CHAPTER 36: City Of Love

KATE’s P.O.V.

Five years had passed. I’m now a twenty nine years old commercial model and a fashion designer. I gained those titles in just five years in time, here, at the city of love.

Paris is great. I thought I wouldn’t be able to reached my goals this far for it was almost impossible to compete with those high-quality business that’s always been here a long time ago even before I was born. There are times that I almost give up on my dreams, but thankfully, I didn’t.

They say that new beginnings are always tough, and I know that even before I decided to leave the country. I know that everything is not going to be as easy as I thought. I know that my journey will be a bumpy and rough road ahead of me. But that doesn’t stop me from achieving my dreams. Instead, it inspires me to do more, and to become better each day.

“Ms. Frias, you still have a lunch meeting with your movie production team,” Fiona stated.

By the way, she’s my assistant, a pure Filipina as well. She’s working here for her family and I saw her in front of Eiffel Tower a month right after I arrived here in Paris. I treated her as my sister and friend, and she became so close to me that I trusted her to be my assistant. She needed to work hard as well, so I decided to hire her full time.

“First of all, I already told you to call me by my first name... And second, why does the movie production team needs me anyway?”

“Ms. Frias, I like to work professionally so I decided to call you by your last name every time that I’m on my job. Second, the director really wants to see you.”

I sighed. Being a full time owner of a boutique, a model, and a fashion designer is a very tiring job to do... And to stuff my mind with more stressful jobs, I applied being a sub-director to a film company. That industry gave me an opportunity to widen and spread my imagination all over the world.

I started doing love stories and it hit the viewing rate that we needed but I still feel unsatisfied. So when they asked for my suggestion, I proposed the one movie genre that I love the most... Horror. They didn’t approved it as soon as I expected but thankfully, we tried. And it became a hit all over the world. They discovered another genre that people adore not just here in Paris, but also, all around the world.

And now we are doing another horror film. The director wants me to replaced her but I don’t want to. I enjoyed being a part time director but I’m loving being a fashion designer more. I refused her offer and now she’s asking for my help once more.

“Do I really need to go right now?” I asked, tired from a very long day of working at the boutique shop earlier.

“Yes, Ms. Frias.”

“Fine, fine, we will go. Call my driver and tell him about it.”

“Sure, Ms. Frias.”

I packed up my stuffs as my assistant call our driver. I put my colored pens and some of my newly made designs in my drawer, before locking it up. I saw our family picture inside and I sighed, missing my Mom and Dad badly even though they visited me only last month. I smiled to myself while thinking that Mom and Dad are going to visit me again this week.

After a few moment, Fiona came back to me with a smile plastered upon her face. She’s holding a bouquet of red roses, her cheeks blushing.

“What was that?” I asked curiously.

“Your handsome boyfriend told me to give this to you...”

She gave me the bouquet, before blushing even more. I wanted to smile and appreciate this gift from the man who courted for almost two years, but I couldn’t. Because until now, my heart is still looking for the rectifying graze that Elijah made me feel way back in the Philippines.

“Hey, why are you blushing so bad?” I asked her.

“Who wouldn’t be! Your boyfriend is so handsome, Ms. Frias! Would you take a look at his efforts!” she squealed, almost scolding me.

“Would you like to keep this?” I asked, pertaining to the bouquet of roses in my hands.

“What?! No! Definitely not! Why would I?!” she exclaimed, mortified. I wanted to laugh at her guilty expression.

“I’m not saying that you wanted to take it. I’m giving this to you...” I insisted, smiling at her mischievously from ear to ear.

I know that she likes my boyfriend. And surprisingly, I’m not mad about that. I mean, I don’t take relationship too seriously since I know that Elijah is still waiting for me to come back. I just don’t want to waste my boyfriend’s efforts while he’s still courting me so I decided to answer him... But I never kissed nor hugged him ever since. Elijah is still the one in my heart. And no one can replaced him.

