(PART I) Chapter 1: The Goddess of Beauty

It was her choice that she allowed the phone to ring for the thirteenth time before she finally paused her favourite TV show_ Dancing with the Stars, the season featuring one of her favorite actress Julianne Hough is currently paused on her flat screen. She already knows too well that her caller will not stop ringing until he gets in touch with her enticing voice, so therefore, it is purely out of her own choice to decide when to grant his nighttime wishes.

The sitting room is breathtakingly beautiful, if not so much of an extravagance to have a whole wardrobe sized aquarium build into a wall adjacent to the mega TV stand, and in fact, the wall itself is not merely a wall, considering how much of a spectacular design has been carved onto its surface. Paired with the right amount of lightening from the flashy bulbs which screamed of insane riches, the thick red color of the L-shaped couch she was sitting on, turned out to perfectly matched together with the flooring, now glinting like some professionally arranged glass rubies.

A menacing aura crept into the air slowly, followed by a revelation of an obvious sinister smile which turned Anna Ae Ra’s rosy pale face into a dark shadowy profile, her slender fingers curled up around the mobile phone and though she quickly swiped on the green button before the fourteenth call ended, it took her almost a full century to finally put the phone to her ear.

“Hey..y Roma..n..” She delicately dragged the words into her ethereal toxic whisper, sounding almost as sensual as the man’s name spelt with an added “ce”. Her revealing piece of fabric hugged the sensitivity of her skin while she sluggishly cuddled with a teddy bear around her other arm.

“Why are you doing this to me?” a masculine voice pierced into her ears sharply. Quite desperate, broken, frustrated and somewhat angry he certainly sounded, but that only made her felt a familiar feeling of excitement in her soul, and she couldn’t stop a little chuckle from escaping out of her lips. She loved it.

“I… I can give you more money and everything you want…” the masculine voice now turned to pleading “I will work harder… I will do anything for you Anna… please… I’m loosing my mind…”

She distanced the phone a little bit before relaxing her head on the more comfortable side of the couch pillow. The menacing smile at the edges of her lips were much more apparent and pronounced now that she seemed to be very much enjoying the moment_ same desperate, broken, powerless fragments of a voice in a man which elates her sense of worthiness. Indeed, the vulnerability it held, makes her feel so good as though she has become a prowess of relationships.

“You are a sweet guy Roman, and I hate to see you wasting your time on me” She spoke in a casual manner, choosing to ignore the plight of the young man, “You very well know of my taste in men sweetheart… you cannot give me what you simply do not have. Stop being excessively clingy umm? I got to go now”

“Don’t hang up on…”

“Night” She tapped on the screen and at once ended the phone call. It was nothing new, but she simply acted like she does not give a fuck whether or not his heart is ripping apart or worse. Hell, she had never been once rejected by any man before so there’s no way she will in reality understand the awful feeling of rejection.

To her, Roman is simply obsessed with her beauty_ just like all the others around her. Although she does not like clingy men with obsessive tendencies hanging around her, they make her feel good in a way, or no… actually, they make her feel complete and worthy of receiving the most tantalizing love.

Men cannot stop drooling over her beauty can they? Well then, only a billionaire can have her_ that, she had decided long ago and not one piece of a pathetic hustling man like Roman can win over her heart. He is a moderately handsome, kind and hardworking gentleman suffering under her spell, and of course, she knows he is just twenty five years old but works his butt off to become independently rich, but not rich enough for her. He is just another aspiring millionaire… nothing close to a billionaire.

As though her brain has been knocked by a sudden realization, Anna motioned out of the couch and reflexively reached for the staircase handle. She trudged up the stairs with great deal of difficulty before making her way into the exotic corridor, and then into the well equipped dressing room. The woman inside the dressing room became obviously startled_ she clutched the shiny purse in her hands, her eyes widened in horror as she looked at Anna like a kitten caught red handed doing an abominable act.

“I was just…Erm..d-dusting t-the purse” She stammered as she hurriedly returned the sparkling silver purse to its original position in the storage space. She was only admiring the purse and not trying to steal it or something.

Anna proceeded towards the younger woman. She looked into the closet to her right, and all of sudden, she felt like a lump has formed inside her throat. Her face became flushed with obvious irritation “If I remember correctly, I informed you to dispose those old stuffs and clear this space for me isn’t it?” She spoke in a somewhat rude manner, her middle finger pointing towards a collection of designer bags _ about five to six of them queuing up inside her closet. Her eyes dangerously glared at the bags as though they were sticking out their tongues and making her feel further irritated. She loathes the idea of having to repeat any designer bag which was no more trendy and fashionable.

“B-but… w-we bought the red one last month. You mean all of… them???” The young woman lowered down her eyes, waiting for more response even after she has heard it clearly. Of course, it was not the first time her boss was ordering her to dispose expensive stuffs, but she always need to re-confirm what she have heard, to avoid getting into trouble.

“You heard me. All of them… Lily. I don’t want to see those trash inside my closet again” Anna repeated irritatingly. She threw her waist length dark chocolate hair backwards, sending it scattering across her perfectly aligned shoulders as she brought her menacing gaze to her assistant.

“Yes… S-sure”

Her hourglass figure started sashaying around the exotic dressing room, advancing towards the door to her bathroom which was built inside the same space on the opposite direction. The assistant called Lily now followed her, holding two brand new sets of towels which she had quickly yanked out from the closet.

“And stop telling mom about my whereabouts” she warned before disappearing into the sliding glass door.

Lily dropped a long sigh as she folded the towels and placed them on a trolley. Her life has become so hard lately due to the rising tension between Anna and her mother. Originally, her job was supposed to be Anna’s assistant, but nobody told her that she would also be used by Anna’s mother, to spy on her own boss lady’s movements.

From Mondays to Wednesdays, Anna was to attend lectures in a private college, but because she recently failed a course and was told to re-take the exam next semester, she simply decided to process for a transfer to another college. She had clicked twenty one; old enough to make her choices and decisions by herself but her Mother was too nosy to watch things going off plan_ and that spurred the latest quarrel that kept Lilian the assistant, trapped in between the devil and the deep blue sea.