The faint sound of chirping birds tickled the back of her ears. Her senses becoming gradually aware of the surroundings. Her eyes rolled against their thin blanket until they pushed the doors fully opened to let light in. Nothing in sight seemed familiar.

Blood stained wood replaced the white gypsum ceiling, a warm peach replaced her blue walls. That sudden feeling of displacement caused her mouth to go dry instantly. Her heart increasingly pounding upon her chest. She rolled her eyes downwards to look upon herself. A grey silk sheet tucked neatly beneath her. Valarie slowly began to peel the cover from her body to reveal a white shirt that drowned her frail body. The overwhelming sense that she was being watched consumed her and she looked up to confirm what she had felt.

Two hazel brown eyes stared at her. Like a reflex action, her hand clutched onto the cover and pulled it back over her again.

"No, no no. Don't be afraid" the man tried to calm her.

"W-Who are you? And where am I?" Valerie questioned.

"I am Jake. We met last night. You were broken so I took you home. My home."

She tried to search her memory but there was only a bare record of last night. Jake walked towards the bed, his torso bare and a grey sweat pants hanging sicking fron his hip. Valarie swallowed a lump in her throat as he sat on the bed next to her. He tucked a stray piece of hair at behind her ears and she held her breath. On a different day she would have already beaten him to a pulp and ran out of there but she was too weak to even sit up properly at this point.

"Last night..." Jake spoke.

"I was driving my car and minding my own business when this little lady suddenly ran in front of my car. I was forced to hit the brakes or she would have been dead by now. With her hands on my bumper to brace the impact, her eyes caught mine through the windshield. It was like the entire ocean dwelled in her eyes. The banks broke like a river on a stormy day. She was sad and she was frightened. This sad soul continued to cross the road and disappear into the crowd. For some reason I just had the urge to find her so I parked my car in the closest park available and crossed the street to where I last saw her. I knew she still had to be around somewhere. I popped in a bar for a quick drink when finding her seemed hopeless and it was like the Gods had guided me there. This little lady told me everything and she poured half of the ocean on my shoulder. Maybe the alcohol was helping her fight the pain but she drank too much. When I was ready to leave, she was too distraught to be left alone in the cold night so I took her home. I took care of her and put her to bed.

Valarie willed herself to sit up. Her head was throbbing with pain and she placed her palm on her forehead.

"Ahh easy there" Jake held her for support to sit up."

Her tongue rolled in her mouth for words to say but she couldn't quite find any. She held onto the shirt that covered her body. "Is- Is this yours?" she questioned. Jake noticed her hands moving over the fabric of his shirt. "Yes it is. Yours was drenched in vomit so I had to change it for you."

"Wait what? You changed it yourself? Valarie asked in horror.

"Yes and I saw you little butt" Jake joked while standing up. "Ughhh nooo!" Valarie squirmed and pulled the cover over her face. He laughed and walked over to a table near the bed. He picked up a glass of water and two pills from it then walked back to Valarie. "Here take this."

"What is that?" Valarie asked with her head still buried under the cover. "Pain killers for your headache." "And how do I know that you are telling the truth and it's not some crazy drug to kill me or something?" "Because if I wanted to kill you, you would have been already been dead. Now take these" he said, a trace of sternness in his voice.

Valarie slowly peeled the cover from her face. "What the hell, I might be better off dead anyway" she sounded in her head. She took the pills and took a deep breath. "What is the time?"

"7:30" Jake responded after looking at his watch.

"Oh my God I'm late!" Valarie kicked the rest of the sheet off of her.

"Wait! Late for what?" Jake questioned.

"For work!" Valarie screamed. It was like she gained strength out of thin air. As she was about to jump off the bed, Jake caught her in his fairly large arms. Valarie was startled and squealed. "Oh no you don't" Jake said while resting her back on the bed. Valarie struggled to get back up. "Let me go! I have to work!"

"'I said no. After that story you told me last night, you are not going anywhere today. No work. You don't need to be around any of them right now." Jake placed his arm over her body to pin her down and he laid next to her on the bed.

Valarie gritted her teeth. "You know this is technically kidnapping since you brought me here and you are keeping me against my will."

