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"Keep your heels, head and standards high."
Coco Chanel
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Jules

CEO of Roberts Cooperation, Ralph Roberts, has confessed to releasing to the press an intimate video of Jules Lee and Jace Sanchez. The incident is said to have happened seven years ago when Jules and Jace were, however briefly, together. Due to a feud between Roberts and Jules, the latter decided to make public a private relationship of seven years ago. According to Roberts, he deeply regrets his actions and hopes that Jules Lee can forgive him.

For minutes unending, I sit dumbfounded, finding it hard to believe what I just heard.

Ralph Roberts? Confessing? Apologizing?

Unbelievable!

Incredible!

Implausible!

Infea...

Zzzzzzzz

The vibration of my mobile device stops me from going further into the pool of vocabulary. But before I could answer the call, J.Lo's On the floor fills my ears. On the screen of the buzzing phone is Nikita, my secretary, while on the ringing phone's screen is my mom. Seeing her name and contact, i can't help but recall how she didn't talk to me for a week after the video of me kissing Jace surfaced.

She probably thought it was cool to defend her friend without listening to her daughter's side of the story.

But I can't blame her. After all, Dad married her at a tender age of eighteen and had, until his death, shut her from the rest of the world and controlled every aspect of her life to the extent that she couldn't even take a drop of water without him giving her the go-ahead.

An unsummoned thought suddenly takes residence in my mind.

Will she live now that he's gone?

I decide to pick her call before Nikita's.

"I'm sorry," she says before I could even make any utterance. "I should have listened to your side of the story but I.. I just.."

"It's completely fine, Mom. I understand," I lie because I simply cannot understand why any mother would choose to blame her own daughter without even making the least effort to understand her.

"Thank you, daughter," she says and goes silent. Having no idea what else to say to her, I stay silent too.

"Um.. I guess I should hang up now," she says with an uneasy laugh.

"Okay. Bye."

Even before I drop the phone onto my laps, series of thoughts begin to fill my head.

Why didn't I ask her how she was doing, if she needed me and if Dad's forever absence wasn't taking an unbearable toll on her?

Gosh, I feel like smashing my head against something, preferably my pillow. I mean, I just behaved exactly like someone whose character I loathed.

I just behaved like my late dad.

Immediately I realize this, I pick up my phone to call her back only for my second phone to start ringing again. I take a look at the caller ID. It is Nikita again.

Curious as to why she keeps on calling me, I tap the "answer" button.

"Hello, Nikita."

"Miss Lee!"

I could feel the excitement in her voice and this is when it all clicks into place: she has either seen or heard the news that Ralph Roberts confessed to releasing the video which almost led to my defamation.

Despite my earlier mood, I try to make my voice sound as excited as hers.

"What's up, girl?"

."I just heard the great news that Roberts confessed to releasing that video."

"Yes. I saw it too."

"But, you don't sound happy."

"I just wonder how George must be feeling right now."

Nikita's laugh in response surprises me. "Like as if you don't know about George's allergy to bullshit. Who knows if he was even the one that made Ralph confess his wrong doing."

I consider Nikita's words. "Come to think of it, that might actually be the case."

"So, can I take you out?"

"What's the occasion?"

"Just to say a one on one congratulations to you and maybe knock back a few drinks with my boss."

"Uh.. okay." I was about to decline but then change my mind. Since Margot's away on a shoot and Metisha's not been talking to me for an unknown reason, I am sure going out and taking a few drinks to celebrate with one of the few people I trust most in the world will go a long way in increasing my mood. "Come pick me up in the next.. thirty minutes."

"Really?" she squeals.

"Really," I answer, amused as the Nikita I know need squeals.

She really is happy. Who knows, this night might actually turn out to yield something interesting.

****

"Oh my gosh!" Nikita squeals as soon as we get into the pub.

"And what is the cause for squealing this time around?"

"Look. Bass & Treble is performing live!" she screams and I take some steps back from her. Right now, she looks like an overdosed junkie who also happens to be a fan girl. And that combination, I tell you, is disatrous

"Sorry, Bass and what?"

"Bass and... wait, you've never heard of them, have you?" she gives me a 'Are you sure you're from this planet?' look.

"Nope."

"Well, they are pretty popular," she says as we take our seats. "In fact, they performed at my aunt's fiftieth birthday last year."

Having no idea of what to say in response to that, I make an undecipherable sound. But Nikita doesn't seem to care as she continues to chat to me.

"And the band leader? He's what you could call a walking sin..." she continues after the waiter had taken our orders.

"So sin's now got legs and it's walking among the living? Wow. That's scary." I give a fake shiver, deriving my fun out of the annoyed expression that now covers her exotic features.

She suddenly drops her head on the table with a loud bang that draws the attention of a group of girls seated to our left.

"You know, Boss, sometimes, you remind me of my mother."

"I look like her?"

"No, you are as old-fashioned as she is. Maybe even more old-fashioned."

"You do realize you're talking to me, your boss, right." I try on a mock fierce look.

"My bad, Boss. I'm sorry I forgot for a moment," she says with a goofy, unapologetic grin. "But seriously, those guys are just so cool. I mean look at'em."

I look towards the direction of the performers that my P.A seems so obsessed with. Since the light is dimmer where the band is standing, I can't make out their features. So I only concentrate on listening to their voices which is so beautiful it made me smile.

They say you're dangerous
That I should let you go
Or you would end up ruining me
I say it's obvious
That I was already ruined
From the very first time I set my eyes on you..

However, all traces of smile disappear from my face when an even more angelic voice starts to sing what is obviously a verse.

Sitting by the water fountain looking so flawless and beautiful
Eyes fixated on the skies
Like as if you were making a wish to the heavens
And I found myself wanting to fulfill that wish
No matter what it was...

I look towards the band again. Now that I look keenly, their faces are actually visible but I was too uninterested the other time to look at them for more than a sec.

But I would have to be completely dead not to recognise that voice. And the things he said in that solo verse.. God, it's been months already and he's still singing about that night.

This boy really must be..

"I love you, Jules!"

..crazy.

It takes my brain a moment to comprehend the words my auditory nerves had just sent to it for processing. So, for a moment, I only gaze blankly in the direction of the band.

"Jules, did.. did Terrence just say he loves you?" Nikita asks in that high-pitched voice of hers. This makes all eyes fall on me and different comments from all corners of the pub fill my ear:

"Aww, that was so romantic."

"Wow. Did he just say he loves her?"

A comment that would have been funny if not for the situation at hand was from one of the girls seated to our left:

"I've been his fan before he even started to sing and he never once told me he loves me. So, who does she think she is coming out of the blue to take him from me?"

Mortified and embarrassed, I hastily pick up my clutch and walk out of the pub in a manner as composed and calm as possible and try to ignore the insulting look some people are throwing my way even though I am sure I did nothing wrong. An elderly woman actually goes as far as shaking her head at me. For goodness sake, it's not my fault that a guy ten years younger than me decided to confess his undying love for me in the presence of some overobsessed fan girls and biased individuals who see any woman dating below her own age as 'uncultured'

I raise my head elegantly and let my heels click as loudly as they want. The words Metisha once said to me during the early stage of our friendship resounds in my head:

"Do you know why women wear heels?"

"Why?"

"Because even in situations when everyone expects you to bow your head in shame, the heels tell you 'I'm here to keep you standing tall. And stand tall you will."

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Me right now: (shaking my small butt because I've just conquered an intense writer's block)

Why don't y'all come shake with me💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽

One Two Three Go!

🎶I like to move it move it, she like to move it move it, he like to move it move it, we like to..

MOVE IT 😁😅😉