Chapter 8 To Be Or Not To Be

• Chapter eight
• I still can't believe what I saw.
• I mean, I wouldn't be surprised by something like that from him due to his bipolarity, but I didn't know that dark side of his personality.
• Imagine hitting a paparazzi.
• And me... I was caught in the middle of the furious photographer and the millionaire Ricky Rich, and I don't even know how I managed to get him out of there amidst all the people.
• He really looked like a bodyguard.
• Maybe when I'm seventy and no longer a forensic scientist, I'll consider becoming a bodyguard because I'm really good at it, although I think I need to practice so that my client doesn't end up bankrupt.
• Here in the car again, I'm silent, just like Don Mastodon, whom I won't speak to again.
• Stupid!
• Blaming me for everything.
• I didn't ask him to take me out to eat.
• Stupid!
• I think you haven't stopped calling him stupid in your mind since you got in the car.
• And I won't stop. He's stupid!
• Stupid!
• Although I'm amazed that for the first or second time, my mind is on my side and I can't help but hear the sound of the car" Mr. Wade, you have an incoming call from Matias.
• "Answer it.
• "Hey brother, how are you? Causing trouble at the TV station again, it's all over the shows that you punched a paparazzi and that you were with the "I didn't let him finish the sentence and hung up.
• disable Bluetooth.
• I don't blame him, I don't trust him either.
• His phone rings and he answers the call.
• I look towards the horizon where my landscape is filled with buildings and continue to listen to his animated conversation.
• He sighs"Never say it like that again... No, but I know it will be difficult for me... Maybe... Well, brother... Leave her, she has the right to... You know how they are... Yes, yes..."He laughs and I turn to look at him.
• He looks even more handsome when he smiles.
• WHAT HAVE I BEEN THINKING?
• "Relax, she has the right to... Okay, hang up... I'm driving, idiot... "He puts the phone on the counter and a huge silence settles in"Are you still hungry?
• Of course I'm hungry, besides being all dirty. I internally deny and struggle with whether to tell him the truth or not.
• "..."It's an effort to stay silent when my stomach growls and claws at me to be fed.
• As if I were a cat.
• "Come on, don't be mad"My eyebrows furrow"Oh! are you embarrassed because you didn't buy anything to change your clothes" I roll my eyes.
• I still remember how crazy it was after the flashes.
• Flashback
• I take my eyes off his neck marked by a slut, because he wouldn't have done what he did on the first day if he had a girlfriend, it's the most logical explanation, so I deduce that it's from a damn pasty bitch with a snake"like face and a monkey"like body.
• Hmm, to be or not to be.
• What thing?
• Nothing!
• I quickly move away from him and cover my face with my hands because of the amount of lights that keep flashing on my face, while he stands there posing with a furrowed brow. I look back and see Mrs. Marta falling over all the lighting, I turn around and help her husband sit her down.
• My face must say it all.
• I'm angry.
• I grab Wade and push him into the dressing room "Take that off and stay in there.
• "It's not like I'm going anywhere else half"naked" he rolls his eyes.
• "I'm not joking, give me money to pay already" he passes the clothes over the door of the dressing room.
• "There's a wallet inside the pants, take what you need" I start walking towards them, still being photographed, and they make way, creating a path full of flashes.
• How do celebrities endure this?
• I walk past them and some follow me while others stay in the dressing room trying to photograph the great businessman. In the distance, I see some reporters running towards me with their cameramen, and I can deduce that they are gossip shows.
• Where are the warehouse security guards when you need them?
• I turn to look at my destiny a few steps away and hurry, I arrive, move to the emptiest line, and it's very late.
• "Miss, how does it feel to have California's most eligible bachelor with you?" I ignore the comment and the reporter continues, "apparently, he doesn't like television. Ladies at home, how would you rate him from one to ten?" I ignore her comment and as soon as that, the line of two people disappears and it's my turn.
• "Good afternoon. How are you, affiliate?" The cashier welcomes me with a wide smile, and I start passing the items, of course not without taking out Wade's wallet first. He would kill me if I lose it.