Jake raised an eyebrow "Hmm is that so? Well I guess you better call the cops then. I'm a bad boy."

****

It was very rare that Valarie was even a second late to work so when it was five minutes past that clock, Kyle of course started getting worried. He walked towards the secretary at the front desk. "Hey good morning gurl. Did Valarie get in yet?"

The blonde woman smiled. "Hey Kyle. Good morning. No, I haven't seen her yet. Kyle sighed. "Okay i'll catch up with you later.

He headed back to the fashion sector where he planned on waiting for her. On the way there he tried calling her phone again but it went straight to voicemail once again. Kyle decided to stop by Dimitri's office. He walked in without knocking on the door.

Angry eyes rose to meet him. Dimitri sat at his desk completely in ruffles. His hair a mess, his shirt partly out of his pants, his tie loosened. Kyle raised an eyebrow and scanned him. "What the hell happened to you?" Dimitri grunted "What do you want?"

"Have you seen Valarie?

"'No."

"Have you tried calling her?"

"Yes."

"Have she answered?"

"Yes."

Kyle folded his arm and raised an eyebrow. "Are you really waiting for me to ask you what happened?"

Dimitri stared at him blankly. Kyle rolled his eyes. "So...What did she say?"

"Her boyfriend answered. I take it that she was perfectly fine."

"What? Valarie doesn't have a boyfriend" Kyle informed.

"What the hell do you know?" Dimitri snapped.

"Uh- exsqueeze me? Don't you dare take this out on me. Don't forget who is the one at fault here. I have the greatest urge to strangle you to death at the moment. Now, like I said before, Valarie does not have a boyfriend. If a man answered her phone that either means that her phone was stolen or she was with a stranger. This should be something that you are worried about and you are just sitting here doing nothing."

A faint knock was heard and the door creaked open. The clicking of high heels echoed through the room. A bright and bubbly Ashley stepped into sight. Dimitri's blood boiled instantly. He hasn't had contact with Ashley since that incident. Kyle folded his arms and rolled his eyes. Before she could step further in, Dimitri spoke. "What the hell are you doing in my office?"

She was taken back by surprise. "What sort of question is that? I work here. Remember? "

"No you don't, not anymore. Get out!"

"'Hey what's wrong?" she asked him.

"What's wrong? What's wrong? You are a damn liar is what's wrong. If you have forgotten what you did, I haven't. Get out!"

Ashley continued walking in. "Dimitri don't do this. I just took the opportunity to make a name for myself. Sometimes you just gotta use someone as your ladder to get up. Everyone does. I'm sure you have done something like that before."

"Don't you dare try to compare me to you. We are nothing alike. I have never cheated to make my way in life so cut the bullshit talk and get out."

"Come on Dimitri, don't do this!"

"How could you have done this to Valarie?"

"Me? I did nothing but showcase MY designs. Valarie should thank me actually or blowing the show off the shelves. You and i both know that this was the best show yet all thanks to muah!"

His blood was lava now. One more word from her and he would surely snap. Dimitri got up from his seat and walked around the table. He clenched his fists at his side to control his urge to hurt her. "Ashley I said get out!"

Kyle watched intently to see how this was going to play out.

"I'm not going anywhere. We have some paperwork to fill out for the designs and if this doesn't get done we don't get signed and if we don't get signed then, then poor old daddy won't be proud of his little boy."

That was it. He was going to rip her head then and there but the unexpected happened. With one faint knock, the door opened. Mr. Osbourne walked in. Dimitri hurriedly lowered his hands and placed them in his pockets. Mr. Osbourne narrowed his eyes. "What's going on here?"

Another opportunity arose for the truth yet for some reason Dimitri kept his mouth shut. "O h nothing" he said hastily. "We were just discussing the paperwork for the designs."

Kyle's draw dropped and he glared at Dimitri. A sly smile plastered Ashley's face. "Yes of course. That's exactly what we are doing" she reinforced.

Hey guys! Finally! I get a chapter up. Thank you for all your support and patience with me. I still need a few more days to hibernate after exams finished so I just tried to get this one up in the meanwhile lol. Please let me know what you think about it. How do you think this is all going to play out? How would you like it to play out?