Chapter 46: Bus Incidents And Media

The day after that day, I received a phone call around 6am. Wondering who the caller was, I sleepily reached for the phone. A migraine from last night’s drinking hit my head, making me groan out.

“Eleanor,” A raspy and somewhat silent voice called out. My brows wriggled in confusion, the minute I recognized the voice.

“Margaret,” I uttered. My mind drifted to a lot of things as I wondered what exactly was the problem was. She didn’t reply abruptly. And that led to a rapid beat of my heart.

It made me wonder if something was off. It took some seconds for her to actually speak up.

“You need to show up at the office right now.” she said. I was about to say something when she hung up the phone.

That was the one sentence got me worrying a lot...

And, it meant a lot to me.

Because she was my manager and when something was off, this was just how she reacted.

And this was something fearful.

Lot of thoughts roamed through my head. I looked at the Chloe’s sleeping figure on the other side of the bed. I also begun to remember how we had partied so much last night.

Not ending up with some random dude was definitely a miracle. I mean, Chloe was the die-hard party girl and the master of shipping. So... something definitely made her show up back at the house with me.

“You need to show up at the office right now.”

I sprung up from my bed, only to hit Chloe’s sleeping figure.

“Get lost, b*tch.” she said, rolling over and sleeping more comfortably. I scoffed at her. A sense of déjà vu hit me as I remembered this exact scene happening in the past. It was something as similar as this too.

Breathing it off, I stood up to get ready.

…

Since there was no time for the company’s chauffeur to show up, I went with public transport. I definitely made sure that I followed Margaret’s tutorials, on disguising when in public.

Thus, I used some black shades and a lengthy scarf to cover my features so no paparazzi caught a trace of me. I discreetly entered the bus, sitting down in a way that I wasn’t noticed.

There were two females sitting right behind me. They were engrossed in a conversation. At first, I didn’t show any sign of interest but when they made mention of something, that spiked my interest immediately.

“Did you hear of the news?” The first one asked.

“What news?” The other replied.

“It’s the model, Nikki Fox.” The girl stated.

“What about her?” she asked again.

“I heard she got arrested for trafficking on her trip to Mexico,” she muttered.

“Oh my God!” The other gasped so loudly. My eyes moved in abrupt shock at the declaration.

“You see what I said the other time? These celebrities are bad people and shouldn’t be trusted. They always have some bad history attached to them,” The first girl retorted.

My hands snapped in fury as she uttered those words. People had a way of judging without knowing the real truth. I sure wasn’t going to let her get away with this!

Thus, from where I sat, I made out these words.

“How can you be so sure of that? What makes you believe this unproven fact?” I directed to her straight-forwardly, clenching my teeth in anger. My face was in a frown at how insensitive people could really be.

“W-Who are you? Why do you care about Nikki Fox? Is she paying you for this? You don’t even know her so why are you so angry?” The first girl asked in a defensive stance. People were already beginning to stare at us.

Thus, I smiled that instant.

“Tsk tsk,” I sighed out.

“My identity isn’t something I would have loved to reveal. But since you asked, I might as well tell you. I...”

Here goes nothing.

My reached for my sunglasses. I removed it with the scarf I had use to cover myself.

“…am Nikki Fox.” I stated. The girl immediately let out a gasp. It was almost like she began to hyper ventilate that moment.

“I-It can’t possibly be...How can y-you b-be?” she stuttered letting out.

“It’s really Nikki Fox…” The second female trailed out with surprised.

 “Oh my God! It’s Nikki Fox!” she gulped. Everyone let out a gasp too. And in less than a second, I was surrounded by cameras. Flashes of me were instantly taken from every angle. My hands moved to cover my eyes from the flashes.

I hated getting this amount of attention from people.

And, just great Eleanor, you managed to attract this amount of attraction.

I wasn’t even giving a chance to call the girl who insulted my name. The crowd were all too much. I thanked my stars when I arrived Pink Moda. Thus, I quickly got in. People from the bus had tried to follow me in, but they were held up by the security guards.

…

I didn’t miss the pitiful glares that came from the co-workers when I got in. In a way, it was so contrary to the looks of appreciation I had gotten the last time I was here. It made me wonder what was going on.

I didn’t understand until I saw Leah running to me.

“Nikki, thank goodness you’re here! There is an issue with the press in relation to you. They say you got arrested in Mexico for trafficking,” she whispered out to me.

“Yeah that happened. But Boss Liam knows it was all a set-up. Why are people making a mountain out of this?” I asked, shrinking my nose.

“You don’t understand.” she uttered. Her red hair was in a tight stylish bun. And her freckles weren’t so visible from the makeup. There was a fearful look in her eyes.

“Big James is around. He’s —”

“Here you are, Eleanor. Come on, let’s go in.” Margaret interrupted, rushing in. She pulled my hands and I wasn’t given a chance to ask Leah for more information.

I noticed a certain uptightness the minute we got in the conference hall. There had been chattering before but the moment we walked in, everyone turned silent.

The four bosses were seated on the chair as usual. But something different lurked on their features. They all wore a stoic and hopeless expression. And, it didn’t exclude Liam or Jackson.

As I walked forward, I felt Liam’s gaze sweep on me. It was something swift but still alluring, so mysterious. I almost gasped when I noticed there was another man in the room like Leah had said.

Big James.

His expression was a rugged one, which suited him for a business man. While his haircut; a bald one which left a minimal amount of hair at the sides of his head. It was like nothing had changed from the time I had last seen him. There was the same moustache that spread out his lip line.

“What’s going on here?” I questioned, unsure of what move to make right at this moment. Boss Devereaux stood up and walked to the visual display. Her hand reached for the remote and a news began to play. Tapes of various news casters immediately commenced.

“Breaking news! Model Nikki Fox is a dirty one after all. See the insiders of how she traffics people in Mexico.”

Wait what?

“Nikki Fox got arrested for being involved in a dirty crime she tried so much to hide. But, as always, the truth will always prevail.”

What was happening?

“Witnesses also claim she was involved in verbal assault to a resort’s receptionist.”

I gulped immediately.

Verbal assault to the receptionist? That female asked for it. Why did the media have to lie at all times? Was this even necessary?

“B-But, none of those are true. T-They aren’t even real, it’s all a set up. The receptionist was the rude one. B-Boss Liam was there to witness it all,” I defended myself immediately.

“Enough!” Big James interrupted, slamming his hands on the conference table and standing up abruptly.

“You must really be from a bad home. Instead of owning up to these offences, you’re still trying to sneak your way in and seduce my son? What gives you this right?!!” he yelled out his guts.

I knew it wasn’t just what was happening here that made him react this way. It was definitely the dinner from the other day when I defended myself too. That obviously spiked fury in him and outpouring it was the best option he could do.

“Your contract with Pink Moda is hereby annulled, Eleanor. Pack up your things and leave to the slum you came from.” he seethed, throwing that amount of insult at me.