Forever And Never

TWENTY-FIVE || SASHA

Strangely, I feel more excited than usual today. The meeting seems to take longer to end, the clock is ticking slower than usual, and the sun isn't lowering anywhere near the horizon.

I grab my phone, repeatedly checking for messages from Alexander. His last text was five minutes ago, asking what I wanted to eat.

"Miss Nam?" Mrs. Vienna calls from the doorway. I look up at her in surprise, slamming my phone a little too loudly onto my desk.

"Yes?" I ask, grabbing a random file and opening it up. She stares at me for a few seconds with a questionable look before pulling out my schedule.

"You need to attend the design team meeting in three minutes," she says.

I hide back a scowl and get to my feet, grumbling under my breath as I storm out of my office. Mrs. Vienna follows behind as I make my way towards the elevators.

"Morning, miss," a few employers greet me as I walk past them. I return with my fake smiles before looking down at my phone.

"Miss Nam, may I ask a question?" Mrs. Vienna inquires once we step inside the elevators. I punch the button for the sixteenth floor before nodding at her. "Excuse me if I am being too nosy, but since when was Mr. Alexander Cruz able to come back to the modeling unit?"

I tuck my phone into my purse. "Since I allowed it, obviously."

Mrs. Vienna clears her throat. "It seems that he has been hired and fired a few times now. Is this all because of your—"

I turn around to glare at her. "It would be grateful if you did not mix my work life and personal life together, Mrs. Vienna. My relationships with my workers should not be a pestering thought for you to be concerned about."

Mrs. Vienna's eyes widen before dropping her head to a bow. "My apologies, miss."

The doors slide open once we reach the sixteenth floor. I step out and walk down the hallways, making my footsteps a little more louder than usual on the marbled pavement.

Two security guards open the doors for me and I step into the convention room. Employers crowd around the tables while a few are adjusting the stage for the slideshows. Mrs. Vienna guides me to an empty seat at the center, where a few of my colleagues are already seated.

"Morning, Miss Nam," they say with cheery voices. I give them smiles as I sit down, smoothing my dress and pushing my hair from my shoulders.

"Miss Nam, have you heard about the topic for today?" One of them, a young Vietnamese woman named Alyssa, asks me excitedly, handing me a pamphlet. "Some of the top male models of our departments are going to be here, and companies from East Asia want them to be in their next projects!"

I nod my head, flipping through the pages. "Sounds fantastic. Do you know which models have agreed?"

Another colleague, Raymond, points to a group of figures standing at the sides of the stage. "Most of them have already signed up!"

My eyes linger to the group of models and I immediately find Alexander standing among them. Dressed in a light blue coat and black trousers, he laughs at something another model says. I get up from my seat in excitement and begin to walk, ignoring Mrs. Vienna's calls to me.

"Sasha!" A familiar voice screeches, startling me. Suddenly, a body slams into me from behind and almost makes me fall.

"Jesus Christ, Anaya!" I yelp, spinning around to see her smiling face. "You scared me!"

My best friend lets out a laugh before squeezing me into a hug. "I've missed you! Where have you been all this time?"

A weight of guilt begins to sink into my gut, holding back my words. Maybe later, when things have settled, I will tell her everything. For now, I must be silent.