Back in her office, Maria finally let her emotions spill over.
Both hands planted firmly on the desk, her chest heaved as she struggled to catch her breath.
Her head hung low, gasping for air like she was trying to hold herself together with every shaky inhale.
That scene between James and Amelia played on a constant loop in her mind, tormenting her more with each replay.
She’d imagined this scenario countless times in her head, thought she could handle it.
But reality hit her like a punch straight to the gut.
The moment she saw him again, she knew it—she hadn’t moved on.
Not really.
She even secretly wished things could go back to how they were.
So all her calm and snarky attitude earlier?
Just armor.
Just her way of faking strength to protect herself.
But now that James was about to get engaged to Amelia, whatever tiny hope she had left was pointless.
From now on, they’d be complete strangers—well, coworkers at best, and even that sounded cold.
She slumped into her chair, leaned back, and closed her eyes.
A single tear slipped silently from the corner of her eye.
Then came a knock at the door, and Grace’s voice rang out, “Ms.
Lewis, are you there?”
Maria quickly wiped her cheek and ran her fingers through her hair before saying, “Come in.”
Grace peeked in and walked over carefully.
“Tina just called—we’ve got two artists who need your makeup at the set.
The car’s already waiting outside.
I’ll go with you and assist.”
That’s the gig.
Stylists had to roll with whatever the clients needed.
Running around all day was part of the deal.
Maria nodded, thinking a change of scene might actually do her good.
She grabbed her makeup case and headed out with Grace, who insisted on carrying it herself.
The two actresses were booked for the same reality show and thankfully, they were super chill and easy to work with.
Maria tailored their looks to suit their features—one more delicate, the other edgy and fierce.
Once she’d finished, both stars were over the moon, oohing and aahing over themselves in the mirror.
They practically begged her to be their personal makeup artist.
Maria just smiled and turned them down gently, explaining she was under contract with the company.
They looked genuinely bummed.
On the way back, Grace was all wide-eyed and grinning, practically glowing with admiration as she looked at Maria.
“What’s up?” Maria asked, noticing Grace staring at her without blinking.
Thinking there might be something on her own face, she reached up and brushed her cheek with her fingers.
“Ms.
Lewis, you’re amazing!” Grace’s face lit up, all excited like a happy puppy.
“I always freak out doing makeup for two actresses at once.
Like, if one thinks she doesn’t look as good as the other, she’ll flip and totally take it out on me.
But you?
You handled it all like a total pro.
That was seriously cool.”
Yeah, juggling more than one celeb at a time wasn’t easy.
Some had a real attitude—they’d nitpick who goes first, who looks better.
The second they started comparing, it could all go downhill fast.When one girl’s makeup turns out better than the other’s, drama’s bound to happen.
Some clients can get so nasty, they’ll say anything, and it’s usually the makeup artist who ends up getting hurt.
Grace looked barely past twenty—still pretty young to deal with all this mess.
Maria couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for her.
She said softly, “You’re too innocent.”
These past few days, Grace had been working her heart out, always so focused and full of passion.
It wasn’t easy not to get pulled along by that energy.
Every time Maria caught that determined look in her eyes, it would hit her differently.
In her, Maria saw a glimpse of her younger self.
Back then, she had that same kind of innocence.
But unlike Grace, she didn’t really know what she wanted.
Grace knew her goals and worked hard for them.
Maria had been all caught up in James, her head lost in the clouds.
It wasn’t until his mom flipped on her that she finally realized James never saw her as someone he’d marry.
Maria went quiet for a few seconds, then suddenly spoke up.
“I’ve got your back.
I’ll do whatever I can.
Oh, and don’t call me Ms.
Lewis anymore—just call me Maria.
It’s more chill that way.”
“Really?
That’s awesome!” Grace beamed, clearly thrilled.
The driver, from the Bennett corp, was the one behind the wheel.
Maria rolled down her window, leaned out just a bit into the breeze, and stared at the unfamiliar streets outside.
For a moment, she wished the wind could blow away all the junk messing with her head.
Her phone started buzzing—it was a number she didn’t recognize.
She picked up, a bit wary.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Ms.
Lewis?
This is Michael Turner—Charlie Cruz’s manager.
Sorry to bother you like this, but I wanted to ask something.”
The second Maria heard his voice, she could picture Michael hunching over the phone, grinning like a suck-up.
“What’s up?”
“Well, every time Charlie finishes a styling session, we usually post on Twitter to thank the stylist and tag them.
Would you be okay if we tagged your account this time?”
Maria chuckled.
She knew what Charlie was up to—this was just a slick move to give her account a boost and win her favor.
Not gonna lie, Michael knew how to play the game.
“Sure, my Twitter handle’s Maria.”
Not wanting to hear more flattery, she added, “If that’s all, I’ll hang up now.”
The car wasn’t that big, so even without speaker mode, Grace had caught most of it.
She frowned and asked, “How’d Michael get your number?”
Maria smiled a little, “If he couldn’t even manage that, he wouldn’t have made it as a manager.”
Grace nodded, suddenly understanding.
Charlie was a big name, no doubt.
The moment Michael tagged Maria on Twitter, her followers shot up by over a hundred thousand in just thirty minutes—faster than some so-called top-tier celebs.
Honestly, if this were during a release season, she wouldn’t even get close to the real trending stars.
Charlie’s fans even started digging up her past styling gigs.
For a moment, she got enough buzz to land on the trending page.
It didn’t last long, though.
Soon, other hotter hashtags pushed her back down again.