บท 6: The Social Gossip Part 2

The chaotic crowd disperses like sand, leaving Everest confused, "what the heck was that commotion?"

A tall, slender man with black hair and brown eyes dressed in a velvet blue taps his shoulder. Everest turns around as his eyes widen, "Markus," he whispers to himself.

Markus Leonel, the same age as Everest, he's the President of Hollywood Cinema Studios, His company is a lot which many directors, actors, and producers reserve to make movies, television series, and more. Also known to be close friends with many famous actors, actresses and directors, well-known fashionista, and a handsome bachelor. He has many followers and is often with a group of friends.

Everest groans, seeing his face, "What do you want, Markus?"

Markus handsomely smiles, "Hey, friend! It's been such a long time since I've seen you! I couldn't recognize you at first to think you lost those glasses and stopped wearing the plain suits! You've certainly changed!!"

"Markus you haven't answered my question, what do you want?" he asks coldly.

"Don't be like that! I want to chat with a friend, that's all!"

"humph! If you want to talk to me so badly, then why don't you get rid of your followers first?"

"Hey! I can't just have them leave, plus why don't you get to know them?"

As he puts his arm around him, Everest slaps his arm away, disgusted.

"Don't touch me! When will you stop acting? And start showing your true colors?" he walks away.

Markus sneakily makes a sharp expression towards Everest's comment when he pretends, "Wait! Everest! I didn't mean any harm, come on you're one of my friends! Let's talk!"

As he said this, they gain attention As Everest turned. Markus continues, "You shouldn't be acting this way, Fox Cinematic won't last long, I heard through the grapevine, if you don't try kissing up to people here then your company is as good as gone, but you know if you become one of my friends I wouldn't mind lending a few millions to help you."

Everest stares at his sister Leena who is across from him talking and laughing with a few guests. Markus realizes his hesitation, "Leena and you are the most boring duo in the social circle, you're lucky she's hot, at least she'll marry someone rich, but what about you?"

Everest makes a fist, coldly glaring at him, "shut the hell up! I don't need your pitiful money. I have a fiancé."

Markus is surprised, shouting for everyone to hear, "you have a fiancé?!"

Becoming the center of attention makes Everest cower down at the sight of everyone staring at him like hungry tigers watching their prey.

He starts sweating, but Markus uses this to his advantage claiming, "Come on, Everest, you don't have to lie about having a fiancé just because you were stood up! As your closest friend, I worried about you! You don't have to lie."

Markus sneakily smirks, whispering, "see friend… now no one will believe what comes out of your fox-like tongue."

He walks out of the hall, unbuttoning his shirt, trying to breathe as if he were suffocating. Leena follows after him, worriedly shouting, "Everest, are you alright?"

He violently pushes her away, she continues to follow him outside, but he screams, "Leave me alone! Damn it! Just for once, leave me alone, please, Leena," he says with a troubles expression.

She walks back inside the hall, but feeling somewhat embarrassed, decides to go to the bathroom.

As she walks in looking troubled, she notices a beautiful woman standing in front of the mirror, checking her hair while washing her hands.

"Who is she? I remember seeing her face someplace before. Ah! Belen Astares!"

The beautiful woman turns to her, "Did you call my name?"

"ah um sorry I was thinking aloud, I can't believe you are Belen Astares, the President of A Star Mall! Hi! I'm Leena Fox from Fox Cinematic Theaters!" excitedly extending her hand.

Belen arrogantly tilts her head as if confused, "I don't want to get my hands dirty. It's a pleasure to meet you," quickly ignoring her.

Leena accepts her rejection, "I'm a big fan of your mall! I'm a VIP! But because of so much work, I can only shop online, you see…"

Belen sharply cuts her off with cold eyes, "Miss Fox, I'm glad you love my mall though this conversation serves me nothing, keep it to yourself."

Just as she was about to walk out, Leena asks, "Do you even know who I am?"

