She has softened and blossomed in confidence that not everyone is out there to hurt her. Gradually she is gaining confidence in men and is beginning to believe that platonic friendships can exist.
Amber has rekindled with her life’s passion for the stage. Her destiny finally catches up with her after the longest detour. She has found peace and no longer feels guilty or responsible for Nathan’s accidental death. Liberated from his possession, she has learned to love her herself and is not depending on anyone for her own happiness nor will she allow anyone to hold her responsible for theirs. Fully understanding that she must never give up her own identity for anyone or anything, she has become herself again. Knowing exactly what she wants in life, she has decided that she will never allow anyone to dictate her life or to alter her course.
With rehearsals in full force, her new Broadway musical “Life After Death” is due to open in less than one month. While determined to make this a successful comeback, she is also paving the way for the future by mentoring a few highly talented performers. Her students shall become her perpetuity.
Fully correlated Karina searches for her own identity while Alex battles for his survival. Understanding and respecting his perspective, she is no longer angry. While no one can alter the nature of life and death, she can only pray and hope for Alex’s recovery and watches over him from afar. His unconditional and selfless love has touched her soul and it is because of his love for her, that she has become stronger. It is because of what has transpired that has led her to her destiny. Whether she is truly Pucci Santoro’s reincarnation is all but Theodore’s belief, while it is something that can never be proofed, she knows from the bottom of her heart, that her art is inspired by an unknown force that guides her. Each stroke of her paintings is felt in her heart and she is beginning to feel the stress and anxiety of her opening this weekend.
Transcending from spokes model to painter is a major turning point for Karina and she can only pray that her art will be well received. After all, she has not worked for the past few months and if none of her art sells this weekend, she will have a problem paying for all her expenses, which will equate to the fact that she would then have to stop painting and go back to her sponsors to seek new project. Managing Theodore’s gallery during his absence is insufficient to cover her cost of living. Beginning to worry,
“I hope something will sell during my art opening this Saturday night or I will have to go back to work.” Karina vents.
Reassuringly Taylor places her hand over Karina’s “Your art is amazing Karina, don’t you dare doubt it.”
Instead of lingering in their miserable pasts, they make a unanimous commitment to themselves that they will seek only the positive and focus on the future. On a cheerful note Amber raises her glass of margarita and proposes a toast,
“To our self-discoveries and to our marvelous new futures.” She cheers everyone on.
“To our success.” Taylor seconds.
“To life, happiness and self love.” Karina agrees. Unfaltering, the friends celebrate their unconditional friendship and encourage each other to march on bravely with or without any men in their lives. Self love comes foremost and it appears that Amber, Taylor and Karina may have found that very special gift of life.
******** Pulling up in his brand new Aston Martin, Russell walks up the pebble path of a shady single family home in Coral Gables and knocks on the door.
A tall husky man answers and shows him into the house, leads him into the home office and seats him on the sofa, “one moment please Mr. Krugerman, I have everything that you asked for.”
Feeling uncomfortable in the messy surroundings, Russell sits impatiently and waits for his “unofficial” private detective to deliver the contents. The man, a retired detective known as Bulldog, returns expediently with a large manila envelope in his hands,
“here is everything that you have asked for, photos, logs, phone records, tapes of conversations, they are all here.” He hands the envelope to Russell and asks for the agreed compensation.
Russell opens the envelope and takes a quick peek of the contents. Satisfied with the findings, he hands over a prewritten check and leaves without a word.
******** Yvette fidgets poolside and appears agitated and nervous. Jean has not showed up for the past two weeks and has left her stranded in the seriousness of the matter. He is moving back to Paris with or without her this weekend and his last text message this morning reads,
“Show me your love.” Tired of waiting for her and exhausted with all her excuses, he has decided to draw the line. Their secret love affair cannot continue for life and he is unwilling to waste anymore time on a woman who selfishly clings onto the best of both worlds. If she is unwilling to make a stand for the love that she claims to have for him, then someone else would.
Detesting his ultimatum she throws a fit as if she were a spoiled rotten child and stomps over to the poolside bar. Bringing out a bottle of perfectly chilled vodka, she drinks out of the bottle and after a few gulps, she kicks the wall until her foot turns numb, then reaches for the decorative ashtray on top of the bar counter and throws it against the wall.
Enjoying the new found emotional outlet, she takes a few more gulps of the vodka, picks up a crystal wine glass and throws it at wall.
Reaching for a third object, she catches glimpse of a man who moderately resembles Jean. Walking half naked along the pool on the opposite side, his sun kissed skin glows under the afternoon sun; she can see his abs and six packs from across the pool, admiring his physique she begins to wonder who he is,
“Who are you?” she shouts as loudly as possible so he can hear her. The man stops walking and turns to face Yvette. Flashing a smile, “Hi Mrs. Krugerman, I am Darren your new pool technician. Mr. Krugerman told me to start today.” He walks over to her and extends his hand for a friendly shake, “hope I did not startle you, I came in through the open gate by the side of your home.”
The resemblance between Jean and Darren is conceivably recognizable but Yvette chooses to disregard the obviously manipulated coincident.
