Girls With Luv

THREE April

"We beg to differ." Liya and I speak at the same time, feign utter shock and then start giggling. Spencer doesn't say anything and ends up inhaling the leftover noodles on her plate in one giant bite.

"I'm done and very late, I guess. I'll see you guys at night. Jal Jayo Chingus!" She grins, jumps out of her chair, grabs her handbag and other stuff, and heads out in ten seconds.

Huh, where was this speed when breakfast hath been waiting for Her Highness?

"She knows that Jal Jayo means goodnight, right?" Liya asks and I bite back a laugh.

"I've learnt to look past her adorable Korean errors." I smile because they are adorable.

"You know, she has a point though. We should go somewhere."

"Where? And when? We don't have the time."

"We've been slaves of time and work for a while now. It's okay to give up temporarily and look for a resort somewhere else. We are under no obligation to feed into the social expectation of working 24x7."

"I know, but it's easier said than done."

"That's what we are supposed to believe." Liya winks. "I'll see you at night. Say hello to your mom and bring me some raisin cookies."

"You finished the last batch?!"

"Obviously. I won't treat cookies as a bunch of museum artefacts kept for show, okay? Never ever."

I shake my head and giggle. The woman has a point.

* * *

One good thing about having your own fashion line at a young age is that you get to create an entire world the way you want to. As a kid, I loved drawing dresses and wholesome outfits for different occasions. The idea of creating something new that someone else would wear one day sent jitters down my entire body. It was a severe level of excitement. I'd scribble on a blank canvas as my brother would solve trigonometric equations right next to me. It was a weird combination but we somehow managed to not let our conflict of interests cause a conflict in our relationship. Even today, whenever I'm trying to draw a new pattern, I am always reminded of the simple childhood days.

I smile whilst thinking about my brother. I should probably give him a call one of these days. Mom said he has been touring a lot, hence a total absence from family video calls. I understand completely, that's why I haven't bothered him with voicemails and text messages.

I am distracted by a knock on my office door. I look up from my laptop and find Katie looking at me with panic evident in her eyes. My heart drops down with dread.

"What now?" I ask, closing the laptop screen and standing up.

"Um, the model we hired for the photo shoot isn't here yet." Katie bites her lip and flinches, she probably caused another bleeding again.

"What? Why the hell is she not here yet? Don't we begin with the shoot in fifty minutes?!"

"Yes. Apparently, she was at a party last night and that didn't end up really well."

My fingers straightaway find my temples and I try to massage the frustration out of my body. Why do I always end up with careless and irresponsible people? Creating my own fashion world is brilliant, but working with certain people who simply ruin everything is taking two steps back. I know how hard it is to start from scratch, so I try my best to support new faces in the industry even when I'm one of the newbies myself. But then shit like this happens and I seriously don't know what to do.

"What about the other model? Isn't it a double shoot?"

"She is here but..."

"But what?"