Belen stares down at her with glaring eyes as if she were an insect, "I don't."

Leaving Leena in shock, sending a cold chill down her spine, "so even she doesn't know who I am, we were famous at one point. What was I thinking? Trying to get close to her as if I could, the world is full of hunters ready to attack."

While contemplating two women approach Leena, "We saw what happened!"

"She ignored you just because you weren't on her level."

"Spoiled bitch!"

"more like a slut trying to lure in every guy she can."

"She treated us the same way. Little miss princess thinks she's better than anyone here."

"That's why we should get back at her."

"By embarrassing her, of course!"

"She's smart with words, you know! She can use them against us!"

"Ha, it can be an accident, our only weapon aren't words."

"What do you say, Leena Fox?"

Leena looks down at them, "Don't include me in your childish acts. If those few words hurt you, then don't bother growing up, you childish brats!" walking out of the bathroom.

Belen's surrounded by two investors conversing over the deadline for the stocks share grand meeting that'll is in a month.

But as she's talking to them, she thinks, "Gosh this is boring, I hate this social gathering specifically because it's more like a rich kids party than a social circle. Should I go home early? But that won't look good for me."

The gathering is reaching its peak of guests, and some are even talking to her forming a group, "Belen Astares it's been such a long time since I've last seen you!"

"How have you been, Miss Astares! Congratulations on attending the private gatherings! Surely A Star will benefit greatly!"

"May I ask, where is your escort?"

She cheekily replies, "I had none this year."

"Had I known I would have offered!"

"I just assumed you'd have your secretary escort you."

"that's if you still have the same secretary since it's been two years."

"Isn't that better?"

"How so?"

"Well, her secretary kept pestering everyone about forming secret connections to A Star, but in reality, he was forming them for himself."

"That's right when I found out he was nothing more than an orphan. It made sense he was trying to gain something for himself."

"Oh no! you honestly think he'd do such a thing?"

"I mean, didn't you hear what happened to Imperial entertainment? Its secretary replaced Their CEO! She's gathered a high profile of accomplishes that people relied on her than the actual CEO. An orphan that started from the bottom and reached the top by betrayal."

"That is why I don't trust orphans. They want more than what they have!"

"They're snakes since they know their CEO's weaknesses. They try anything to get what they want."

"Oh, dear Madam Belen, is your secretary such a character?"

"I wouldn't be shocked if you fired him!"

"That is the kind of society we live in; the rich become targets of the greedy."

"and we worked hard for it as well, honestly how disappointing."

After listening to their conversations, Belen does her best to hide her disdain expression, better yet her vein from exploding, "These stupid bastards think they have any right to judge after a simple myth like that? This is the exact reason why I stopped him from escorting me to these disgusting social gatherings, no matter how earnest he is, his motives will always be misunderstood by those who can't understand the meaning of loyalty. It was my error of bringing him along with me that year. I told him I wasn't feeling well, and therefore he did all the talking. I guess it seemed pushy? But in the end, he was marked as greedy."

She puts on a façade, "It's unfair to judge my secretary off a simple mistake, don't you think so? It'd be difficult to look for a trustworthy secretary since all I'd have to do is discipline his actions, don't worry about my employees, thank you for your unworthy concern" she grins sinisterly.

The others feel a bit taken aback and frightened at her expression as if indirectly telling them, 'So what? It's my pet. You have no right to judge the way I'm raising it.'

But at that moment, two girls bump into the group, like bowling pins wobbling. One girl falls, causing a domino effect making Belen slip into the large pool.

Everyone's afraid, it's as if time froze along with the people. At that moment, Belen swims to the stall to climb out of the pool, soaked from head to toe. Many began taking out their phones to record and take pictures of Belen while others started laughing, and others worriedly rushing to help. The thing is Belen felt neither embarrassed or scared. Its as if she didn't mind the phones directed at her every move. Security rush over with towels to cover her. She took off her heels and left them beside the pool as she continued walking wrapped in a towel the security team rushed in to stop others from recording and snapping pictures. But as Belen passed by the two girls who caused the fall, she glares at them with a sinister smirk. The two girls get chills from her presence.

