After ignoring the disdainful remarks of some of the designers at the fashion house, of course, with Joel trying to do damage control as much as his abilities permitted, the day finally came to an end and Rina could leave the building. It was a myriad of activities and emotions going on all at once that it was hard to focus on one thing at a time. But maybe that was what Rina needed.
She walked through the hallways, moving from the media department downstairs to her office on the second floor, carrying her head high even though she heard the whispers of some of the people she met on the way. Joel addressed the designers and the rest of the employees after lunch, telling them that Rina was a part of the company and they needed to accord her the respect she deserved, irrespective of what they’d heard about her.
But opinions had already been formed and one of the hardest things to do was to reshape an already formed ideology about someone. It was going to take something mind-blowing and captivating to gain the attention of everyone, and that was Rina’s plan. It was bigger than what O. S. N could provide her.
Rina was in her office when the clock chimed five. She looked at the last picture in the row of images the team had asked her to go through, deciding that she was going to ask them to add that to the catalog O. S. N was curating.
Joel, at the meeting after lunch, thought it was a great idea to create a unified front to the public by putting out their own magazine, featuring the dresses launched at the just concluded fashion show. And that meant Rina was going to have to be in it as well. But Joel was taking it up a notch. He was also curating the line of dresses advertised when Rina was still anonymous, but instead, using the shots that had never been released, where her face smiled up at the camera, up for display.
Although Rina thought it was a great way to show the public that she wasn’t going to back down, she couldn’t help but wonder how long it was going to take Joel to put up with it before the harsh comments online and the published articles weaving more false stories about their relationship, would make him decide to take a step back. She had decided that when it happened, she was going to be fine with it. Because in truth, Rina knew it was hard sticking up for her when the whole world was against her.
It meant Joel would lose a lot in the process as his store might get boycotted with sales dropping to the ground. And Rina didn’t want O. S. N to get to that point, after all it had done to help her find her footing. Her brain worked as she shut down her computer, thinking of ways she could stop it before it happened. She couldn’t just walk out the door since she had no other job waiting for her. It was all the more reason she needed to work hard to get an agency or production team to work it, local or international.
She missed working on sets and couldn’t wait to get back to it. But she equally enjoyed modeling as well.
There was a shy knock on her door before the doors were pushed open slowly, Joel peeking from the space between the door and its frame. “I came to check if you wanted to have an early dinner,” he muttered, already knowing what her response would be from the tilt of her head. “But it’s fine if you want to come back later. I have to agree that 5 pm is too early for that.”
Joel just wanted to spend more time with her. It seemed like a lot of things had happened in such a short frame that he barely had a moment with her without thinking about other external things. That day, he wanted it to just be the both of them. Although Rina had told him she was grateful for everything he’d done, Joel wanted her to know the reason he did all that the reason he could never leave her even when the whole world did.
Or at least, he hoped.
As expected, Rina shook her head. “I have a few errands to run, but I should be back soon. Should we fix it for 8?”
Joel nodded, his spirit feeling trampled on. “I might as well just return home too to freshen up.”
Her phone buzzed, drawing her attention from Joel to the table. She had no idea when he slinked out the door, closing it behind him, because she was focused on the message on her screen. It was Zayn telling her that someone had been caught in the parking lot moments ago, trying to vandalize her car. Igor had been the first to notice as he had stayed put all day, trying to keep Rina safe to the best of his ability. He’d taken care of it quickly, calling the cops on her.
Rina’s fingers hovered around the keypad of her phone, at a loss for an appropriate response. She had a lot to say to Zayn. She was dying to know the identity of the woman whose clothes she had on, even though she had convinced herself of the contrary. Rina also wanted to know how he was faring if he was eating well… It was just an odd question to ask.
So instead, she got up from her seat, picked up her purse and walked briskly to the door, closing it behind her as she stepped out. Rina took the front door out like she had done walking in, but this time, barely paid any attention to the shoppers as her mind was still occupied by Zayn’s message and her unwillingness to reply.
When she got down to the parking lot, she met Igor leaning on the car, his brows furrowed in deep concentration as he typed away at his phone. But when he noticed her, he got up straight and opened the door, stepping aside to let her through.
Rina couldn’t help but wonder what that was all about.