"We can't! You'll mess up my lipstick and moreover, Nova is outside waiting for me," I uttered as I felt my back pressed on the door before he could place his lips on mine. He groaned and pulled me into a hug instead, with his head snuggling into my neck, leaving open-mouthed kisses. "You look great," He let out softly directly into my ears before pulling away.

"Thank you," I said, biting my lower lip to suppress my smile as I felt my face and ears heating up. "Have fun, Sweets," He let out with a peck on my lips before giving my ass a firm squeeze.

—

With Nova in the driver's seat and me sitting in the backseat, she made a stop in front of the red carpet filled with reporters and cameramen. I opened the door and stepped on the honorary carpet, taking a few steps towards the entrance on the scarlet-coloured carpet and stood still, posing for the cameras. With multiple flashes and shutter sounds, I headed into the building.

As I stepped into the main event building, my eyes scanned around the dimly lit purple room as I walked further in. I walked towards the corner, clutching onto my Artémís bag feeling extremely out of place and nervous that I couldn't wait for Nova to park the car and be with me.

"Hey," I heard a male voice snapping me out of my trance. I looked to my side and smiled at the man, slightly bowing as a greeting. "What is a goddess like you doing standing alone in the corner?" He let out in a flirty tone.

"Ahh, I'm just waiting for—"

"Wraya!" She called. I was cut off by Nova who had gotten into the building just in time. The man glanced back and forth between Nova and me before Nova decided to speak up. "Oh, I know you! You're Marcus Sayoko, the Director of SYK. The car model. Hi, I'm Nova Patel. Wraya's Manager," I gave Nova a look for introducing herself as my Manager but she responded by squeezing my waist, indirectly telling me to shut up.

"Ah, Are you like an actress or singer?" Marcus Sayoko directed the question to me. "No, she's an influencer," Nova responded in my stead.

He nodded understandingly pulling out a card from his pants pocket and passed it to Nova but kept his gaze on me, "Call me sometimes. We can talk business," He said before walking away with a smile plastered on his face.

Knowing for sure he wasn't around the hearing range, Nova and I exchanged looks before she started her usual delightful giggles. "Oh my god, he's totally interested in you. You have over 200k followers now on Moongram, Imagine him wanting you as a SYK brand ambassador *giggles* Do you know how much you would get paid every month? We could quit working at the club," Nova let out with giggles after giggles.

The thought of quitting working at the club and making more money brought a wide grin to my face as I—

"Oh my god, Wraya! I didn't know you arrived already," Angela showed up from Nowhere, disrupting my train of thought. "Oh my gosh! You look amazing—and I assume you are her assistant?" She said glancing at Nova and then back at me. "I am Nova Patel. Her manager. Her assistant isn't here," Nova replied to Angela, making it seem like I was a big shot.

"Ahh, Nice to meet you, Nova. C'mon Wraya, come meet my friends," Angela said, hooking her arms with mine and pulling me out of the corner, away from Nova. We walked through the crowd to a little round table where some celebrities whom I could recognize; Influencers and actresses, giggling with a glass of champagne in their hands.

"Hey girls, This is Wraya. I'm sure some of you already came across her content on Moongram," Angela announced. "...and Wraya, these are my friends. Tammy; an actress, María; Influencer, Akira; also an influencer, Lixing; also an influencer, and Kyra; an actress," She introduced.

"Hi, Wraya," / "Hello, Wraya," The girls said in Unison.

"Oh my gosh, Is that another Artémís bag? I'm still not able to get the one you posted last week but you already have another one?" Tammy said as she passed a glass of champagne to me. I glanced at the alcohol in my hands and remembered the night Richard Wilson spiked my wine. I gulped as blood rushed to my head and I could feel my eyes getting watery. Quickly and discreetly, I blinked my eyes simultaneously to get rid of the welled-up tears.

"How are you getting these bags?" María asked.

"I also saw the video of your new car. The Porsche. Was it really a gift? The bags and the Necklace too?" Lixing leaned closer to me and questioned. "C'mon girls, you should stop interrogating her," Angela chuckled.

"C'mon Angela, We really want to know. Tell us, Wraya," Lixing said. I responded with a chuckle and then a nod.

"Wow!" Kyra exclaimed. "Are they all from the same person? You know—a special person?" She let out the last part teasingly. "Ah No. They are not from the same person," I replied.

"Whoa, I'm so jealous. I get a lot of gifts and I don't think all of them are worth just one of the things you got," Akira let out, faking a pout then ending with a friendly laughter.

"Ah Wraya, I heard you weren't accepting any deals from brands to be their brand ambassador, what exactly are you planning?" Even Angela wanted to interrogate me but Nova and Raven had educated me well on the life of an influencer. All of their lives are mostly fake and looking for clout so they would do anything to get close to anyone they think might make it big.

Wraya Kelvin, I became a hot topic with a lot of fan accounts and thousands of posts under my name as a hashtag and I've gotten over 200k followers in under six months. I posted unboxing videos of expensive things and showcased a lavish life on social media, it wasn't shocking that they would want to interrogate and get close to me.

"Well, Moongram is like a place of fun to me. I'm on there just for the sake of it and of course, I've gotten so many proposals from different brands but I'm not interested in taking things seriously but when I do get approached by a brand I'm interested in, I might just decide to take things—you know—seriously," I let out just as how the girls thought me. Apart from having to take care of Reality because she wasn't going to school and talking with the beige man, the other thing we did was practice how to act amongst celebrities.

"Wow! You must be loaded. You sound so nonchalant when talking about refusing proposals for being a brand ambassador. That place you usually take pictures, that place that you could see the entire city view at, the one that looked like you were in Hade's building," Tammy said; knowing fully well I was in Hade's building.

"You mean my penthouse at Hade's building?" I intentionally used the word possession, mine when I spoke. "It's yours?" Akira gasped. "How loaded are you?" She added rhetorically.

"Well, I'm glad we're all friends. Cheers to Wraya, our new friend, and Angela and her new clothing brand; Angielady!" María said and we all raised our glasses and clinked before we brought them to our lips. I took little to no sip as I was still traumatised by Richard Wilson drugging my drink.

"Let's all take a picture!" Kyra announced and brought out her phone, raising her hands to take a selfie with the seven of us in the frame. "C'mon Wraya, stand in the front," She said before multiple shutter sounds could be heard as she took multiple pictures.

About thirty minutes later, I'd taken loads of pictures with all the girls—Raven and Nova were right, they'd do anything for clout. I was the hottest person on social media at the moment and they wanted to be able to show that they were friends with me—but I would also be at an advantage because their followers would see me and might like me.

"Cheers to friendship!" Another clinking of glasses was done to our nonexistent friendship. Still at the round table discussing Tammy's new role in a Misney + movie, I discreetly scanned the room, looking for Nova but my eyes almost popped out of its socket when I spotted Kiss amongst the crowd serving drinks as the waitress.

I couldn't stop myself from scoffing unbeknownst to me that the girls heard and stopped their discussion. "What, why did you just scoff," Tammy asked thinking I scoffed at what she was saying.

"Ah no, It's that waitress over there..." I pointed to Kiss who was carrying a metal tray full of drinks. "She pulled some bullshit thinking she's better than everyone but then I showed her what it meant by being better than everyone and now she's serving drinks, looking as pathetic as ever," I stated with amusement written all over my face.

"Oh, then we should call her over and remind her of her place in this world. The Lowest of the Low," Angela said and started walking straight to Kiss.