ASH 

Ash never expected someone to be so awestruck by something as trivial as a cup of cappuccino. She wouldn't admit but surprise and excitement was clearly visible in her eyes. Her name really suited her - she was so transparent and tranquil that anyone could see through her thoughts. And even if her demeanor became rigid, her eyes would still give everything away. Ash couldn't really decide whether it was good or bad. 

Serena would have seen him observing her in curiosity but she was too busy thinking about the kinds of beverages Starbucks made. She had heard that it was quite expensive but it must be worth it for people to come back again and again. She had never got the opportunity to drink something from Starbucks and today she was going to make sure that she gets her very own cup of coffee. 

"Yo dude!" Gary yelled as he waved his hand towards a certain green haired man, completely ignorant to the startled looks he got from the passersbys. Ash was so glad that they had been covered themselves with their usual hats and spectacles so that nobody could recognize this moron. Grandpa Oak wouldn't have been too happy if news of his grandson behaving like a three year old got showed up on the television either.

Even though Drew wore a hoodie and black glasses that made him nearly unrecognizable, Ash would have identified him from a mile distance. He glared at Gary but his glare flattered when those hidden emerald orbs fell on the honey blonde who didn't bother to disguise herself since nobody knows her anyways. However, Drew would say that her too much formal look did made her stand out amongst their casual attire. 

Ash frowned as he silently gestured for Drew to not let Gary know anything. The green haired man nodded. Serena stood awkwardly as the Ash and Gary greeted Drew. She felt a bit self-conscious, standing between three men with nothing to add in the conversation. She wanted to say something and not stand there, looking at them weirdly but what could she possible say? They talked about business, a subject that she was quite new to. 

As she was wondering about what to do next, Drew noticed her and secretly slipped from the conversation. He slowly approached her with caution. He had seen her erupt at the café beforehand and one wrong word with this short-tempeted honey blonde would complicate the already complicated situation further.

"Hello, Serena" he steadily spoke as the young woman snapped out of her thoughts. She internally rose a brow. His green locks seemed awfully familiar. Suddenly, it stuck her. He was the third man who visited the café that day. But what was his name? 

"Hello -" she paused for a moment, unable to recall his name. Drew took notice of this and extended his hand for a handshake. 

"Drew Hayden. Nice to meet you" he introduced himself. Serena blushed a bit from embrassment before shaking his hand clumsily. She mentally face-palmed at her awkward and robotic movements. Why the hell did she have to be so much of a klutz when she had to leave a good impression? 

"Nice to meet you too, Mr. Hayden" she said with a bashful smile on her delicate features. Drew looked at her amused. 

"I assumed that you would have realized that none of us are fond of formalities, just like Gary. It would be better to just go by the first names. So call me Drew, okay?" the green haired man showcased a lopsided, gentle smile. Serena merely nodded. She didn't like it either when David addressed her formally. She initially thought that it was because she wasn't used to be called 'Miss' but it looked like she wasn't the only one who disliked the honorifics.

"Hey Drew, did the girls arrived yet?" Gary piped up. When the addressed man nodded, the brunette grinned, looking at Serena. "Well then, why are we standing here like pillars? Let's go! I am damn sure Mist will love the model I got for her!" 

Serena wanted to interuppt him but he dragged her along before she could even open her mouth. Drew rose an intrigued brow while Ash sighed at his friend's antics as they both both followed the brunette. 

SERENA

The honey blonde sweatdropped as she watched Gary yapping like there was no tomorrow. He spoke so fast that half of the things he said didn't even make sense to her. But she decided to keep quiet for the sake of her politeness. 

They entered a room at the corner that held the sign ❝ Reserved ❞ in bold letters. She gulped as Gary barged in, pulling her as well. The first thing that caught sapphire-eyed woman's eyes was the beautifully decorated room. The cushioned seats were placed around a circular coffee table and what actually intrigued her, were the bright yellow smile balloons that were held by a woman her age.

It was then Serena's eyes fell on the young ladies that were sitting on the two seats. The one holding the balloons wore a charismatic smile. Her straight royal blue and navy blue eyes stuck out the most to the honey blonde. She wondered if the hair color was actually natural or not. But that didn't change the fact that she looked very gorgeous indeed.

