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SHE KEPT THINKING OF BENITO'S CONFESSION: HE WAS BORN TO BE ALONE. The rotation of women around him temporarily filled his incurable loneliness. If one were to reach out to help him, he'd pull away, side-stepping Cupid's arrow every time. Benito said Jasmine was similar, and he saw the same emptiness in her. Saying this, he pulled down the mask of the reggeaton star and offered her a glimpse into his true self. When she looked in the mirror, she considered hers.
The waiter laid the dinner plate on their table. Anthony ordered caviar at a romantic, terrace restaurant in Paris. He was distantly of French origin (very distantly), but kept insisting on speaking butchered French to the waiter. As Jasmine lifted her spoon to the caviar, her shimmering engagement ring seized her eye.
It was Valentine's Day, over a month since he proposed in his car. Fireworks exploded behind the Eiffel Tower beside them, and Anthony's translucent eyes reflected the colors. He reached over and caressed her perfectly manicured hands with those hairy, grizzly-bear fingers. She could see the veins protruding from his hands. He was so much older.
When they flew back to California, a dozen roses sat waiting on the front door from Benito. Her eyes widened, and when Anthony asked who they were from, she crumpled the tag and said it was her agency. She noticed that the singer called her on Instagram the day. Shit. She muted all their notifications while she was out of the country.
When Anthony fell asleep, she called Benito out by the pool. It rang and rang. He didn't answer. Busy.
Likely with somebody.
"Oh my god, bitch... You won at life."
It was a week after Valentine's Day, and her friends were finally back in LA after shooting various campaigns. Jasmine sipped her mimosa. Her golden, sparkling engagement ring made various heads turn and blinded her friends when the sunlight hit it.
"You really did... You made it. Marrying a rich man." Diana pouted with her face in her hands. "Meanwhile, me and Michael broke up."
"Didn't you not even like him that much?" Kiara twirled her brown hair in amusement at the fresh chisme.
"Oh yeah, but it's still sad. I'll miss him."
"Mmm... No, you won't."
"You're probably right. I won't." She agreed and then turned to Jasmine. "Careful Anthony's ex-wife doesn't stab you in your sleep."
The thought didn't even cross her mind. "Oh yeah. Her."
"Girrrrlllll, have you watched Investigation Discovery? People are crazy out here. Tread very, very carefully. Maybe get a gun." Diana wrapped her lips around her straw and sipped her mimosa. "Oh, and congratulations."
After brunch, she received a text from Benito. He was in LA if she was down. Now or never.
He picked her up near her old address. She acted like she still lived there. The only reason the roses arrived at her new address with Anthony was that he went through her agency. Third-party flower arrangements for privacy. Thank God for that, she crossed herself internally.