***

Belen arrives at her hotel with no towel, she's reasonably dry, entering her room she sighing while staring at her tall mirror, "I knew it was too good to be true, this angel-like appearance does not suit me at all, I left sooner than expected, thanks to those twin idiots. But my ankle hurts a bit. I don't think I'll be able to wear heels for a while."

She enters her bathroom, undressing, putting her hair down, the running water in the background. She looks at herself in the mirror while taking off her earrings. She stares at the mirror as if in a trans, suddenly a tear drips she shakes her head, touching her face, but there is nothing. She wonders what's going on when again looking at the mirror and sees herself crying like a baby. She steps away from the mirror, rubbing her eyes but no tears, she looks back in the mirror and sees her usual self, "Why was I crying? I'm not crying, am I going crazy?"

A soft voice speaks, "No, you're hurt, stop pretending you're not in pain, you're not numb, you're human, embarrassed and hurt by their words like swords, you're armor is not enough to defend your heart."

She's impressed seeing a weaker form of herself quietly shedding tears. "You're myself conscious. I don't want to cry, why should I waste my tears for those disgusting people!"

"Because they hurt you, you're not glass. it aches deep in your heart like thorns."

"Ha! no!! I got used to hearing those hurtful comments! I don't care about those people!! No one but him ever…loved me" her tears begin to flow like a river making her whole body tremble like a leaf.

Her self-conscious displays a faint smile of relief, "That right just cry, let that pain you've been hoarding out, believe in your worth, Belen."

At the same time, Everest arrives at his hotel, entering his room, silently angry with his eyebrows furrowed in a knot. The first thing he does is look for alcohol, he finds wine and drinks it out of the bottle but feels unsatisfied, as if it were water, so he throws it away. He stops himself for a minute to stare at the empty room with only his being in it, and grunts, "Argh! Everything is bland! It's the same as that day. I need to find a way to calm myself! But how?! I don't know where the hell I am!" he changes into his casual wear with a black jacket and a baseball cap. "I need to get out of here!" marching out of his room. Walking out the hotel a cold wind strikes him like a blade strong enough to remove his cap, he chases after it when overhearing two men bothering a woman wearing running shoes, blue jeans, a green jacket zipped up and a black hat.

Everest shakes his head, "No, don't!"

But the men continue to annoy her. He runs to the woman the men are bothering, shouting, "Hey! Sorry did I make you wait too long? By the way, who are these losers?" he nervously tries to hide his sweat behind his lies.

But as Everest pulled her forward to him, he notices that she is wearing a mask covering her face. He glares at the men, "What are you two? Bothering my friend this late at night?!"

One of the men refuses to believe scoffs, "Ha! Do you think that trick will work on us?! You don't know this lady! She's been walking around for a while, right, miss!"

Everest pulls her behind him, explaining, "You see, she came out of that hotel, she was waiting for me. But I told her to go ahead of me, and that's when she texted me you two losers I mean guys are bothering her, get lost before I call the police!" he scowls. The men shake their heads in disappointment, walking away.

He sighs in relief, but when he turned back to see the woman, he's surprised to see her gone walking away without a care.

To Everest's surprise, he has no idea that this woman is Belen Astares in disguise, she's decided to go out and wander about the city to buy souvenirs.

He runs after her when she stops quietly, Everest tries to catch his breath, "wait! You… don't you have something to say to me? I saved you from those men earlier, and you leave? What if they appear again?"

Belen coldly responds, "I never asked for your help."

He cannot believe what he is hearing, pulling her shoulder, but she snaps away from him, "Don't touch me. You saved me out of your benefit, don't expect any gratitude when I never asked for it."

"Ha! Its called rude! If anything, I could have walked away, but."

She cuts him off with a flaming glare, "stop following me before I call the police!"

