Hello, CEO! Don’t Play With Me!

“You,” At the other end, Justin let out a long sigh. “Won’t it cause trouble later?” Once again, the man asked because the conversation he had been having with Giselle had ended with the subject of the bet.

“Why should it matter?” asked Giselle with an amused giggle. “You just relax, I’ll win.”

“Why would you do such a crazy thing?” Justin still couldn’t believe it, how could Giselle do such risky things? Not Giselle at all according to Justin.

“I don’t know.” Giselle rolled over for a moment. her body already wrapped in the blanket, wearing cozy sleeping pajamas, she was actually preparing to fetch drowsiness. But the excitement of Harvey agreeing to her gamble made her hesitate to fall asleep.

It’s better to talk to Justin first because his job here is to get close to Harvey.

“Maybe it’s that girl’s behavior that keeps stirring up my emotions,” he said honestly. But what he says is true. Harvey is Giselle’s patient tester.

“What about you being annoying sometimes? Brina and Nico rarely complain to me, but I know they’re depressed because of your silliness and stubbornness.”

“Is it true?” Giselle had no idea that she had the same thing as Harvey. “No. It’s all made up. I know you’re backing me into a corner, Justin. It won’t make much difference to me.” Giselle tried to deny it. There was no reason like the one Justin had given. It was good.

There was another long sigh in Justin’s voice. “Whatever you want, the important thing is that you know the risk of risking two weeks with Harvey if you lose.”

“Take it easy,” Giselle sat in the center of her bed this time. She was very excited. “I’m sure I won. I saw that girl come into the room with Director Ford.”

“You’d better get some sleep, Giselle. It’s already late. Tomorrow, you have a busy schedule, right?”

“Yes.” Giselle frowned. “I still want to talk, Justin. I’m all alone with no one to talk to.”

“You’re usually alone too, right?” Justin laughed. “We’ll continue tomorrow. There’s still a lot of work waiting for me to finish soon. And remember one thing before you start tomorrow; keep a safe distance lest someone take advantage of you.”

“Aye-aye, Captain.”

Not long after, the phone line was disconnected. Leaving Giselle feeling lonely again. Since she had returned to her room, she had not done much other than clean her face full of makeup, put on skin care at night. Even the TV program she had turned on earlier was nothing that could make her feel a little entertained.

“So bored,” she complained as she hugged her pillow. Her eyes tried to close and she unconsciously counted the sheep one by one. Hoping for drowsiness to come but damn, none of them worked. “Should I take some sleeping pills?”

Before she could do anything about it, the sound of knocking on her bedroom door made her jump. “Damn it! Who’s disturbing me at this time of night?” she pulled back the covers and rushed to the door. Checking through the hole in the center of the carved door to see who his guest was this late.

“That girl is completely crazy!”

Harvey at Giselle’s door. Holding up two cups of coffee that seemed to have been bought at the cafe in the lobby of the hotel, he smiled cheerfully and without any guilt.

“Are you out of your mind?” snapped Giselle with a displeased look.

“Do you want to sleep already?”

“Yes!” Giselle huffed in annoyance. Her eyes flashed back and forth at Harvey sharply. “What are you doing?”

“Inviting you to coffee.” Harvey grinned guilelessly. “Come on, I know you haven’t slept. I thought I was a kid you could trick so quickly.” He slightly pushed Gisell to get inside.

“You are indeed a colonizer!”

Harvey laughed. “You can talk all you want.” Since Giselle did not object to Harvey’s presence, the girl continued to move in. She sat on the sofa as if she was the owner of the room. “I don’t know what you like, but this is a latte. Not too strong a coffee flavor. So we can sleep in peace if we get sleepy.”

Giselle spluttered. “I don’t have any snacks. My snacks were confiscated by the assistant who dropped me off earlier.”

“Want a laugh?” Harvey chuckled and handed Giselle her coffee cup. “Just enjoy this.”

“I need chocolate.”

“I need some candy.”

The two of them turned to each other and stared for a long time, then laughed together. “Ah… it turns out that we both have a sweet tooth.”

For some reason, Giselle felt that even though Harvey was annoying and occasionally talked down to her, there was sincerity there. Some of the conversations between them just happened without anyone feeling forced or feeling superior. More often than not, their conversations are about places to eat, fun shopping areas, and places to spend time without too many distractions.

