Posing for Life - written by Jenny Tran
Chapter 13
The Spy Revealed
Aaron Kwok **Travis Wu
Vivian Leung **Diana Wong aka Di
Jessica Hsuan **Josinica Cheung aka Josie
Takeshi Kaneshiro **Vincent To aka Vince
Dicky Cheung **Daniel Lau aka Danny
Nick Cheung **Jason Chan aka Jace
Daniel Wu **David Lung aka Dave
Annie Man **Michelle Chiu aka Shelly
Nicky Wu **Andrew Lam aka Andy
Guest: **Miriam Yeung – Lily Wong (Diana’s first cousin and the head of the
Photography Department.
Diana came home that evening feeling light on her feet and a bit happy. She changed into her pajamas when she heard a knocking on her door. She thought it was Travis but was surprised to see Josie at her front door. “Josie?”
“Di, I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Where have you been??” she asked urgently.
“What’s the matter? I was out with Travis.” She explained as she let her friend inside.
“Is this true?” Josie asked while she opened the magazine to the right page and pointed to the article.
“What?” Diana was heading back to the couch when her friend stopped her.
“This!” she pointed again.
“Pose headed for downhill when stocks are sold to Blush” Diana read the headlines. She snickered as she strolled over to the couch and plopped down “Maybe.” She replied shortly.
Josie was shocked “What? How did this happen? How come you never told me about it??” she sounded a bit hurt but was quick to return her attention back to the obvious distraught friend.
Diana shrugged “I don’t know. The spy got to us quicker than I thought.”
“You mean, you still haven’t found out who it was yet?”
She shook her head “We have some clues but its leading us to no where. Don’t be so concerned, you’re a great designer, I’ll find you a job when Pose closes down.”
Josie looked amazed and sad “I can’t believe you’re giving up without a fight, Di. It’s not like you. Where’s that strong girl I call my best friend? The same girl that pulled me out of that low paying waitress job and gave me a dream career?” she recalled that day Diana walked up to her and offered her a job without even seeing her work.
Diana leaned her head against the couch “She’s lost all hope in her own job…You need to realize it too Jo, the company is going to crumble in my hands.” Her eyes glazed over from the tears that were forming “I’ve disgraced my whole family.”
“No you haven’t. Don’t give up! Vince and I will be by your side no matter what happens. If worse comes to worse, we’ll open our own modeling agency, who cares what Blush does! Our work is a lot better and you know it!” she tried to snap her friend out of the daze but it didn’t seem to work.
Diana smiled “Thank you Josie, for your support. I knew it was the right choice to give you that job. You’ve proved to be the hardest worker that I’ve ever hired.” She sighed as she patted her friend’s hands “Don’t worry about me. I’ll find a way out. You guys should really find a better job. I feel the end is coming closer.” Josie shook her head vehemently “Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed? All the employees that left? The work is reducing and our clients are moving their stuff to Blush. You need to wake up and smell the coffee, the fight is over.” She sounded so defeated.
Josie was speechless, what else could she say to make her friend feel better? It seemed useless since Diana’s made up her mind. “What are you planning to do now?”
“I’m going to announce the closing of Pose tomorrow morning. We’ll finish up the rest of the work for the remaining clients and then close down.”
“But…its…I…” Even Josie didn’t know how else to make her feel better.
Diana smiled at her friend as she stood up “Come on, you need your rest for tomorrow. I’m depending on you to stay strong for the time being. Because if I fall, you need to catch me.”
Josie was bewildered and not to mention overwhelmed by the information she just received from her friend. “I will…See you tomorrow.” She said blindly as she headed for the door.