Uninterested to further converse with her new ‘pool technician’, Yvette shakes his hand coldly and walks away with the bottle of vodka in her hands.
She sits on her sofa and stares into the screen of her phone. Unable to answer Jean’s text message, she turns off the phone and continues drinking straight from the vodka bottle until she becomes comfortably numb again.
Chapter Twenty Two. Taylor stares at her computer screen and scrolls up and down on the first draft of an editorial, not quite understanding Ivan’s markups, she squints and reviews it again. Looking through the glass walls, she can see his office across the corridor and that he is leaving with a gorgeous blonde woman with meticulously applied makeup.
Wearing a short Pucci style dress paired with platform boots, she stands nearly six foot tall, just about the same height as Ivan. Swinging her red color mini-tote with one hand and twirling her finger around a perfect lock of curly hair, she smiles sweetly at Ivan and makes Taylor shudder.
From the corner of his eye, he notices Taylor checking out his new intern from New York. Pretending that he is not aware of the stare and the oddly peculiar look on her face, he smiles back at his intern and leaves the office for lunch.
Taylor is famished but now her appetite is diminished by the apparent flirtatiousness of the blonde woman, whom she assumes is Ivan’s date.
Beginning to feel an unfamiliar emotion creeping up inside of her, she finds herself feeling nervous and chews on her fingernails. No longer motivated to review the markups on the editorial, she takes a break and heads to the kitchen to make a cup of extra strong coffee.
Feeling hot, restless and unsure of what to do next, she walks back to her office then sinks into her chair and stares blankly at the computer screen. Tapping her fingertips on her desk, she frowns and begins to feel annoyed.
Compelled to interrupt his lunch date, she purposely texts him mischievously,
> “Do not understand you at all.”
******** Sitting across the table from his intern, Ivan hears the signal of Taylor’s incoming text and excuses the interruption, pulls out his phone and reads her message. With a smile on his face he chooses not to respond to her text message and puts the phone back inside his pocket,
“Predictable, so predictable. She can wait.” He whispers under his smile and refocuses on the conversation that he is sharing with the intern.
“Who is predictable?” she asks curiously. Ivan pauses to select his words, “A Challenge.” He jokes lightheartedly. Wittily his intern points out his own contradiction, “If she is predictable then she is not a challenge.”
She smiles and elaborates her philosophical mind, “We tend to predict things the way we expect them to happen, in other words, predictability equals expectations, and if we expect things to happen a certain way, it is probably our unconscious that is trying to tell us what we ultimately want.”
“So you are telling me that I predicted the expected because unconsciously, I wanted things to happen that way.”
“Yes. It is also called manifestation.” She chuckles, “Now I am going to have to start charging you.”
Ivan joins her laugh and as he looks across the table, he sees a sparkling rising star who would one day make it as fabulous New Age writer.
******** The tension and stress that Taylor has been feeling all afternoon is eased as she sees Ivan return to his office alone.
Relieved, she sighs out loud and refocuses on the editorial. Pretending that she does not care, she pays no attention to him and avoids looking across the corridor. Her focus is interrupted by a buzz on the intercom,
“So what don’t you understand?” Ivan looks across the corridor and watches Taylor’s reaction. Expecting to detect a hint of jealousy over the phone, he is surprised and appears somewhat disappointed to hear reply calmly,
“Your markups. I do not understand your markups at all.” Taylor remains calm and as cold as ice.
Following his instructions she prints a copy of the draft and brings it to his office. She sits across his desk and quietly watches him scribble on the draft.
Feeling her gaze he breaks the silence, “Not very talkative today, are you?” he continues scribbling the draft without looking at her.
Expecting an outburst of jealousy, he is surprised by her simple reply,
“Nope.” Taylor reminds herself of their perfect friendship and the harmonious editorwriter relationship that they have built. Nothing is worth jeopardizing something this precious.
Nothing should change and if she wants to contemplate love, she will have to experiment that with someone else.
Chapter Twenty Three. Conrad sits in the center of row eight and watches the first dressed rehearsal of “Life After Death” on the stage.
Taking notes on the changes that he would like to make, he jots down the flaws of the performers so he can discuss with them after the full number.
Watching intently with his focus fully submerged into the performance, his attention is drawn into Amber’s performance. Each move she makes and every note she sings simply mesmerizes him.
He has loved her from the beginning of their time together and is thankful for her return. One day in the near future, he will be able to gather enough courage to express his true feelings for her, until then he can only cherish her presence in his life.
Amber has not lost her touch or her magic on stage. On the contrary, she has matured and blossomed into a thrilling enchantment.
Besides her precise and confident delivery, the rest of the cast is relatively new on stage and Conrad detects a lack of cohesion on the stage. Some of the performers forget the lyrics, some miss a few high notes, some forget the steps, Neyo falls on his triple leap and Terrance forgets his double flip.