The other one looked like a typical tomboy to her. She had ginger hair that were tied quite loosely [and childishly] on one side and her piercing emerald orbs glared at Serena's pale blue ones. She could feel herself losing her composure under the unflinching gaze of the redhead but she still managed to keep looking into their eyes. 

It was the blunette who spoke up first with a sweet smile plastered on her pale skin. "Hello there~ Who might you be, dearie?" 

Serena awkwardly smiled, a little taken aback from the genuine gesture of friendliness. It was also the first time when she had actually not gotten on a wrong foot with someone she had just met. The sapphire-eyed woman nervously introduced herself. "Hello to you too. My name is Serena Yvonne. Its a pleasure meeting you" 

The blunette gave a chesire grin. "And my names Dawn Bertilz. Are you a new friend?" 

Serena's first instinct was to spontaneously shake her head and tell her that she was nowhere near eligible enough to even stand there with the rich folks like them but Ash beat her to it. He simply replied. "Indeed. She is also my new personal assistant" 

Her eyes met with his captivating ones as she felt a jolt of electricity running coursing through her limbs. She quickly averted her gaze and frowned at herself. She had some social anxiety but locking eyes with him was so difficult for some reason. Perhaps because she wasn't to used to his kind yet authoritative presence. 

Dawn's eyes sparkled with mischief as she jumped to her feet. "Finally you got a hot personal assistant. It was so exasperating watching you work with old grandpas and grandmas all the time"

Ash rolled her eyes. Serena felt the urge to stifle a laugh but accidentally her eyes met with the redhead's who was scanning her from top to bottom. She shifted uncomfortably before deciding to speak up. "Um -"

The redhead snapped out from her thoughts as she gave a kind smile to her. "Hey there, Serena. My names Misty. By the way, Gary told me on the phone that you agreed to help me out for the phootshoot. To be honest, I don't like his taste but you sure are beautiful" 

Serena blinked, unsure of how to respond to such compliment. She just smiled nervously. "Thankyou very much. But I have never done phootshoots or catwalks ever in my life before. I am not sure if I can actually live upto your expectations"

"Don't worry about that" Misty convinced. "You will be fine. The show is two weeks from now on which means that there is alot of time to practice. My manager will make sure to assign someone for teaching you. And oh, when you come to the venue, I will show you my latest collection and your outfit specially designed by the topmost designers of France" 

"You unknowingly complimented me, Mist" Dawn gushed with a wink as she swung a friendly arm around Serena's shoulder. "Never thought that was gonna happen" 

Misty rolled her eyes sassily. "Keep dreaming, Dawn. I was talking about the others, certainly not you. Your fashion sense is bizzare, nowhere near as good as your mom's"

"Alot of fashion experts and models would beg to differ" Dawn scoffed whilst flipping her royal blue locks proudly. "My works are the best in all of Europe and very soon I will become the top fashion designer to ever set foot on this world. Then I suppose your sorry ass will realize what a grave sin you committed by insulting the great Dawn Bertilz" 

"Oh god, Dawn. Your head is so in the clouds; I pity you" Gary sympathized mockingly as Misty snickered in the background. Serena chuckled a bit when she saw the blunette giving Gary a death glare and him visibly shrinking back a little from her intimidating gaze that was laid on him.

"Okay, okay. Not one of your stupid quarrels again" Drew groaned as he shoved them both back. Ash just light-heartedly rolled his eyes, a small smile on his sun-kissed face. Serena looked at him in curiosity. His smile was so - gorgeous. She mentally face-palmed at the choice of her words. Even though the compliment was true, the sound of it would make people think that she has a thing for him. 

"Settle down guys" Ash chided playfully. Dawn and Gary pouted in sync but plopped on the nearest chairs. Serena shuffled uneasily as she mentally debated whether she should sit down or stand. Ash casted a glance at her and unintentionally a barely audible chuckle escaped his lips. She looked so much like a lost child in a carnival with no clue of her next move. She was adorably interesting, wasn't she now?

He advanced to offer her a seat beside him but the bubbly Dawn also noticed the honey blonde and called out to her before he could. "Come here, babe! Sit down next to us" 

Serena, who was already on the verge of fainting from the amount of mental debate her brain was having, quickly flashed a grateful smile and slipped on the seat between the blunette and Misty. Ash frowned but neverthelessly turned his attention to the server who was taking their orders. He only hoped that Serena wouldn't reveal anything about the accident.