"hey rude woman, will you stop being so vain? I was going this way from the start, so stop jumping to conclusions."

She continues to walk away, entering a souvenir store. Everest opens the store. She side-eyes him in doubt, but he acts, "Hmm? This is the nearest souvenir store they have around here? What should I buy my sister?"

She sighs in annoyance, "And here I thought I'd be able to at least freely shop, but not with this psycho following me around, I'll pick something out real quick."

Everest followed her on purpose at the fact that she did not thank him, "this chick! I have an urge to bother her, a rude woman! Damn, I wish I knew who she was, at least wait, why do I care? Why did I unknowingly follow her? So what if she didn't thank me, tch! Damn it, why am I so bothered by this woman! I'm going to get something just for the sake of it and go back to the hotel. Leena is most likely waiting for me. Oh, wait, she might get mad when she notices the mess I made… I'll buy her a souvenir."

Unknowingly they both are in the same section glancing through mugs. She tries to reach a specific cup but can't because of her height, so Everest takes it. She turns to see, frustrated. He smirks at her as if saying, "Ha, I got it first."

Belen turns away, irritated at Everest shout, "Wait, didn't you want this?"

"You're mistaken."

He sighs, "tch! Stubborn little ugh! And here I was trying to do something nice for her." But as he got mad, he's amazed to see her comeback. But this time with the store clerk following behind her. Everest moves away when the store clerk asks, "Which mug do you won't miss?"

She points, "that one with the white lion!" he grabs it asking, "will you be purchasing this mug miss?" she replies nicely with a smile though, with her mask on, no one can see it, "Yes, thank you!"

"I'll wrap it up for you. When you are ready to pay, I'll have the mug ready at the counter."

She nods respectfully, glancing over at the Everest with haughty eyes.

He scoffs, unable in disbelief, "what! I got it for her, and she said she didn't want it, what does she see in me that I don't? do I have germs or something? What's the difference! Man, this woman is seriously getting on my last nerves!"

He notices her focused attention at handmade bracelets with a stone in the middle and others with birthstones. Everest looks through them as well, thinking it'd be something Leena would like.

Fortunately, she hasn't taken notice of Everest there so little by little. He peeks over to see her eyes change from distant to affectionate. He thinks, "Why is she staring at those bracelets? Could it be for her boyfriend? So what if it is? Mind your business, Everest!"

She takes a bracelet and an ankle bracelet to the register to pay. Everest quickly picks a cap off the shelves heading to the cash register. Unfortunately, Belen is gone. Everest gets out of the store after purchasing his hat, wandering around looking for her.

"What am I doing?! I should go back."

***

Next morning Secretary Noah is waiting for Belen to arrive at the LAX airport, he received an early call that she'd be coming earlier than expected. But as she did, he felt worried about her at the same because her voice sounded weak.

At last, she's seen coming out with her suitcase, immediately Noah rushes to help. But something is off about Belen. She's wearing dark shades, black jeans, white sneakers, and a green coat covered. "Madam President is something the matter? You look…cold."

But she stays quiet, almost enduring while entering the car. As Noah is driving, silence follows. He worriedly asks,

"Madam President, where shall we go?

The office or your house?"

No response.

Minutes Later.

"umm Madam President? We're almost at your house, do you want to stop? Or?"

He peeks over at Belen noticing her shades falling off. He opens the gate to her house, driving inside. He turns off the car and reaches to touch her forehead feeling her scorching fever.

"How did you get sick? Your whole face is burning up!"

He carries Belen out of the car like a princess into her house, gently laying her burning body onto her queen-sized bed, covers her with a blanket, and runs to the kitchen, checking the medicine cabinets and running back to her room with a cold water bottle.

He anxiously feels afflicted seeing her groan in pain, breathing heavily as if she just came out of a sauna. Muttering, "it hurts… my body hurts…" she starts tearing up, twitching her body.

