To Live Again, For the First Time!

Mason quickly kicked Noah out of his office saying something along the lines of 'not wasting your time anymore, go to that place and just get out of here,' after sending the number over.

After Noah left butt-first out of the office, he went on to check if the number was really there before saving it under 'Little Liar' with a smile on his face.

It was also then that he noticed another message from someone else, someone he didn't expect a message from.

Mainly because he had just spoken to her a few minutes back.

Grace: [Don't think I've let you go just because you rushed off real quick. I'll message you again later with a date, come or die. *warm smile*]

Noah had a speechless smile on his face as he read the scarily threatening text, that must have been sent just around the time he left.

It was really too hard to get anything past that little monster.

Noah didn't even bother sighing.

9 hours of torture awaited him, he had to go do some good things to improve his shitty karma, less his karma comes to stab him in the back again.

Noah seriously didn't have the courage to blame this on Grace.

Bad things always seemed to happen when he did that.

Noah left Grace on read before going back to look at his new contact.

'Hm, what should I do about this little one?'

'Well, she didn't exactly trick me and I can see how that happened, I also did say that I would like to be her friend, but it's a little too embarrassing that she saw me going to Grace's to look for help about such a simple matter.'

Noah thought contemplatively.

'Then since she's had her fun, I should have some of my own too right?' Noah smirked.

***

In Grace's office

'How should I trick this little lamb into my palms?' Grace thought about it carefully before opening her mouth.

"How did you like the experience?" Grace asked vaguely.

"Hm?" The words flew over Emilin's head.

"How do you like the makeup I mean." Grace continued smoothly without missing a beat.

"It's really amazing, I really like it," Emilin said calmly and with a subtle air of confidence around her.

"Is that so? Then I've done my job well," Grace smiled warmly.

"Then did you feel something different today compared to other days?" Grace was looking for an opening in the small talk without really trying to hide her probing intentions.

She was sure Emilin felt it too.

Grace could tell from Emilin's different micro-actions.

"Then how about you come under my wing?" Grace gave up on the complicated methods and opted for the most direct one.

It normally worked better with people who had stronger personalities, and even if someone had a wishy-washy personality, Grace was confident in her persuasion skills, most importantly, she was confident in her eye for people.

"Could you clarify?" Emilin asked back, not sure of what she was hearing, it was coming from a little out of nowhere.

She was sure that Grace had a lot of other people she did makeup for, and she didn't look like the type of person who would have the patience or the free time to make such an offer to just anyone.

Plus, Emilin didn't think that Grace's time with her would particularly stand out among other people.

"I mean it in the literal sense. I'll take you under my wing and teach you what I know, in return recognize me as your teacher."

Grace elaborates as she played with her chin, tapping it with her thin fingers.

"You mean... learning makeup?"

Grace didn't know if she should put it all out in the open or to slowly reel this fish in.

"It will depend on your performance. If I think that you're good enough, I'll teach you everything." Grace said mysteriously.

It was clear that she wasn't going to clarify what this everything meant, but Emilin still couldn't help but ask.

"Everything?"

Grace chuckled mysteriously.

Emilin didn't know what to say, but she was considering it seriously.

She could clearly tell that Grace was very good at things that she sucked at.

Interpersonal connections, conversational skills, and a whole lot of other things.

Then again, a lot of people were much better than her at that stuff, but Grace was the first to offer to help and teach her.

Not to mention, learning an extra makeup skill wasn't too bad either.

Emilin didn't find any shame in calling someone a teacher even though she was a multi-millionaire or was it a billionaire? She didn't pay too much attention, plus you would have to consider how assets and shares were counted.

Others didn't know how wealthy she was and they were offering her a helping hand, so she was going to take all the help she could get gladly.

Just as Emilin was about to respond, Grace opened her mouth to ask yet another question.

"Did you feel anything different today?"

"Something different?"

Emilin thought back.

There should be plenty of things that felt different, but none of which she would say out loud willingly, she didn't know if she was just being weird.

But now that Grace asked, it was clear that it wasn't just in her mind.

"I guess, there's something different. I'm not sure what though, it's not anything bad."

Grace nodded.

"Then can you describe that feeling for me?"

Emilin thought back to when she was in the bathroom around 30 minutes ago.

"It was easier to make a hard choice."

***

Emilin stood up from the bathroom floor and peered into the mirror, looking at her messy reflection.

At least in her eyes, her emotions and face were a mess, though that did not directly correlate with her appearance being unsightly.

She closely looked at the face that didn't seem to be hers, closing her eyes time and time again.

She was about to splash her face with water to cool herself down, but her hand stopped at the faucet.

'Grace will probably kill me if I wash my face like this, she was upset enough when I almost rubbed my eyes. This can't even compare.'

Emilin had almost done something impulsive.

Not only because of Grace's reaction and the fact that Noah was still outside waiting, she would have also regretted it if the makeup washed off just like that.

She had yet to explore what could be done in her current condition.

In the end, Emilin took out her phone that was in her pocket and stared at it nervously, awaiting a phone call that never came.

'What should I do?'

'Should I just tell the truth?'

'Probably not right?'

'But lying isn't too good, not to mention this was a lie that was bound to be seen through sooner or later with Grace knowing both my appearances and with me staying for more photoshoots in the future.'

'But I don't want to tell him just yet either…'

'Then should I just tell him when we meet again?'

After all, Emilin had already asked for permission to go to the session Noah and Grace were going to be having at a later date.

It wasn't going to make that much of a difference… right?

Who was Emilin to know that Noah was to figure things out before that date because of that pig teammate who wasn't even really her teammate, Mason?

And what was even more coincidental was Noah also decided that he would reveal to Emilin that he knew about her situation at the end of that session after she had some fun.

After all, Emilin hadn't really done anything against his morals or really even against him.

If Noah were to really get mad over such a thing, there was no way he could be in a friendly relationship with Grace, who had done things 10 times worse just as a prank.

After solidifying her heart on telling Noah next time, Emilin stumbled upon another problem.

Should she tell him as Emilin or as Weiwei?

Who was Weiwei anyways?

An unstable crappy by-product of Grace's amazing art skills.

Emilin should have really thought about this before reaching this point, her unstable and wishy-washy emotions were really ruining this character.

But it wasn't too late.

Then, what does Weiwei want to be?

'I can't believe I'm thinking about this when I'm only like this temporarily.'

Emilin looked up from her phone to the mirror before moving her gaze back again, awaiting that phone call.

'Or maybe it's because it's temporary that I'm like this.'

Emilin wanted Weiwei to be a confident, strong woman. 

Someone who could speak her mind to anyone and get along with people too.

That's what she wanted Weiwei to be, that's what she herself wanted to be.

It was harder than she thought.

Perhaps one day, she could look back at these moments in time and think that they were simply bittersweet.

There was a reason why they said bitter first before sweet rather than Sweet bitter.

Even though Emilin found her situation somewhat pitiful now, maybe, just maybe, when and if she grew out of it, she would find this all to be a growing experience.

After all, those were what the adolescents' years were all about.

Puberty really hit like a fire truck. It was a phase of one's life that you both reminisced and wanted to forget at the same time.

It was supposed to be like this, no?

Contradicting yourself.

Finding yourself.

Figuring things out.

But of course, this was only something that Emilin was to figure out in the future.

Something she never had the chance to learn in her past life.