Chapter 6 Never Been This Beautiful

After Jorge left, Leoni thought about everything that his cousin had said about Louise, and when he turned his eyes to his table, he saw a small package at its end. Jorge had forgotten it, and so he was quite curious. He grabbed it and decided to open it. He saw that small slice of cake and he instantly thought that it could only have been something from the cleaning lady. He hesitated for a moment but soon tasted the cake.

'It is delicious, ' he thought. That cake reminded him of his mother's carrot cake.

It was almost identical! "How did she get this recipe?" he asked himself.

Leoni from that day onward began to literally stalk Louise, in order to try to destroy her. In his mind, the friendship that the young woman had with Jorge definitely had ulterior motives.

He ordered Williams to task her with the heavier cleaning chores, and do overtime as well. Despite all that pressure, the young woman was always working willingly with a smile on her face.

That made Leoni mad.

His efforts to crush her were fruitless. One day, Louise was removing the trash from the hallways, meanwhile there was a commercial being recorded in the theater hall. She would have to pick up the trash from there too, and in order not to disturb the cast she tried to make no noise. The director was already annoyed because things weren't going as he had planned.

"That's not possible! We need someone else!" he said impatiently.

He looked around to calm himself and then turned to the direction of where Louise was walking.

'What should I do?' he thought in distress. At that moment, he saw the girl's face and had an idea.

"I actually have an idea. Hey girl, could you help us here?"

"Who, me?" asked Louise.

"Yes, I just need you to hold this banner for a moment behind the models. Could you do that for me?"

"Definitely."

She held the banner a little awkwardly. Cassia was one of the models there, and knew Louise was the cleaning lady hovering Jorge. She was very annoyed because she had heard rumors that they were together.

"Hey, cleaning lady, hold it straight."

Louise was nervous about that, but said nothing in return. In between scenes, the models went to the resting area to touch up their makeup. At that time the cleaning lady went there too, to sit down and rest for a while. When Cassia saw her approach, she started saying things to provoke Louise.

"Girls, do you know who called me yesterday?" "Who? Tell us!" "Mr. Leoni invited me to dinner! He always surprises me, and of course I rejected him. Then Jorge kept insisting that I should go. That man's always on the run, but I want nothing to do with him. I just want Leo." She glanced at Louise's direction and then continue, "Unlike people out there who are licking his shoes and imagining fairy tales can really happen."

Louise couldn't help herself when she heard this, and said, "Are you refering to me?"

"Pardon? I didn't even see you there, but if the shoe fits, right?"

"For your information, I have nothing to do with Mr. Jorge. We are just friends."

"I know it pretty well! I know your intentions, and I know you want to be with him."

"At least I'm not like you that drools over that horny goat of a general manager."

"What did you just say? How dare you call Leoni that? Have you lost your mind! You could lose your job, dear. Be careful. I'm very close to him."

"Indeed, very close. Just like all the other women he had a one night stand with."

"I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't owe you explanations of my private life with him either."

"You have nothing to say anyways. Everyone knows he's cold, rude, and only plays with women."

"You bitch!"

When the two were about to fight, one of the people responsible for the recording called them in. Louise didn't even stay for the next scene. She left that place because she had the final word in the argument. Little did she know that there was someone there watching everything through the cameras. It was no one other than Leoni.

"A horny goat? So that's what you call me?" Darn Louise.

The man's face darkened.

That afternoon, Louise had stayed to work late, and once again had the worst tasks to perform. She went to the fashion show's closet to organize it piece by piece, put everything in its proper place. When she got there she almost fainted, as it was way too huge. The place was big and had hundreds of articles of clothing, so she started to tidy up as soon as she got there. When she got tired, she sat down for a bit to rest, In front of her there was a beautiful wedding gown, all embroidered with crystals and precious stones. It looked like it was her size, and when she looked at the tag, she was startled by its price: five thousand euros. 'How could there be something that expensive?! Dear God!' she thought while being dazzled by the dress. She considered trying it on. It was the perfect opportunity as no one else was there. Just as she imagined, the dress was a perfect fit on her body. It looked like the dress had been made especially for her. She felt so beautiful at the time, she even let her long hair lose, saying to herself, "He told me I was beautiful if I dressed properly and he was right! I bet if he saw me like this, he would ask me to marry him right away! Hahaha."

Louise was admiring herself in the mirror while thinking about Jorge. She had never seen herself so beautiful. She thought she was alone in that place, but... Leoni had been following her and watching her for a long time. When he saw the beautiful young woman in that dress, his heart soared, and he couldn't understand why. He took a photo of the girl on his smartphone, believing it was going to be blackmail material for the future.

After so much time spent admiring herself, Louise decided to take off the dress and change back into her uniform. That was when she heard a noise. Feeling scared, she said, "Is anyone there?"

As she was approaching the spot where the noise came from, Leoni appeared and said, "Yes there is someone here."

The girl turned pale, she didn't know what to do.

"Mr. Leoni?"

He looked her up and down and said, "Wow! I didn't know such a tomboy like yourself could turn into a swan. Now I understand what Jorge sees in you."

He said that with a mischievous tone.

Then the girl realized she wasn't fully dressed at the moment.

"Geez!" she screamed

and ran away to put on a robe.

"Please, go away!" she requested.

He had no intention of leaving at the time, but... his phone rang and it was a company representative looking for him.

When he left, she sighed in relief and finally walked home.

Louise, after that day, tried as best as she could to hide from Leoni, fearing that he would do something against her.

It was Friday, and Jorge met Louise as usual because he loved listening to her. He had a lot of fun with her jokes, for they distracted him. He soon realized the girl was also very curious about the fashion world.

"Mr. Jorge, being an actor or actress must be amazing as they are beautiful and have all eyes on them."

Jorge replied, "Not so much. There are also difficulties, like dieting, or being forced to dress in a way you don't like."

"Yes, that's true. We are used to just looking at the bright side of life."

"Yeah, right, but why are you talking like being actresses is the only way to be beautiful? You are one beautiful woman too."

"Me? No way!" She blushed in embarrassment.

"Of course beauty, in my opinion, goes far beyond appearance. It's all about simplicity, joy, love and purity. But still, in terms of appearance, I think you're a very beautiful woman. You just haven't been able to see it yet."

She was very happy to hear those words of her crush and thought, 'Wow, he thinks I'm beautiful. I must be dreaming ha!'

"I think if you change your style a little you will be able to see that. By the way, tomorrow night we will have a fashion show. You should come."

"Really? I've never been to one."

"So this is your opportunity. Take this VIP card. You'll need it to get in, okay?"

"Okay, but will you be there?"

"Yes I'll meet you there. Now I have to go. Gotta catch a meeting in 20 minutes."

"All right, see you later."