How You and I Collide

I

5 YEARS LATER

(Present Day)

Michelle sat in the back of a black van speeding down the city highway. The windows were heavily tinted, and it made the sunny world outside seemed overcast. She shifted in her seat, clutching her phone in her hand as a R&B music was playing on the background, obviously, her manager's favorite. And neither manager, Max Collins, nor her driver noticed that she was growing restless in her seat.

She had come a long way in the last couple of years. Five years ago, and a week after the accident with Mr. Ramirez, she went to Emerald Glam Cosmetics office to get her check for her car repairs. She could've received it in the mail but she had the urge to and wanted to go in person, almost to remind herself that no matter how Anntonia remained a shadow in her mind, she was always out of reach.

Standing outside of her company and staring up at the sky, where she was sure her office was, she could only mutter a thank you and go her way. Ironically, turning around and walking to the bus stop was where she ran into a talent scout. That day she was handed yet another business card that she never expect would open her world of dead-end jobs to a career as a model and actor. These days she would look at her new home, new car and new person in the mirror and still feel like it was all a dream.

Today, she rode in a car with a driver and manager constantly following her every steps. She wore a cream suit with white tank top underneath and a long pencil skirt that matched the color of her suit. Her hair was styled to look effortlessly neat and she had a nutritionist and a personal trainer to make sure her physique matched her celebrity status. Gone was the Michelle Dee from that accident 5 years ago and the Michelle that was would stare at the Emerald business card and wondered how the owner of it was doing faded with time and tight schedules. Or so she thought.

Last week, Max informed her that she was offered an endorsement contract. Which wasn't surprising. Since her last short series, she received many offers for a vast number of endorsements. She would consider only a few, choosing to spend her time and energy on picking her next script instead. But no, her manager, decided to mention this endorsement because she had been with her since she began her career and remembered how THEE DANIELA MARQUEZ DEE was discovered. The offer was from Emerald Glam Cosmetics, the very same company that she was discovered outside of its building.

Just the mention of it had propelled Michelle back to three years ago. And before her mind could catch up to her, she had agreed to take the offer and had dug through everything she owned to find that wrinkled business card she almost forgotten about. She remembered how she had spent all the free time she had since then looking for any information on Anntonia Porsild that was on the Internet. But it turns out, she was so private that other than official press releases or official interviews, there was only few pictures and details about her life out there.

Michelle currently staring at a business article online listing the nation's youngest entrepreneurs. Anntonia was on the list, alongside her co-founder, Charlotte Austin, both smiling in a picture capturing them sitting at a long table littered with lipstick samples and face charts. Though this article was published six months ago and she didn't know when this picture was taken, but the woman was just as she remembered.

Her hair was in a high ponytail here and she was wearing a dress that combined stripes of blue, black and white. For a make-up mogul, she was wearing little more than what looked like a bit of liner and nude lipstick. She hadn't changed, her smile still impeccable and happiness glittered from her eyes as she glanced sideways at Charlotte. In fact, she looked younger here, a picture of ease compared to done up and intimidating when she spoke to Mr. Ramirez that night.

Minutes later, the van stopped in front of a tall building with rotating glass doors. Michelle looked up from her phone just as her driver, Ruru came around to door on her side to open it for her to step out. She then slid the phone inside her suit jacket and straightened as she exited. She took a split second to tilt her head back to stare up the top floors of the building. The feeling was so familiar to her, though she hadn't been back here since the first time.