44 Roses

44 Roses

Chapter One

“Action!”

“Kiss me with the kisses of your mouth for your love is better than wine. Comfort me with your love for am I sick in love. Let me hear your voice for sweet is your voice. Until the day breaks and shadows run away, be thou, my love, Lily” He curled her hair around his fingers.

“What wonderful creature the Lord has created! You are so stunning. Your eyes are like those of a dove, your teeth are like the wool of a sheep that had been deeply washed. Your lips send me to places I have never been. They are like a thread of scarlet. Until the day breaks and the shadows run away, I'll be yours forever my love. Yours forever, Everett”. She placed her palm on his face.

“Cut! Cut!” The director cried out. “Liam Jarett, you are playing the male lead role, Everett. Alexandra Keen, you are playing the female lead role, Lily. You both are not extras, you are the main ones in this movie. The focus will be on your love story.” He paused. “Liam, you are not putting in enough emotions. You are not making it look real. Our viewers should drown in your ocean of love. We should stop for today. We'll continue on Thursday. Have a pleasant weekend” He smiled.

“Oh my! I am so exhausted” Liam stretched as he packed preparing to leave and so did Alexandra. “So, what do you think about the movie?” He smiled at her trying to start a conversation.

“Good” She maintained her usual facial expression, a frown.

“You performed so well, the emotions, the tone, the voice, it looked like it was real. It looked like…”

“I am an actress. My role is to make stories look real. Now if you would excuse me, I have important things to do” She replied rudely and picked her bag. Liam could not help but watch her as she walked away. She walked into the changing room to change her costume before leaving. She walked outside and as usual, her driver parked outside, waiting for her.

“Good day ma'am, how was the shooting?” Her driver, Sylvester smiled at her.

“Milo's office” She brought out a magazine and began glancing through. Sylvester nodded in response. Her attitude wasn’t new to him. He could not tell why she had always been so cold and angry. He drove carefully to Milo's office.

“You can leave” She instructed and opened the car.

“I should leave? How then will you go home, ma'am?” He questioned. She slammed the door angrily and walked into Milo's office. As usual, murmurs, as well as stares, followed her. Who didn’t know Alexandra Keen? A gorgeous young actress with a model-like body and wonderful acting prowess.

“Is he in?” She asked the secretary.

“Yes ma'am” The secretary smiled like she had seen the Messiah.

“Thank you” She thanked his secretary and walked into his office.

“She’s so pretty!” Cassandra, a female member of staff smiled.

“And cold” John, a male staff member added.

“As cold as ice” Simon, another male staff member added.

“At least she’s cute, she has a lot of money, she has fame even on that, she has a darling boyfriend. Oh! If my boyfriend can be as romantic as the boss. I wish I was Alexandra Keen” Cassandra hugged her chest and imagined herself being Alexandra Keen. She imagined how she would look, walk amongst others and also have a romantic boyfriend”

“Hey, stop daydreaming” John snapped a finger at Cassandra, helping her come back to reality. “Stop living in a fool’s paradise, you can not be Alexandra Keen by just imagining. Wait, what did I just say? I mean no matter how hard you try, you can never be her. You look like one who can birth a grown-up as Alexandra” John burst into laughter alongside Simon.

“What’s that suppose to mean?” Cassandra banged the table and stood up angrily. “I’m just 36!” She yelled.

“Oh really! You are just 36? Oh my, I could bet my life you are 51 years of age!” Simon replied, making him as well as John burst into another round of laughter. She was pissed off.

“So you are a young woman trapped in an old woman’s body or what? Tell us” They laughed again. She got so angry and got up.

“What’s that suppose to mean?” She hit the table again.

“Guys, the boss is coming, the boss is coming!” A member of staff, Saliu by name informed them and before one could say, Jack Robinson, they were all seated nicely and perfectly with everyone facing their computer systems.

Milo wrapped his arms around Alexandra’s waist as he led her to his car.

“So sweet and romantic!” Cassandra again slipped to the dreamland. She wished her prince charming would come for her very soon. She imagined her Prince Charming. A man with broad shoulders, muscular arms, strong white teeth, cute smile, and………… she heard a bang. What happened, she opened her eyes slowly and saw him. Her Prince Charming. He smiled at her and she could not help but smile back at him. She could not express herself as she was overwhelmed with joy.

“Have you escaped to the dreamland again?” He questioned. Now, this voice sounds familiar. Simon? She looked again and it was him. She shook her head and rubbed her eyes. She saw the man she had created with her imagination. She was sure she saw him! She knew she did. She looked around and she couldn’t see her Prince Charming anywhere.