**************
The next morning, Shelly sent out a company email to everyone indicating the meeting was taking place in an hour. Diana locked herself in her office to write down the speech that she was about to say in front of the loyal employees of Blush. The hour flew by as she was finally done with the card notes. She headed towards the conference room with everyone else. Taking her seat at the head table as she greeted each employee that walked in. Josie, Vince, Danny, Jace, Shelly, Dave, Lily, Travis and Andy looked the saddest as they knew what was about to happen. Diana dodged all eye contact with everyone as she silently awaited for the rest to come. When the conference room closed, she stood up and smiled at each person in the room “I know from the look on your faces that you know this is goodbye. But there are no words that I can say to described the proud feeling and appreciation that I have for each one of you in here. For standing by me even when the rumors spread about Pose dying. So all I can say is a simple Thank You for sticking with me until the end.” She was near tears by the time she finished her speech.
Josie quickly stood up from her seat “I’m staying until the end. We may be weak for now, but we can get stronger if we all come together.” She was trying to bring everyone’s moods up. It worked when they slowly stood up and agreed with Josie.
“She’s right, Di. We’re in this together. I won’t leave until we declare bankruptcy, if there’s one dollar left in my pocket, I will be by your side until the end.” Danny’s sense of loyalty brought him to say the kind words. Everyone seemed to be shocked by his attitude since they knew that he and Diana didn’t get along very well.
They were flabbergasted when Diana walked over to Danny and hugged him dearly “Thank you.” She whispered through tears. She pulled away and saw everyone’s shock expression “Since all the people in here are people I trust, I want to tell you guys something. Danny here has been my spy for the past year. If you guys ever noticed the fact that we use to get along up until about a little over a year ago when I came to him for help. The rumors about the spy that got loose in Pose traveled around and I was worried because I didn’t know who it was. Well, Danny approached me with a brave idea that he would be undercover for me. Acting like we didn’t get along and changed his attitude to rude and obnoxious so people would not pay attention to him while he snooped around.”
“I couldn’t take all the credit, I’ve had a few accomplices myself.” Danny smiled as he nodded to Jace and Andy.
Jace smiled brightly “I would have given up anything if it meant helping Pose. This place is the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”
“Likewise.” Andy spoke up.
There were burst of comments from the group agreeing with the guys. Diana smiled “Thank you, all of you.”
“There really is no reason for us to leave, is there?” Vince spoke up. Diana shrugged her shoulders “Couldn’t we open a new business? I mean we don’t have to compete with Blush, I think everyone agrees with me that we’re in this for the people and work and not competition and name.”
Diana sighed “Its just a shame that when we were at our highest peak of business that it would drop so dramatically.”
“Numbers are not everything.” Travis said a matter of factly.
Lily nodded in agreement “That’s right. We all enjoy working here with each other and that’s all that matters. Oh by the way, did you ever find that spy?”
“Yeah, I was going to ask the same thing.” Dave asked, his eyes twinkling at Lily. His arms were wrapped in bandages and he could have stayed home to rest but after talking to Lily about Pose’s situation, he was willing to drop everything to support the agency.
Diana shook her head “I don’t have strong enough evidence to persecute this person. I don’t want to alarm anyone, but the person is in the room right now.” She looked around as everyone became uneasy as they stared at one another accusingly. “Now, I’m going to have a meeting with the shareholders that have sold their portions to Blush as well as Blush’s VP in about 10 minutes. I’m not looking forward to this but I’m afraid I can’t get out of it. Let’s show these people that we can be as strong. Go back to work like usual.”
One by one they gave her a hopeful look before leaving the conference room. Slowly, it was just her alone with the chairs. The dreadful ten minutes dragged on as Diana stared into the empty space in front of her. Slowly the shareholders walked in the room as they seated in the random chairs around the table. She didn’t make eye contact with anyone while they greeted her slowly. The men began to talk about business and how well their stocks were doing.
It made her sick to her stomach listening to them talk about Pose’s downfall. She tried to stay calm but inside her heart was pounding because she knew the spy would be revealed in minutes when the VP of Blush arrived as well as his people, the ones that were buying over Pose’s shares. Her eyes fixated on the wall straight ahead from her as everyone stood up to greet the VP of Blush. One of the men from Blush spoke up to the quiet Diana “Miss Wong, I’d like you to meet our Vice President.”
