Chapter 25 - KMCF

"Jen, don't just carelessly walk around, it's dangerous." Hunter frowned as he grabbed hold of Jennifer's hand. His breathing had temporarily become slightly heavier from trying to find his closest friend.

Her eyes teared away from what had guided her to wander off. "Sorry," she replied. "Hunter, I wanna go in here." She pointed at the bakery in front of them with a big smile.

It was the first time he noticed the bakery, so he assumed they just newly opened. It was also the first time he had ever smelled such a sweet aroma. "I don't have any money on me right now and I promised your mom that we wouldn't leave our spot."

Her beautiful smile severely shrank and she no longer was in the perky mood she was in. "Oh," was her response before she set her eyes to look down.

Hunter looked at Jen before looking up at the store's heading: Divine Sweets. He made sure to lock the name in his head. "Let's come back here next time and I'll buy you anything you want."

Her head shot up like a rocket and you could see the bliss on her visage before it got taken over by suspicion. "Promise?" She placed her hand on his chest.

He laughed and said, "I promise."

**End Of Memory**

"He had the audacity to demand for my hand, like he didn't know the situation he was in." I scribbled something down on the page. "These pants are the same material, but this one cost more."

"Okay, but maybe it's because of the embellishments here." Miranda placed her index finger on the page.

"Write that down, we'll ask him when he comes." I said.

This morning, I was forced to wake up extra early and of course I was eager to want to go back to bed. I mean, I was so tired that I wasn't even cognizant of how I got myself dressed. I wore an overpowering patterned sun dress with a light brown jacket and paired with beaded sandals. I let my hair down and because of my lack of energy, I employed a bit of makeup: mascara, eyeliner and the finishing touch, my favorite pink lipstick.

I barged into work, soaked in aggravation and questioning Miranda's sanity. Why she would want to deprive her best friend of sleep, one of the most important factors for the body. My eyes focused on the rearrangement of our store and the men in similar attires making loud noises with their tools.

Before I could even begin to open my mouth, Miranda rushed in my direction wearing a smile brighter than the sun that was making its grand appearance. She explained the point of her mood and the middle aged men roaming the shop. Miranda, for the sake of the selling of Marcos's line, hired workers to create an attraction that would best exemplify the line's full potential. Not only were they assembling a fantastic display, but they promised to get it ready before nightfall.

It, however, didn't give her the right to drag me here, she could've easily sent me a text. Before I could express my mind, Miranda informed me of the most reasonable motivation for asking for my appearance. Marcos had sent us his lookbook and requested that we speak to him about it after looking over it and we also had paperwork we had to sign for him. His schedule was tight for the week, so it concluded as to why he had to meet with us early in the morning.

"Hunter never ceases to amaze me," Miranda laughed as she jotted down my bid on a small notebook.

"You're not supposed to be laughing, you should be comforting your poor miserable friend." I averred.

"Miserable?" Her head perked up, she frowned slightly.

"Yeah," I answered with uncertainty.

She shook her head before she opened her mouth to talk. "Jen, you're blind."

"How?" I flipped through the  lookbook unconsciously as I stared at Miranda.

Miranda shook her head again with no response.

"What a very detailed answer," I sarcastically stated. "What exactly did Hunter say to you to make you always side with him?"

"I'm not siding with him, I'm not on a side." She sounded out.

I rested my cheek on the palm of my hand and stared at my best friend. "Alright, then what did he say to you?"

"I don't know how to explain it, Jen. He was telling me that he didn't mean to make us fight, but-" she paused and finally looked at me after staring into the space. "He's doing everything for a reason and some are on impulses and others are calculated." Miranda ceased and smiled. "Jen, I wish you heard it the way I did, I can't possibly explain it the way that he did or in a style that'll make you see things differently."

If what Miranda was saying claimed to be true, then why couldn't he tell me. Why did he instead tell my best friend? Wasn't he conscious of the fact that she might've told me?

"Are you falling for him?" I playfully glared at her, but she nevertheless held her grin.

"Jen, even if I was, I would've already lost, considering the fact that you've already fallen for him."

I couldn't counteract her respond because I couldn't disagree, all the same I couldn't entirely agree. I shut my mouth and watched as Miranda set aside Marcos's lookbook to concentrate on creating a job application.

