Twice Beyond A Time

| Chapter III ~ Upper-Class Book Writer |

Blair wakes up from her comfortable sleep, wishing she could sleep for a thousand years, like sleeping beauty.

She sits up and removes her rose gold blindfold, then changes her silk pajamas into the strapless thunder grey dress that she bought from Oscar De La Renta in her walk-in closet.

It has been a day since Blair encountered the so-called "Unhappy Man", and has been intimidated by him since. She does not know why-she just is.

Someone knocks on her bedroom door and destroys Blairs thought of the Unsmiling Man.

"Would you like some coffee Blair?" Asks Mia, peeping through the door, so that she doesn't invade Blairs privacy.

"No. I don't want anything. Please leave." Orders Blair.

"You're not going to write a book, aren't you?" Whines Mia, with a disappointed look.

"Probably not," Blair replies, swiftly, "What's in for me today?"

"Well, you have a conference meeting with your Macmillan CEO at 6pm," Explains Mia, "After that they're offering a Superior Dinner with all the members included in your latest published book."

"Is that all?" Muttered Blair, tiredly.

"Well, you also have a meet and greet with fans at the El Ateneo Grand Splendid National Library," Continues Mia, "Which will last for an hour."
Blair sighs and motions Mia to get out of the room. Mia obeys Blairs requirement and closes the door behind her. Blair whines tiredly and lays back on her messy bed.

The truth is, Blair does not want to be the world's most famous Author-She just wants to live a normal life and have fun.

When Blair was young, she had a huge passion for writing books, she loved reading other people's books and getting inspiration from them. She was admired by books and her life was tremendous. A young CEO from a popular novel company, Pan Macmillan, hired her to be their famous author.

When she reached her mid 20s, she lost all her passion. She wanted to drink, smoke and shop all day long. She grew tired of writing books, but since she was already a popular book writer-there was no turning back. Everyone around her forced her to write books in order to gain money and popularity, but Blair didn't like it. Her CEO, Casper Macmillan loved getting feedback and popularity from fans all across the world, but Blair was decaying inside.

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

Blair opens her eyes, surprised the sun is a golden honey colour. She took a long nap, she checks her bedside clock, it is now 5:17pm, and someone is at the door.

"What do you want!" Blair shouts, worn out from her nap that seemed like a deep sleep.

"You better change now!" Says a soft voice on the other side of the door, "You're going to be late for your conference meeting!"

Blair sighs and sits up, and walks in her closet. She comes back out wearing a medium length, rosewood peach coloured silk dress, finalised with roses and plants dancing shoulder to waist of her dress. She takes her wide frame sunglasses, so she doesn't get exposed to ugly faces outside, and wears her dark brown platform heels. Her black hair is curled to the side and she is now ready for the conference.

Blair exits her room and walks to her car, with Mia following behind her wearing a yellow and black dot patterned jumpsuit with a white and black belt around her waist.

"Ready for your meeting, Ms. Livingston?" Asks Mia before Blair hops in her car.

"Yep," Replies Blair, "If I wasn't ready I wouldn't be here, right? Sit in the back please."

~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~ ~ ~~

Blair pulls over to a parallel parking in front of Shangri-La Hotel, a 5 star hotel in Australia, it is also where the conference and dinner is held.

As soon as Blair exits her car, she sees a red carpet in front of the hotel's entryway. She walks over the red carpet, as if she was really at a red carpet awards ceremony. Blair only motions Mia to stay behind her as she enters the hotel.

There are some cameras inside the hotel-maybe 5, 10 pairs of cameras. They all click and shine as they catch images of Blair as she walks to the convention room, where the meeting is held.

Two hotel staff lead Blair and Mia to the convention room, as soon as the staff open the door for them, all eyes are on Blair. The room has a dozen sets of long tables, and fancy chairs, each topped with wine glasses filled with water. There is a wide screen at the front, and also a separate chair and table for the chairperson-which will be Blair.

Blair walks to the front and sits in her own private chair. Mia sits within the large rows of tables and chairs. Hotel staff offers her a glass of water and puts it on her table. Blair smiles lightly, her rosewood red lipstick attracting many people.

"We may begin the meeting." Blair says, lightly bowing her head while smiling.

The people surrounding her start murmuring, mumbling, and talking above each other.

"Miss Livingston," A voice yells loudly within the mumbles and conversations. The man stands up. It is Blair's assistant manager, Matthew Garcia, or how Blair calls him, Garcia.

"When are you going to produce your next book?" He says, raising his hand up as he stands from his chair.

"That's not what we're going to talk about," Says Blair, checking her nails while she sits feet up on her chair, "But I am working on it. I guess."

Garcia sits back in his chair and takes a sip of water from his cup.

"Okay, moving on..." Blair continues, flipping through pages of a book, "We are talking about the price of my next book. What are you all thinking?"

One guy within the row of desks raises his hand up.

"It depends on the quality of the book." He says, smiling confidently.

"Yes, but I'm sure my books are to a high standard, don't you think?" replies Blair, giving him a serious stare, "Where should the price range at? My book is a fantasy based book, what are you thinking everybody?"

Another person raises his hands.

"Let's start at 15 and move on from there." Says a woman in the crowd.

Blair checks her watch.

"Perfect. Meeting dismissed," Blair says, as she gets up from her seat, "Time for dinner, where are we all going?"

A soft murmur interrupts Blair as staff lead her out of the conference room. She hears words like, "Seriously?" "It wasn't even five minutes!"

Blair sighs and turns to her manager and CEO, Casper Macmillan. His grey hair, glasses and grey tuxedo make him look professional. No one knows the truth like Blair does.

"Where is dinner?" Asks Blair, not giving eye contact to Mr. Macmillan.

"Really Blair?" Casper replies, also avoiding eye contact with Blair, "You can't survive even 10 minutes in a meeting?"
"Well, you know me," Replies Blair, scratching the back of her neck, "If I want something, I want it now. Now answer my question."

Casper sighs before answering her question.

"We're having it at Disfrutar, a five star Spanish restaurant."

"Beautiful," Blair replies, her straight face turning into a soft smile, "Mia, let's go to the restaurant."