Rise of the Billionaire actress

Deloise watched her mother throw down her table, eyes ablaze. “Is this what you’ve been up to all along?” she broke into a cynical laugh, “Someone tell me this is a joke!”

Esther threw her arms as she looked round the room. No one moved.

“I’m so sorry, mom. I just… I-I got an opportunity and I couldn’t sit still,” she reached for her mother’s hand, “You said I should be happy, you wanted me to be successful. I’m both, can’t you see?” She gulped, searching her mother’s eyes.

What she saw stomped on the little hope she held out, “No child of mine will be an actress, I thought we settled this? Why would you ruin your life like this?”

“I’m not ruining my life! You are ruining my life with your unrealistic hopes of what I will become. I am no lawyer, mom! Look at me! I’m an actress, I managed to make it through the odds..” her voice broke towards the end of her sentence. “why can’t you just support me?”

“You are no daughter of mine.”

Her heart fell, “What do you mean?”

“Exactly what you heard. We had a deal Deloise, we had a plan. You chose to go through this path without my consent. You deceived me, you made a fool of my love. No daughter of mine will disregard me in such a manner. Hence you’ve gone your way, let’s sever ties.”

Deloise choked, “No… you don’t mean that. Take it back right now.”

“Find me when you’ve cleaned up this mess. I am utterly disappointed in you.”

A mix of emotions filled her heart. Most of which she couldn’t confidently explain, one stood out to her. Anger- one that ate at her senses.

“What? You want to walk away because things didn’t go your way this once?! This isn’t a mess, it’s my life! How many times will I concede to you? Do you hate me this much?” She bellowed to the back of a woman who didn’t care to hear her speak.

“Mom!” She fell to the ground, “Please, just.. please… turn around..”

Deloise gripped her heart and watched her mother walk away from her life. Tears pooled her eyes and on-lookers threw sympathetic looks her way. The reality of things hit her, she was caught. It was the end of her games.

A ringing phone jolted a sweating Deloise from her sleep. The hairs in her arm stood as she saw the name of the caller, It was her mother. Still bound by the effects of the dream, she lingered, hesistant to take the call.

“Hello?” She picked after the third ring.

“Hey! Are you asleep?” Her mother’s tone was relatively low. “Sorry I called a bit late.”

“It’s okay, I always have time for you..” she muttered,

“I love you darling.” Her mother cooed, “I want to quickly update you on the state of my job, since it’s late, I’ll just give you the basis.”

Deloise’s attention perked at her words, “I have to cater for a big event happening this weekend, apparently, it’s a big show that would be star studded. Which also goes on to mean I’ll have to impress a lot of potential customers. I’m so excited and nervous.”

Esther downloaded the details to her daughter, her countenance grew poor with the information thrown her way. She couldn’t believe her ears.

“Did you say a business launch?” Deloise asked, praying she was somehow mistaken and they weren’t preparing for the same event this weekend.

“Yeah. It’s a huge one.” Esther affirmed to her daughter’s horror. “I honestly can’t explain how I bagged such a high profile event myself.”

“Wow..” Deloise suddenly didn’t know what to say.

Usually, when her mother made such derrogatory remarks, she was quick to set her straight. This time around, she couldn’t even react. Not with her impending doom.

*****

They were finally leaving Royal Arts. Deloise was clad in a sweatshirt and joggers, her luggage stood beside her, while Doris and Mr. Austin addressed them.

“.. seeing you are both in a relationship, we thought it natural that you travel together.” The director said his piece, “Please try your best to maintain the act, especially in the public’s eye. Believe it or not, people are watching. Regardless of your level in the industry, there are always people trying to be nosy and sometimes, they become deadly to your growth in the business.”

“He’s right.” Doris supported, “Despite your state as rising stars, there are people seeking the littlest thing to rid you of a career before it even starts. You have to be careful, both of you.” Her gaze alternated between them both. “It’s such a pity I can’t be on the plane from the get go. But I’ll join you in Chicago as soon as I can.”

Deloise let out a breath from her nostrils. “We’ll be fine.” She wasn’t quite convinced herself.

“We will be fine, it’s just a party. What could possibly go wrong?” Aaron huffed, “Our flights will soon leave at this point.” he muttered, glancing at his watch.

They were running out of time, and the last thing he needed was getting left behind or breathless from running around, trying to save time.

Soon, the duo were on a plane, seated side by side and headed to Chicago.

“What’s that for?” Deloise asked, looking between their intertwined hands and his smirk.

“We are a couple.” He said it like it fixed everything. “It’s only normal if we give them something to look at, right?”

Aaron took a pic of their hands together.

No doubt, it was headed to the internet, their relationship was becoming a lot more popular with Aaron’s strategic and well planned out pictures of them. She could count on both hands the amount of times her face or body parts made an appearance in his shots.