• I shake my head. "Good afternoon. I'm not an affiliate, sorry." She smiles, and for a moment, I forget that I'm being recorded. "Does this store have security?" She nods in response. "You can call them, I can't stand this." She nods, turns, and picks up a phone hanging on the wall to her right.
• "Please, please, store security, code three twelve, please come to register number three." Her voice is heard throughout the place, and in an instant, I see five men dressed in black coming down the escalators.
• One of them stands behind me, and the others surround the crowd. "Gentlemen, you are kindly asked to leave the premises, as our customers do not feel comfortable with your presence." I look over my shoulder as the reporter clenches her jaw and turns towards the cameras.
• "It seems that the little girlfriend doesn't like the gossip so much that she even made the security of this rundown store come to kick us out..." She doesn't finish speaking when a security guard intervenes, crossing his arms in front of the camera.
• "Ma'am, I told you to leave." The reporter acts indignant and storms off, acting like the queen of the world, along with her partner. "All of you gentlemen who are bothering the customers, I order you to leave, or I will be forced to take action." Each of the reporters leaves, but not without taking photos, of course.
• I sigh. Finally, I can feel peace within me.
• I return to reality with the cashier. "Thank you for calling them and getting them out of here. I felt like I was suffocating, and I'm sorry if I didn't pay attention to you. Now, how much is it?" I say, opening Don Ricachon's wallet.
• She smiles kindly. "It's twenty"eight dollars and thirty cents."
• See why I like to shop at cheap stores? This is cheap and nice, elegant, and best of all, they are brand"name clothes at a good price. I open my wallet, and the first thing I see is huge amounts of money on a single bill. Wait a moment, does this man only have hundred and five"hundred"dollar bills?
• I check the extra pockets and only find a bunch of credit cards.
• What kind of alien have I encountered?
• "He's just a person like you and me, except with loads of money. Get with the program, darling."
• I furrow my eyebrows, take out a hundred"dollar bill, and hand it to the cashier with the most pitiful smile possible.
• Intense heat rises on my face, and I hide my face in my hands. "Don't be embarrassed. It's rare to see people paying with these bills here. You guys are definitely the first."
• What do you mean, "you guys"?
• "There was a lady who also came, but unfortunately, she died. It was a great disappointment for everyone, but that's life." She hands me the bag and searches the cash register for my change, or well, "his" change. I take it and look directly into her eyes with a certain tenderness, smile, and turn to find the idiot in the fitting room. As I reach my destination, I observe from a distance that he is talking very animatedly with the people there.
• He has a very serious bipolar disorder.
• "Maybe he's not so bad."
• "You hide, get lost."
• "Where, in your head? Crazy!"
• "Can you stop calling us that?"
• "Okay, okay."
• Our eyes connect, and I quickly look away. How is it possible that he makes me feel embarrassed, the son of his mother? Especially when he's one of those womanizers who think they're worth everything.
• I try to appear as normal as possible, but it's as if my senses have been damaged because I feel an inexplicable rage, and I throw things at him. "Go in there and change quickly, we're leaving," I say, crossing my arms.
• He raises an eyebrow"What else? boss"攏ow it's my turn to raise an eyebrow, he quickly gets up"Alright, alright, I'm coming" he goes in to change.
• While I wait, I go over to Mrs. Martita"How are you feeling, better?"She nods and smiles.
• "Your boyfriend is too funny and flirtatious, you need to make him control that or else everyone will be attracted to him.
• I smile and shake my head"He's not my boyfriend, he's a friend of my mother's"I take a seat next to her.
• "But I thought, besides...
• I sigh"The thing is, you didn't let me speak"Wade comes out in all his glory and my gaze fixates on him from the tip of his shoes to the last strand of his hair.
• "What's wrong?
• "Nothing"I get up from the chair"Well, Mrs. Marta, I'll say goodbye, see you soon"She gets up and kisses me on the cheek.
• "Take care.
• "I will" I smile at her one last time and turn to leave the place and blend back into the crowd.