“What? What?” Simon questioned.

“I thought I saw him” She tried to explain.

“Oh! Me?” Simon rubbed his face and smiled. “Am I your prince charming?”

“Leave here!” She yelled angrily.

Milo opened the door and Alexandra smiled before getting into his vehicle.

“So, how did your shooting go?” He asked as he pulled the gear.

“To an extent, it was cool. The only problem is the novice who was given the male lead role. The guy is a no-no from me” She sighed. “How did office work go?” She adjusted his collar.

“Well, not being so smooth” He frowned.

“Why, what's the matter?”

“We keep running into debts but we are trying our best not to let it overpower us” He sighed.

“I'm so sorry my boo bear” She pinched his cheeks lightly.

“It’s fine, as long as I am with you, everything is okay.”

“Really?” Her face brightened up.

“Yes,” He replied as he took the next turn, driving to her house.

“Why are we going to my house, shouldn't we be going to your place instead?” She crossed her arms across her chest.

“Well, I'm sorry babe. Something came up so I have to go attend to them” He rubbed his hands on her hair.

“You said that last week Milo. This is the umpteenth time you are saying this! Why are you always doing this?” She yelled angrily.

“Stop yelling at me!” He yelled back.

“I'm sorry” She pleaded.

“I’m sorry too. I'm sorry for yelling at you.” He pleaded too and inserted a music disc, her favorite. ‘Girl like you by Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B.

“Yo!” She jumped excitedly and vibed to the sound of the music. Milo smiled and sang along with her.

“Get prepared for tonight, I am taking you out for dinner” He smiled as he halted his vehicle right in front of her house.

“Okay, sure” She smiled and alighted from his car.

“Do have a pleasant day, I'll be expecting you. Kisses” She blew him kisses which he was quick to catch. She giggled again before walking in. She unlocked her door and went inside her house.

“Casey!” She smiled as her cat ran to her. She rubbed the fur of the cat gently and walked in. Casey had always been her friend who had stood by her always. She carried Casey straight upstairs, unlocked the key to her room, dropped Casey, and collapsed on her bed. She was indeed exhausted.

“Sweet” She rolled and hugged her comfy bed repeatedly and then, she brought out her phone and logged into her Instagram account. She checked through the comments on her previous post where she informed them that she had just signed an endorsement deal with Aparoid Giant Technologies, Inc. She smiled when she saw a comment from a user with the handle: @xster which read ‘she is so pretty, beauty in her eyes ‘

Another comment from an Instagram user with the handle @ana_starqueen read ‘You deserve the best now and always ‘. She smiled as she went through all the comments but then, her smile evaporated into thin air when she saw a comment in which the user commented ‘Enjoy it while it lasts cause trust me, your downfall is nearer than you think'. Another commented ‘ Keep pretending, we know your true identity ‘. The last straw that broke the camel's back was the comment by another user ‘Why are you always so cold? Such a melancholic!’. She threw her phone angrily to the bed and lay down. The comments kept ringing through in her head. She was so lost in thought that she didn’t realize when tears began to fall from her eyes. ‘Why does it always have to be her?’ She wept. Of all the people on earth, why does it have to be her? On one hand, she was given fame, money, beauty and on the other hand, hatred, sadness amongst others lived in her heart. She wept till she slept off like a drunkard. Indeed, she was drunk with the wine of sorrows.

A few hours later, she woke up and checked the time, it was seven minutes to 7 pm. She picked up her phone. “Oh Good” She sighed. Milo hadn't called her yet. She hurriedly got up and went into her dressing room. A room that looked more like a boutique. There were different clothes of different styles, different trends, different patterns. They were just so beautiful. She quickly picked a black gown. Milo had told her how she always looked amazing in a black gown. She quickly picked up her dress and slipped into it. She looked at her face in the mirror, her eyes were swollen. She hurriedly did her makeup. She picked up her bag and yeah, she was set. She took a final look at herself in the mirror and was satisfied with her look. It was 7:35 pm and Milo hadn't arrived. She was worried and so, she picked her phone. She dialed his number, it rang but there was no response. She dialed the number the second time and on the third ring, he picked it up.

“Babe, where are you? Didn’t you check your time?”

“Hello, hello, babe can you hear me?” Milo answered with a low voice through the phone.

“Where are you, Milo?” She questioned angrily.

“I'm in the middle of an important meeting* He answered softly, more like a whisper again.

“We are supposed to go on a date” Her voice was breaking as tears welled up in her eyes.

“I'm busy right now” He hung up. She slowly dropped her phone.

Not again! She screamed and broke down into tears. Tears flowed freely from her eyes. So did days rolled by.