"Overnight everything changed and the. " cyclic rounds" became an overnight sensation , in a week it had earned over one hundred and fifty thousand views, I had so much doubts and I kept asking myself if this ves even real, and just like that ,juts in a week I had gained a publishing agent, my own book and lots of viewers and not to mention that the day I agreed to everything that same day my book was monetized and the money rolled in.
Diah who recently became aware of everything was more than happy, if it was anything that could pay the bills , it was fine, a month passed by and all our debts and bills were paid ,after that I realized that even after having so much money I still didn't know what to do with it but Diah was fully aware of what she was gonna do with it , I didn't mind it, I never did infact I felt like I owed her, she had been by my side and I felt my wish was the reason she had unfortunately met me so I didn't hesitate to give her what she wanted because to me she deserved it.
Then.....she slowly began to change, it was small at first, little changes that were barely visible , sparky comments she made that she passed on as jokes but with the tone in her voice I could easily tell that it was her growing resentment , then she started dressing like me , copying everything I did, she started using my name for various things mostly to get her way, when I eventually confronted her what she said was , " you used our story o get this fame and money , so what is yours is mine including....your name ", I felt Denver squeeze my hand as if trying to comfort me but thet memory had replayed several times in my head to an extent that I had become numb to it.
I bit my lower lip as I continued, if I stopped now I knew I wouldn't be able to continue, I didn't want to falter, " within the next six months it became a bestseller, I started coming for meet and greets in places that I couldn't imagine myself in the past stepping in, clothes so fabulous that most of the time I felt guilty, such luxury on my skin rubbing off on me made me feel uncomfortable, meeting new people of higher social standing than the next, greeting them to an extent that I sounded like a broken record and listening to them talk like I cared, it all felt like a lie.
It was in one of these social gatherings that.....", I lowered my head , saying his name right now felt foreign in my tongue, " that is when I met him".
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EIGHT YEARS AGO
Rhea was sitting in the middle of bith men and women m, all dressed in an impeccable elegance , they all had different social standings but all of them belonged to the high class society, she had been placed in here people of this society to invest in the publishing company, why was she doing his again, it was odd, was she supposed to be doing this?, in a room filled with people of high society she felt so small, she was dressed in a black chiffon dress which clung to her curves, a small portion of her cleavage revealed , her black long hair styled beautifully giving her a graceful appearance, she was effortlessly pretty, pretty in the sense that people turned back yo look at her .
" So Rhea....is that right", a male voice rang in snapping her back to reality , she had almost dozed off with how boring their chat was, it was obvious that they were clueless of how the real world worked , they just spoke like spoiled brats that they could easily get whatever they wanted with just a flicker of their fingers , it was annoying, " I heard you became an overnight sensation...so.....", a blonde man sitting opposite her leaned in closer , " so .....who did you pay to write it for you....", he said smiling like he had just said something very reasonable , Rhea looked confused , what was he saying , Rhea smiled , it wasn't sincere , almost like in disgust , " what are you....", " huh.....c'mon now , we all have been there , like it's impossible to amassed all that in a month , so....c'mon now, who did you pay to do all that for you, don't worry we won't tell", he said arrogantly , Rhea could feel herself clenching her fist , it was insulting , despite her luck , she still wrote that book in that tiny moldy one room apartment only for someone to come in and casually say she paid someone to write for her.
" I ....I didn't pay anyone, I did it by...", " sure.....sure we believe you", he said in a sort of a mocking manner, there were giggles and shirts, they were mocking her....., this was uncomfortable, she needed to leave , " I should get going.....", she said as she wanted to leave but she felt a hand on her wrist , a gentle yet domineering hold , " c'mon now.....have a drink with us ...", said the man as he pulled Rhea down and this time they were sitting so close to each other , Rhea pulled her hand away from the uncomfortable hold of the man , she shook her head, " I don't drink", she said firmly making it clear that she was uncomfortable being here , the man smiled, a rather cherry smile , " c'mon now.....", he pulled up a tall fancy glass bottle of golden whiskey which flickered beautifully with the lights if the chandelier , there were a couple of gasp and them mummurs, turns out he was the son of the owner of a rather famous distillery, each generation of his family had ran the distillery, it was typical to say that he came from old money and he was next in line in taking over.
