Back In The Game

CHAPTER 16

3rd person's Pov

"If I didn't know that Aleah and the head never worked together, I would assume that they were old friends of the same work."

"well, they all share a role in their industry and common friends involve them together. Look at the photographer, for example, he casually just joined their conversation because they worked in the same set."

Kairi was in a daze because he unexpectedly saw Aleah again. He was looking forward to seeing her at the boot camp event, but who would have thought that he would see her here in their photoshoot session?

He pursed his lips, trying to hide his smile. He blinked in surprise when he and Aleah suddenly locked eyes. Aleah smiled at him and continued to talk whereas Kairi was flustered and looked down.

"Kairi, what's wrong?" SZE worriedly asked. Kairi shook his head.

"It's nothing," Kairi answered. 'Control yourself, Kairi! Stay cool, stay cool.' He said to himself, trying to keep his heart from rapidly beating fast.

SZE was suspicious of Kairi's actions, but she was distracted by Karltzy who was trying to talk to her.

The circle had finally done with their conversation. Joanna then dragged Karltzy into the set to start the photoshoot. Maria and the head left to observe the other teams while Aleah was given a seat beside them.

Aleah's seat was between Renejay and Kairi. As soon as she sat on her seat, she was welcomed by Renejay who introduced himself and Yskaela.

"Hi, I'm Renejay, this is my pair, Yskaela." Aleah accepted their handshakes.

"I'm Aleah." She also introduced herself.

"That guy beside you is Kairi, and his pair is SZE." She turned to her side and looked at SZE.

"Hi, I'm Shey." SZE introduced herself.

"I'm Aleah, you're Vonny's sister, right?" SZE nodded.

"My sister sometimes mentioned you because she is very fond of you." Aleah chuckled.

"Vonny and I have quite a bond in a short time that we had spent." Aleah reminisced about their friendship.

"It's nice to see you again, Aleah," Kairi said. "I wasn't expecting that we would meet here."

"Yeah, it's been a short while." Aleah giggled. The others were stunned.

"You two met each other?!" they exclaimed. The photographer shushed them.

"You guys are so loud!" The photographer hissed. They apologized.

"How did you two know each other?" Renejay was curious about how they met.

"We met coincidentally at the press conference not long ago," Kairi answered he kept it short because Aleah might be uncomfortable if he mentioned that they also had lunch together, but;

"Ate Alodia invited me, and we also had lunch together with Sir Gutierrez," Aleah added. He was a bit happy that she also mentioned it. "I also didn't expect that you would be here though, I thought it was a normal shoot of Joanna and Karltzy for the upcoming boot camp."

"Well, the management decided that we should all get our photos on the same day and they grouped us so it would be less hassle for others. In waiting." Yskaela said.

"That's the best idea they could think of right now because I heard that some of the photographers have clashed schedules and the same goes for the other models." SZE was also added.

Aleah nodded. "I see. I guess they managed to squeeze your schedules to have this shoot, huh?"

"It's quite nice though, it's like we're officially models." Kairi chuckled.

"Anyway, I have a question, for my curiosity to be fed." Aleah turned to Kairi and SZE. "Are you two together?" Aleah asked. The duo shakes their heads. "Why?"

"We have our references." SZE flatly commented.

"I see her as a sibling," Kairi commented. Aleah blinked at them and just nodded.

"I didn't expect that you two would be so blunt about it," Renejay said.

"Well, the management wants us to keep our mouth shut because our rumor makes the fans feel more intrigued although it would make us lose a chance to have a special person." SZE rolled her eyes.

"You're free to like someone though, why would they not allow you for it?" Yskaela asked.

"That's how the industry works. And we've also signed a contract for it so we couldn't fight for it." SZE sighed. Aleah felt sorry for SZE.

"The fans can also make a huge impact towards positive or negative scale, we all don't want to have a negative review on them as they are the reason why we are successful," SZE added.

"But, aren't Kairi was in a relationship before? How would you say that if you two hadn't tried it yet?" Renejay teased which made Kairi and SZE glare at him.

"We don't like each other!" Kairi and SZE hissed in unison. Renejay raised both of his hands as a sign of defeat.

"You don't have to say it so angrily though, I was just suggesting." Renejay looked away. Kairi was observing Aleah's reaction to that. Yskaela only smiled and laughed at them.

"By the way, one of my friends mentioned that he has a crush on Yskaela. Should I introduce you to him if you like?" Aleah suddenly asked Yskaela. Yskaela pursed her lips, she is shy.

"Um, I--- uhm.." Yskaela couldn't say anything because she was suddenly put in a hot seat.

"Don't stress yourself out. No pressure. I was just wondering if you would like to. I'm not forcing you though." Aleah assured her.

"Maybe in another day?" she shyly replied to Aleah.

Aleah smiled. "Sure, just DM me on Instagram." Yskaela looked down but was smiling. Renejay was teasing Yskaela for finally agreeing to a blind date. SZE is smiling while looking at them and glancing at the shoot whereas Kairi is busy observing Aleah.

Renejay noticed how Kairi was looking at Aleah. He could sense that something was up with Kairi but didn't manage to tease him because Aleah might get uncomfortable with them and could leave anytime.

'I should tease him when Aleah's not here.' Renejay thought in sinister.

Aleah was having fun chatting with them until she was suddenly reminded of something.

'hm? Now that I think about it? why is Joanna's team becoming ECHO instead of Bren?' she was confused.

A/N

Hi~ Hi~ I've decided to publish the chapter a day earlier because there will be a conflict with my schedule tomorrow~ 

I'll try to update on the fixed schedule next time~ as compensation, I will update on Thursday as well. 

I hope you will also enjoy some of my other works as well. Just visit my profile.

Happy Reading~