The next morning. Secret's Headquarters. Nayeon was already waiting in the meeting room at 7:30am after being escorted by the front desk staff. She was earlier than Ruoxue and the others by half an hour.
Meanwhile, Yura was under the assumption that Nayeon was still snoring away in bed.
Never would she have thought, by the time they arrived at the meeting room, Nayeon had already been waiting for quite some time.
Ruoxue had a confused look on her face. She originally wanted Nayeon to arrive at 9am - she was supposed to be so late, she wouldn't even be allowed in the meeting room. She planned it this way so Nayeon wouldn't get the chance to find out she had intentionally given the wrong time. But right now, Nayeon had arrived early. It was clear Nayeon knew she had the intention to eliminate her. However, she didn't care, she was still the organizer of this event and no one could defy her.
"Nayeon, why are you here so early?" Yura asked frustratedly; it appeared Ruoxue 's plan did not work on Nayeon.
"My friend was passing by, so on the way to work, she dropped me off," Nayeon explained calmly.
"Enough talking, the meeting is about to start," Ruoxue reminded the two to be quiet.
Not long after, the person in charge entered the meeting room. She was a 40-something-year-old middle-aged woman. Behind her, followed two assistants that carried a huge stack of documents.
"Ruoxue, I have looked at the information regarding these two models." The woman raised her head and took one glance at both Nayeon and Yura before she continued talking, "However, I only want one of them. I know everyone's time is precious, so I'm not going to go around in circles; I want Yura. As for Nayeon, I don't think she is suited to the theme of our shoot."
She directly threw Nayeon's portfolio on the table in front of them.
"It's OK if you don't want Nayeon, I have other models for you to choose from." Things had panned out the way Ruoxue had expected. After all, Ruoxue had been implanting negative ideas of Nayeon into this woman's head for quite some time. She immediately took out the portfolios of her other models and handed them to the woman in front of her. Not only did she find a way to get rid of Nayeon, she managed to make good use of her - Yura had benefited and Ruoxue also had the opportunity to introduce some of her other models.
"Let me have a look before I make a decision," the woman asked her assistants to collect the portfolios and prepared to get up. However, Nayeon held her back by suddenly speaking.
"May I ask what theme you speak of, Miss Mina?"
The woman obviously did not expect Nayeon to speak up, so she replied, "Oriental Trend, I assume a dull person like yourself isn't too suited."
"Has Miss Mina seen any of my works or seen me in any of my shows?" Nayeon challenged with a smile.
"Aren't you a...newcomer?" she asked; she obviously had never heard of Nayeon.
"Let me first ask you, was it Miss jeon that told you I was a newcomer?" Nayeon remained calm - not wanting to sound overbearing.
"Nayeon, don't go too far!" Ruoxue quickly growled as she glared at Nayeon, "This is a decision between us, you don't have the right to question it."
"You used my popularity to bring Yurou to the US and then used my name to boost your newcomers. You've used me so thoroughly, am I not allowed to ask a few questions?" Nayeon asked sharply as she smiled at Ruoxue.
"Nayeon, you really don't know how to be tolerant."
"My tolerance isn't used to tolerate jerks, tramps and their wonderful relatives..." Nayeon said towards Ruoxue before she turned back to Miss Mina, "Since you haven't seen any of my shows, then let's not bother putting on this act. How about this, let's bet...before we even hit tomorrow morning, you will already regret your decision." After the words left her mouth, Nayeon took big steps as she led Jihyo and Nancy out of the room; putting on her sunglasses as she went.
Miss Mina was stunned by Nayeon's confidence. After Nayeon left she immediately questioned Ruoxue, "Who is this model?"
Ruoxue was so angry her face was glowing red. She straightforwardly replied, "A newcomer model that will never get anywhere - no one important."
Miss Mina didn't think much of it as she turned around to leave the meeting room, ready to hand over the rest of the meeting to other staff to discuss costs. At this time, Yura stood up and fueled Ruoxue 's anger, "Ruoxue unnie, Nayeon's really beginning to not show any respect. She doesn't even have any regard for you."
jungkook wasn't present; this was a fight amongst the girls. So, Ruoxue didn't have to hold back, "She wants me to regret? Has she even taken a look at herself? Prepare yourself, once your value goes up, Nayeon will have to kneel before you and polish your shoes."
"Yes Ruoxue unnie, I will not disappoint you."
