Chapter 1: Zora Zora POV….

My jaw clenched as I glared up at the billboard. “Always him,” I muttered through gritted teeth. “He’s always on the damn billboards.” His face, ten feet tall and smirking, stared down like he owned the city.

Heat simmered in my chest. If I could reach through that screen and strangle the smug out of him, I would.

“Gosh! He is just so handsome, I could die for him.” I didn’t even realize my friend was in the car with me. My eyes started to roll like I would strangle her too. I had had enough of hearing about that arrogant jerk.

“If you would keep drooling over this crazy dude’s pictures, then you should get down from the car. Don’t be silly.” The words escaped my mouth faster than I could think about them. I scoffed, “What does he even think he is?”

“I don’t know why you would hate a man you see and work with almost every time,” Harper hit me, and there was that silly, playful smirk lingering around her lips again. Her perfume stench hit my nose as she leaned on my shoulders, and I nearly threw up. “I’ve warned you to stop using this weird perfume. I hate the smell; it’s irritating.” My eyes narrowed deeply into hers, deep enough for her to read through my irritation.

She scoffed like my words meant nothing. “I don’t know why a popular model would hate expensive perfumes. What kind of a being are you?” Her tender hands cupped my firm chin like I was a little baby.

I hit her hands off and turned my face away. “Just because I’m a popular model doesn’t mean I should like everything.” My hands were folded across my breast like a teenager having a heated argument with her mom.

“Yeah, I expected that, silly. But come on, can’t you see how good he looks?” Harper redirected her stare to the display of that jerk, Adrian, again, abandoning me like I meant nothing to her.

Well, who is Adrian, and why do I hate him so much? Well, he’s a rude and inconsiderate billionaire who treats everyone like some piece of shit. I remember our first shoot together, where he acted like he owned the modeling agency, just because his dad is the owner of the modeling agency.

Mr. James, his dad, is a nice man, so I really wonder where he inherited his bad attitude from. From the gutters, probably.

“You seem to be lost in stares too; are you also admiring him now?” Harper’s voice cut through my thoughts. I sneered in irritation. “I am not staring at him because I love him; I am just looking for 1000 ways to kill him.” She laughed, like what I said was funny.

“Oh, dummy, you are always a handful. How can you even accuse someone of being rude when you are also rude?” Her words came out unfiltered, like they carried no weight.

“Stop glaring at me; I’m not lying,” she said without stealing a glance. I wasn’t surprised she knew I was glaring; we have known each other our whole life. “I might be rude, but not to everyone; I am only rude to those who are rude to others,” I corrected, looking away.

“Well, you’re the one judging that, not me.”

“What do you mean by that? I am not a rude person, and that is on period. I don’t care what you believe, anyway,” I said, pulling out my phone from my pocket to make a quick call.

My impatience grew as the phone rang for the third time without a response. “I hate when my call is left unanswered.” My eyes were filled with venom, and my lips curled out hateful words.

“Why does the manager keep doing this these days? He never picks up when you have something urgent to say?” I turned to Harper, pouring out my frustration. “Yeah, I noticed that too; he is way too annoying these days,” Harper chimed in.

“Maybe you should try calling him again,” she gave a reassuring nod. I wanted to decline, but I gave in eventually. I took a deep breath and reached out for my phone again, but before I could redial his line, his call came in.

“The jerk is calling,” I mumbled to Harper before picking up the call. “I have been trying to reach you, Mr. Jude. What was the matter?” I didn’t hide my irritation, but I maintained a polite conversation.

“I am so sorry, Zora. I was in the middle of an important meeting, so I couldn’t take any calls. I called you immediately I came out.” The sincerity in his tone was loud; I could sense it even though I wasn’t with him.

“It’s fine.” All my anger had disappeared, his tone did a thing. “I just wanted to let you know that I am already heading to the studio for my shoot, and I wanted to know who I would be shooting with since you weren’t able to tell me the last time.”

“Oh, Zora. So sorry I didn’t inform you the last time. I totally forgot.” There he goes again, apologizing like he committed a grievous sin. I have never seen anyone as humble as him in my entire life. Some people should learn from him – some people who show up on billboards and feel they own the world.

“You were talking about Adrian again,” Harper tapped me. I didn’t know I thought out loud.

“You also appear on billboards, so stop acting like a pain in the ass and keep making your call.” Harper glared at me before looking away; I glared right back even though she didn’t see.

“Zora, are you with me?” Mr. Jude’s voice snatched me back to the phone call. “Oh, gosh! Why am I becoming so forgetful these days?”

“So, as I was saying, you are to be having a photoshoot with Adrian Wolfe, so hurry up to the studio so we could get things done…” I didn’t hear anything else. My mind went blank as his words hit me. “Adrian Wolfe?” I heard Harper’s faint giggle. “This would be so fun, two enemies having a photo session.”

“How could you do that to me, Mr. Jude? You know how much I hate that man.” The words slipped my lips before I could stop them, and my voice wasn’t calm either; they were filled with my hatred and annoyance.

“I am sorry, Zora, but I have no control over that. Talk to you later.” There he goes again, running off the call whenever he books a session between me and that jerk. I hate him for this.

“Can you hurry? My friend has a photo session to catch. I will be there as her buddy.” Harper ordered my driver, who simply carried out her instructions.

She turned to me, a sly smile hanging on her lower lip. “Today is going to be a…” Her words caught in her throat when our car collided with another. What?