Noah calms her, "where does it hurt? Are you dreaming?"

At that moment, she opens her eyes, a blurry vision of a man, "who are you?"

"It's me…Noah! Are you awake? Talk to me, where does it hurt?"

She hallucinates, smiling, "you are alive …you're taking care of me like you used to. I miss you" a genuine smile forms on her face like cherry blossoms blooming in the background. Shocking Noah but at the same time realizing her smile is meant for someone else, "I'm not him… Belen, it's Noah, please tell me where does it hurt?"

But she begins to wail like a baby pulling onto Noah's wrist, "Please don't leave me! Please don't go!…no one else loves me."

Noah can't ignore her pleading face, filled with despair and longing, he held her hand affectionally, "I won't leave you Belen…" and whispers "I will never leave you."

He twitches at Belen's touch as she begins to caress his face, "you're the reason I'm alive."

Noah tries to hide his conflicted expression, "B-Belen, why don't you drink medicine before your fever gets any worse." She obediently drinks the medicine and water falling back to sleep.

Noah notices her tight grip on his hand. He looks at her like a lover full of affection yet sadness. He is intimately caressing her fuming forehead while grazing his cold fingertips against her skin to her cheeks, carefully moving forward to kiss her forehead, making his fresh lip feel her warmth. "You'll be fine. You have me here," he whispers in her ear, causing her to twitch, forming a smile on both of their faces.

But an ongoing phone vibration interrupts him when he pulls over the blanket and slips his hand into Belen's jacket pulling out the vibrating phone, "her phone? Who could it be? Father…? Her dad is calling, should I answer?"

He lets go of her hand and quietly walks out of the room-clearing his throat, "Hello?"

Edilberto stares at his phone in confusion to check if he perhaps dialed the wrong number, "Is this Belen Astares phone number?"

Noah calmly responds, "Yes, Madam President just arrived from her busy schedule overseas and is currently resting at home."

Edilberto's strict voice questions, "Who are you? Who am I speaking to?"

"ahem. I am Belen Astare's, Secretary, Noah Alvarez, Madam President is currently resting, and she does not wish to be interrupted."

"I'm her father, Edilberto Astares, what is a secretary doing in her home if she's resting? I need to speak to her immediately!"

"I'm afraid I cannot do that sir, I follow Madam President's orders only, please forgive my rudeness" abruptly ends the call.

***

It upsets him greatly when he storms into the living room, "Iris! Do you know who this secretary of Belen's is? What is her relationship with him?!"

Iris is sitting on the couch, amazed at her dad's sudden interest, "Yeah, I saw a handsome, tall Asian man walk inside her office after I left, he seems to be very close to her."

But seeing how her angry dad amuses her as she decides to add fuel to his wrath, "By the way dad this may just be a rumor, but I overheard the employees talking he is always around her 24/7, arriving and leaving together if you ask me it sounds as if their secretly dating or something."

Edilberto widens his eyes in shock after listening to Iris.

***

The Fox siblings are back in LA, heading to their house where their dad is expecting to hear the great news.

But as they park the car, Everest locks the doors and stares at Leena with watery eyes, "Leena, what am I going to do about dad?! He's going to have my head if I reveal to him that I didn't meet that woman! If I'm getting in trouble, I'm taking you with me!"

Leena sighs, "you're right. It's partly my fault…but how the heck do you not know the name of your future fiancé?! I mean, when you think about it, isn't it dad's fault we both don't know?!"

Suddenly their father appears like a zombie in the dark knocking on the car window with a darker complexion, "why aren't the two of you coming out?" he tries to open the car, but luckily Everest locked it.

Everest turns to Leena, "I'm scared…please save me big sister!" he hugs her, but she pushes him away, "Now I'm your big sister?! Seriously what a coward! I'll talk to him, meanwhile, make a run to the house and lock yourself in your room!"

He nods, "one…two…three!!" the doors unlock as Leena calls her dad, making way for Everest to dash off into the house.