Yura promised to herself, she was going to teach Nayeon a lesson and even if Nayeon was to retaliate, she wasn't going to have a fighting chance.
After leaving Secret's headquarters, Nayeon returned to the manor with Nancy and Jihyo. Although they had mentally prepared themselves, Jihyo was still trembling in anger.
"I've never seen such a shameless person. The members of the jeon family keep getting worse and worse."
"Nayeon, what do you plan on doing now?" Nancy questioned Nayeon. "We've already drawn the line with the jeon siblings."
"You think if I hadn't drawn the line, they would have let me off easily?" Nayeon laughed, "As I said earlier: Secret will personally give me a call tomorrow, or perhaps, they won't even be able to wait until tomorrow morning."
"OK, since you already have everything planned, we will just wait patiently for the result."
nancy was extremely curious how Nayeon was going to turn the tables, but she also knew Nayeon was a very careful person. Until she had 100% certainty, she wasn't going to reveal anything. So, all they could do now was sit and wait patiently.
The truth was, even before Jaemin had handed her an invite to the American Photography Exhibition that morning, Nayeon already had other plans to deal with the situation. But Jaemin 's intention was obvious: since Yura recruited the help of Ruoxue, why couldn't she depend on Jaemin for once? After all, Jaemin promised she wasn't going to come forward or help her pull relations; she simply gave her a chance at a fair fight with Yura. So, in the end, Nayeon agreed to attend.
The exhibition was to be attended by many famous photographers, magazines and personalities, including...people from Secret. Most importantly, her mentor, the editor of Royal Magazine was the organizer.
The exhibition was scheduled for that night. So, after returning to the manor, Nayeon quickly went to prepare. Even though the Entertainment Industry had its rules, it didn't mean there was no chance of change.
Ruoxue thought she was in control, but tonight, Nayeon was going to let her know, in reality, she was nothing. The consequences of her arrogance was, she would only be able to control B-grade models like Yura to satisfy her ego.
She didn't need to remind everyone she was Kira, all she needed to do was stand beside her mentor and everyone would know, her status was above average.
Her? A newcomer? Who said so?
Jaemin had ordered her people to prepare a bunch of dresses for Nayeon. she even personally picked out a gold-patterned strapless dress with a white lining. The pattern resembled an oriental ink painting. As the dress gave off a strong oriental aura, once worn on Nayeon's body, she completely exuded the classic elegance of an oriental beauty - there was no doubt they matched perfectly. Paired with Nayeon's slender waist and long legs...her feminine beauty and charm, in an instant, emanated from her body like a fragrance in the wind.
Jaemin stood behind Tangning and used her chest to firmly press against Nayeon's back as she wrapped her hands around her waist - not willing to let go, "You are like a piece of art."
"It's because you have good taste," Nayeon returned the praise. She never knew Jaemin understood her to this extent - she knew Secret wanted to shoot the Oriental Trend and knew Secret humiliated her for being a newcomer - so, she intentionally picked out this dress for them to see, by not picking Tangning, they had made a huge loss.
"Why must you be a model, I just want to keep you to myself," Jaemin placed her chin on Nayeon's shoulder and complained.
"Look who's talking, why not mention that even Ruoxue was going crazy at the sight of you?" Nayeon immediately complained back before she let out a laugh, "Don't worry, aren't we only allowed to have physical contact with each other?"
"Of course." After speaking, Jaemin turned Nayeon around and kissed her lips as they stood before the mirror, the two were extremely affectionate. Nayeon could see her own expression through the mirror; Jaemin 's kiss really brought a person pleasure. Most importantly, whether it was affectionate or passionate, her lips belonged to only her. Just the thought of another woman kissing her made her heart uneasy.
"That's enough, I'm going to be late," Nayeon's face flushed red as she gently pushed Jaemin away from herself.
"When you get home, you better think of a way to compensate me," Jaemin released Nayeon from her embrace.
Nayeon nodded as she kissed Jaemin on the ear, "You can have whatever compensation you want..."
The photography exhibition was to be held at 7pm inside one of America's abandoned parks. Nayeon arrived not too late nor too early because, by the time she handed over her invite, there were already loads of famous people inside. Of course, amongst these people were her mentor, Ms. Bertha.
