The Billionaire's Promise
Chapter 75: The Model

Chapter 75: The Model

They left the hotel for the Tower of Pisa at 8:30 pm. The engineers spent the entire day understanding the architecture of the famous tower while Aryana took photos of the topography and helped research when and how to the tower started leaning. She was amazed at her discovery.

Aryana noticed that Erik was distracted throughout the day. He always looked at his cell phone and kept sending messages.

’It might be some issues back home.’ She thought.

She was immersed in taking photos and before she knew it was time for them to go back to the hotel.

Emma was already waiting for her at the hotel lobby when they arrived. Like a sister she hasn’t seen for a long time, she darted towards her and hugged each other, laughing and crying at the same time not minding the other people who were staring at them strangely.

Erik coughed. It brought Aryana back to her senses.

She cleared her throat, disengaged herself from Emma, and held her hand.

"Hello everyone, this is Emma, my best friend." She made the introduction.

"You already met Erik and Marlon at our graduation right?" Emma nodded and stole a timid glance at Erik.

"These are the geniuses of our engineering department." Amaya joke lightly as she introduced the four nerd-looking men to her best friend.

Aryana glanced at Erik. "We are going now. See you later!" She smiled at him and allowed herself to be pulled away by Emma.

Erik followed her with his gaze. A complicated emotion crossed his face. He felt guilty. Wasn’t he supposed to be the one accompanying her?

"Follow them secretly and keep her safe." He instructed Marlon.

"You have a date with your first love?" Marlon gave him a meaningful look.

"Shut up if you haven’t nothing else to say. Go now or you might lose them."

Marlon shrugged his shoulder and left without saying a word.

Erik checked his cell phone and received a lot of messages from Cassie.

"The fashion show will start at 8:00 pm. They still have time. I hope we can have a light meal together."

Erik changed into a suit and headed in the direction opposite their hotel. Cassie was already waiting for him at the hotel cafe. Erik just ordered sandwiches and fruit juice.

"Your taste hasn’t changed at all Erik. This is still your favorite sandwich." Cassie said sweetly.

"My taste did change Cassie. People do change. I ordered this because this is your favorite." Erik said indifferently.

Cassie’s eyelashes fluttered. She did not expect Erik to answer her like that. Was it because of that woman? She clenched her fist.

During their meal, Cassie reminisced about the happy times she had with Erik. She recounted how they met for the first time, their first date in the university garden, the movies they loved to watch, and the food they loved to eat. She chatted happily and Erik just listened to her smiling from time to time and filling in some of the memories that she missed.

Cassie smiled brightly. ’I can see that you still have feelings for me, Erik. I will definitely win you back.’ She looked down to hide a triumphant smile that flashed across her face.

Erik called his bodyguard and a black car picked them up and sent them to the theater where the fashion show will be hosted.

Meanwhile, Emma brought Aryana to walk along the famous Arno River. They managed to catch the sunset as the sun descended down the water creating an orange-yellow glow. Aryana took a lot of selfies with Emma. They made funny faces which earned them a lot of likes when they posted in their moments. Despite the cold autumn evening, they still grabbed a gelato and a few other delicacies sold along the river bank.

Aryana glanced at the sunset one last time and melancholy filled her. If only she was sharing this moment with Erik then it could have been perfect.

Erik felt his cell phone vibrate. He took it out and opened his social media account and viewed the photos that Aryana posted on her moments. He smiled as he looked at the cute and funny faces on his screen. It did not escape Cassie’s eyes who was sitting beside him in the car.

She leaned closer to Erik and peeped at his cell phone. Erik frowned when he felt her arms touching his.

"Who are those?" Cassie asked sweetly.

"My secretary and her friend," Erik answered without glancing at her. He continued to browse the photos.

"She has good style and she is beautiful." She said feeling a little bit envious.

"Yeah. She is a part-time model." Erik looked at her, then he shifted away from her. Cassie frowned. She felt that Erik was purposely creating a distance between them.

At 7:00 pm, Erik and Cassie arrived at the Teatro Verdi. Cassie still needed to do her makeup. She was the last one to walk on the catwalk making her the star of the show. She asked her assistant to escort Erik to the VIP seat.

At 730pm, Aryana and Emma arrived at the theater.

"Are you sure we can go inside? Isn’t this a formal event and we need to be in our evening gowns?" Aryana asked Emma.

"Silly girl. You are dressed up for the occasion. This is an autumn collection fashion show. And look at you, you look like a model." Emma beamed at her. She just blurted out her words when a group of tourists surrounded them and asked if they can take their photo with Aryana.

Aryana was dumbfounded. She stared blankly at the group but eventually she agreed. Soon after the first batch was finished, a new group of people lined up to take their photos with her.

Aryana looked at Emma for help but Emma just shrugged her shoulders. She was equally helpless.

"Excuse me. I am just attending this fashion show as a tourist and " She said in English and then in Italian.

"Aww, sorry. We thought you are a model. Are you sure you are not one? Your outfit is so beautiful. I like it." A female tourist said.

"Aryana here." Aryana heard a familiar voice. Before she realized who it was, a group of men in black ushered her and Emma inside the theater.

Marlon saw Aryana and Emma taken by four men in black. He panicked and hurried after them. He heaved a sigh of relief when Aryana and Emma were escorted to a VIP box at the second level of the theater.

"Mu Chen, it’s you." Aryana was surprised.

"Yes. Elder brother noticed you earlier being mobbed by the crowd, so he asked our bodyguards to help you and your friend. You can stay in this box. These seats have a good view and they are vacant."

Aryana murmured her thank you and nodded at Mu Feng who also nodded back at her.

Aryana settled on her seat. To her left was Emma and to her right was Mu Feng. Seated beside Mu Feng was Mu Chen.

Aryana scanned the audience. Her gaze lingered on the back of a man seated on a VIP seat right below the catwalk. He wore a suit and even with just his back, he looked so distinguished and handsome.

Aryana froze and an uncomfortable feeling engulfed her.

Erik felt someone was looking at him at the back. Just as he turned around to look, the theater dimmed. The fashion show has started.

Marlon who was seated at the hidden corner of the theater spotted Erik at the same time Aryana saw him.

"On shit. This is getting complicated." He drafted a message on his cell phone but decided against it and deleted the message.

Aryana has a lot of things on her mind. She tried to focus on the models that carried themselves elegantly on the catwalk but she was distracted.

’What is Erik doing here?’

Mu Chen tapped her hand.

"The next batch of clothes is my elder brother’s designs." Mu Chen beamed.

"Really?" Aryana straightened up and paid attention.

"They are awesome." She complimented wholeheartedly. "I like the color and design of the one that’s currently being modeled."

The corner of Mu Feng lips curled slightly. "Good that you like it. It will look good on you." He whispered something to Mu Chen’s ear and he nodded vigorously.

Soon the last piece of the Pisa’s autumn collection was being modeled on the catwalk by a tall slender woman with long legs. The spotlight was on her and Aryana noticed that her focus was only one person. Her gaze never left the man sitting on the VIP in front.

"That’s Cassie, the famous model in Milan. She is from our country." She leaned closer to Aryana and whispered in her ear.

Aryana felt a bomb drop at her side. She stiffened. She felt as if a fist made of metal pierced through her chest and squeezed her heart really hard. She stopped breathing for a moment.

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