ASH

Ash laughed softly along with Drew as the brunette joked around. He took a sip of his latte and secretly looked at Serena. She was attentively listening to Dawn's yapping while Misty looked completely drained out from the amount of talking the blunette was doing. Ash internally applauded the honey blonde's patience for listening to Dawn's chatter, which he was damn sure was, useless. It was Dawn talking after all. 

Suddenly his phone vibrated in his pocket. He excused himself from the room and walked outside of Starbucks. He checked his phone and soon after scoffed irritated. The call was coming from a person he had blocked long ago. He heaved a tired sigh and picked it up. He didn't wanted to break her hopes again but naturally he had to confront her at some point of the time. 

"Hello?" a hopeful and sickly sweet voice chirped from the other end. Ofcourse it was Miette. 

Ash didn't really understand what was her deal. He had already told her beforehand that he was doing this date thing just to please his mother and she had agreed to help him because they were old acquaintances. He had even promised to financially support her father's latest expirement and stayed true to his word after they broke up. But she had to be infatuated with him and annoy him day and night. 

Ash rolled his eyes as he spoke in a slight annoyed and stoic tone. "Hey Miette" 

"Finally you have decided to stop ignoring me" she laughed out bitterly. "How are you doing these days?"

"I am fine. Now will you please cut the crap and get straight to the point? Why the hell are you trying to make me fall for you when you know that I have zero interest in you? We were just acquaintances; not even friends" Ash grimaced. Her fake laugh had already died down and a silence followed soon after.

"I confessed my feelings before we made the deal" she replied without missing a single beat. Ash just rubbed his forehead in exasperation. 

"And I refused. But when I asked you to help me, I thought you agreed because you wanted to start over as friends. If you had told me that your main motive wasn't helping me after all then I wouldn't have asked you a second time to become my pretend girlfriend" he grumbled. He was sick of repeating the same thing again and again. He just wants to put a stop to all of this for once and all. 

"I hoped that I could make you fall for me" the blunette confessed. "I just thought that you are always so closed-off and when you gave me a chance to actually get near you, I took it to know more about you. I know that you are actually a very good person and I really love you so why can't you give me a chance?" 

"Miette, I am closed-off to others for a reason and I don't need to tell my feelings out loud. I can handle it on my own and I can cope up with it as well!" he snapped, running his fingers through his raven locks. 

"Others won't know how you feel unless you say so. You need to speak about your feelings in order for others to understand them! You can't keep them bottled up forever!" Miette argued back, her patience running thin. Ash glared silently at the phone and for a split-second wanted to crush it under his feet but she wasn't worth crushing such an expensive phone over. She took his silence as a gesture to continue. 

"Maybe one day your loved one also will walk away because you were scared of voicing out your own feelings or letting them in. I am warning you because I still care about you" she trailed off and hung up soon after, not even willing to hear what he has to say. His frustration disappeared as he quizzically looked at the black screen of the phone. Huh?

He frowned in confusion. What did she mean by that? He started walking back absentmindly as he felt a small figure bump into him. He rose a brow, only to find that it was Serena who had bumped into him. She was eavesdropping? He shook his head as he heard her curse at him or her clumsiness, he wasn't sure. 

"Damn" she cursed again. Her sapphire eyes left the ground to meet Ash's auburn ones as his breath subconsciously hitched in his throat. They weren't something he was thought he would find nice but her eyes were enchanting. He felt a strange pull towards them, maybe because he hadn't met someone with such rare colored eyes. They would appear normal from a distance but they were so unique in reality. 

"Ah, my bad" Serena sheepishly smiled. "You were taking so long. I thought you left me alone" 

"Are you scared of the possibility of me leaving you alone?" Ash asked without a second thought. Serena backed off in surprise at the sudden question thrown at her out of blue. But her face crumbled into one with conflict. Perhaps in the back of her mind, she really was worried that she would be left alone. But she decided to not tell him. It would sound so stupid; like she is trying to purposely lean on him for everything.

"No. But as your personal assistant, I have to make sure that you are okay" Serena lied while shrugging. Too bad, Ash saw right through it. He wasn't wrong when he remarked about the tranquility of her eyes. They give everything away too easily. He smiled to himself and without thinking twice, ruffled her blonde hair.

"Oh well, I wouldn't mind someone else getting concerned over me once in a while after all"