MISS PERFECT'S WORLD

Posing easily for the camera, Davina wore a naturally alluring smile.

The photo session went on for one hour straight. She kept changing into different clothings and accessories. Even her hairdo kept changing and the make-up too.

"And that is a wrap!" the director said and Davina let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank God!" she mumbled inaudibly and started to walk towards her manager and assistant. They were both standing together across Davina.

Her assistant moved and met her halfway with an opened bottle of water stretched out. Davina accepted it and took one long swallow.

"I need a smoothie," Davina mumbled as she returned the bottle of water to her assistant.

"Right away ma'am Davina," the petite lady muttered and scurried away.

"You are as efficient as always Davina Swift, it is always a pleasure working with you. What a professional! We completed three days job in just an hour," The director muttered, taking light steps towards her.

Although he was brown-nosing her, there was some truth in his words.

Davina just smiled, and then turned to her manager.

"Loretha, have you made lunch reservation? I am starving..." Davina muttered.

Loretha had been Davina Swift's manager since she debuted as a kid. She had practically been with Davina from the start. It was almost eighteen years already. The woman was quite advanced in age. A divorcee. She had only one kid, a son, who had chosen to be with his father over his mother for reasons still unknown to her. Her child was only ten years old. How couldn't he need his mother?

"Here is your smoothie," Davina's assistant was back with her smoothie. Davina collected it and quickly took a sip without even checking which flavor it was, and that was her mistake.

Davina spat out the drink almost immediately, and then she raced towards the restroom, grabbing her handbag from her manager's hands.

Loretha turned to Sydney. "What flavor did you get her?" she asked, trying hard to keep her voice down but barely suceeding.

"Strawberry," Sydney's voice shook as she replied.

"Is everything okay?" the director was already approaching the duo.

Loretha turned to him and managed a smile. "Sure... We are just talking," she said, her tone was dismissing.

The director nodded and went back to his crew, shouting a few instructions.

Loretha turned back to the shaking girl. "Are you mad? You got her strawberry! What the f**k is wrong with you? Have you forgotten she is allergic to strawberry?"

Even though Loretha's voice was mostly a quiet whisper, it was still harsh. Sydney drew a sharp breath. A pool of tears was already forming in her eyes.

"I am so sorry, I forgot for a minute. It is all because of that strawberry commercial video she did just a week ago..." Sydney muttered.

"In the advert, the strawberry smoothie cup wasn't even containing real strawberry smoothie. That was a banana flavored smoothie for Christ sake!" Loretha scolded.

"I am sorry. I am really sorry!" was all Sydney could say.

Loretha let out a frustrated groan as her hand reached out to tug on her blonde hair.

Meanwhile in the restroom, Davina finally started to breath as soon as she gave herself a shot of her injection. It was a good thing she always had her shots with her.

"Damn that stupid girl!" Davina cursed as she took deep breaths in succession to calm herself down.

When Davina walked out of the restroom and towards Loretha and Sydney, they could already both tell what was coming next.

"Give her, her paycheck for the month," she said, and then turned to Sydney.

She didn't say anything to her. She didn't need to. She just stared at her for a while, and then looked away and turned back to Loretha.

"Now Loretha!" she screamed and they had the attention of everyone in the room.

No one dared approach them to ask what was wrong though. Not when Davina Swift was there.

Just then, Charles Baldwin arrived, wearing that charming smile of his that seemed to always get every female attention, young and old alike... Well, except Davina Swift attention.

The director bowed enthusiastically at Charles. The rest of the crew suddenly became chatty. Davina caught a few of them taking sneak pictures of Charles as he walked towards her grinning. She tried hard not to roll her eyes at him.

Loretha led Sydney outside after mumbling a greeting at Charles. He smiled as a reply, and then turned to Davina. She smiled and he shook his head in disbelief, and then he leaned foward and pecked on her lips.

"Guess what sweetheart, I came to take you out for lunch," Charles said, loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. Well, that was the plan anyway...

He turned to the director and his crew. "I brought lunch for all of you. It is in the van just outside so help yourself," he said and they cheered.

"Davina's boyfriend is the best!" One of the crew members blurted out. It was a lady.

"We should get her to do more of our jobs so that her boyfriend can always take us to lunch and maybe even dinner," the director added and everyone laughed... Well, everyone except Davina.

Her expression was tired as she sighed softly.

He turned back to Davina with an arm outstretched. "Shall we?" he mumbled with a raised eyebrow.

She accepted his arm with a light smile and together they walked out of the exquisite studio, and towards Charles' SUV parked right outside.

Sure enough a food van was there. It was the food van of one of the top restaurants in the country

Davina shook her head doubtfully as she got into her side of the van, which Charles had held open for her.

