Chapter 104 - There You Are (1)
Parking the car in front of a large studio, Gael alighted the vehicle and scanned the modern building. The studio occupied the whole building, but it didn't have signage on it, so no one would know what it was unless they knew its purpose from someone in the studio. It was his first time coming here, so he didn't know what to find inside.
Entering the premises, he searched for a familiar face but found no one. There were a few people around, looking busy with papers or devices in hand as they moved from here to there.
"Excuse me, where can I find Becca Wise?" he asked the female staff behind the front desk, taking off his dark sunglasses and folding them into the collar of his shirt.
She had a lollipop in her mouth as she read through a graphic novel, answering without looking up from her book, "Do you have an appointment?"
"No."
"Then, you can't..." Her voice trailed off when she looked up and saw a god before her—though this god walked with the humans and blended right in as he wore a black jacket with a white shirt underneath. She blinked a few times as though she was making sure that he was indeed standing right there. "Um… Ah… I mean… Well—"
"Miss… Speak properly." Gael snapped his fingers in front of her to catch her attention as she seemed to be in a trance.
"Right." She blushed as she stood up and cleared her throat, gesturing to her left. "She's in the first room."
"Thanks."
She fell back to her seat, her eyes following the man heading towards the room she pointed at. "Was that a new model? How come I haven't seen him before?" she muttered to no one in particular.
…
The moment Gael walked inside the vast room where the female staff had pointed him to, he froze.
In the middle of the room was a round bed with three nearly butt naked men with only a small fabric covering their evidently erect rods. They were posing in a sensual position while cameras flashed from different sides.
"What the hell?" he mumbled.
"Thank God. Are you Eric?" A man in eyeglasses asked Gael. He had a megaphone speaker in hand and he had it 'on' the whole time, so everyone looked in his direction as he yelled,
"You're late! Go! Quickly strip and join them! We don't have much time!"
Several pairs of eyes snapped at Gael, waiting for him to move. And he was bewildered at what he just walked into.
"Help him out of his clothes, People! We haven't got all day here!" the megaphone man yelled again, then a couple of people came rushing towards Gael.
"You got the wrong person." He backed away, waving his hands in front of him when he realized what was going on. However, they couldn't hear him through the loud megaphone in the background.
They want him to strip and join the men?! Gael was horrified!
A familiar mischievous laugh sounded from behind. He turned to look and saw Becca approaching, carrying a small bag in her hand that she passed on to another person in the set. "I told you it's not a good idea to come here," she reminded with an 'I told you so' look on her face.
Becca waved her hand to the staff, telling them that he wasn't the model they were waiting for. "Come follow me," she told him.
They went to the second floor and entered a smaller room that looked like a dressing room.
"What the hell are you shooting in here? Porn?!" Gael snorted, shaking his head as he scanned the room. He could never figure out what this woman's passion was. She had so many things going on.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but no. It's for a magazine. Forget about it." Becca opened the sliding doors that led to the balcony, and the two of them got out. The weather was nice that afternoon in Mayne. It was cloudy, but it didn't look like it would rain.
Rolling his eyes, Gael leaned against the railing and watched the scene below them. "That's easy for you to say." He could never take the butt naked men's image off his head.
They were quiet for a minute before he finally faced her. His brows were furrowed as he stared at her and folded his arms across his chest, waiting for her to speak first. He knew that she was aware of why he was there.
Then his mind brought him back to the conversation he had with this woman on the island three months ago.
~
SDC Resort, Hillberry Isle
Gael was chilling out with Daniel at the beach, getting some sun. They had flown out here and arrived in the morning. The sun was high up, and it was windy, and he didn't mind that he was getting a tan.
"Hey…" a woman's voice sounded from the side, and he turned his head to see his ex, Becca. "Can I talk to you for a sec?"
Gael and Daniel exchanged looks, and then the latter got up from his sunbed to give the two some privacy.
"What's up?"
Turning away from the sun, Gael gestured Becca to the shade a few feet away, and once they got under it, she handed him a book that he didn't notice she was carrying. A book that he had known about just recently. A book that he never wanted the people he knew to find out.
"Please tell me that's not you," she muttered, her voice a little careful but also expectant.
His eyes were drawn to the book that was now in his hands—the same book that he had in his luggage up in his suite. He didn't know what to say, so he just lifted his eyes and met Becca's curious gaze.
And as if she could already see through him, she sighed. "Oh, my god… It's you. And your expression tells me you already found out about this book..."
He ran his hands down his face and rested them on his waist as he let out a sigh. "Shît. It's bad, huh? You really recognize me just by reading it?"
"Well… Sort of."
"Sort of?"
"It's you, but it's also not you."
Gael gave her a 'What the fûck do you mean?' look.
So she added, "It's not all you… But it reminded me of you."
He continued to stare at her, waiting for her to say more.
"I'm not gonna lie, this book's excellent. Very gripping. No wonder it's a bestseller." Becca took a deep breath and leaned against a tree. "But… this is… I don't know what to say. The way the male lead is described, it made me think of you. But it could also be any other Italian-American who's over six feet tall and has your build. This isn't the first Mafia romance that I've read… And to be honest, the male description looked a bit similar to the other ones that I've read before… Only this one reminded me of you more. You understand what I mean?"
Gael could only stare at her. Indeed, this could be any other guy except not. He knew it was him because of a particular story that he told Angela that night. The writer didn't exactly detail what he said, but for him, he was sure that she referenced it from there—or it was too much of a coincidence. But he couldn't admit that to Becca. Only he and the people involved knew about it—and that woman because he was too stupid drunk to shut it.
"Both you and the male lead have tattoos. Placed on the same places, yet not exactly the same style," she added.
That was another thing. He was thankful that those were at least different. But that mole? Gael hoped Becca wouldn't talk about that mole. She better not.
"Ugh." He groaned when he felt his head was about to explode. This was driving him crazy.