Second Chances

Chapter 1

3 years later
Los Angeles

Michelle closed her eyes and let out a deep breath.

She was lying down on a recliner by the pool of her massive penthouse suite.

It was 9 in the morning—a late morning, as she would say. She just got up from her bed, put on a robe and her favorite pair of Ray Ban's, and she planned to just soak up some sun.

It was definitely a lazy morning, as this was her first day off in a long while. She had just finished filming a movie.

A lot has changed in the last 3 years. Her stint in the Miss Universe pageant really gave her a fair amount of boost in popularity with the Western audience. It gave her a lot of modeling opportunities and endorsement deals. Then she started receiving offers for small Hollywood roles, as the token Asian character for diversity. She forged through nonetheless, and the rest, as they say, is history.

She was living a perfect life... or is she?

*bzzt bzzt*

Michelle felt her phone vibrate and she let out a sigh, reluctantly looking at the screen.

From: Rhirhi ❤️
Hey honey! I see you've been awfully busy in Mexico, huh? 😏

Michelle frowned in confusion at that. Of course she was busy, she was there for filming. Mexico was one of the last filming locations for her upcoming movie.

From: Rhirhi ❤️
You're trending, by the way.

Trending? What for?

Before Michelle could even send a reply, her notifications started blowing up in all her socials.

What the—

She was being tagged in numerous posts and retweets. This has not happened in a long while.

She turned off all notifications, and immediately dialed her best friend's number.

"What the hell did I do now?" she blurted out as soon as Rhian answered.

"Well, hello to you, too. I'm fine, thanks for asking."

Michelle rolled her eyes at her best friend's antics before conceding. "So dramatic, honey. I'm just really tired and I just want my lazy day back... so please, what did I do to cause a commotion?"

"Well technically, someone else did something."

"What? Stop being so cryptic, please."

"Fine. Your old gal pal Miss Mexico 2023 posted a picture of the two of you. You didn't tell me you met up with her, by the way!"

"It was like a brief meeting, Rhi. She reached out, and I invited her to come to the set. And so what if we took a picture? People going crazy over that?"

Rhian laughed, and Michelle knew that was a laugh that knew something else.

Michelle let out a groan, "Are fans trying to link me with Melissa? Because that's fucked up—the woman's married, they should know."

Rhian laughed again.

Michelle was getting annoyed now. "Seriously, dude. Spit it out!"

"Well... the fans went crazy nostalgic after seeing that picture... and now, they remembered a certain someone."

Thud. Thud.

Michelle froze, she could feel her heart pounding. No, surely—

"They tagged her and started reposting both of your old TikTok's and posts. You remember the old hashtag? That's what's trending."