When they were both seated, Loretha joined them in the car.

"Did you call a temporary assistant to meet up with us?" Davina asked Loretha.

"Temporary assistant? Wait, what about Sydney?" Charles asked and earned a glare from Davina.

"Sounds like you have taken quite a fancy to Sydney," Davina spoke with a raised eyebrow.

Charles let out a soft chuckle. "Jealous much?" he asked with a smirk.

"You wish," Davina muttered and rolled her eyes at him.

"But seriously, why do you need an assistant when you already have Sydney? Oh... Don't tell me you fired her..." Charles tone was suddenly solemn.

The SUV started to move along the tarred road.

"Well, I did fire her. Why? Would you miss her? I could give you her house address if you want," Davina muttered and it was Charles' turn to glare at her.

She chuckled and his gaze on her gradually softened.

"Why do you think I would have eyes for other girls when I have you?" Charles asked as he reached out to tuck a loose strand of Davina's chocolate brown hair, behind her ear. He patted her head when he was done.

Davina glared at him, and then reached out to grab the hand, which was patting her head and tossed it away.

"Ouch!" Charles mumbled, but he chuckled in the next second. Davina scoffed.

"Well, well, well... They wasted no time uploading the pictures of the both of you at the studio earlier. You two are literally being talked about all over the net. They have even put the both of you on the top of the ranking for Couple of the year," Mrs Loretha informed as she went through her phone. She was sitting behind Davina and Charles.

Charles grinned while Davina let out a soft sigh before reaching for her phone in her handbag, which was right beside her.

Charles just watched Davina as she also started to go through her phone.

"So for lunch, I was thinking Italian," Charles started.

"Whatever," was Davina's tired reply. She leaned her head backwards to let her head rest on the headrest of the seat.

"What else is on my schedule for today?" she asked Loretha as she shut her eyes and let out a yawn.

Charles took out his phone and got busy with it in no time. He could kill for video games...

"Well, you and Charles have a press conference in exactly two hours..." Loretha informed.

"That is today? Alright... What else?" was Davina's quiet reply. Her voice was almost inaudible.

"You have a concert tonight," Loretha said.

"Yeah... The concert is tonight..." Davina's voice trailed off.

Loretha noticed that Davina had dozed off so she stood up and lowered the chair Davina was on, so that Davina could relax her body comfortably on it.

Afterwards, she proceeded to take out Davina's laptop to check her emails.

It was no surprise that Davina Swift was so tired. The young teenager worked so hard, and she didn't have to...

Davina Swift was a top global celebrity. She was a top actress who had won numerous awards. She was a top artiste too and she was an international supermodel. And it didn't even end in the entertainment industry.

Aside from being the apparent heiress of her father's brewery company and the vice CEO, Davina Swift also owned her own fashion brand and it was a globally recognized one at that.

So... Davina Swift led quite a busy life and was successful too...

When the van eventually came to a stop, Charles looked up from his phone. He turned to Davina, who was half lying on another seat beside the one he was sitting on.

"What a sleeping beauty!" he didn't even know that he was thinking aloud until he heard himself. He turned to look at Loretha who just shook her head hopelessly at him.

"You didn't bring your assistant with you," Loretha commented.

"Well, she had to take care of some things for me so she couldn't tag along," Charles replied, and then turned to the sleeping Davina. It took him all of his willpower not to reach out and touch her.

"At least you do listen and take your bodyguards with you. Davina is as stubborn as hell. Half the time I don't even know what to do with her," Loretha said.

"Heard that," Davina murmured, and then opened her eyes. Her long eyelashes danced as she blinked while yawning.

"You have been awake?" Charles asked in surprise. She didn't reply.

Just then, Charles' side of the van opened. One of the bodyguards trailing in the vehicle behind them had come to get the door.

"Mi lady, please wait for this gentleman," Charles mumbled, referring to himself, and then quickly got off the car, rushing to her side of the van to open the door.

When he opened the side of her car, he stretched out a hand towards her to help her out. She took it. When she had gotten out of the car, they both approached the five star Italian restaurant before them, arm in arm, with Loretha following closely behind them and about five bodyguards following after Loretha.

****

At the press conference, the questions were unending. Davina barely said anything. She just left the talking to Charles who seemed to be having a field day answering virtually all the reporters questions.

The press conference was being held, majorly for two reasons. The first reason was because of a movie, which had just aired, in which the two of them were the lead actor and actress respectively. The movie had only just aired two days ago but it was already trending like crazy and its fame had already spread far across the globe.

The second reason for the press conference was Charles and Davina's love relationship. Charles and Davina had done quite a few movies together already as lead actor and actress so a love relationship between the two of them wasn't strange.

