Paparazzi

Chapter Five: Rafael / Julianna

𝙄𝙢𝙥𝙤𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙗𝙮 𝙅𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙚 𝙍𝙚𝙮𝙚𝙯 𝙛𝙚𝙖𝙩. 6𝙡𝙖𝙘𝙠

𝗬𝗼𝘂'𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲
𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗲 𝗜 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽
𝗚𝗲𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗯𝘆 𝗴𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗺𝗲
𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗢𝗗 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗴𝗲𝘁 𝘁𝗼𝗼 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝗺𝗲

______________________________________

RAFAEL

APRIL 2020

His heartbeat increased slightly when she opened his car door and sat in the front seat. It was the first time Jules entered his car—usually they met each other at the designation for lunch or coffee, but after Raf's unexpected and drunken decision to invite her to Luna's party tonight, he couldn't back out of it.

You dumb-dumb, he said to himself after waking up at noon and checking his messages again, realizing what he'd done. There was no way he could disguise himself as the person Jules thought he was when they were surrounded by A-list celebs who knew him as Rafael Vazquez, Spanish actor and infamous news-rascal.

He spent a good chunk of the afternoon figuring out solid ways to cancel, but there wasn't a reason good enough to convince him not to see her. Even though he'd risk giving up the pretense of being a normal albeit rich person, the urge to be with her was louder than the sirens ringing in the back of his head.

As he glanced at her in the passenger seat, glamoured like a stylish disco ball, he felt blessed he didn't cancel. "Te ves divina," he said. She wore a shimmering crop top and black high-waisted pants that were wide around her ankles, it almost looked like she was wearing a skirt.

"You said it was a fancy party, right?" Jules shrugged. "I dusted off my party clothes." She settled in the seat, her hands around the clutch that matched her top. "I can't believe you got invited to Luna So Min's party. She's legendary, isn't she?"

"Yeah, you know her?" he asked, pulling into the street and following the directions on his phone.

"Uh, not really. But I had a friend who admired her." She turned the opposite way to look out the window.

"I've recently gained a lot of contacts," he said, trying not to lie to her if he could help it. "Luna's my new jeweler. I wanted to support her new collection coming out."

"That's so sweet of you," she said, shifting her focus back to him, a soft smile appearing between her rosy cheeks.

It took his breath away, but he tried not to notice the butterflies in his stomach. He was too afraid to confront these sudden feelings, so familiar yet excitingly new to him.

"Thanks for coming with me. I didn't think you'd say yes." He didn't know he'd invite her in the first place. "You don't seem to be with the party scene much, no?"

She touched her arm, her eyes on the floor. "Not so much anymore. I'm actually surprised I said yes, too." She chuckled, biting her lower lip. "I guess I was excited to hang out with you."

***

JULIANNA

As soon as she stepped foot on the premises, flashbacks of her last party with Frenchie came rushing in like a tidal wave. The confidence she mustered as she pampered herself, talking through the motions with mini pep-talks, began to wither.

Getting ready, she'd told herself that her body was a home in which she was blessed to wake up to, like a familiar friend. As she ironed her hair, she repeated to herself in the mirror that beauty was nothing more than a reflection of our own thoughts. And finally, when she painted her face with makeup, she celebrated the art she could portray using her skin as a canvas.