Rise of the Billionaire actress

“I’ll make this brief. We need you both to pull a couple stunts for the promotion of the movie.” Mr. Austin addressed them, ” I was made to believe this isn’t the first time you’re hearing this, but I need a definite answer from you both. The contract has been drawn up.”

“Where do we sign?” Came the bored response of Aaron. Deloise couldn’t form words, things were happening too fast.

“We are on the same page. When do we officially start, how do we go around it?” She asked worriedly, but signed nonetheless.

“I’ll leave that to Aaron to fill you in. Trust me, he knows all there is about the entire exercise. I look forward to hearing and seeing more from your end.” Mr. Austin said and took hold of the documents. “How would you like to become the earliest graduates in the history of Royal Arts?”

“No shit.” Aaron reacted first, “Are you for real?!”

Deloise bit her lip, wondering what the hell they were talking about.

“Yes. It’s been approved. Seeing how much you’ve grown,” he looked between them, “we’ve decided to quicken the process and make you both graduates before the summer break.”

“I only just started here.” Deloise piped, and Aaron rolled his eyes.

“I don’t see how that’s a problem, you’ve managed to surpass our expectations and I doubt keeping you at Royal Arts would be to your benefit. You have to get out there and build your career, Royal Arts would only slow you down at this point.”

Deloise couldn’t believe her ears. Could her day get any better than this? She tethered at the brink of tears as she digested the meaning behind the director’s words.

Not only did they give her an opportunity to be seen, they also figured out a way to cheat the system and accelerate her speed towards achieving her dreams.

“Thank you…” she muttered, and the director sent a genuine smile towards her.

“It should be the other way around. You’ve given me an opportunity to witness the rising of another star.” He watched her turn red with his words, “As long as you avoid being tardy, you will achieve great things.”

That brought a smile on Aaron’s lips, and it was Deloise’ turn to roll her eyes. Typical of him to find amusement in others misfortunes.

“Thank you. I assure you, lateness is a thing of the past.”

“Awesome.” Mr. Austin glanced at his watch and sucked in a sharp breath, “I think I’ve outstayed my welcome, I’ll leave you both to it, my job here is done. Congratulations once again.” He rounded off and with a nod at Aaron, made his way towards his car.

Deloise watched the car drive up before letting out a breath she didn’t know she held.

“I can’t believe that just happened.” She said to no one in particular.

“Best believe. I’ve been waiting for this opportunity for a while now. I guess your coming to Royal Arts isn’t entirely bad news.” Aaron said with a smug look.

“Whatever.” She couldn’t be bothered with engaging in frivolous exchanges, “About the deal, how do we go about it? We need an actual game plan, Aaron.”

“Yes, we do. Like he said, I’d take care of it.”

“That doesn’t assure me. How about we take the evening and actually get to know each other?” Aaron’s eyes widened slightly at her boldness. “What do you say?” She urged, refusing to let up.

“Fine. What do you suggest?”

Deloise smiled. A real smile that nearly took him off his feet. What in the world was that?

“Great! We set up time to meet up, and take highly suggestive pictures. Coupled with the rumors, it won’t be long before our ‘relationship’ gets authentified.”

One could tell she was pleased by her plan, Aaron nodded in agreement, finding amusement from her enthusiasm and looking forward to their time ahead.

*****

Daniel sat in his hotel room, thinking about the only lady that never seemed to leave his mind. Ever since their last meeting, he was yet to reach out to her.

For the first time ever, he didn’t know how to approach matters. The fact he was caught by a person, two seconds from kissing the shit out of her wasn’t an easy pill to swallow.

Add in the fact that she might have not expressly stated her consent added to the conflict brewing in his heart. According to his conclusion, there were two ways to go about the case – to apologize and call his need to fulfill his greatest heart desire a mistake or to ignore the details and move on like nothing happened.

Something told him she wouldn’t appreciate the latter and that kept him at a tight end. He was losing his mind from staying away from her and he needed to be close to her. To make her want him as much as he did her.

Not that it was possible but he’d take the chance.

Biting the bullet, Daniel called her for the nth time, and this time around, allowed it to go through as he prepared his mind for any reception, or no reception.

“Hello?”

Her Alto voice spoke into his ears and he froze. Literally.

“Daniel? Are you still there?”

That revived him and he remembered he needed to say something. Anything!

“E-Esther.” He breathed, trying to control his heartbeat.

