burning daylight

“ where are you off to now that fashion week is over ? i'm afraid of staying in paris too long after that one time i had to steal a kiss from arnauld for the dares game. ” / @zephvrs

" you mean to say you're not camping outside the palace for the first public sighting of the baby ? can you believe he has a baby now ? a little mini arnauld. or a mini fanni. either way, what a fucking nightmare. "

" ate! " she walks into her sister's room unannounced. " i've been trying to reach you all day! you see, right — my friends agent — here — " she scrolls through her text thread, pausing at a specific message before turning it around for her sister to see. " she said you're a perfect fit for love island! "

" you're lying. you're lying ! " she snatches the phone from her sister's grip, squinting at the screen. " ugh, how do you see anything with your brightness this low. " a couple of quick swipes and the text illuminates. " oh. my. god. how did she find me ? i can't not do it... right ? " ooh, jamie will be livid ! this must be his karma for texting his little groupie while they were on a break...

" did you put this here ? " he was pointing at the sole can of soda that was on his shelf in the fridge. right next to his protein drink and his ketchup — the only other items on the shelf. it had made it too easy to notice the alien product. " who even drinks that ? " ( @seomarine / @zephvrs )

" obviously not. " she was almost offended he'd even suggest she'd drink something with so much high-fructose corn syrup! " who do you think. " she looks directly at the culprit. their roommate, her best friend and clearly sejong's worst enemy. ( @zephvrs )

" honestly, can't you read ? " she strides into the kitchen to snatch the pouch from his hand. " char-maine, " a bedazzled claw underlines the sharpie with each elongated syllable. " it's bae juice, and it's 100% natural, thank you very much ! i'd have offered it to you, but for all the headaches you've caused me, you deserve every hangover to come your way. " she places the drink back onto the shelf, right where he'd found it. ( @pyrctic )

“ and your last hairstylist suggested you use this product daily ? that's absurd, this is a once-a-month treatment, that's why it looks so dry. but we can fix it, four weeks and it'll be looking a lot healthier. but you need a whole new haircare routine, you cannot keep using this. first: a good nutrition mask. ” / @zephvrs

" darling, i have a charity luncheon this thursday and i'm to give a welcome speech - the jins will be attending. do you know what this means ? " the jins and their silky hair and their sharp eyes. " snooty bunch, they are... you come highly recommended by my daughter. i simply do not have four weeks. i'll need a quick fix, the rest can come later. "

" for one, those were my crisps. and for two — i threw them out. " they need to do something about sean? no, she needs to do something about charmaine and sean! they're both horrible roommates! " i told you to use an elastic or a clip if you're not eating them. and you know sunday is my deep cleaning day so if anyone is going to scream it's me! "

" you ? i should have fucking known, " a guttural groan escapes her with hands tossed into the air. she lives with not one but two kitchen bench dictators ! what crimes did she commit in her past life to deserve this ! " i was eating them ! " they were placed on the kitchen bench when her phone began buzzing in her pocket – jamie's name lit up her screen, signaling that he was waiting in his car downstairs. there wasn't a clip or elastic in sight ! what was she to do ? make him wait ? that would be so rude. " ugh, whatever. you two are literally the same person and i mean that in the worst way possible. "

   ― “ a future king ! ” was spoken with just as much disbelief as the woman before her. dahlia still has a hard time wrapping her head around the fact that she managed the image of a future monarch. “ that depends on whether you can match my salary or not. ” a joke, of course. “ you'd have to ask him, you seem to be very good with people, you might just convince him very fast. ”

" oh, i wouldn't dare go toe to toe with a future king. some might say poaching you from right under his nose might be considered treason, " head shakes, arms raised in surrender. nevermind the fact that her generational wealth couldn't possibly hold so much as a match to his, let alone a candle. besides ! this whole conversation started because she's in need of investors with deep pockets. " if you could arrange a meeting though, i'd be indebted to you. "

" i'm a pregnant teen who is telling my boyfriend that he's not the father and then i go to taiwan to find my birth parents in order to heal emotional trauma from my childhood —" the script sounds absolutely terrible. " this is a bad idea, right? it's a netflix show, but netflix shows are hardly regarded as good anymore. i'm doomed! i'm not taiwanese, what am i doing... " she plops onto the couch, face in her hands.

" okay... " a slow nod trails along with lilah's recap. pregnant teen?? her genetics have kept her skin glowing and plump and youthful, and the silver screen will always take liberties with casting older actors to play young... but she simply struggles to picture it ! lilah was a middle aged mother in a twenty-seven year old body. she was far too bossy and cranky to be playing a teen ! but with her scrawny shoulders slouched on the couch, she looks so tiny and helpless ! maybe charmaine can believe it. a television teen is always actually in their mid-twenties anyway ! " no, no, no, girl, stand up ! netflix is a huge deal ! plenty of actors blow up after a silly little netflix show ! all it takes is a few tiktoks and posts on p-app-h for a show to go viral. besides... look at bridgerton ! that could totally be you and uh... taipei expectations... " it's a working title, it must be ! " adoptions happen... or maybe your parents fell in love in taiwan and decided to move there ? the setting is totally not a dealbreaker. emma stone has played chinese for god's sake. at least you're from the same continent ! " she bundles her hair into a ponytail and dips into her room, plucking a cap and a large jacket (jamie's) from her closet. she returns to the couch in full-costume to pry lilah's hands off of her face. " okay, baby daddy boyfriend is ready. up you get. "

" i have an audition next week, can you help me run lines? "

" ooh... exciting ! " nails tap a quick final word onto her phone, but the other hand juts out, splayed fingers awaiting the script. send. click! the screen goes to black and the phone is tossed beside her. " what's the role ? "