After the finale, Conrad stands up and applauses with a raised eyebrow, “Good job everyone, the show just flunked. It is terrible, horrible!” he shouts sarcastically towards the stage, “You will have to pay me to come to see your show and honestly, even if I come, I will leave by Act II.” He steps onto the stage and points out each performer’s flaws,
“We will break for one hour while you reflect on your mistakes and do what you need to do to make this right! In the next rundown, I want to see ALL of you as one family. Understand the story, feel it and be it. I want to see cohesion, I want to see a seamless flow, I want to see stars on my stage, not a bunch of amateurs coming together.” Conrad stresses,
“You have to become the story to be able to bring the story to life. Right now, the story is dead. I want you to show me what is ‘Life After Death’. Each of you represents an element of life or death, so protrude that energy. Make the stage shake, energy! Show me energy and not just a whole bunch of moving bodies!” he continues assertively,
“Everyone go get some caffeine and wake up. We are less than one month away from opening. Let’s move it!”
After two more rundowns they finally wrap the exhausting day of their first dressed rehearsal. Conrad walks Amber to her car and wonders if she will ever allow him to take her out for dinner.
Prefers to be left alone, Amber sweetly declines his offer and excuses herself to a night of rest. It has been more than ten years since her last performance; no longer a teenager, Amber feels the physical challenge but refuses to admit that she has to project an immense amount of energy to keep up with the younger performers.
Continuing her pursuit for a successful comeback, she is aware that she needs to workout religiously and to maintain top shape or she will fail.
Expressing her uncertainty, she turns to Conrad and confines,
“What if I fail?” she whispers the unthinkable. Surprised by her apprehension Conrad opens the door of her car and smiles reassuringly,
“WE will not fail. The Amber I know is never short of confidence.” He places his hands on her shoulders and rubs them gently, “do not ever doubt yourself Amber, you have travelled that far to come back and you are almost there. Remember your own words, ‘Look forward and never look back’.”
Appreciating his encouragement Amber climbs into the car, closes the door and waves goodbye with a smile.
Conrad watches her drive away. Watching her car from afar he lets it out secretly, “I love you Amber, I love you!”
Amber drives slowly and her thoughts begin to drift towards something entirely different than what is on Conrad’s mind.
Her destiny is within reach and she must not fail. During the entire drive home, all she can think of is how to improve her double spin. As soon as she arrives home, she drinks a glass of water and puts on her toe shoes again to practice some more.
On the second try Amber looses balance, trips then falls onto the floor. She screams out in excruciating pain and looks at her left ankle.
“Shit!” she exclaims in agony. As she tries to stand up, she realizes that she has sprained her left ankle, hops to the sofa on one foot and crashes onto the sofa.
Tearing in pain she cries hysterically, “not now! Damn it, not now!” Amber takes a deep breath and reaches over to grab her bag on the other end of the sofa, digging out her phone she calls Conrad to come to her rescue.
Within minutes Conrad arrives at her door. Amber manages to hop on one foot to answer his knock. He looks at her ankle which is swollen to double its size; without a word he sweeps her up from her feet and carries her to the sofa. Gently placing her down,
“Oh my God Amber, what have you done?” he walks over to the kitchen, puts some ice cubes in a plastic bag and places it on her ankle.
Pressing his lips together he frowns as he stares into her tears filled eyes. Her mascara is running and she looks a mess, “Amber let me take care of you. Seriously I want to take care of you.”
Still sobbing, “What do you mean take care of me?” she cries, “I do not want anyone to take care of me ever again. I can take care of myself!”
“Yes?” Conrad blurts out solemnly “thi
s is how you take care of yourself?” he points at her ankle.
“That is not fair!” Amber cries some more and is becoming hysterical, “it was an accident!” she sobs, “I am sure it will heal in a few days, just do not tell anyone okay. Do not tell the cast, they can not know.”
She pauses, bites on her lower lip and squints in pain, “can you get me some Advil please?”
Chapter Twenty Four. Jean sits next to an empty seat while waiting for his plane to take off. He watches passengers board and look for their seats. Each time someone steps on the plane he stares and wishes it were Yvette. Each second ticks against his heartbeat as he waits for his love to show up.
His faith begins to falter as he begins to doubt her love. Perhaps he has pushed her too hard or perhaps it is not the right timing to ask her to make the decision. While making excuses for her he watches a couple board the plane, obviously in love and excited about their trip, the couple walks hand in hand while laughing and giggling.
Jean longs for normality but unfortunately has fallen in love with a married woman who does not appear to care about how he feels at all. Everything is beautiful whenever they are together and nobody else can make him feel the way he does when he is with her.
She has never promised him that she would one day divorce her husband to be with him. She has never promised him legitimacy nor has she promised him anything at all.
He knows it from the beginning and it is a mutual understanding, but his lust for her has grown into love and patiently he has waited for her to change her mind. Over the past two years he has tried everything to make her come around and his patience has finally depleted. He sees no reason for him to linger.
He clenches his teeth and presses his knuckle to his lips. Anxious and agitated he looks out the window and tries to avoid the thoughts of Yvette.
Spaced into his own denial he refuses to believe that Yvette is not coming. “Excuse me” a young woman with long brunette hair asks softly, “is this seat taken?”
Has Cupid Gone Mad?: War Of Hearts Page 10