The above pictures are of Laura and Diego. Just so you know, I don't actually imagine Ryan Gosling as Diego. But the above looks kinda reminded me of Diego. You can imagine them as anyone you want.
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Laura walks towards the dressing table while drying her hair with a towel. Only one and half hour and the guests would start to arrive. She can't believe that she has agreed to join today playing as a host when she definetly hates being in crowds and socializing with strangers.
'Dad! You can't just throw a party like this without telling me! What were you thinking? I'm going to make a complete fool out of myself in front of those people.' Laura said in an exasperated tone.
'If I had told you earlier then you would've said no. But it's time that you meet everyone and it's not like you'd have to do anyting. Just meet the people and talk.' Marcus tried to o with his daughter.
'And what has mom said about your plan?'
Some shuffling could be heard over the phone and then a new voice fiiled Laura's car.
'Laura honey! How are you doing?' Karen asked in her signature British accent.
Laura groaned. 'You're in on this as well aren't you? It's so obvious in your voice.'
Karen nervously chuckled. 'It won't be bad dear trust me. Just exchanging some pleasentaries. It would be good for you.'
'I know it would be. But there's something called mental preparation, you know?'
Marcus and Karen both laughed a bit at their daughter's tone.
'That's why we're calling you now so that you get the whole day tomorrow to be mentally prepared.' Karen says.
'Laura, I didn't want you to take over such a big project for your first one but you said you can do it and everyone can see how well you're handling it. Your project would be finished in a few months and you'd have to come public then anyways. It would be better if you meet everyone now then later. I know you can handle it.' Marcus adds, 'You'd be just fine.'
Gosh! What was she supposed to say to that? 'Fine.' Laura huffs. Not having it at herself to say no anymore. Perhaps it'll actually be as easy as they were saying.
'I'd do just fine.' Laura says to herself. Repeating Marcus' words to her. She doesn't notice the slight shaking of her hands from the nervousness.
What would everyone think when they see her?
Laura distangles the wet towel from her hair and the wet locks fall freely. As she looks into the mirror a pale face greets her. Clearly because she just got out of shower, anxious pair of green eyes due to all the stress she's going through thinking about this party, her rosy hued cheeks.
A breath leaves Laura. She's nothing special looking and she doubts her face is the only thing people would notice. Gosh! How many people would she have to socialize with?
'Laura!' Karen calls from the other side of her door. 'Diego's downstairs.'
'Coming!' Laura shouts back. And...that's Laura's cue to stop studying herself and change out of her bathrobe.
'Hey!' Diego's the first to greet like always when he notices Laura coming into the living room.
'Hi.' Laura greets back as Diego kisses Laura's left cheek.
'So, how's Ms. Beautiful doing?' He asks as they both sit in the couch.
'The same way I was doing last night.' Laura says with a slight teasing tone.
'I always ask that huh?' He asks with an embarrassed chuckle.
'You do.' Laura says with an amused look on her face. 'Is the ever so charming Mr. Martinez loosing his charms now?'
Diego gives an amused smirk. 'Nah, Ms. Williams. You're the only one who always catches me off guard.'
Laura gives an amused shake of her head at this. 'By the way, the amount of time you're coming to NY would make people think that you live here and not in Dubai.'
'About that, we're actually planning on shifting our head quarters here. That would make things a lot easier for our business. It just hasn't got out to the press yet and I have to be here to see things through.' He replies.
'Uh.. So the branch everyone's talking about is actually your head quarters. How come I don't know?'
'It never came up and I was actually going to tell you today which I already did.' Then Diego adds in a teasing tone, 'Don't worry sweetheart. You're gonna see a lot of me from now on.'
'Unfortunately.' Laura tries to say in a straight voice but her crack of laughter gives her away and then Diego joins her as well.
Karen smiles at the scene. Marcus was right. Diego is actually helping to calm Laura's nerves. Though none of them said anything to Laura but Marcus and Karen both know how nervous Laura is about this party.