Diana’s eyes hardened but it didn’t move to the person standing next to her. The scent of the cologne, she had hoped with all her heart that it wouldn’t be him. But it was no time to break down into tears, she could not be weak in front of him. “Mr. Wu, we finally meet.” Her eyes moved up to his icily.
He couldn’t cover his shock expression eventhough he remained cool “This is our first official meeting to be exact.”
Diana stood up facing him in the eye as she nodded “I believe it is…Travis.”
Chapter 14
The Secret Plan
Aaron Kwok **Travis Wu
Vivian Leung **Diana Wong aka Di
Jessica Hsuan **Josinica Cheung aka Josie
Takeshi Kaneshiro **Vincent To aka Vince
Dicky Cheung **Daniel Lau aka Danny
Nick Cheung **Jason Chan aka Jace
Daniel Wu **David Lung aka Dave
Annie Man **Michelle Chiu aka Shelly
Nicky Wu **Andrew Lam aka Andy
Guest: **Miriam Yeung – Lily Wong (Diana’s first cousin and the head of the
Photography Department.
Her eyes were like knives digging into his heart as she gave him the coldest look. The girl that he was hugging yesterday was now gone and replaced with the stronger person. “I see you knew the whole time?” he shook her hand like they were strangers.
She pulled her hand away when he lingered his grasp on her. “Actually, you had me fooled for the past three years. But when you started working with Lily, I suspected something but couldn’t put my finger on it. You were too good at the layouts, there was no way a new person’s work could be better than Lily, who’s been at this job longer than you were a ‘waterboy’.” She spat out the words harshly making him ache with guilt.
Even though he was hurting inside, he remained cool and collect in front of the managers and shareholders. “I guess every plan has a flaw.”
“I suppose your flaw was thinking too highly of yourself. Did you really think I would fall for you?” her words crushed him like a boulder.
“I guess my ego got the best of me.” He said softly. Then he turned to the group “We should start our meeting right?” the men mumbled their agreements. “First of all, we need these papers signed, these are shareholder documents wherein you agree by signing that Blush will have the shares that you have sold.” He nodded to his men as they passed the papers towards the other side as the shareholders signed excitedly. Within minutes the deal was closed and the checks were given to each of them in an envelope.
The men shook hands with Travis as they walked out of the door happily with their checks. The people that stayed back were Blush’s managers. “Well, if you are done, I need to get back to work.” Diana said hastily.
Travis quickly stood up to block her exit “Diana, I want to talk to you.” He turned to the other men and nodded, hinting for their cue to leave them alone. They did as he said and as soon as the door closed leaving just Diana and Travis; his eyes softened “Di, I’m sorry, I know this looks bad…”
“Looks bad??” she cut him off “What makes you think this looks bad?” she asked angrily finally letting out the heat that was boiling inside of her.
“Please, if you would let me explain.” He begged.
She shook her head “I don’t want to hear any excuses. You betrayed me, Travis, what else is there to say? I can’t believe the one person that I trusted with my heart would do that to me.”
He smiled despite the argument “You trusted me with your heart?”
Her stare gave him a cold chill “No.” she said curtly “Not after what you did. I hope you will be happy Mr. Wu, Vice President.” She pushed him out of the way to get out of that suffocating room. She fought back the tears that were aching to escape her eyes, but she was strong as she held them inside. Her eyes hardened at the sight of Shelly.
“Are you okay, Diana?” The girl asked with concern.
Diana smiled coolly as she responded “I’m afraid I’ve disappointed you Miss Chiu. Why don’t you go back to your boss and let him know that I am okay and I will be okay, despite the betrayals and backstabs from the two people that I trusted.”