Yeah, he was playing the script of one so obsessed with his woman, he barely took pictures of himself. It was always something sensitive, suggestive with intimate gestures. Several minutes after the shot, she couldn’t help but be painfully aware of their enjoined hands. That and the fact he was a lot more touchy in recent times.

Their trip was seamless and they were soon notified of their arrival in Chicago. Aaron and Deloise came down the plane, hand in hand. Her grip tightened and before he could speak about it, a reason showed up before their eyes.

“Aaron!” Stella greeted in an overly cheerful tone, and Deloise resisted the urge to roll her eyes.

They were in public. What was she doing here?

“What are you doing here?” Aaron voiced the mind of Deloise.

“Easy there, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you weren’t happy to see me,” She said in a playful tone. Deloise knew better.

“Of course not, just curious, how are you here?” He played along with her.

“Guess..” Stella said, dangerously close to Aaron with a pout on her lips.

“The launch.” A voice said, and Aaron did a double take at Deloise.

“How?” He murmured while the women threw looks at each other.

Of course Stella happened to be here the exact moment they stepped foot in Chicago. If this wasn’t a bad sign, she didn’t know what it was.

“Yeah, tell us, how did you know?” Stella picked up, arms akimbo.

Deloise felt stuck, she didn’t know if it was the right time to expose her deal with the Prestons. She walked into that herself.

“You are an actress, a popular one. It’s only natural you get invited too.” Aaron completed his thought process.

“Yeah..” Stella said, fawning on every word. “Where are you guys off to? It’s still early on and I’ve been here before, would you like a little tour round the state?”

Deloise couldn’t help but notice how direct her offer was. She could tell she wasn’t invited. It was Aaron’s time to tighten his grip on her hand.

“We’ll like to rest. Maybe some other time.” He dismissed her in a firm tone. Deloise felt there was something more to it but didn’t speak a word as they walked into their rented vehicle.

Things were getting interesting.

******

What on earth?

Deloise and Aaron stood in the room, staring at the king sized bed before them.

“I think we are in the wrong room.” Deloise spoke first.

“I doubt that.” Aaron hissed, “This is obviously planned.”

“What do we do?” She looked around, “The floor-”

“We’ll sleep on the bed.” Aaron said, and Deloise stilled.

“There’s no one here.”

“Don’t make this weird.” He placed his hand on his forehead, “Except you want to catch a cold before your appearance, the bed is big enough for us both.”

Deloise swallowed and watched his muscles flex as he opened his bag. It seemed like everything was after her sanity. It was going to be a rough weekend. She could sense it.

The duo lounged in their hotel room, doing everything and anything to keep out the other’s way. Aaron watched Deloise without her knowledge. It was the first time he observed her so closely, and being the observative person he was, he picked up on her anxiety.

At first, he boiled it down to her discomfort with their living arrangements but as time progressed, he figured it was something else. Something that kept her on her toes always.

Dinner came and they dug in. Deloise felt his eyes on her but made no move to acknowledge it. She was having a mental breakdown and it was eating at her sanity.

“What’s wrong?”

Her eyes caught his own, “What?”

“Why are you so… disturbed?” He finally let out, unable to hold it anymore.

“I’m alright.” She said and took another bite of her food.

“Yeah. About as normal as a flying fish.”

That brought a smile to her face. “Why do you care?’

“I’m your boyfriend,” He pointed out, ” and you are my responsibility. At least till Doris gets here.”

“Too bad I’m not in a sharing mood.” She got up, “Have a great night.”

Deloise washed her plate, took a bottle of wine and proceeded to the balcony. Aaron joined her a few minutes later, she smelt his aftershave before she saw him.

“Still not in a sharing mood?” Aaron inquired as he poured himself a drink. “You shouldn’t be drinking.”

” There’s a lot of things I shouldn’t be doing.” She murmured. “For starters, I shouldn’t be back here. I shouldn’t be this scared of my hometown.”

Aaron didn’t expect that. “You lived here?”

“I live here.” She corrected with a cynic laugh, “There’s a chance I even get to meet my mother.”Còntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

There. She said it.

“And why is that a bad thing?” he asked after a big sip from his drink.

“Because I’m supposed to be a lawyer. I’m supposed to be the pretty little daughter who does her bidding.”

The animosity in her tone was palpable, and her smile was unreal. Aaron could piece the gist of things from their interactions.

“Maybe I could help you. Point me in the right direction and I’ll be your shield.” Aaron said as their eyes connected. “As long as you’re comfortable with that.”

“It’s been a long day.” She let out a sigh and headed inside. Signaling her unwillingness to dive anymore into the topic.

That night, she twisted and turned, worried about what the day would bring. Of course Aaron was nice enough to offer his help with navigating her situation, but she remained unconvinced of its success.

That kept her up for most of the night, until she finally gave up and slept off, tangled on the bed with him.