This Time

Chapter 2: Fall from grace

More than two years ago...

"I heard about what happened," Nellie said as she strolled confidently inside the study that Bruce utilizes as his unofficial office for his budding entertainment agency. The agency he conceptualized with Wayne when things became too suffocating back at their former agency but now he has to manage everything alone when the other man suddenly decided to renew his contract with their former agency leaving Bruce out in the cold.

"It's none of your business, " Bruce replied flatly as he wondered about hiring a secretary who wouldn't easily be bullied to let anyone barge into him when he doesn't want to be disturbed.

"Aww, you shouldn't be treating me like that," Nellie pouted coyly but Bruce didn't have the patience to deal with his colleague's cutesy antics. He never found them cute before and just finds them totally abhorrent after knowing what lengths this girl would go through for fame.

"Why should I even care? I don't even know why you keep on trying to involve yourself with me, with us," Bruce lashed out spitefully as he started gathering all the papers that Wayne was supposed to peruse with him but was not able to because of how their last conversation ended earlier. He was sure their voices were so loud everyone from the building would have been able to summarize everything they argued about before Wayne left the place in a huff, leaving all their plans in limbo.

"I could be your first artist," Nellie demurred as she slid into the chair pressed against Bruce's mahogany desk. It's the chair Wayne usually occupies if they are supposed to act professionally and if he is not sitting on Bruce's lap.

"If I couldn't get Wayne to join me in my new company, I would not take any other artist," Bruce enunciated his last seven words with conviction but the woman didn't even flinch at the outright rejection.

"Then why put up your own agency in the first place?" Nellie placed a dainty hand on her cheek and leaned forward using her elbow on the table as support.

"I just wanted to be free from our previous company. They keep forcing projects down our throats," Bruce breathed out harshly. He doesn't feel uncomfortable talking about these things to a colleague he isn't even close with but with all the emotions bottled up inside him at the moment, he felt like he would explode if he couldn't vent out to someone immediately.

"You need those projects to stay relevant. You can't keep doing BL forever," Nellie mouthed the last five words disdainfully as she made a show of blatantly checking out the gorgeous man in front of her. She even acted with the pair on their BL project as a side character and she would forever resent the fact that another man was given the limelight more than her untapped potential.

"What's wrong with doing BL? It's what made us famous," Bruce narrowed his eyes at the woman who is now openly flirting with him using her eyes and body language.

"It's one thing to star in a BL, another thing to actually practice BL even behind the scenes," Nellie arched a perfectly trimmed eyebrow as she dropped the bomb she had been holding back all this time. She would forever detest the fact that when people talk about the phenomenal BL series, her name was always uttered like some pathetic afterthought even if she had lots of screen time. Nobody ever paid attention to what she contributed to the series enough and it had her feeling bitter enough to disassociate with everything related to that series and try to find her own niche overseas only to come out empty-handed years later, despite her best efforts.

"What are you insinuating?" Bruce felt an odd sense of foreboding enveloping him as he sensed the dark energy emanating from the woman in front of him. Damn, I would need to have this room and the entire office cleansed after I kick her out for good. He thought to himself absently even as he braced himself for the revelation he knew was coming.