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Kicking the glass table in front of her, Valentina interjected him rudely, "Shut the fuck up, will you?!" she scread. "You know nothing! Nothing about that murderer yet you’re here giving shitty lectures. I don’t care who you are," she exhaled out loud, her face completely scrunched up and unrecognizable, "But please...shut up!"
Raking her fingers through her hair in frustration, she hissed and no one bothered to stop her when she stord out of the apartnt with her assistant scurrying after her.
"Tilly," she called, as soon as they were out in the hallway. "My phone."
The assistant complied and handed her the phone, stepping back imdiately she had done that.
"Will we be returning to the agency or ho, Miss Mc—" Tilly tried to ask, when the sharp glare from Valentina cut her short.
"Take to the restroom."
With a sharp nod of her head, Tilly led the way to the restroom, leaving behind a trail of whispers coming from the crew mbers setting up their equipnts in the hallway, in their wake.
"Did you see that just now? She didn’t even apologize," One of them pointed out with a low voice.
"What were you expecting?" soone else butted in, "I bet it’s hard enough for her to face Miss Donovan everyday without wanting to strangle her. If I were in her shoes, I would have done much worse."
The first person, a short woman with bob cut hair, scoffed. "Oh really? Are you trying to say Miss Donovan is at fault for challenging her right now? Is she to kill herself just because her face is so similar to a murderer she doesn’t even know?"
"Of course not! Why would I imply that?"
"Then what did that comnt an?"
The second lady sighed, "Well maybe...I just thought that at least there are other options. Plastic surgery maybe. How can she even sleep with the knowledge that soone with a face like hers has annihilated a whole family in the past?"
"With that logic, I have no choice but to agree with you," Bob-cut smiled mischievously, before adding, "But Bree, it’s not your first ti hearing that you look a lot like the actress Alicia Sherman, how do you sleep knowing that soone with a face like yours has a lot of fans who love her from around the world and an overflowing bank account while you are barely living hand to mouth, working your ass off as an extra, huh?!"
"That’s a low blow there, Lair. I don’t like that," Valentina’s supporter, Bree, hissed, her face contorting in displeasure.
"Oh yeah, you think Miss Donovan would like what you said too? Small warning guys, don’t you dare talk about her like that in my presence! I am a fan," Lair—the Bob cut— stated, pride oozing from her voice. "And for those of you who want to join a fan club dedicated to her—I know there are a lot so don’t bother hiding—you can just see when we’re done with today’s shoot. We could be the first generation of fans. Trust , we’re in on sothing big."
Abandoning the gossip for the anti, they each returned their jobs, forgetting the slight argunt just now.
It was an entirely different mood in the restroom where Valentina was pacing the space between the toilet cubicles and the sinks in front. She was nervously nibbling on her thumbnail, waiting for the ringing phone pressed to her ear, to connect.
"Make sure to keep everyone out! And far away from here," she ordered Tilly, the anxious assistant who nodded imdiately. She added, "And you too. Stay far away from here."
"Yes, Ma," Tilly replied, closing the door behind her and taking a few steps away from it.
Back in the restroom, Valentina let out a sigh of relief as soon as the call connected and she heard her mother’s relaxed voice.
"Didn’t you have a shoot today, Tina? You told not to—"
"Mum!" she cut Kathy off, "I told you, didn’t I? The damned Ava Donovan we talked about on my birthday is really Avery. She’s not dead! She’s alive!"
There was a sharp exhale from the other side, followed by a loud sigh.
"Do not tell you don’t believe , Mom. I wouldn’t joke about serious stuffs like this!" Valentina insisted. Her voice was already raised at this point, as she couldn’t care less about what could go wrong if anyone happened to hear her.
She was already expecting worse anyway, with her own family not believing her.
"Listen Tina," Kathy started, but was interrupted once again.
"See that, Mom? When you call Tina, your voice has this rough edge to it. This local edge. But Avery, she’s always had this refined accent whenever she calls my na that I like and hate at the sa ti. Ava Donovan had that sa accent today. She’s the one!"
"Alright, Darling," Kathy’s voice was tired and soothing at the sa ti. "Co ho and we can talk about it. Your dad just arrived at ho with Rob. Even Brian is around. Co over."
Valentina’s eyes flickered with delight when she heard that.
"I will. I’m on my way," she murmured. "Make sure Brian does not leave until I arrive there."
"I will. But make sure you also don’t cause any trouble or drama over there."
"I promise," Valentina affird. "We can’t afford that."
★★★
"Omg, Ava, that was freaking hot! I love the shocked look on her face like she wasn’t expecting you to confront her," Jodi gushed. Together with Avery, she had just stepped out of the building and was now headed towards the parking lot where their car was parked. She continued, "Though I do understand Valentina. After what you did last ti, blaming yourself when she insulted you and even calling her the idol in your heart. Anyone would have thought of you as a the perfect pushover and stepping stone to success."
Avery shrugged it off.
"Last ti was because I wanted to be as normal as I could while respecting people who are supposed to be my seniors in the industry. I didn’t realize so people weren’t worth it," she said, stating an half truth and half lie. They arrived at the car just then and she pulled the door open, got in, and slamd the door after herself.
As soon as Jodi was in the car and by her side, she replied, "You’ve got a point with that one. But I’ll still say this, if you really wanted to respect a senior in the industry, did you have to look that far?" Her eyes was squinted in suspicions as she cast mock glare at Avery.
"Definitely not. I was the stupid one for not seeing the senior right in front of my face and going for soone else," Avery replied bashfully. "I’m sorry, Senior."
"Apology accepted. Now that we’ve got a few hours off work, anything you want to do? Or anywhere you want to go? I could drop you off..." Jodi offered.
"Drop off? You have sothing to do?"
"Uhm...no. Well, yeah actually," she stuttered, "I got a ssage from Neil when we were up. He’s arriving in an hour. I could get there in enough ti to pick him up from the airport if we leave now."
"Then I’ll co with you," Avery replied without thinking twice about it. Before Jodi could refuse, she added, "I have nothing else planned and I would love to co. Except my presence would hinder certain reunion activities."
Jodi snickered, her tone bearing a hint of self mockery.
"Sorry to disappoint you but he’s probably not even expecting there. Reunion activities my foot," she said, a wry smile sporting her lips.
"Then let’s go," Avery said, shrugging slightly as she fastened her seatbelt. "We could get lunch on our way back. My treat, just as I promised earlier."
"Looking forward to that," Jodi gushed. She turned the key in the ignition and with her eyes on the rearview glass, drove out of the space.
The sun was already high up in the sky by the ti they arrived at the airport and they both had their windows rolled down. Jodi drove around to the arrivals section, and only stopped the car when they were far from the area bustling with people trouping out of the hallways to get into their rented taxis and booked Ubers.
"He travelled business class since Mr Donovan wasn’t with him," she inford.
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