She used to be so shy. Always feeling uncomfortable among strangers. Although now she is a lot more confident than before but her discomfort at being among strangers is still present.
'Here you go. Freshly made cupcakes for our special guest.' Karen says to Diego with a big smile.
'There was no need Mrs. Williams.' Diego says in a polite tone while looking in front of him at Karen and adds, 'But thank you. For the cupcakes and the invitation.'
'Nonsense. You're one of Laura's good friends. Obviously you're welcome to all our parties.' Karen waves of Diego's words with a laugh and leaves.
After some moments of chatting Laura gets up from where she was sitting.
'Well, I'll go get ready.' Laura excuses herself and goes upstairs.
.................
Laura holds her breath when the party centre comes into her view. Their limousine is just a few seconds away from entering the main gate. The place is decorated beautifully from the outside with all the lights and all. As they start approaching the building by rounding the large fountain in front of it, she notices all the media standing outside at both side of the red carpet leading up the stairs.
'You'll be great.' Diego squeezes her hand. She gives a nervous smile in return.
She takes some deep breaths when they finally stop in front of the building. Diego gives her an encouraging smile and gets out. Karen and Marcus had left before Laura since they are the main hosts. Perhaps it would've felt better if they were here.
She puts an stop to her thoughts and takes a large breath. She changes her facial expression to a pleasant one and tries to smiles once to relax her facial muscles.
You can do this L. You can do this. Laura chants in her head.
All you have to do is to just hold your head high and flash those teeth of yours for the camera. Laura remembers Emma's words from earlier today. Emma had probably called more than thousand times today.
The valet opens the door for Laura and Diego offers his hand. Laura takes a small breath again and places her hand on Diego's outstretched one.
Everything after that seems like a blur to her. She feels the flashes of camera on her face which momentarily catches her off guard but she immediately regains her posture.
The media starts shouting their names and calls them toward different directions. Laura feels like her ears are buzzing with all the noises.
'Oh! Is that Laura Williams...Mr. Martinez who is the lady with you...Ms. look this way...Diego...ma'am...this way...'
Smiling brightly towards the cameras without saying anything, while Laura clutches tightly on Diego's elbow, they make their way up the stairs leading to the ballroom. At the middle of the stairs they turn towards the cameras again to give their final shots.
Diego holds Laura with one hand by her waist. She also places her hand on Diego's back. He leans towards Laura's ear and whispers, 'Have I mentioned before about how beautiful you're looking?'
'Only about a thousand times.' Laura says under her breath while still smiling at the camera.
Laura is wearing a body hugging black sleeveless gown. It's simple and when Emma sent it for her along with a few others she knew this is the best option. Diego is wearing a black suit with grey stripes on it and a black tie to match with Laura.
'How can they shout so loudly? Was it always like this?' Laura grumbles.
Diego gives an amused chuckle.
'Welcome in the spotlight. Now you'll experience what stalking is and how many types of stalking are there. This...is nothing. '
Laura chooses not to reply to that disturbing comment.
Just when they are about to turn their back toward the cameras and go up, a familiar Bugatti arrives and stops in front of the red carpet. Jared's familiar long hair is the only thing Laura notices before turning toward the opposite direction.
'Jared...this way...Mr. Parker...look at this way...' Shouts along with the sound of multiple camera flashing trails off as Diego and Laura enter the enormous ballroom.
All the eyes snap toward them as they start descending the stairs. Laura gives a small smile at the guests. A soft music is playing, giving the place a serene feeling.
'You two are looking amazing.' Karen says with a pleased look on her face after approaching them.
'You've already said this when we were leaving.' Marcus points out.
Karen gives a subtle glare at his direction. 'Is it a crime to repeat my words?' She starts leading Laura to the middle of the ballroom with Marcus and Diego trailing behind.
'Obviously not, honey.' Marcus says for only Karen to hear but Laura and Diego both catches the words. Both of them share an amused look.
Karen most probably would've said something if they hadn't reached the middle of the room.