Danny was within ear shot as he raced to Diana’s side “You’re a traitor too?!” he cried in shock “I should have known, no wonder you’re always defending him!”
Soon enough Josie, Vince, Jace and the rest were behind Diana “I’ve always guessed you were involve but couldn’t find the proof, looks like our little traitor was smarter than we expected.” Jace said cruelly.
Shelly looked scared and hurt like a bunny being attacked by hunters “I’m sorry…” she mumbled.
“Sorry is not going to cut it!” Josie cried angrily. She shook her head sadly “I thought you were a better person than that.”
“She is a great person and you guys should thank her!” His angry voice boomed over the noise that was bustling around Shelly.
The group looked up and snickered at Travis “A traitor always defends another traitor” Dave sneered.
“If it wasn’t for Shelly, this company would have gone down a lot quicker…” Travis began to explain but was hushed by Shelly.
“Mr. Wu, please.” She begged “Come on, they’re too angry now, we’ll come back when she’s more calm.” She was talking about Diana, who had finally let the tears come out.
Her eyes were glued to Travis’s “You might as well not come back because I’ll never forget this day.” The obvious hurt in her voice was hard to miss.
“Yeah, get out of here! We don’t need your trash!” Lily exclaimed angrily.
Travis stared into her eyes “I meant everything I’ve ever said to you.”
Diana pulled her eyes away from Travis as she cried openly. Josie hugged her friend “I think you should leave.” She said through clenched teeth.
“Have you forgotten the way out? Let me take you out.” Danny said sarcastically.
“That’s not necessary.” Travis said as he nodded to Shelly to follow him.
***********
“Mr. Wu…” Shelly started when they got in the elevator.
“Shelly, I told you, call me Travis. For the past three years, you’ve called me by my first name, don’t change now.” His tone was calm.
She nodded “Travis. Why didn’t you tell Diana when you had the chance? I’m sure she would have understood.”
He snickered “Tell her what? That my father has been controlling my life since I was brought into this world? That he made go undercover and hurt the woman I ever loved?” he shook his head “She’ll never believe it.”
“If she cares for you like she appears to, she will understand and she will forgive you. Afterall, you are going against your father for her.” Shelly explained.
He smiled a she placed a hand on her shoulders “Stop looking out for me, you need to worry about your own problems.”
“I don’t have any problems.” She hid her face away from him.
“The obvious crush on Jace? Come on, even if others don’t see it, I see it. I’ve known you for so long now.” He laughed when she looked at him in shock wondering how he knew. “Don’t look at me like that. You may hide your feelings well but I can see through them like that!” he snapped his finger.
She smiled “I guess we’ve both fallen for the enemy.” She sighed as they got out of the elevator and headed to the parking lot.
“We both have a long road ahead.” Travis shook his head. This wasn’t the time to give up just yet. He would fight for her until the end. His plans were working according to plan. ‘Be patient, Di…’ he wished to himself.
********
Up in Pose’s office, everyone gathered in Diana’s spacious office. “Di, don’t think about that sleeze, he’s not worth your time.” Josie handed her a cup of water that she got from the kitchen.
Danny sat on her other side as he smiled “Yeah, your tears are not worth falling for him.”
Vince muffled a giggle at he comment. When Josie threw him a dirty look, he quickly apologized “I’m sorry, I just need time to adjust to this new Danny. I’m so use to his crude humor and nasty jokes. He’s so nice right now.”
Diana smiled for the first time that day “I know what you mean, if it wasn’t for the fact that we had secret meetings about the spy, I would have started to ignore his rude outbursts.” She gave Danny a wink. The rest of them laughed finally seeing Diana back to herself again.
“So what do you think we should do from now on? He has half of the shares. He’s still a co-owner.” Lily brought up the question she was dreading for the longest time.
“I guess just work like normal. I’m sure it will be difficult because he’ll want to make it so bad that everyone will quit.” She said the words but yet she didn’t believe that he would treat her that bad. “Just stay strong and smile.” She gave everyone her brightest smile. “That’ll teach him!”