• I examine my outfit and see that it hasn't been damaged much, it even dried.
• I'll have to leave it like this.
• You're going to get scabies, brainless.
• I roll my eyes and follow Wade to the entrance of the venue, once outside we both blend in with the people, spinning, passing, turning to avoid the crowd of people who want a photo of him and an interview with him, but above all, to ask if we're a couple.
• I stumble into him and my face crashes into his body"There's one at the corner of the exit door, how will we leave without being seen?"He furrows his eyebrows and puts his index finger on his lips.
• What is that giant head thinking?
• My gaze goes to his forehead and the first thing I see is a prominent vein in the middle of it.
• Wow, this guy is ultra veiny.
• "I know. You'll go so they see you and run towards you, since you're skinny you can slip through the crowd and when you lose them, wait for me at the exit and I'll pick you up there.
• "But what an elaborate plan" I smile sarcastically and walk straight into sudden death.
• I take a deep breath and scream at the top of my lungs"WADEEEEEEEE, WHERE ARE YOU?" I make eye contact with the paparazzi and he runs towards me faster than a cheetah trying to catch its prey.
• I turn to look at my escape route and my entire view is filled with cameras and people running towards me.
• They're like lice, wherever you go, they'll be there.
• I quickly search for a way out and only see one clear exit. I run, saving my life from a massive avalanche of paparazzi, but as my bad luck always follows me wherever I go, they manage to catch up to me and squeeze me with questions.
• I ignore every comment and camera to focus on finding the spoiled brat.
• How many nicknames do you have for him?
• I don't know, focus or we'll die!
• I see him in the distance, inserting the card over and over again to exit the parking lot, and it keeps returning to his hands.
• Hurry up!
• I am turned towards a camera and notice the same intense reporter from earlier"Here we have the girlfriend running for her life again. What happened, my dear, did your Prince Charming leave you stranded?"I ignore every unnecessary comment from her and as if life hates me even more, I am pushed by all the cameramen around me and I go headfirst into the road.
• They will hear me, they will...
• "Who pushed her? "His authoritative tone makes everyone else feel so small and insignificant, they look like ants compared to him" I ask again, who was it?"He extends his hand and I take it to get up.
• "Well? Or do you want a lawsuit for invasion of privacy! "Luickly, everyone points to a cameraman with a diabolical laugh and all I can react to is the impact of the giant's fist on that man's face.
• All the tiles on the ground are covered in blood. He pulls me and pushes me.
• Oh yes.
• I push and shove him, he turns towards me angrily and I furrow my brows"Calm down and get inside, move, now!"My red face must be quite a spectacle for the whole country, I turn to the paparazzi"And as for you, you can stop bothering others, everyone has their privacy and you wouldn't like it if someone took pictures of you in the worst way or said senseless things about you.
• I open the car door and get in.
• "It's your fault, you should have hidden until I got there, but no"攏ow it's on me."
• He thinks I'm going to let him boss me around""DON'T YOU DARE SAY ANYTHING TO ME, IT ANNOYS ME THAT YOU'RE THE LEAST INVOLVED IN THIS AND IF I HAD KNOWN THAT ALL THIS WOULD HAPPEN, I WOULD HAVE WOKEN UP EARLY TO AVOID EVERYTHING THAT JUST HAPPENED""I shout at him and turn to look at the optional landscape.
• "Well, stop sleeping so much and you'll avoid that, and don't yell at me, you're nobody to do so"That made me feel embarrassed, I won't deny it, but I have to resist""Now you're going to apply the law of silence?"
• Who does he think he is?
• My mom?
• Well, no! He's screwed now.
• I won't talk to him.
• End flashback
• And that's how I ended up without clean clothes and without food and beaten up, now all I want is to arrive quickly. I see that we turn into a huge building with a pristine sign.
• Dhall Holding
• And not only is the sign pristine, the parking lots look like they're straight out of Disney. He parks his car in a row of luxury cars from largest to smallest and turns off the engine.
