Chapter 71: Chapter 71

"Jade you have to believe me, I wouldn't do something like that. These pictures are not what they seem to be, please believe me," I begged "I'd do anything for you to believe me, if... if you want me to quit this job then I will but please... please just believe me when I say that nothing happened between Blake and I or me and any other guy," I walked up to him on my knees and held unto his legs.

He held me by the shoulders and forcefully pushed me away and stormed out of the living room. I sat there and cried, tears rolled down my cheeks like a waterfall.

I cried till I had no tears left, my head ached and my throat was on fire. I took my bag and made my way to my room, I wasn't drunk but I was staggering like someone that had 10 bottles of beer.

I locked the door and sat down on the floor, resting my back on the door. I felt my phone vibrate in my bag, I took it out to see that it was Blake calling, I declined the call and kept my phone beside me. Blake called again twice and I declined the call. my eyes fell on the picture on my bedstand, it was the picture we took at the airport before coming back to New York. I picked it up and looked at each person's smiling face, "oh UT...if only you didn't have lots of responsibilities now, I would have called you," I said touching my sister's smiling face.

I hugged the picture as more tears came down, that night, I cried myself to sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, I didn't know how to face Jade, what if he wanted me to leave his house? I thought.

I laid on my bed feeling numb, if Jade were to kick me out of his house, I'll be finished, the money for the modelling jobs I had done wasn't really much. I laid on my bed all day, doing nothing except to stare at the picture, hug them, cry some more and go back to asleep. I felt so bitter that I wasn't even hungry, I had closed all the drapes in my room that I didn't even know if it was day or night.

I spent two days locked in my room, on the third day, someone knocked the door but I didn't answer, I didn't even leave my position.

The knocking had stopped, moments later, I heard a loud bang on the door and it opened. "what in the seven seas is going on here?" I heard a woman's voice. I could never forget that voice even in my sleep, it was Tiffany.

She opened the windows and I could feel fresh air coming in, "UK, what is wrong with you?" she asked

I slowly turned my head to her, "bloody hell! what happened to you UK?" she exclaimed. She helped me into a sitting position "UK you are making me scared, what happened to you? did someone die?"

I didn't answer

"by any chance, could it be... my brother?" she asked. I looked at her for a few seconds and turned away. "oh no, no, no. I am gonna kill you JJ," she said and went towards Jade's room.

She came back dragging Jade by the wrist, "take a look at her, this is not UK. she is always smiling and happy but now, you have turned her into this shell. What did she do for you to treat her this way? this girl has taken care of this household and you did this to her?"

"what about me? don't I have feelings too? After everything I have done for her, she has the guts to have an affair with her costar on the pretext of going for rehearsals and looked me in the face and still lied that it is not true." jade said

"that's not possible, UK can never do that. JJ, you have lived with her for a long time, don't you know her by now? can't you hear a rumour and vouch for her?" Tiffany asked

"maybe I would, but these pictures don't lie. take a look at this one, it was taken 2 days ago, she's still on that dress," he said giving Tiffany the pictures

"you were following her? And isn't this Blake Jordan?" Tiffany asked

"you know what Tiff, I wouldn't have taken this so serious if it were just me she had hurt. But I can't stay and watch my daughter get hurt, Juliet is sad because her precious mommy UK wasn't present for the spelling bee competition she took part in. she should be glad that I haven't thrown her out of my house, like I said UK, I don't care who you call to plead on your behalf but I will never forgive you for hurting my daughter. not in a long time," he said and went out of the room.

"this is absurd, I know you could never do anything like that. I completely trust you," Tiffany said hugging me

I hugged her tight, "thanks Tiff," I croaked"You don't have to worry, I got you" Tiffany said patting my back.

About ten minutes later, we untangled from the hug. "I want you to tell me everything that happened, I don't care what my brother said, I want to hear your own side of the story." she said to me.

"Okay, okay," I said

"you ready?" she asked and I nodded, "shoot" she said

"a month ago, I went for an audition at VR Studio for the role of the second female lead, in their next movie. I was so well prepared, I knew all the lines of the second female lead by heart, but at the end I didn't get the role. I didn't get anything. That same day, I got news that my sisters were getting married and so I, together with Jade, Juliet, Natalie and Scott travelled to Nigeria for two weeks. The day before we came back, I got a call from the Director. I was needed back as a character in the movie, not as second female lead but as the main lead. we came back to New York on Sunday, Monday morning I went to the studio. I talked to the Director and then he said that my partner in the movie will be Blake Jordan. we have been meeting to help me practice my lines, the shoot was in 3 weeks and I had no idea of what to do as the main lead."

"so that means these pictures are not photoshopped?" Tiffany asked

"no, they are not. but that doesn't mean Blake and I were having an affair or anything is going on between us, believe me" I said to her

"don't worry, I believe you," she said hugging me.

with the help of Tiffany and Natalie, I cleaned up and had a plate of rice.

Tiffany took me out on her motorcycle, we rode around the city. it was a lovely day and the wind was so nice but none of these could remove the heaviness and sadness in my heart. I went back home feeling no better than how I was when I left the house.

Few days later the shoot started, my role was that of a depressed sophomore year student. With my current situation, I played the role with no stress. At first, the Director thought I had become so good with my role but when he saw that I wasn't my happy and smiling self behind the camera, he called to know what the problem was.

"I am fine Director," I told him

"Are you sure?" he insisted

I nodded, "everything is fine, you don't need to worry,"

At home, Jade ignored me, he'll never stay in the same room with me unless it is very important. Juliet had changed too, all she does is when she sees me is to mutter "hey UK". not Mommy UK, Hannah and her staff became very formal with me. only Natalie stood by me, she was still the same person she had always been.

As for Max, he drove me anyway I was going, he didn't act like the normal bodyguard but a watchdog. He followed me everywhere I went, to classes, shoots and when I'm in my dressing room he stood at the door. he became extremely formal with me in the sense that we no longer made silly remarks about the things we saw, he addressed me only as Miss Udofia and he no longer smiled at me, he made sure no guy approached me unless necessary.

Blake on the other hand has been trying to approach me on many occasions but I avoided him.

One day we were shooting a classroom scene and for the first time we had to retake the scene more than 3 times because I keep making mistakes with my expression.

"cut! cut! for Christ sake UK, what is wrong with you?" the Director asked me but I didn't answer.

"from the top, character one in position, character two on standby other characters in position, take 2...1... action" the Director said and the shoot began.

It was few minutes after lunch break and the teacher had not yet gotten into class, students chatted and made noise in class. Kyle got into the classroom using the backdoor, he went straight to Daisy's empty desk and stuck a Post-It note and quickly went to the front row where his friends were. About a minute later, Daisy came into class holding a bunch of notebooks, when she got to her desk, she saw the note on her desk. "call me\_Kyle" as she wanted to throw the paper, something caught her attention at back of the paper. "please call me\_B" I turned around scanning the room for Blake, our eyes locked, he looked at me pleadingly. I dropped my gaze gently dropped the books I was holding on desk

"cut... cut... UK, meet me outside now!" the Director barked.

"what on Earth is happening to you?" he asked

I didn't respond

"Do you need to see a doctor or something, because this is not you. If you have problems, try pushing them away when you are shooting."

"I'm sorry Director, I'll do better," I said to him

I was losing my mind, no matter what I do Jade's voice kept echoing in my mind "I'll never forgive you UK, never!"

My life revolved around Jade, I was nothing but an ordinary African girl without him. I was nothing without him, I was empty inside. It would have been better if I died rather than live like this.