Jace raised his hand like he was in grade school “I don’t have to smile do I?” he asked feebly.
Diana giggled along with the other two girls “No, I suppose you don’t have to.”
***********
After everyone scattered back to their homes in preparation of the new change the next day. Jace received a call from Shelly asking him to meet with her at a little coffee shop near Pose. At first he decided not to go but eventually agreed. When he got to the coffee shop he noticed it was just her, he was a little curious to know what she wanted to tell him. “What do you want? I don’t have all day.” He said coldly without sitting down.
Shelly smiled sincerely “You can at least sit down, this will take longer to explain.”
He let out a sigh and sat down “Go ahead, I’m listening.”
She nodded “I know that you guys feel betrayed by Travis. But there is something none of you guys, especially Diana doesn’t know. It’s that Travis was being controlled by his father. Mr. Wu is a well respected man in the business world, when he opened Blush years ago, his main plan was to wipe out all the competition. He knew that beating the well established Pose would be almost impossible. Until one day, he was at a fashion show for Pose and noticed his son, Travis staring at Diana. I believe it was love at first sight.” Her eyes wandered away dreamily but quickly returned “Anyways, he forced Travis to go undercover and get every bit of information for his company. Of course Travis has a heart of gold so he would naturally say no. Then his father threatened to take Diana out….as in…wipe her from this earth.” She whispered.
Jace looked even more interested yet he wasn’t ready to believe her words just yet. “Well, the fact that he went through with it doesn’t make him more of a man.”
Shelly shook her head “That’s not the point. He didn’t want anything to happen to Diana, that’s why he agreed to go undercover. That way he can always look after her. I know love can make you do crazy things, but it can also mean sacrificing all that you have. His dignity, heart and reputation were at stake yet he was willing to give it all up just to help her.”
Jace sat back with a smirk on his face “Help her? I don’t think you noticed the tears that came out of her eyes earlier. For all the years that I’ve worked with Diana, I have never seen her cry. Sure she can be strict at times, but surely she’s never cried. I don’t know what your definition is about love, but mine is to care for that person you love. Be there through thick and thin.”
“You’re missing the important factor, Jace.” Shelly argued.
“You tell me then, what is it?” he asked harshly.
She sighed “Travis’s plan is to show his father that he has the ability to be President. What his father is holding in his hand is not just Blush Agency but half of Pose Agency. Travis doesn’t have anything, do you understand?” Jace looked away as he finally understood what Travis was trying to do.
“He wants to be President so he could give Diana back the 50% shares of Pose.” He shook his head sadly “That’s just risky. What if his father finds out?”
Shelly smiled “That’s a risk he’s willing to take for Diana. As for now, his father is still suspicious about his feelings for her. Therefore he cannot as much as give her a smile. Mr. Wu is a very smart man, he has spies in places you would never guess. If Travis wants this plan to work, he must be patient and hope that Diana will be able to forgive him one day.”
“I can tell her if you want?” Jace offered, finally talking to her in a humanly tone.
“No!” she said quickly “You must not do that, no one can know about this plan because of the spies. I’m lucky that they don’t follow me that’s why I’m able to tell you.” She explained.
“Why did you decide to tell me? Out of all the people there?” Jace asked slyly. Although he knew the answer, he was pushing for her to say it. He wasn’t oblivious to her crush on him.
“I….I…guess, I felt I could trust you?” she said.
“Is that a question?” he teased.
Her face blushed profusely as she squirmed in her seat uncomfortably “I…don’t know…”
He let out a comfortable laugh as he reached for her hand, not caring if she was blushing like mad “You’re cute, you know that?”
She smiled as she looked up at him. “Really?”
He nodded adoringly at her “Really.”