“I think we can be good friends,” Harvey said as he got up from his seat. Before he knew it, they had been chatting for two hours without pause, and it was fun. It’s carefree, doesn’t leave an impression of annoyance or irritation, and just flows.

“I guess so.” Giselle smiled cheerfully.

“I’ll see you tomorrow at our… uhm, I guess less boring activities.”

Giselle laughed, which infected Harvey as well.

“Thank you for the coffee. I’ll treat you to hot chocolate next time.”

“Oh my God! You better serve me coffee. I don’t really like chocolate.”

“That sucks,” Giselle spluttered. “Chocolate is the ultimate stress reliever.”

“Whatever you say. I’m going back to my room. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

Giselle nodded and let Harvey leave her alone in the room. It didn’t matter, she was also feeling a bit tired and sleepy.

Glancing at the clock, it was already eleven at night. It was time to get some shut-eye because as Harvey had said, tomorrow was going to be a long day. And as the girl’s back disappeared behind the door, Giselle only hoped that their friendship was indeed established with sincerity.

Isn’t having one sincere friend better than having hundreds of people know them?

***

Morning, Giselle.

Have a great day. I can’t wait to see what you do today.

AK_

Giselle’s brow furrowed deeply. her brushing activities stopped for a moment. she cleaned her mouth where the foam remained and then continued cleaning her face. Giselle ignored the message again because why respond? What was the need for Andre to send her messages on a regular basis, just because Giselle allowed him to accompany her? Even that was because of Justin’s orders, for God’s sake. How to explain to Andrew that Giselle only wants to do what Justin tells her to do.

But it seems that the words that Giselle has said have been ignored.

After cleaning up, Giselle got ready. Wearing a T-shirt that wraps her body tight as she can complete with black jeans. Not to forget her face she polished light make up because today’s schedule, practicing steps on the catwalk and posing in some pretty difficult angles.

As a professional model, Giselle is required to be able to adjust to the situation including the place and the clothes worn as part of the photographer’s shots. Do not let as a model, it actually damages the image and intention of the design of the clothes that they will wear at certain events.

“Good morning, Miss Giselle,” Daisy greeted as soon as Giselle opened the door. “I just wanted to make sure you weren’t late for breakfast.”

Giselle chuckled. “I know my schedule, Daisy. You don’t need to bother like that.”

“Not really,” the girl laughed. “It’s my job to accompany the models so that they don’t encounter any problems during the quarantine.”

Giselle just nodded, not wanting to interrupt much because that was Daisy’s job during this event. “Besides me, who else are you accompanying?”

“Miss Harvey, who happened to be at the dining table earlier. Miss Charlotte, when I came to visit her room, she was preparing. Also Miss Kristen.”

Giselle let the information evaporate. She just needed to know, and once she knew it, she didn’t really care other than to try to keep her distance from the people here. Just enough. No need to get too familiar except… maybe Harvey?

Who waved excitedly when she saw Giselle enter the dining room.

“It looks like you’ve been waiting, Miss Giselle,” Daisy said happily. “I’m glad all the participants felt comfortable and were able to get acquainted. You are indeed classy models who are friendly and kind.”

Giselle wanted to refute but instead she pulled out her best move; smiling as sweet as honey, hiding what was bubbling in her heart. because she was beginning to find out, most of them, were full of falsehoods. As proof, one of them approached Giselle and blocked her way.

Charlotte Flampe.

“What’s wrong?” asked Giselle calmly.

“I want to talk,” he said, pulling Giselle’s hand away rather roughly.

“I don’t like drama. My stomach hasn’t been filled with anything yet, don’t ruin my mood with your useless babbling.”

Charlotte growled in annoyance. She came closer while whispering to Giselle even though her heart was in her throat. She hadn’t forgotten what Giselle had said last night.

“I gave you a warning. Be careful with Harvey. She’s a sneaky girl. You could be harmed by her here!”

Giselle squinted suspiciously.

“I will exchange information about Harvey in the past. As a contestant, you should be looking for other contestants’ information.”

“I don’t need anything like that.”

Charlotte scowled in annoyance. “Because you haven’t felt how to be hurt by your own partner.”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s why,” Charlotte paused her words. Her eyes flashed with triumph that she had managed to influence Giselle. “I want to exchange this information.”

“What do you want?”

Charlotte puffed out her chest even more. “Become an SEO model. You can do it for me, right?”