Everyone was trying their best to stand out, but most of them had a Western style. Only Nayeon was dressed in a charming oriental mini dress, immediately drawing the attention of people around her, including...the person in charge of Secret who had just rejected her earlier that day, Mina.
She walked over to Nayeon holding a glass of champagne with an amused expression before she spoke in a ridiculing tone, "I never thought, for the sake of the front cover of our magazine, you would follow me all the way here."
Nayeon laughed gently in a dignified manner, "I think you have misunderstood, Miss Mina."
"I don't think so. You obviously knew our theme would be the Oriental Trend so you deliberately dressed like this and appeared here. Unfortunately, once I've made a decision, I don't take it back." Mina thought, when Nayeon said she would regret, she was referring to her appearance at this moment. Although she was indeed beautiful, Secret wasn't going to change their mind for the sake of one model.
"Also, jeon's President jeon said you have a bad personality. Judging by what I see before me, he is right, you are indeed taking advantage of the situation to promote yourself."
"I've said it already, my appearance today has nothing to do with Secret," Nayeon emphasized again with a louder voice attracting the attention of Ms. Bertha, who was currently showing some guests around the exhibition.
"You've really put in a lot of effort, no wonder Ruoxue told me to be careful of you."
"Miss Mina, you must really think highly of yourself." After speaking, Nayeon's gaze diverted to the person standing behind Mina - it was Bertha. A smile appeared across her face, "Mentor."
Bertha looked at Nayeon surprisingly before she emotionally wrapped Nayeon in her embrace, "Oh, my precious dear, it's been a long time. How have you been?"
"I've been good. But mentor, I've got a problem," Nayeon explained.
After hearing this, Bertha remembered why she had walked over here in the first place, she had heard two people arguing. So, she released Nayeon and turned to Mina, "What is all this?"
How could this be?
Mina was shocked. Wasn't Nayeon here because she wanted to get back her front cover shoot?
How does she know the editor of Royal Magazine? And why is their relationship so close?
Nayeon didn't hold back, she explained the entire incident to Bertha. Upon hearing everything, Bertha absolutely felt the people at Secret were out of their mind. In a straightforward manner, she released her anger upon Mina, "This is why your magazine has been failing. How dare you reject my precious and choose a B-grade model instead, yet be so proud of yourself? My god, this is ridiculous. Did you know how many awards Kira received when she walked down the runways in France?"
"She...isn't she a newcomer?" Mina was dumbfounded.
"She's appeared at Master Bonne's show, in fact, she was in the finale. At that time, she was only 17 and you were still a nobody!" After speaking, Bertha affectionately hugged Nayeon, "My precious, don't be upset. Whatever front cover you want, just let me know."
Mina watched in disbelief as the two walked into the distance. Her blood began to boil. Because she had listened to Ruoxue, she gave up on Tangning. She couldn't believe she was stupid enough to 'buy the case and return the pearl*'.
She couldn't let this happen, she had to get Nayeon back.
Inside, Mina only had this new objective, she had completely forgotten what she said earlier about changing her mind for the sake of one model.
Nayeon did not look back at Mina, because she could already guess what Mina was thinking right now. She turned down Bertha's offer as she began to recount all that had happened to her in the past few years, "Mentor, I am clear on my position right now. I will take one step at a time to completely get back what was mine...I'm thankful for your good intentions."
"My precious, the most important thing in life is to know what you want. It's never too late to start again," Bertha nodded understandingly.
"Thank you, mentor."
"Look at you, you completely stand out in the crowd. You haven't changed at all."
Upon hearing her praises, Nayeon smiled humbly. She was humble because she knew there were so many people in this world with amazing abilities; she felt she was nothing in comparison.
After the photography exhibition ended, Bertha ordered someone to escort Nayeon home. At this moment, Mina suddenly came running out and stopped Nayeon's car, "Can you give me 5 minutes for a chat?"
"What else do we have to chat about?" Nayeon asked directly.
"As long as you are willing to shoot our front cover, you can make whatever request you want - I will make sure to fulfill it."
"Even at the expense of going against Ruoxue?" Nayeon asked as she looked out the car window, in a casual but dangerous tone, "I am a vengeful person."
"I've said it already, you can make whatever request and I will fulfill it, regardless of the expense."
"Then...I'll wait for you to show your sincerity," Nayeon laughed as she wound up the car window and asked the driver to leave.
Ruoxue, tomorrow you will realize, everything's changed...