Chapter 15
A Dream Come True
Aaron Kwok **Travis Wu
Vivian Leung **Diana Wong aka Di
Jessica Hsuan **Josinica Cheung aka Josie
Takeshi Kaneshiro **Vincent To aka Vince
Dicky Cheung **Daniel Lau aka Danny
Nick Cheung **Jason Chan aka Jace
Daniel Wu **David Lung aka Dave
Annie Man **Michelle Chiu aka Shelly
Nicky Wu **Andrew Lam aka Andy
Guest: **Miriam Yeung – Lily Wong (Diana’s first cousin and the head of the
Photography Department.
Just as Diana said, the days after Blush took over half of Pose were the toughest for everyone. Travis made sure their working life was a miserable hell. Diana grew to hate him more as the days past. She only recalled meeting his father once, when he came in abruptly to check up on them. It was also the day that she changed all thoughts and aspects towards Travis. He was nice to her up until that date. She mistook his cool attitude for trying to show off in front of his father, who was the President of Blush.
Diana was confused at times because there were moments when he was really nice to her and then there were those cold shoulder moments where she felt like an idiot for even talking to him. She tried to stay calm most of the time but she wondered how long she could hold it in.
Everyone did their jobs like they were suppose to. At times Dave or Danny would ignore Travis’s orders and do what they wanted. It made Travis the more angry when they disobeyed him because they were purposely doing it in front of his employees.
Then a few months after, he was in the best mood when he walked into the office saying hello to anyone and everyone. Half of the people ignored him and the other half mumbled a respectable hello. He marched straight to Diana’s office, he allowed her to keep her office while he moved into Vincent’s office, he then moved him to a smaller office, so Travis would be next to her. “Di!” he yelled excitedly.
When he walked in, he looked shocked at what he saw. She was packing away all her belongings; frames, pens, file containers, everything. “Good, you’re here. This is my resignation letter.” She handed him a white envelope as she carried the cardboard box out of the office.
He grabbed the box out of her hands as he threw it on the chair behind him, not caring if the stuff would break “You’re not going anywhere. I’m not accepting this letter.” He handed it back to her.
“I don’t care if you do or don’t. I’m leaving this hell hole!” she cried.
Suddenly he remembered what he wanted to tell her “No, please. I have to tell you the good news first. You know that I am…”
She took a few steps back “Stop it! I can’t take it anymore! One minute you’re the nice, sweet Travis, the next you’re this tyrant that always wants his way. I…I I’m going to go crazy!” she cried.
He tried to reach for her but she continued to back away until she was stopped by her own desk. “Please, listen to me. I have great news.” He was smiling.
She shook her head vehemently “No…I don’t want to hear anymore from you. I’m tired, please just let me go.” She begged.
This time he was able to get a hold of her hands as he squeezed them tightly “No, I’m not letting you out of my life. Never. Let’s get married!” his request was out of the blue and it was definitely the wrong time to say it.
She twisted from his hold as she pushed him away “What are you crazy??! If I marry you, it’s like betraying my ancestors!” she was being a bit dramatic but it was in truth a type of betrayal since he was considered their enemy. He was the cause the downfall of her family’s hard work. “You really are something else Travis Wu, first you steal my heart and the next you stomp on it like dirt. Now you want to marry me? Why don’t you just bury me alive???” her breathing got louder as she tried to control her tone of voice.
“Do you hate me that much?” he was shocked and hurt at the same time. “I’m sorry.” He whispered.
“I don’t know what I think of you, but I’m certain that I don’t want to see you right now.” She shook her head sadly. “Just let me go.” She didn’t wait for him to respond as she ran out the door. She noticed Jace and Shelly in a deep conversation at the corner of her eye. Everyone seemed to be busy, the only person that noticed her looking distraught was Danny. He quickly followed her to the elevator.
“What’s wrong Di?” his voice was full of concern.
“I don’t want to stay here anymore.” She shook her head over and over.