" you've met him plenty of times before! " years ago, before they were dating, hardly counts, but still! " — but then we'll be late to our reservation? that's so rude to the restaurant staff. you literally raised me to treat normal people nicely. this would literally be going against your moral principles. "

" don't play smart with me, araya, " she counters. she refuses to entertain it ! " i thought i had also raised you to have more respect for yourself, had i not ? " a gentle hand brushes araya's hair behind her shoulder, then readjusts the pendant of her necklace. " he can come ten– five minutes earlier ! it's improper to be waiting in the car outside of my home to take my daughter away from me without so much as a greeting to your lonely mother. "

   ― “ did you not just hear my rant ? me, i'm asking. i don't see you with regular girls which means whatever relative they might have that could interest me is easily google-able. ” again, she was not lying, just omitting the fact that his mother might hear whatever comes out of him in the conversation. “ the apps only have freaks, even the famous ones. it's a let down. ” and she was sick of disappointments. “ i'm not trying to narrow anything down, i want to keep my options open and you know your mother won't be happy if she sets me up with someone and it doesn't work. i can't disappoint her like that. ” the favourice niece title was one aya took very seriously to put at risk for a dude.

" right... " he's already losing interest in the conversation. what's in it for him ? " there was a lawyer working in-house at rhodes a few years back. i think he owns his own firm now or something. good guy, successful, humble... attractive man. i can set it up but the rest is up to you. " the man had a resume packed full of his own achievements ! aya would need a little more to boast than simply her title.

" trisha, trisha diosa! i have to say, what you wore to the climate change luncheon last month, so gorg. like sososososo gorg. " it was to die for! " i bought this loewe bag after i saw you wearing it on your vacation to saint-tropez! it's so chic! " she doesn't care if she's being overbearing. when is she ever going to talk to her idol ever again! any impression is an impression! " could i get a selfie? just a quick one if you don't mind! after you pay of course. " — @apclogue

   ― what the fuck was even happening in front of his eyes. elias didn't even know if it was plausible to ask the woman to at least keep it down or not. he just watched dumbfounded as she fangirled over the princess. “ very well. ” yeah, it didn't look like the whole you won't pay―yes i will game from earlier could continue to be played now that a third party had joined. “ i- can take the picture, if you'd like. ” he offered after adding the second cannoli to her order and waiting for one of his employees to bring it from the kitchen. “ whenever you're ready. ”

what did she wear to the climate change luncheon ? she can hardly recall what she wore to antonia ives' brunch last week ! the bag, however, she is very fond of. " well, trisha diosa, the bag looks much better on you, doesn't it ? " she taps her phone against the machine. " can i get the cannolis packed separately, please ? and my husband will pick up the other pastries first thing tomorrow morning. for you, " she hands the first bag to trisha and awaits the second. " can i ask a little favour in exchange ? i'd love to take a photo with you, but in case you do post it, could you maybe wait until tomorrow ? "

" five minutes. anyone can talk for five minutes ! " at least that was what she was going to tell herself from now on. " five minutes seems like a soft landing into public speaking, right ? i just don't know about the subject... that's a can of worms we might not want to open. they'll roast me like a pig at a barbie. " she wanted to consult lucas. really did ! but it she didn't want to be known as dead weight, the person who couldn't make a single decision, the only co-founder who needed a second opinion on everything. " maybe this is just my next professional challenge ? i can't evolve if i just sit at my computer, can i ? " she straightened her back and took a deep intense breath. " i will do this. we will go there. the question is: who'll be third-wheeling us ? we could do a table tennis tournament over it or something fun. the hunger games. we're not a meritocracy. "

" i mean, if anyone can, it's you, " a meager five minutes of speaking in front of a meager few hundred...? thousand...? —people. at charmaine's age, feyza had already founded one of the world's most used apps ! what's a little public speaking to her ? " oh there's plenty you could talk on ! they want you for your expertise. they literally called you a pioneer when they first reached out to me, you have nothing to worry about. at all ! plus, it would be totally unprofessional and such a bad look for the other speakers to be roasting a hotter, younger mogul. they'll look so jealous and bitter ! that'd be so embarrassing. " if the other panelists are experts in the field, in their own right, they'd simply have nothing to gain by it. she's rambling. now's a good time to stop. " ok... " she swipes between screens to open feyza's calendar, colour-coded events flooding the screen. " so for the briefing call, he's offered 10am-3pm on tuesday. you've got meetings until 2pm. otherwise, you're both free at 11 on thursday, but you have a lunch with dulaan at 12. do you have a preference ? " she moves the cursor around the two dates, awaiting a response. " oh, table tennis could be fun ! and maybe a scavenger hunt ? or... some sort of coding challenge ? " it's a brilliant idea ! very very on-brand for a tech company... and that way, maybe her work-husband from the it department might have a chance at scoring a pass...

   ― “ you have no idea. he is right over there: aurel hohenzollern, heir to the german crown. ” it felt insane to say that to someone else removed from the royal bubble. especially back in the business crowd where people expected her to be working with an actor or pop star. “ well, congratulations. ” she raised her glass as if to toasting the other before sipping from it. “ of course, i couldn't wait to get back to gloomy and depressive looking london. no, his highness is staying here for indeterminate time and i follow wherever he goes for too long. ”

" a prince ? " a brow raises, not bothering to refrain her tone of surprise. his name warrants such a response, after all ! " well that must look good on anybody's resume. there goes my chances of poaching you, huh ? " it's all said in jest. " so... does your client have any particular interest in film, theatre...? "