"In conclusion, everything is for your sake." She swiveled her laptop towards me. "What do you think? I just need your feedback and I can print."

I was still stuck on what she said, so I didn't have much of an input on her hard work. Everything is for your sake. That line felt as though it was the big theme of the entire situation. My family and now my friend were all clinging on to that.

"Hello!" Marcos announced as he walked into the store and interrupted my train of thought.

"Speak of the devil and he shall appear," Miranda smiled.

Marcos falsely gasped and placed his hand on his chest. "How cruel of you, Miranda. I'm hurt."

He took off his sunglasses and revealed his caramel eyes. He hooked it onto his dress shirt that paired perfectly with his tribal patterned shorts and shoes that looked to good to be true.

"Why are you in such a good mood, it's too early?" I grumbled.

"Why wouldn't I be? Come on, I get to see my two favorite people first thing in the morning." He distributed his charms with a bright smile.

Miranda and I both gave each other a glimpse before we shook our heads. "What's really got you in a good mood?" I asked again.

He chuckled before answering, "My fashion show yesterday was a hit, isn't it natural that my success would make my entire week amazing?"

He had a point, he was different from us then. Yesterday, we too hit the point of success, but the morning, still gave off a grouchy feeling.

"That reminds me, you two left without properly saying goodbye," he set a leather bag on the counter and waited for our response.

"You seemed busy, we didn't want to interrupt." Miranda said.

"Here's a tip, next time just interrupt. I'm never too busy for my friends." His accent targeted the r's in his sentences and simmered us under his instructions.

We nodded in response. A loud bang came from the workers huddled around the progressing exhibition. Marcos's attention quickly focused on the construction happening, I figured it was the first time he noticed other people were around.

"What's going on?" He asked with an agoged expression.

"We-"

"We're repairing something that broke." Miranda interrupted and even lied. She sent me a small glance as she was in the middle of grinning a little.

Marcos pulled out a couple of booklets and files that were overfed with paper. "Oh," he didn't seem to care or feel like he could dig further than that. "We'll go over your concerns, next we'll jump right into all the signing crap and then we'll call it a day."

"Sounds good." Miranda said.

"Let's get it done quickly, I can't sell anything to anyone unless we finish up."

** **

We were still hovering over his design book, but instead of actually discussing things, we recalled memories. It had only been an hour and a half, yet we had never even gotten to signing anything. The sounds of our laughter and shouting filled the store up to the brim, the clanging of tools and murmurs of men were no longer available. The men had gone out to get a supply that was limited and left the three chuckling friends alone.

"Okay, let's be serious right now." I commanded after laughing to the point of pain.

They stared at me with faces that showed laughter in a matter of seconds. I had to state my question or I'd never be able to.

"Marcos," I turned my head in his view. "I understand why you chose us to sell your line, but is that really it? A silly promise shouldn't only be a reason for a serious business deal."

He straightened his posture and his countenance. "You're right, there's another reason."

We gave him our silence and waited till he informed us more. "My father is the owner of Marnex, the famous interior design company. So, my fashion career, of course, got picked up faster than most amateurs. I wanted this line to be different from my last one, I wanted to sell to those who appreciated me for my talent and not for who's son I am."

We kept shut and only stared. Everyone thinks being rich and powerful is the best thing to achieve in life, only you're never going to be associated with being human. You're an exhibition, people wait for what you'll do next and if that's what was in the agreement when they you signed your life over for fame and fortune, then no one would be famous.

Miranda slowly started to clap her hands together, hinted for me to do the same. It took a while for Marcos to respond, I figured he was trying to comprehend what our objective was.
He grinned while getting out of his seat to bow.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you; you wouldn't believe how long it took me to rehearse that."

Miranda threw a crumbled us piece of paper at Marcos, his response was laughter.

My eyes had caught something that gave me an instant heart attack. Two men, one with dark lenses, the other without a strand on top of his hair, and both who had black suits that hugged their large bodies. They thundered towards the counter along with their expressionless looks. Not only were they large in size, they were tall in height. Their frames shadowed all three of us, not even a peek of light.

"Jennifer Anderson?"

** **