He placed his hands on her shoulders as he rubbed them gently “Calm down. What happened, why are you so shaken up?”
She looked at him with tears in her eyes, she finally let them explode as she cried into his shoulder “Why Danny?! Why did this have to happen? If I was more careful this wouldn’t have ever happened!” she blamed herself.
He patted her gently as he coaxed her “It’s okay. Don’t cry…we’ll all be here for you.” He noticed Travis had followed her and he was staring at Diana with concern. Danny shook his head hinting for him not to come near. When the elevator showed up, he quickly pulled her inside “Come on, I’ll take you home.” The last glimpse Travis got of her was tears streaming down her face.
**********
A week later, Diana received an invitation in the mail for the annual Christmas Party hosted by ‘Pose/Blush’. That was the new name of the merged companies, even though the offices were still separated. She was going to throw it away but took a look at it again. It was held at the estate with the acres and acres of land that the Wu’s owned. It was unquestionable that she still had feelings for Travis but somehow she didn’t know how to face it. She imagined her life being a living hell if she were to be with him, but her guts told her that it wouldn’t be that bad.
When the day came, she decided to go and finalize their problem once and for all. She was dressed in a sleeveless olive color dress. It was as plain as can be but it was beautiful against her slim figure. She slipped on her spaghetti straps shoes and headed out the door. Her hair was split to one side as the bangs covered across her forehead, which gave her the mysterious look. She looked at herself in the mirror one last time before heading out to the party.
When she got there, she was surprised to see all her employees there and they looked to be having a lot of fun. Not to mention the fact that Jace was holding hands with Shelly ‘When did they start?’ she wondered to herself. She saw Vince and Josie giggling as they talked to each other secretively. She was more surprised to see her own cousin and Dave in an affectionate hug. She shook her head wondering if it was all a dream and if it wasn’t, how long was she stuck in her office that she didn’t noticed these new couples.
They were so involved in their own conversations that they didn’t notice her standing a few yards away. Suddenly, the speaker blew out a loud whistle. Everyone burst out laughing from the technical difficulties the machine was giving them. There was a stage that she saw Danny standing on, he tapped on the microphone “Excuse me everyone. Hi there!” he smiled at the group “I’d like to introduce to us the man of great patience, Mr. Travis Wu.” Whistles blew out as everyone clapped happily.
“Thank you, thank you Danny for that grand opening.” He laughed but soon grew more serious as he thought of what to say “I know it’s been a hard three months for all of you, especially for Pose’s employees. Now that my dad has resigned and gave me the chance to be President, I promise to make the following days as easy and fun as possible.” There were random shouts of agreements as people clapped for his speech. It made Diana the more confused, everyone seemed to like Travis? “I want to thank all of you for sticking in there with me until the end. I knew it wasn’t a very good battle but you held on tight. Thank you.” His heart full thank you made everyone smile happily. “I know most of you know about my disagreement with my father and I hope that it will not change your outlook on me.”
He paused for a few seconds as he took in the moment, when he looked up he had tears in his eyes “Except for one person….the person I couldn’t keep beside me. I’m sure you all know who I’m talking about.” He smiled through tears “If any of you have news about her, please let me know.” He took a deep breath as he grin broadened “Now, my special thanks. Danny.” He turned his head to the guy behind him. “Josie, Shelly and Lily, ladies first.” He joked as he motioned for them to join him on stage. Danny helped each one of them walk up the steps in their high heel shoes. “Vince, Dave and Jace.” He finished while the guys followed the girls. Danny teased them as he held out a hand pretending to help them up. The guys and girls burst out laughing when they were on stage. Travis shook his head happily “These seven people behind me were my right and left hands for the past months. I’d like you all to help me thank them.”
