Is this destiny?

~ Los Angeles, Convention Center ~

Wednesday, October 23, 1:32 PM

Ellie is in the back room which is reserved for her EY brand to have final fittings as well as hair and makeup for her models.

Besides Ellie and her two assistants, the dressing room is currently empty.

Ellie is talking on the phone with Jasper. Since Monday, he calls her several times a day. He told her that texts are not enough, and he needs to hear her voice as well. He is clingier than she thought he will be, but Ellie is not complaining. When they speak without seeing each other, she can focus on his husky voice which enchants her. In person, her sight takes over and she is drawn to his smile, dimple on his chin and those icy-blue eyes, and she wishes to kiss him and to feel that rhythmic touch of his thumb on her jaw and then lower… Ah, she is missing him like crazy!

Jasper is wished her good luck with the upcoming show for the third time and is telling her for the umpteenth time that he is missing her.

Ellie can\'t help but giggle like an enamored teenager. "You know, I miss you too."

Jasper laughed victoriously. "Was that so difficult to say?"

Ellie rolled her eyes. "Not difficult, but unnecessary. You know that I miss you. And me saying it will not make it better or change the fact that I can\'t see you in person until Friday."

Jasper sighed. "Can\'t you be a bit more romantic?"

"Romantic? Is neglecting your work romantic? Don\'t you have meetings or some other important work going on?"

Jasper was upset that Ellie seems to be trying to end the call. "There is nothing more important for me than talking to my girlfriend! I even blocked full hour of my calendar just for this. Don\'t tell me that you are so busy that you don\'t have any time to talk to your boyfriend?"

Ellie laughed. "Or course, I can talk. I will always have time for you. But talking about missing each other is only making me miss you more. Let\'s talk about something else. You didn\'t tell me how Norman is doing."

Jasper paused. "He is doing… as expected. He is not happy, but he was never happy. I visited him on Monday before going to work. Melissa is visiting him daily, and she tells me that he is fine."

"Any updates on the gang that attacked him?"

"Nothing solid at this point.", Jasper vaguely responded.

He does not want to tell Ellie over the phone that Franco and Lilian are also in the hospital with the same injuries: broken both legs and left arm accompanied with random bruises. His resources told him that there are five more victims with similar injuries, and he confirmed that one of those five is the gang-boss-man which he and Aiden dumped in the park. Jasper knows that other four are the people who worked for that gang-boss man.

With all this information, Jasper would be a fool to think how these attacks are random. Aiden told them that Lilian hired those five thugs, so that only confirms his suspicion that attack on Norman is related to Ellie. Why else would he have the same injuries which match what the gang-boss man said they wanted to do to Ellie?

Those five men and Lilian are confirmed to be involved in the attempted attack on Ellie, but what about Norman and Franco? Is it possible that two of them colluded with Lilian? Jasper thought of going to the hospital and confronting Norman about this, but he knows that it would be a wasted trip. Even if Norman is involved, there is no way he will admit it. However, Lilian is a loose cannon and she might talk if provoked.

Jasper plans to tell all this to Ellie on Friday, in person, and to hear her opinion.

The only question is: who did this? Is it someone taking revenge for Ellie, or is she doing it herself? Jasper is not sure. Ellie surprised him more than once with her actions. Is it possible that she is capable of ordering brutal attacks on eight people? He will find out on Friday. Maybe.

"Hey…", Ellie\'s voice pulled Jasper out of his thoughts. "My models are here, I need to go."

"Models? I thought your show starts in more than two hours! Are you trying to ditch me?" Jasper was not happy.

"No, no… Sarah and Aiden are here.", Ellie quickly explained. "I need to do fitting for them, so they came earlier. Do you believe me, or should I ask them to say hi?"

"You are using them again?"

"They are rising in popularity, and even if I don\'t want to admit, it\'s giving my designs an additional exposure. If tonight goes well, I might sign them on as official faces of EY.", Ellie was relieved to hear that Jasper calmed down.

Jasper wanted to remind Ellie that both Saran and Aiden have jobs already, but he decided not to spoil her mood. "OK. I see you are busy, and you don\'t have the time to talk to your boyfriend. Good luck! I will call you later tonight."

Ellie didn\'t want to address his childish provocation. She already said that she has the time for him, and they are talking for half an hour already! Ellie was about to say \'bye\', but then she heard Jasper smack a kiss into the phone. There is no way she is returning that! Not with her two assistants and Sarah and Aiden watching!

She ended the call and swiftly typed a message with few kiss-sending emojis.

"Hey! You are here!", Ellie shook off her kiss-sending thoughts and got into the work mode.

Sarah and Aiden are impressed with the outfits that Ellie showed them.

"See? It\'s a good deal, right?", Aiden needed a confirmation.

"Yes, yes…", Sarah has to admit. The outfits are amazing. And added appeal is that they are couple\'s outfits.

"Are you uncomfortable doing this?", Ellie asked when she noticed hint of Sarah\'s reluctance.

Sarah looked at Ellie and glanced at Aiden who had \'guilt\' written on his forehead. She thought how there is no point in making an issue out of Aiden accepting to be Ellie\'s model for both of them without talking to her previously. She told Aiden that it\'s OK. And she is already here. "It\'s fine. I will consider this as a step in conquering my fear of stage fright."

"That\'s the spirit!", Ellie exclaimed.

About half an hour later, Ellie was checking how the skirt fits on Sarah…"Did you gain weight in your hips?"

"Gain? If anything, I lost weight." Sarah remembered how previous week she was with Master Hollow and the meals were definitely not something that would make her gain weight.

Ellie scrutinized Sarah\'s mid-section. "Are you sure? This skirt is tailored based on your previous measurements… And I always leave a bit of wiggle room because it\'s easy to shrink the size, but this is already a tight fit."

Sarah swallowed nervously while trying to ignore Aiden\'s excited expression. He obviously heard Ellie\'s comment.

Well, they will find out in two days.

If she is not pregnant, nothing changes. But what if she is...?

Sarah never thought about pregnancy and being a parent before. Last two weeks she is pushing thoughts about her irregular period and what it means away because she does not want to think about it. She is not ready. Both of them are young, and reckless, and irresponsible, and... Now that she sees that grin on his face, Sarah hopes that she is pregnant and that everything is fine… and that everything will be fine. Because she wishes that he always glows like that.

Her mood dropped when a question popped in her mind: can she even dream of having a baby at this time when so many have other plans for them?

A second later she looked at Aiden and met his loving gaze. Without her realizing, the dark clouds above her head disappeared, and she smiled. He can do that: make her believe that anything is possible and that everything will be OK. As long as they are together.

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