"Isabella, this is Ted, the best man next to me in this building so far. Ted, this is my girlfriend, Isabella," Chase grinned as he looked at his co-worker and friend back to his adorable girlfriend. He would be lying if he said he wasn't feeling proud at the moment because heck, he was very. He didn't know introducing his lover to the people inside the building he was working at would be this exciting and good. Just good.
"Hello, nice to meet you," Isabella offered her hand to the man in eyeglasses and gave him a smile.
"Nice to finally meet you," Ted took and shook her hand, smiling back at Isabella. Chase found it awkward how Ted eyed his Isabella suspiciously though. He sighed as he remembered the last conversation they had about Isabella a month ago.
Ted excused himself after a few minutes, telling them he had a pile of recordings he needed to review. Chase followed after Ted, giving Isabella a quick kiss on the cheek before saying "I'll be back ASAP" and left Isabella with Chase's manager and assistants.
Isabella stared right at the see-through glass window separating her and Chase. Chase had his serious face so focused on the white sheets in front of him while typing on a keyboard beside him and tapping and clicking buttons on a device the name Isabella didn’t know of. She just knew it was for arranging and fixing songs his boyfriend enjoyed doing.
Isabella knew it was wrong for her to take this battle and risk everything. The moment she took her own body to the city, she knew right away the road she would travel was going to be tough.
She remembered the conversation she had with George the other day and she instantly felt a stab in her heart. It was heartbreaking, how George stared at her with those eyes. It was the same with Tristan's and Isabella felt terrible for being such a moron who didn't think twice before doing things. Such stupid, stupid things.
But it wasn't. Isabella knew everyone knew and could see how badly Isabella wanted to go to the city. And Chase made a promise. Chase made a promise and Isabella believed him. Isabella trusted Chase.
She was enjoying staring at the lovely sight of her boyfriend enthusiastically doing his work when she was nudged and called by one of Chase's group.
Drake, a brown-haired boy with highly visible red lips, who was actually Chase's favorite staff, gestured her to a room and sat on one of the benches inside it. Isabella followed after him and soon, she found herself enjoying the talk between her and this Drake guy.
“Chase has the thinnest patience among all of us here,” Drake mentioned.
“Really?” Isabella asked, a bit surprised. When she first met Chase, Chase treated her with respect and patience despite Isabella’s antics.
“For real. One time, he got into a fight with a co-actor’s manager. The manager wants Chase to apologize for hurting his talent with words but Chase refuses to accept and says he won’t do anything. The manager kept pestering him, and in the end, I think he said something more awful. Chase got mad and punched that manager in the face.” Drake laughed as he shared the story.
Isabella couldn’t help but gasp, “Oh no, h-he did?! What happened then? Was he punished? Suspended?”
Drake shook his head, “Nope. Because the director extremely loves Chase’s talent, everything was covered up well. All staff were given extra salary to hide it from the media. I think that’s the first time I saw Chase getting mad over something. After that, he became irritated when it came to romantic relationships. Unless it’s necessary for marketing and promotion, he refuses to get intimate with other actresses.”
Isabella’s heart felt giddy, realizing how adorable Chase had been even at work, too. Just how lucky was she to have him?
A smile formed on her lips as she imagined the way Chase responded as Drake had stated. She couldn’t help but giggle silently at the images But then she felt a shiver run down her spine as she felt being watched. Again.
It must be just her over thinking but ever since she had entered the building with Chase, she had been feeling anxious. She turned her head around to different directions inside the room, searching for the pair of eyes that seemed to have been eyeing her for almost an hour by now.
"Hey, are you alright? Is there something wrong?" Drake seemed to have noticed Isabella's sudden discomfort as he waved his hand on Isabella to get her attention back.
Isabella's forehead furrowed for a bit but then she caught the worried looks Drake was giving her that snapped her back, so she shook her head, hoping the weird feeling won't come again.
"I'm fine," Isabella said and smiled at Drake. Luckily, the brown-haired boy bought it and smiled at her back.
"I'll go get us some drinks," Drake said, getting into his feet then headed out, leaving Isabella alone on one of the benches beside the wall of what they called a practice room. There were people who were doing some dance steps in the middle and some with string instruments on the farthest corner.
She then felt it again. Isabella felt goose bumps all over her body as she felt the stare she was receiving was somehow becoming intense.
Who is it? What does it want from Isabella?
Is someone really watching me here, right now?
Or maybe Isabella was just imagining things. She was just over thinking.
Having this in thought, Isabella took a deep breath and closed her eyes. But was soon startled by the sudden deep voice of someone too familiar to her ears.
"Isabella?"
Isabella turned her head to the side. Mouth slightly gaping, her eyes widened, and her heart began to pound loudly as she faced a person she didn’t expect to see.