This time the crowd roared with whistles and endless clapping of hands. Diana watched with a smile on her face. Even then, people didn’t seem to notice her, maybe because she stood too far back. Travis continued “But there is one person I would like to thank…Diana Wong. If it wasn’t for the fact that she gave me courage and hope to fight against my father. I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish it. She had faith in me when no one did, especially Danny.” He teased as he turned to look at Danny, who gave him a puppy face while the girls burst into giggles. “If she was here right now. I would want to tell her…how much she meant to me…” his voice cracked from the emotional speech he was making. After a moment, he took a deep breath and smiled “Now, enjoy because my father is traveling the world as we speak. He won’t be back for at least 6 months!!” The crowd went wild as they laughed and clapped.
He was about to walk down the stage when someone cried out “There’s Diana!” his eyes wandered through the crowd until it rested upon a beauty in the olive green dress. She was walking towards him. He couldn’t tell if she heard the speech or if she just came.
She didn’t keep her eyes off him even when she walked up on the stage. She was face to face with him and could easily see the tears in his eyes which made her own eyes well up. “Thank you…” she said softly, no knowing what else to say, she smiled at him instead.
“Di…you came?” suddenly he remembered the papers that he carried with him. They were legal documents saying that Pose’s 100% shares belonged to Diana Wong only. “This is for you, I already signed them. You just need to sign on the given space and Pose will be all yours.”
Tears dropped slowly down her face as it hit the stage “You did all this for me?”
His hands were still holding onto the document “It’s the least I could do for you.” He whispered. Everyone was especially quiet and still as they watched what she would do. “Take them.” He coaxed as he pushed the papers towards her.
She took one glance at the papers and pushed his hand aside as she embraced him unexpectedly “I don’t care…I just want to be with you.” She whispered.
He quickly returned the embrace as he let the papers fall to the ground “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for those words?”
They didn’t seem to notice that the crowd was going wild now as they were noise enough for neighbors to hear. Clapping hands and laughter sang out through the 5 acres of land.
She nodded between tears “I’m sorry.”
He pulled her away to see her face “Don’t say that. I should be apologizing.”
“Aww…isn’t that sweet?” the two were so involved in their own embrace that they didn’t noticed Danny had grabbed a hold of the microphone “Kiss, Kiss, Kiss, Kiss” he clapped his hands as he led the crowd into a chant.
Diana looked away embarrassed as she didn’t want to put on a show for everyone to see. Travis was quick to defend her as he put up his hands and motioned for Danny to give him the microphone “We’ll save that for the wedding.” His comment made the crowd even more wild. He only smiled as he returned to Diana’s side.
“Well, if he’s not going to kiss, maybe I should?” Danny teased, the crowd answered in agreement as some people laughed and some clapped loudly. He turned to Travis “Looks like everyone agrees.” He shrugged as he leaned in to Diana with his lips puckered up. He couldn’t get too near because Travis stopped him with his hand pressed against Danny’s ready lips. The crowd laughed at the gesture. “Your loss.” He said nonchalantly to Diana.
She only smiled and giggled at his response. Her hand was entwined into Travis’s and they didn’t want to let each other go even when everyone got off the stage and allowed the music to take over. Diana smiled happily at Travis as they danced to the slow music. Her eyes moved around to the couples around her. She smiled at each one and noticed that she has never seen them happier. Even Danny who was already busy flirting with the new girl by the drinks table. “What are you smiling at?” Travis asked sweetly as he pulled her in closer to him.
“You know when you feel that life is just not going right and you want to give up on everything?” he nodded, knowing that feeling all too well “But then everything seems to turn right side up and you have never been in a happier mood. Like going on a roller coaster and it pulls you to the top only to let you fall down even faster. Eventually it ends and you are on level ground again. That’s how I feel like.”
Travis smiled “I know exactly how you felt because I was right next to you on that ride.” They smiled at each other and hugged while they swayed to the mesmerizing music. “Marry me.” He whispered into her hair.
She nodded slowly as she smiled “Okay.” She felt his arms go around her tighter as she rested her head on his shoulders happily.
THE END
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