The supposedly relationship of Charles and Davina had driven even more traffic to the movie of them that had just aired. In the movie that had just aired, the both of them had been a couple so seeing the two of them as a couple in real life was sure fascinating. After all, who doesn't like a love story?

Jace Darlington just walked out of the Airport Arrivals. His friend Leonard Gilbert, who had practically turned brother to him, was walking right beside him. They were both pulling their luggage behind them as they walked.

"Wow! It has been five years!" Leonard exclaimed, halting momentarily to heave in a long and deep breath.

"Indeed... It has been five long years," Jace agreed.

They resumed walking, towards the road ahead.

"Are you sure you don't want to hitch a ride with me. My driver is already here," Leonard said.

Jace shook his head in negation. "My mom is already on her way here. She was held up by something but will be here soon," he replied.

"Okay... I can at least wait for you until she comes," Leonard muttered.

"No... No it is fine Leonard. The Gilbert are already expecting their golden son. Far be it for me to make them wait. I am pretty sure there is a surprise party waiting for you," Jace replied, half teasing. He even winked at his friend.

Both men had already stopped by a pavement and were just standing there, chatting.

Just then Leonard's eyes caught a large digital billboard just across where they were standing. He quickly pointed at it. One of Davina Swift' music video was playing on it.

"Wow... She is amazing," Leonard muttered and nudged at his friend who glared at him.

"I mean look at her. So young yet so successful. Maybe I should talk to my father about a business collaboration with her family's company and who knows I might get closer to her and there may be sparks..."

Jace shook his head hopelessly at his friend. "You need help," was all he said.

"But come on dude, look at her, how is she?" Leonard turned to the billboard again.

That was when Jace observed the girl in the video more closely. He had heard about her, a lot. Her name was sang on the streets of the country he had been returning from but Jace had never really cared about celebrities. They had nothing to do with him and he had nothing to do with them. She was beautiful no doubt but was there anything special about being beautiful... Jace looked away from the billboard.

"She is amazing right?" Leonard pressed.

"She is okay," Jace replied.

"She is okay?" Leonard shook his head at his friend in disbelief. Jace didn't say anything else.

Leonard finally turned towards where his driver had been standing at for a while, waiting for them. He was just across them, on the road ahead, which linked to the main expressway. He was standing by the car he had brought to pick Leonard up in. The driver waved at the two young men when he noticed their gaze on him.

Leonard turned to Jace after giving a light nod to his driver.

"I will be fine. It will be fine dude, just go," Jace assured .

Leonard drew a sharp breath, and then nodded. After patting Jace roughly on his shoulder, he moved with his luggage and started to cross the road.

When he got to the other side and his driver collected his luggage, he turned to Jace and waved at him, before getting into the car.

Jace watched the car slowly disappear, and then let out a soft sigh. His eyes searched for somewhere to sit. He didn't want to go back into the Airport Arrivals reception.

At the end, he resorted to sitting on his luggage right there on the pavement as he waited.

"Son! Jace!" his mother's voice made his hardened expression soften.

He stood up from his luggage and traced his mother's voice to a car parked in front of him. He wondered how come he hadn't seen her drive and park there. She was just right in front of him! He concluded that it was most probably because he had a lot on his mind. After all, he had practically been staring blankly into space as he had sat there waiting for her to arrive.

Pulling his luggage behind him as he approached his mom's car, Jace had a rather wide smile on his face.

His mom had already stepped out of the car and was waiting for him by it, with her arms wide open. Jace chuckled as he reached her, and then he let go of his luggage and walked into her tight yet warm embrace. Oh how much he had missed her scent!

"Thanks for agreeing to come stay with momma. You have no idea how much I missed you," Mrs Darlington muttered.

She had broken the embrace but she leaned in again and pulled Jace into her embrace as she spoke. Jace chuckled in her embrace. He was finally home! After such a long time.

"Come on now, let us go," Mrs Darlington finally broke the embrace and stepped back.

Jace finally noticed the car she had driven. It was an Audi brand car, one of their latest releases. It was grey in color.

"Mom you own an Audi? Are you sure you work as a housekeeper?" Jace mumbled as his mother started to lead the way for them to get into the car.

First he put his luggage in the boot, and then made his way to the front passenger's seat, beside his mom who was already positioned in the driver's seat.

"I work as a housekeeper son, but I am not just any housekeeper. I work for one of the richest family in the country. You know it is a live in job just like I told you but I have my own house, it is a separate building beside the main building... You will see," Mrs Darlington said and ignited the engine.

"Wow... So my mother is a rich woman..." Jace teased with a smirk. His mother chuckled.

"Technically... I am richer than most people who do professional jobs so yeah... Your momma is a rich woman!," Mrs Darlington replied with a smile as the car sped off.