Just then Jared enters and approaches them to give his greetings. Mr. and Mrs. Parker has already arrived. Diego and Jared shares a hand shake and he greets everyone with a smile. Laura becomes surprised when she realises Jared had avoided her eyes and his smile for her seemed almost forced.
Has something happened? Laura wonders but her attention diverts when Jared leaves their side along with Diego and Marcus starts greeting everyone.
'Ladies and gentleman,' silence falls on the room as everyone anticipates for his next words. 'Thank you so much for accepting our invitation and joining us in this amazing occasion. We're finally going to introduce everyone with our beloved daughter and future CEO of 'Williams' Industries'... Laura Williams.'
Everyone starts clapping and Laura just smiles. She notices Mr. And Mrs. Parker looking at her so she politely nods towards them.
'Enjoy the night and hope everyone has an amazing time.' Karen says and the room fills with noises again.
Waiters start arriving with light drinks and the earlier soft melody changes to a more lively one. Laura becomes busy with greeting everyone and trying to answer the numerous questions directed towards her.
While greeting a few people on the way Jared easily sneaks away to the balcony at the far end. There's practically no people out here so his mind can finally get some rest.
After he went home yesteday, he had found Alisha waiting outside for him. They had caught up and had dinner together. Alisha had even talked about her upcoming movie but Jared was absent minded though out yesterday.
He just couldn't get rid of the image of that pair of green eyes. It's not like this is the first time he noticed them but yesterday something happened. Perhaps it's because they had sat together and had normal conversation for more than a minute. Or, it's because for the first time she didn't seem to hate him yesterday.
And now his mind is playing tricks on him by trying to make connections between Laura and her. Because of this, whenever Laura comes into his mind, her face follows immediately. Her face is not clear though. After all, it has been years now.
He leaves a breath. No need to overwork his mind by thinking of impossible things. Ben did say today that he'll get the informations about Laura by tonight or tomorrow. It'll get clear then that Laura is in no way connected with her. On top of that, their personalities don't match as well.
He prepares to go back inside. He has been out here for long anyway. He'll just keep aside the thoughts regarding the two females for now.
Just as he's about to set foot outside the the balcony Laura's unmistakable voice stops him.
After talking with almost every guests, Laura finally ables to get away from all the people and head towards the balcony when Mrs. Wood calls her name. Even Diego's nowhere to be found.
'Hi! So sorry for not talking earlier. I just totally got stuck among all these people and didn't even notice you guys.' Laura says after hugging Mrs. Wood. Mr. Wood gives her a side hug as well.
'It's no problem dear! We saw how people were all over you.' Mr. Wood jokes.
Laura laughs.
'Violet was so sorry that she couldn't attend today. She has a court hearing tomorrow and the day after that as well so she has become like a ghost.' Mrs. Wood says.
'Yeah. She already told me. It's perfectly fine.' Laura replies in an assuring tone.
'I always tell Violet to learn a little about patience from our Leira over here.' Mr. Wood jokingly says. 'Then she probably wouldn't become like ghost before every hearing.'
'You're the one to talk when Violet got that from you.' Mrs. Wood retorts back and Laura laughs at them.
It is always so easy and fun to talk with Violet's parents. They are the only people who all her Leira and she doesn't mind. They know her since she was a baby and it's not like they call her by her birth name in front of others. And right now, there's not a single oerson in their earshot.
If only she knew.
Jared just stares unblinkingly towards the wall on which's opposite side Laura is standing with most probably Violet's parents.
Or better yet, Leira. It seems Laura is connected with her after all.
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Oo! Jared finally found out. What do you think will happen now?
How are you all doing? Hope all of you are okay in this pandemic. I updated before one month finished. This is an achivement by itself hehe.
The next chapter is most probably one of the most important chapters and I'm probably gonna have a hard time writing it.
Q.O.T.C: I really wanna know what do you think happened 8 years ago? I would love to know about your ideas.
Song for this chapter: Safe and sound by Taylor Swift.
Stay safe, stay happy.
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Lots of love
Till next time
-Arin