. “Why don’t we wait until the fashion show is over?” she said. “We are both obviously occupied with trying to make it remarkable. It will just keep on getting in the way if we try to do something around it. So let’s just focus on that for now.”
“That sounds great too,” Joel responded, even if the energy didn’t carry in his tone. “I’ll remind you, just in case you decide to wiggle out of this.”
Rina laughed, knowing Joel was probably right. The fashion show was still a couple of weeks away, and that meant she had a lot of time to think things through. There was a high chance that she would change her mind before then, that a lot of things would happen that would change the trajectory of their relationship.
Joel had to do something outside, so she stepped aside to let him pass before walking up the stairs. On her way, she peeped into the showroom, seeing the flock of people searching for dresses. There were mostly high schoolers as prom was just around the corner and with Rina’s last shoot of ‘Prom in Winter’, O. S. N had been filled to the brim with girls tagging their mothers along to get dressed. The men came later on the day, when the throng had reduced and where they didn’t risk running into their crushes. It had to be perfect for them.
When she got to her office, Rina didn’t throw herself on her seat like she always did when it wasn’t time to meet with the models. Instead, she dropped her purse on the table, held her head high, and tried walking in the little space of her office like she had thought the models. It was pretty easy for Rina, but this wasn’t the end of her plans. She needed to get back into acting and was hoping this would be the propeller.
It was one of the things that influenced her decision to walk the floor at the fashion show. The earlier she revealed her identity, the earlier producers saw her again and got interested in her. Rina wanted to be on screens, but more importantly, she wanted to take the very roles that had been reserved for Kayla. It wasn’t revenge if it didn’t hurt her former best friend one way or another.
Her phone chimed from inside her purse, and Rina ignored it at first, keeping up with her mini-practice. But when the beeping sound became insistent, she sighed irritably and dug into her purse, wondering who was sending her messages. It couldn’t be Zayn. They hadn’t spoken since the last time and she was certain he wouldn’t get her attention that way.
Rina unlocked her phone to see a message from Kayla. She wanted to meet up.