• Do things like this still exist?
• He gets out and I open the door, I immediately smell lavender, but with something else that I can't quite distinguish. I take a deep breath, enjoying the scent, grab my bag, and close the door. I see him walking towards an elevator""Come on, are you going to stay there?""I reach his side""Since you fell asleep in the car for about half an hour, I had them buy you some clothes and food as well. Another thing is that you won't have to suffer from being bothered anymore, I called my lawyer and he took care of the paparazzi so they'll stop bothering you. Don't worry, your photos or anything about you won't be shown, but they asked for a conversation with both of us in return"The elevator arrives, we enter, and he presses the last button, suddenly I feel those butterflies in my stomach as it starts going up.
• The elevator stops and the doors open, a blonde lady or woman greets him, completely ignoring me.
• Of course, it's all about him.
• "Sofia, I want you to take care of the lady with utmost care, take her to the rest room and then come to mine""How can he do that while walking?" "show her the bathroom and her clothes, also the food, and give her the remote so she can call you when she's ready, then take her to the third floor""He stops in front of a black door with a wolf doorknob" I raise my eyebrows, what do they or he have with wolves?
• "Understood, Mr. Wade""She turns around and there's no need for her to sway her hips to see that her figure is natural. She takes me back to where we started and turns towards the other hallway, at the end I can see a brown door and she opens it for me.
• Why is everything around him so beautiful?
• Why does it smell like mint?
• Why do I ask so many questions?
• "This is the rest room""She walks towards another black door""this is the master's room, please come in""I stop admiring everything and enter another room filled with lavender. I think all this lavender is making me dizzy""well, here's your food""She points to a box with a strange logo""here you can see your clothes""She points to some gift bags, then walks to another door""here's the bathroom, now""She grabs a black remote with a red button in the center""this is for when you're ready, that's all, I'll leave now""And she leaves me completely alone.
• The first thing I'll do is take a bath.
• I enter and see many jacuzzi"style bathroom items, if I wanted to get into the small jacuzzi, I would, but right now I just want a normal bath, as if I were at home. I strip off my clothes and step into the shower, quickly finishing my bath and stepping out of the bathroom. I walk towards the gift bags and find black jeans and a white shirt with large black dots, in another box I find small chocolate"colored boots, and in the smallest one, underwear.
• The person who bought it has a very imaginative mind.
• Hopefully it wasn't a man.
• I take everything in my arms and go to the bathroom to change, leaving my clothes in the bag I'm carrying. Once ready, I go outside to see what there is to eat.
• Finally, I'm starving.
• The exquisite aroma of chicken and rice reaches my nostrils, making my stomach growl again.
• So hungry and here I am with food untouched.
• I grab the plastic spoon and start eating. Just as I take the first bite of rice, the door opens and I see a presentable boy holding a bottle of soda in his left hand. But when he sees me, he stifles a laugh and swallows hard, causing my cheeks to turn red.
• Here I am with my mouth full and someone enters without warning, I feel threatened.
• Waiting for him to do something, I finish chewing and swallowing before speaking since the boy remains silent. "Tell me, what are you looking for?" He shakes his head and puts the soda on the coffee table. In a way, he looks somewhat like Ricky Rincon, but I'll dismiss that.
• "I was sent to bring this," he points to the soda and then leaves.
• What a strange guy.
• I finish eating and take the soda. I look for the remote control and press the button. A minute later, the same lady is in front of me. She points for me to follow her and I scan myself.
• I don't look too bad, do I?
• I grab my backpack and follow her to the elevator, where she presses the third button and it descends, making me feel dizzy. I'll never get used to elevators. The doors open and more than thirty teenagers turn to look at me.
• "This is where the instructions for the contest will be given," she says and leaves me there. I walk cautiously towards everyone and pay attention to what the man and woman in front are saying.
• "Well, if you're here, it's because you're the best from your institutions. It's worth mentioning that the competition will start tomorrow and it will be a diagnostic test to determine who is prepared and who is not. Now, since it's six in the evening, we're going to assign dormitories." They look for a list and start calling out names one by one until I hear my name and raise my hand. "Sara, you'll be with Paola." I look around and see a girl just as tall as me, with messy brown hair, walking towards me.