“Yeah…”

Esther was getting impatient, she didn’t leave her job and raced to the room to listen to him say nothing. She refused to acknowledge the little voice behind her head that said she’d been waiting all along.

“I’m sorry. I know you told me you weren’t open to being anything more than friends and I stepped out of line, so please, forgive me.”

There it was, he bit the bullet. Despite his head saying he did the right thing, his heart felt betrayed.

The apology threw Esther off her game as she didn’t expect him to apologize for trying to kiss her. No matter how she looked at it, it felt like he regretted trying to kiss her – and despite how mature he was about the situation, she couldn’t wave off the pain that followed that thought.

“I-It’s alright.” She squeaked out, ready to end the call, “Is that all?”

By this time, Daniel was convinced he fucked up. The curtness of her tone told she wasn’t appeased by his apology and that threw his confidence down some notches.

Nevertheless, he was a believer of getting things done or die trying, his next choice of words threw her into a confused frenzy.

“Great. Let me take you out on a date- just two friends going out, purely platonic.” He stressed out when she remained silent, “give me an opportunity to redeem myself.”

*****

The next day, Daniel and Esther got on their way to the beach. You guessed it, in some parallel universe, she accepted to go out with him. Reeling from her Yes to him, Daniel didn’t sleep a wink through the night.

In a nervous frenzy, he rented an entire beach for his business and hoped with all his heart she still found relaxing on the beach interesting. A little side of him called him out on his intent to get her undivided attention but he shut it down before it gained footing.

“You can tell me now, I already know where we’re headed.” Esther spoke, clearly in a good mood.

Daniel made it a point to hide the location of their date, and despite every attempt at getting him to disclose said information, he managed to maneuver his way out without spilling anything noteworthy.

The case was different now though, she had a hunch on exactly where they were going. She couldn’t believe she didn’t catch on earlier.

“Great. Now you can sit still while I get us there.” He said, eyes focused on the road.

Esther could sense his reluctance to meet her eyes. A lot of thought brewed from that pot but she decided to forget her common sense, and for the first time ever, enjoy whatever he had in store for them.

It didn’t take time before they got to the beach. One fact stood out to her, there wasn’t a single person in sight. Two things – either a lion just gave birth, thereby producing such great luck which was at work in their lives or he bought the damned beach.

Her mind leaned towards the latter, seeing he was a filthy rich world star and in serious need of privacy. It didn’t make it less astronomical to her for a simple friendly day out though.

Yes, that was what she termed it. She couldn’t afford losing sight of that. For both their sakes.

“You bought the beach?”

Her eyes were the size of saucers and Daniel withheld a smile.

“Rented. I may be rich, but not that rich.” He said,

“You mean not that stupid.” Esther said, knowing he could buy a darned island if he wished. It was just a matter of choice.

“You know me so well.” He murmured, and just like that, the woman he knew for eighteen years made an appearance.Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

“Whatever the case, it’s great to have a one day rest from the shackles of my kitchen.” She proclaimed, and picked up her pace in the white sand. “This feels so good!”

Esther yelled as she ran with the wind. She felt like a child all over again, seated in the sand and having takeouts. This man had a way of bringing out the best of her.

And also the worst- a voice in her mind added to her annoyance.

Their day at the beach was immersive. For the first time since they reconnected, Daniel felt ease in their interactions. She wasn’t holding back, he could feel it. Their friendship was always better than their relationship- he wouldn’t admit it aloud though.

Mid sentence, Esther’s phone blared, and she picked it up. Her face scrunched as she took in information from the other end. Within a matter of seconds, she appeared alarmed.

“Okay, I’ll be there shortly.” She said and ended the call.

Esther regarded Daniel with a deer in headlights look. “I need your help.”

*****

“Thank you so much! I’ll be out before you know it.” Esther said and breezed out of the car.

Only she could turn him into an unpaid Uber driver and stay beautiful while at it. Apparently, she received an important work call that she’d been expecting for weeks and couldn’t afford to miss.

Daniel knew their date was over when he saw her panicked look and doe eyes upon requesting a lift. After that, he found himself here, waiting for her to return.

Minutes turned into hours but he remained in the car, careful not to be seen by people around. When she finally returned, she wore a weary smile.

Whatever went in there, he sensed it was successful and that was information enough to deem his stay worth it. Daniel drove them back to her house in silence, she gave him a hug and with strained good-byes, they parted ways.