“But, why? I mean, he gave it to you so you should be thankful, right?”

“Yeah, yeah... But I want you to have it.”

She smiled as I gave her the bouquet of roses. She blushed, and I chuckled. I pulled her hands towards the parking lot, so that we could finally go to our lunch meeting together with our director.

“Thank you, Ms. Frias. I haven’t been able to say those words to you ever since we met...” Fiona suddenly stated, looking at me with her beautiful eyes.

I smiled, then nodded as a response.

“Well, you taught me how to be thankful for what I have, and I’m glad that I met someone like you too. I mean, I wouldn’t have gone this far here in Paris if it wasn’t for you,” I stated, then winked.

“That’s nice of you... Though, we still have a lot of works to do, Ms. Frias.”

I chuckled to myself, witnessing how Fiona is quickly changing from a friend mode into a professional one.

“Sure, sure. Tell to our driver the address.”

She nodded before talking to our driver. I decided to get some rest before we arrived to our destination. Thankfully, Fiona is here just to wake me up if ever I fall asleep pretty deep.

“Ms. Frias... Ms. Frias!” she shouted into my ear.

I blinked several times, trying to fight the urge to knock down into sleep again. Fiona tapped my cheeks several times, causing me to be fully alert and awake now.

“Hey... I’m already awake, okay?” I stated, annoyed.

She covered her mouth, trying to suppress the laughter from coming out.

“We are here, Ms. Kate. The director of the film said that she’s already waiting for you inside.”

“Okay. Let’s go then...” I stated fixing my dress.

“Uhm...” she looked at me with her goofy face, and I badly wanted to ask her why she’s acting like that.

“What? Why are you staring at me like that?”

“You might wanna... Uhm... Fix your make-up.”

I instantly grabbed the small mirror from my bag, looking at my face. My make-up is already smudged and I think that it will be the best if I was the one who’s gonna act like a monster or the ghost in the film that we’re making.

Fiona helped me fixed my make-up before we went inside of the restaurant. People are staring at us, and I just gave them my sweetest smile.

“You should be thankful I told you about your make-up earlier. If not, maybe those people will still be staring at you... Not because of amusement, but because of horror,” she whispered then chuckled mischievously.

“Then thank you, Fiona.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Kate! You’re here! Finally,” the director stated. “Come and take a sit. I have a proposal for you. Actually, this came from the head of our company. It’s very important and risky at the same time, but they trusted you so I’m hoping you’re gonna say yes about this.”

Fiona and I take a sit before a waiter gave us their menu. I scan it, choosing a perfect food to satisfy my cravings.

“Kate, listen...”

I stopped looking at the menu, before facing the director. I raised one of my brows as a way of asking her a question.

“What?”

“Our next project will me out of country, and they wanted you to come with me.”

“Sure,” I answered, not bothering to ask where country it is.

“Just like that? You wouldn’t be mad or something? What about your boutique here in Paris?” she asked confusedly.

“Well, Fiona is here. I’ll let her take care of everything and manage my business. I trust her.”

I looked at Fiona, and I saw her tucked her hair behind her ears before she waved at the director.

“Well, that’s good to hear... But, aren’t you even interested where country our next film is going to be taken?”

I rolled my eyes out of annoyance. Do I really need to be excited about this project? Sure thing, I enjoy my job directing films but I wasn’t a bit interested to the places where it was taken.

“Fine, fine. Which country?” I asked sarcastically, trying to act excited.

“In the Philippines.”

My eyes widen, as Fiona suddenly burst the water she’s currently drinking at our table. She knew pretty much everything about me and what happened back in that country. Maybe she’s just too surprised to hear it.

“Are you okay?” the director asked her and she nodded before putting on a thumbs up.

She then averted her eyes towards me before flashing a smile mischievously. I gulped, thinking that maybe... Maybe this is the right time to come back to his amending arms.