• "I'm Paola," she says and I nod as the couple continues to call out the other names. This is so weird. Why don't you speak?" "Should I talk to her or not?" "You're shy, I talk a lot." "Don't tell me." "Anyway, all I want is not to talk alone."
• I prefer not to say anything and just limit myself to smiling. They finish and instruct us to follow them. We go down the stairs until we reach the parking lot where there's a new gray hiace.
• "Everyone can get in and fit, but one of you will have to go in a separate car," the man observes me. "Sara, you'll go separately." I nod and separate from the line. As the transport leaves the parking lot, I see another man dressed in black coming out of the elevator and indicating for me to follow him. We arrive at a black meadow and he opens the door for me. He walks around the car and gets in.
• "Hello," I say and he looks at me through the rearview mirror. The engine roars to life and we drive off. I can see the entire city illuminated, so beautiful.
• The driver turns a couple of corners and the first thing I see is the brightly lit sign of a hotel.
• Las Estrellas.
• He enters the parking lot where I see the other kids' transport with everyone inside. The driver parks on the other side, turns off the engine, and quickly opens my door. I look at the crowd on the other side whispering, get out, and once again, I'm exposed to all the stares. I join the back of the line with Paola. Now that we're all together, we climb the stairs with our group and arrive at the reception.
• "Hello, I'm Malody. Each couple come to me to receive a set of keys to your room, courtesy of Mr. Dhall." She's an idiot. The receptionist gives each group a set of keychains, the least common of which is black, while the others are white. I suppose it's for the smaller room. When it's our turn, she looks at me carefully. "Name, please." I raise my eyebrows. Why does she need my name?
• Paola, seeing that I'm not answering, approaches to speak for me. "Sara, her name is Sara Poezyn."
• "Here's the key to your room," she hands me the black set of keys.
• This all seems very strange. Or maybe my bad luck is just a bit off.
• STOP BEING PESSIMISTIC.
• OKAY, OKAY.
• We are led back to the stairs and my body slumps.
• Again.
• You need to exercise, you already have enough with that belly of yours.
• I climb step by step at a turtle's pace until I reach the first floor"Find your rooms "I am about to start walking to search when I abruptly stop.
• This key cannot be for these rooms.
• I look around and see that there are no available rooms. I touch the shoulder of the man who brought us"Just a question, what is your name? "He looks at me from head to toe, surprised, and sighs with a smile.
• "Where were you when I said it, girl? My name is Santiago. Alright boys and girls, enter your respective rooms" he turns towards me" you enter the elevator with Paola and press the last button, when you arrive, walk through the hallway until you reach the door and that's your room "He leaves, leaving me speechless.
• "Let's go see our bedroom!"Paola raises her hands in celebration"Won't you say anything? "She presses the button to make the elevator open."Well, I'll have to get used to it.
• I sigh"You talk too much to be true "She turns to look at me with her eyes wide open"What? "Do I have a booger?
• "You spoke The elevator arrives, I enter and hold back my dizziness"Well, now let's feel those butterflies in our stomachs"She presses the last button and I close my eyes"Are you afraid of elevators? "I noddon't worry, they won't fall or anything, besides, look at the view.
• I open my eyes and see all of California lit up, full of lights, full of life and color. This is"Amazing.
• "It is, now stop staring and get out "I hadn't even realized we arrived, we cross the hallway and at the end, a black door decorates it"Move.
• I put the key in the lock, it unlocks and I can see everything, two large white beds, a gigantic television, a huge window, two nightstands, some phones.
• This is fabulous!
• I throw my bag on the right bed, run to the window and look outside. To think that my life isn't so bad after all, and here I was afraid of ending up poor on the streets.
• I turn around and see Paola on the left bed, only in her underwear"Finally peace"She collapses on the bed and falls into the arms of Morpheus.
• What a night.