" This is an eighty year old bottle if whiskey.....it's of premium quality ", he took a shot glass and popped up the head of yhe bottle , tilting it gently as he poured the whiskey into the glass , the rich amber brown colour and the smooth like texture with the strong exuding scent of something woody amd smoky,it was intoxicating. He smirked ,
" not even a beautiful lady as yourself...", he was flirting as he was handing her the drink , could she call it bravery or typical shamelessness , she shook her head as politely as she could thereby rejecting his offer, was it the scent or rather the man himself , either way she didn't want want any of it, there was a flicker of something in his eyes as his jaw clenched ,a rich spoiled brat who could get anything within his reach was rejected over an eighty year old bottle of whiskey and to him Rhea had humiliated him.
Rhea could sense it, she had only seen this on television before but seeing it now she knew she could not handle his personality, she needed to get out from here.
" I ...", before she could say anything she could feel everyones attention had drifted away from her to someone who had just come in , taken the shot glass from the man's hand who she now knew as Noah and he just chugged it down , musky scent, a tailored tuxedo which is clearly of a designer brand, enough gel on his hair that made it seem like he was in some hair commercial and long legs , he chugged down the glass of whiskey at one go and let out an " aah" of satisfaction. It looked like Noah was going to explode in anger, " you.....", " rather tangy for an eighty year old whiskey .....don't you think Noah", he said as he smiked rather teasingly , it was charming , pretty infact and Rhea couldn't help but stare.
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PRESENT
The first time I saw Daniel I was like , " hmm.....he saved me but why?, he has a charming smile, why did he help me though?", he was graceful without putting much effort and it was easy to tell that we weren't on the same level.
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Rhea stood at the balcony as she leaned her body unto the railing, it was already dark but yet there was no star in the sky, she scoffed, " disappointing ", she muttered , her hair flowing in the direction of the wind , she had somehow excused herself from Noahs brooding chaos and now she was alone , it was just peaceful , it made her question a lot of things, if she had actually made the right choice but...it didn't even matter if her choice was right or wrong , all that mattered was that they were living comfortably, they didn't work themselves to the bone anymore and they slept and ate well, she wondered if her mum had heard of her anywhere , was she probably looking for her or had she been forgotten too.
Then she heard slow footsteps, she turned back and saw it was Daniel , he had loosened his tie and he was trying to light up his cigarette thereby not noticing Rheas presence, Rhea just watched him out of curiosity, was he a brat or just some lost rich kid , what were the options on his part , she just couldn't tell, " ooh he.....", she heard it, that abrupt sense of realization settled in, " you are here too....", he said with a flirtatious smirk as he approached her, not caring of a rather visible boundary walls that had been set up by her ," hmm.....refreshing , isn't it ?", he asked as he looked at her waiting for and answer , " yes....it's quite refreshing", she awkwardly said , that little sense of peace that she had just fizzled away, there was silence for a while before Daniel spoke again , " do you smoke?", Rhea slowly turned his head and saw he was looking at her with curiosity , Rhea slowly shook her head, " tsk....you don't smoke , you don't drink, maybe....drugs", he said with an ideological smile like he was truly saying something reasonable, "no.....", she was getting uncomfortable and it seemed like Damiel got the hint because he just stopped asking questions and just leaned unto the railing looking at the sky , the silence is akward yet oddly comfortable.
" It's quite romantic, isn't it?, the starless sky , a woman and a man just looking into the nothingness of the abyss,...", he turned to Rhea rather abruptly with that smile still on his face , " in literary form, can you give a title to our scenario?", he asked rather cheerfully, what was he asking her now , didn't he have any other better thing to do than just bothering her, " I don't know ...", she muttered while looking away , " that means you are anti romantic, or you have not just fallen in love before , I heard romance novels are trending these days .....", " yeah...that's right I have never fallen in love ", as soon as she said that she felt a sting in her chest, she had said it so blatantly , what was she thinking just now?, who was she thinking of just now?.
She sighed rather annoyed and frustrated, " I don't have to be in love to write a romance novel", she said defensively, Daniel scoffed, " that is like licking candy without any actual sugar in it, how do you think it will taste huh....bland, that is exactly how a romance novel is without experience , a romance novel is suppose to be genuine", Daniel smirked leaning his back on the railing and folding his hand , " it seems I have no choice then", Rhea tilted her head , what was he saying again , " I'm bored so...", he leaned in closer startling Rhea , " let me be your muse for your romance novel...who knows you may have another best seller with what I may teach you", though it was clear he was just another bored rich kid who was just being flirtatious , he oddly seemed serious.
What drove her, ambition?, for her mother to notice her, either way she knew she couldn't back out from it.