Shadow of A Rose

Chapter 5

"Friendship is the hardest thing in the world to explain. It's not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything."- Muhammad Ali

"His name is Kyle Crawford. Twenty three, freelance photographer. He's quite tall, though on the thinner side. He'll compliment you well." Jenna smiled to herself, her eyes twinkling. "We've done a thorough background check. He's clean. Doesn't smoke or do drugs. Social drinker. Studies journalism at NYU."

"Another Journo? Haven't they given me enough trouble already?" Asked Yvonne, annoyed. "Besides, how do we know he's not going to sell this information to some tabloid?"

"He has a low profile, he's studying at a good Uni and he's desperate for that interview. He will do as we say. In any case, you could always 'break up' with him after the ball so he can't use it to his advantage," she said, making quotation sign with her fingers. "Besides, I can read people well. He looks like an honest and hard working young man. And you could do with a journo on your side for a change."

She paused, taking a look at the picture again. "Look at those big blue eyes. He's quite handsome, don't you think?" She asked, smiling a little wider.

Yvonne could see that she was enamored by the man and was curious to see what was so attractive about this guy, so she took the picture from Jenna.

A slight smile came to her own lips as Yvonne looked at the man in the awkwardly taken picture. He had short, dirty blonde hair, a toothy, dimpled smile and an aquiline nose. His big blue eyes were his best feature, though. They held a certain innocence and she felt drawn to them.

"Sorry to interrupt," Gordon spoke, entering the office, "but Dana's come to visit you. Should I send-"

"Yvy! Oh my gosh!" The door burst open and Dana ran right past Gordon, dressed in a lilac summer dress, her red hair flying out of the stylish coiffure she had pulled it into.

"I watched the news and I flew in from Paris as soon as I could. Those stupid reporters, how mean! Let me give you a hug! My poor baby!" Yvonne sat stiffly as Dana engulfed her in a warm, tight hug and smothered her head with kisses.

She had first met Dana about four years ago at a charity auction for homeless children run by DLC, Dana's fashion label. Yvonne soon found herself asking her to be her personal designer.

She had grown up in the lap of luxury in a plush mansion in Beverly Hills, with a movie star mother, film director father and fashion model sister. Having been born with a silver spoon, she had never really seen hard times in her life and it hurt her to see other people suffering.

Her heart was much bigger than her bank balance and she put a large portion of her earnings into the many welfare organizations she had started. It had taken Yvonne some time before she could get used to the cheerful, vivacious personality of Dana and they had been inseparable ever since then, despite being stark opposites.

"Dana, I'm fine. Really." Her voice was muffled by the frills on Dana's shoulder. Just as her surprise wore off, Dana pulled away abruptly, grasping Yvonne's face in her hands.

"Also, what's with the 'personal life, private' that I don't know about?" She said, making the quote sign with her fingers. "I go away for seven days and you find yourself a boyfriend!"

Yvonne really wanted to talk, but she had a lot of work to finish.

"I'm really busy right now. We'll talk about this later." She gently pushed her hands away and stood up. "Jenna, please follow me. We have to set plan for the inauguration and I need to make a schedule for next week. I also need details on the Madrid project," she said, picking up a couple of files from her table.