CHAPTER SIX

GRACE'S POV

"You can't have that, Miss Grace." I flatly looked at Daemon, who's been stopping me from grabbing a bottle of beer.

I groaned and gripped tighter on the bottle. "You already told me that I'm not allowed to go out and party. And now, you're stopping me from even taking a sip of beer?"

He scratched the back of his neck before pulling the bottle away from my hold. "Kagagaling niyo lang ho sa lagnat, Miss. Baka mamaya eh sumama na naman ang pakiramdam niyo ho. Saka diba po sumakit ang ulo niyo nung gumising kayo kaninang umaga dahil sa pag-inom niyo?"

I rolled my eyes. "That's called a hangover, Mr. Reporter, and it is normal. Of course, I let myself get wasted." I pulled the bottle to my side, but he did not budge.

"Which is mali pa rin po, Miss. Paano na lang kung wala roon ang mga kaibigan mo tapos nagpakalasing ka?"

I am slowly getting irritated because of him. "I would not let myself be wasted without my friends. Duh. And would you stop acting worse than my manager? I don't even know you, so you don't have the right to tell me what to do, what not to do."

Daemon let out a sigh. "Pero, Miss, wala rin po ang mga kaibigan mo rito. Bakit ka iinom?"

I grunted, and with my full force, I pulled the bottle from his grip and successfully got it. "It's because I'm pissed as hell. I want to forget. Those people at the beach—" I tsked before opening the bottle and taking a sip. "I went here to escape the media. To escape those kinds of people. To escape my messy reality." I took in another sip. "I just wanted to relax. I couldn't do anything to save my dear career, so all I could do was escape to protect myself, but that still happened." I finished the drink. "Do you know how that feels, huh?" I faced him and I wasn't able to stop the tear that fell from my eye. "Of course, you don't." I wiped it on my own. "You are even here just to get something from me. For your promotion. From my side of the story. Not because you care, but because you have a not-so-hidden agenda." I let out a humorless laugh.

Silence enveloped us again. I forced myself to stand up again and went towards the refrigerator to grab another bottle of beer. After opening it, I made sure to finish the whole bottle in one drink before letting myself slowly sit on the floor, my back leaning on the refrigerator.

I knew that I was getting drunk, but I felt like talking about myself and so I did. "You know... my parents didn't want me to be an actress. They wanted me to handle our business. But I fought hard for my dream until I was able to build my own name. Sweat and blood. Me and my manager. We've been through a lot, you know? And those issues? Those fake news about me? We've met a lot of those. They kept on coming, even though we don't know why that kept on happening. I have never done anything that those issues were accusing me of. All I did was be myself. I did not do any shortcuts to success. I did them all step by step." I chuckled again. "I'm already used to those sh*tty non-stop issues, but these? Those last ones? They're too much. I can no longer take it anymore." I let my tears fall. "I... I can't take them anymore. T-Too much. Just too much." I began sobbing again.

I hugged my knees and cried there and then. I was expecting Daemon to pull out a camera to take a picture of my current situation to help him and his agenda. Or at least a pen and a paper for him to write down the things I just said but then none of those happened. I just saw him kneeling in front of me, trying to calm me down. "It's okay. It will be okay, Miss Chui."

I couldn't help but chuckle once again. "It would be okay? That's a funny joke you got there, Mr. Reporter. It won't. It wouldn't be okay, not unless my management says so." I let go of my legs and stared into his eyes. "Have you turned on your recorder? Or perhaps, have you placed a camera in my cabin now? My story is the only reason why you're here, isn't that right, Daemon?"

I saw him freeze at my mention of his name. He cleared his throat before shaking his head sideways. "I'm here because I'm concerned about you, Miss Chui. Kung inaalala niyo ang tungkol sa trabaho ko, pwes sinasabi ko na po sa inyong hindi ako nagta-trabaho ngayon. I'm only worried about you, Miss. And after listening to some parts of your real story, I believe that you are currently a vulnerable piece of art that I don't intend to break, Miss." Daemon removed the strands of my hair that were covering my face and tucked them into my ear. "Now, how about you go back to your bed and take a rest again, Miss Grace?"

His words attacked me again and made me hiccup. Ugh! Out of all the people in the world, it had to be a reporter, huh? I wanted to get pissed but my body did the opposite. I laughed, making Daemon stare worriedly at me.

"Are you okay, Miss? Is there something funny with what I said?" I looked at him. He really would've been a good catch but ugh! He had to be a reporter!

I just shrugged and forced myself to stop laughing. "You're right. I should go back to bed." I think I'm already drunk.

Daemon carefully guided me to stand up and once balanced, I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him closer to me, shocking him by making his hand grip my waist to stop our bodies from closing the gap between us. "M-Miss Chui, y-you're pulling me too... too close," he cutely uttered, making me smile.

"You are charming, Mr. Reporter, do you know that?" I whispered before licking my lips. I then saw him stare down at my lips and gulp. "Ah... Charming and hot, did you know that?"

"M-Miss, you're just drunk." Daemon cleared his throat. "You should... y-you should lie on your bed a-and rest."

I pulled him a bit closer to me. Our lips were only an inch apart. "Say, Mr. Reporter, I have a proposition for you." I made sure to brush my lips against his. "Spend the night with me, make me feel alive, and I'll give you all the information you need faster than anyone." I felt him freeze for a moment. "Come on, Daemon. Just a night. Just a simple s*x, then you'll get your ticket for your promotion. A great deal, right?"

It took a while before I got a response from him that made me roll my eyes. "Y-You're drunk, Miss—"

I cut him off by crashing my lips against him. Just s*x. To forget. Even just for a night. It's easy, so what could possibly go wrong with my plan?

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