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“No.”

She looked at him then at the door. “For Natalie.”

“I don’t trust that man, okay? And have you seen what time it is?” He chastised her, and she shook her head sadly. But she didn’t back down.

“He would never hurt a fly. I’ll only be gone a few minutes. Please.”

He couldn’t stand her puppy eyes. Just what did Devonte have that so many women would walk through fire for him? He would never understand but he knew that if he didn’t let her, she might just be mad at him for ages. So he let her, but kept a close distance to her to keep watch of Devonte.

She reached the street just as he opened the car door.

“Wait! Jupiter!” She called out.

He froze out for a moment but brushed her off. “Sorry, you have the wrong guy.”

.....

She crossed her arms with an eye roll. “I know who you are, Devonte Lemaigre. Get out of that car.”

He had not gotten in yet but he shrugged and shut the door.

“What do you want?”

He stopped when he saw her clearly. “I think I know you.”

She didn’t know whether he had a poor memory or excellent acting skills. “Natalie’s friend.”

“Lucy’s daughter.” He filled in. “Zaria Williams?”

She rubbed her temples. “If that’s your way of pretending you don’t know me so I don’t confront you for what you did to my friend, you have something else coming for you.”

He stopped in his steps, wondering what she wanted.

“Can I help you?”

He was distant, and she was confused. That wasn’t how she remembered him. He had always been this friendly man that fans’ spouses nearly felt the need to be wary of. He never overstepped the boundaries but he was too much of a gentleman to raise his voice at anyone or utter such unfriendly words. And when she thought it was only his on screen persona, she met him in real life and he was no different.

She ignored his seemingly bad mood and closed the distance between them.

“I need to have a word with you. But before that, can I have your autograph?” She took off her silk scarf and gave it to him.

He smiled gently and took a pen from his car, and signed his name on the scarf before giving it back.

There was a bench nearby, and she suggested going over to sit for a chat. He followed her and sat beside her, wondering what she wanted to talk about.

“If it’s about Natalie...”

“It’s about you.” She interrupted.

Desmond came over with two cups of coffee, making Devonte want to jolt to his feet.

“I don’t want to fight with you again, man.” He groaned.

“Neither do i.” Desmond handed the cup to him. “But just so you know, I will knock your teeth out if you hurt my girlfriend or my friend again.”

He then gave the cup with a write sticker labelled “Decaf” to Zaria.

She thanked him and held it in both hands, letting the heat warm her palms.

“Do you often come here?” She asked.

“Yes.” He answered curtly.

It was obvious that he didn’t want to talk about it. She sighed in defeat. They continued drinking their coffee in silence until she spoke up.

“When I was younger, I got a full scholarship for an Ivy League.”

“You did?” He was surprised, then he realized that it didn’t make sense. “What about Luxenville University?”

She gripped her nearly empty cup. “I did go to Luxenville. But that’s because someone had more money than my dad did and thought I didn’t deserve such a scholarship. I had worked hard all my life, only for it to be ripped away from me.”

She took in Devonte’s puzzled look. “I resented myself for not doing well enough. Maybe if I could worked harder, my mother would notice me. I had heard that she was insanely wealthy. If she was proud of me, she would never have let anyone take what I deserved from me.”

“That’s...”

She didn’t let him speak before she continued. “Then the guy I thought I loved... he tried to hurt me.”

She shut her eyes for seconds. “The world came crumbling down on me. I didn’t want to be alive anymore. I felt worthless. I wanted to die. I ran away from home and into the busiest part of the city, working out the best time to rush onto the road...”

She turned to look at him. “And then I saw you.”

“What?” His eyes stung. This was not where he thought she was going.

“On the huge screen. You had just received your first Bolar Award. You spoke of your hard work and how it made you believe you deserved the award. Then you mentioned the hurdles you faced. How they made you want to give up. How your fans were what gave you a ray of hope. And that one special fan who was with you through thick and thin, and how you were glad that you didn’t give up.”

“Then I realized that I didn’t want to give up either. I knew you from the movies you had acted in. But that night... I went home your greatest fan.”

He stared at her in shock after hearing her confession. “Zaria, I didn’t know...” He didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know he had that kind of effect on anyone.

“You have always told us to do our best and if we fail, we should rise back up and try again.” She looked at him, making sure he had her full attention. “And yet, that’s not what you are doing.”

“That’s not...”

She whipped out her phone before he could argue and did a quick search.

“Look at this. You are abandoning the sequels of your movies. Your contracts, your dreams. You are betraying your own words.”

“I don’t care about them, okay?” He snapped, then immediately regretted it.

“Zaria, I...”

She didn’t fault him, and immediately stopped Desmond who wanted to intervene.

“You don’t care about them? You don’t care about your career? Do you need me to remind you why you left Natalie?” She raised an eyebrow. He looked shocked, probably not expecting Natalie to tell her.

“You wanted her out of your life because you would lose fans if they found out about your relationship. Then you revealed that very relationship to get her out of trouble.”

She glared at him. “That special fan you mentioned every time you received a Bolar Award, that was Natalie. If you care so much about your fans, why don’t you care about her?”

She grabbed his hand to reveal a string bracelet. “A little fan girl gave this to you. If you don’t care about your fans, why do you still wear it? And why do you still have that figurine gifted to you by your fan club? You are a walking contradiction, Devonte Lemaigre.”

She stood up to leave, only for him to grab her arm.

“I don’t want to hurt anyone, okay? I don’t want to hurt her. I know I already did but I would rather break her heart than become the abusive boyfriend who makes her cry herself to sleep every night while claiming to love her, and who she will have to take care of for the rest of her life.”