Authors: Eve Montelibano
But she didn’t mind them. One day soon, she would make them all see.
The vast powder room was suddenly empty and eerily silent.
She knew why when she caught sight of her in the mirror. Their eyes met and locked for a while.
She slowly turned around.
Finally, she was face-to-face for the first time with Alana Christensen.
Towering over her in her high heels, Alana was statuesque in her black designer gown which had a daring slit on one side, revealing her toned, shapely leg all the way to her hipbone. The actress was even more mesmerizing up close, better looking than Gabby, too with those violet eyes that only reminded her of one legend— Elizabeth Taylor.
Alana walked closer to her, her gait that of a graceful predator.
Celine couldn’t help it. She was gravely intimidated. She leaned on the vanity counter top for support as her knees turned to jelly.
“I was never the evasive type,” Alana began in a soft, modulated voice. “I always speak my mind.”
She just nodded, unable to form any words.
“Dare and I share a long history. A kind of history that the world doesn’t know about.”
She swallowed. Alana sure didn’t waste time with small talk. She went straight for the jugular. But she refused to cave in to the other woman’s powerful presence. “Whatever history you had with him, it’s long gone, but I respect that. It’s part of his past and can never be erased or replaced. But as far as our relationship is concerned, I don’t really care about his past. I only care about him now, today and the future.” She was glad that despite the weakening of her limbs and the heavy slamming of her heart, she was able to talk with calm and dignity.
Alana smiled mysteriously. “You think you know him so well?”
“I don’t. I only know the things that matter and that he’s a good man despite his occasional rough edges.”
The actress nodded. “Yes, he’s a good man, and I know him more than you’ll ever do. You see...I’m his first. His first love. His first lover. His first wife.”
Silence.
“You know...Celine, right?”
She nodded.
“Dare and I...we share an unbreakable bond, the strength and depth you can’t ever fathom. We have secrets that only the two of us know about. It keeps us together in spirit, no matter how long we are apart. These secrets always bring us together.”
“And that’s a warning for me, I suppose?”
“No. Just so you will know that whenever I need him, he will come to me. Always.”
She remained silent. Doubt whispered like a serpent’s hiss in her mind again. Dare and Alana saw each other behind her back. She didn’t want to put any color to that but now...she couldn’t just overlook her suspicions anymore. The signs were there and they were hard to ignore. Alana was practically telling her that she and Dare were still an item.
“I don’t mean to hurt you, Celine. But knowing about this now will make it easier for you to accept...when the time comes.”
With that, Alana walked out of the room like the most regal queen.
She stood there for a while, the actress’ last words echoing in her mind like an ominous warning delivered so sweetly.
She slowly walked out of the powder room, feeling nauseous.
The hall was still full of people. She scanned the crowd, looking for Chris.
What she spotted some ten meters away were Dare and Alana talking.
* * *
Dare had to give it to his ex-wife. She was indeed, hands down an actress par excellence, bar none.
“Congratulations,” he told her with sincerity.
“You won’t be biased and let me win, would you?” she quipped.
He smiled. “I might be tempted to. But such performance is hard to ignore.”
“Thank you, Dare.”
“You’re welcome.”
There was an awkward pause between them.
“Where are you billeted?” she asked.
“At the Carlton.”
“With her?”
He stared in her eyes. He saw that she already knew. “Yes.”
“I see. So, it’s true?”
“What is?”
“That she’s the latest.”
“She’s not the latest.”
“I don’t understand...”
“She’s my present...and my future.”
She looked as if he’d struck her hard in the face. “You’re…you’re serious with her?”
“I’m going to marry her.”
He was shocked by his own declaration. But only for a second. He knew in his heart and soul, it was what he wanted to do. It was what he needed to do. He was in love, truly in love for the first time in his life and he would want to be with that woman for the remaining years of his life.
Alana’s eyes darkened into a deep shade of violet and then went glassy with unshed tears. To his surprise, she hugged him tight, her body shaking. He was about to push her away when she spoke. “Congratulations, Daryl. I really wish you happiness.”
His hands hugged her back instead. And for the first time in a long, long time, he felt somewhat okay with her. Really okay. No matter the secrets that held them together, he was no longer afraid. Because he was no longer hurting. He was no longer self-castigating.
Celine’s love cured him of all that. She made him realize that happiness was a choice. And he was choosing happiness.
He was finally, truly free of this woman.
“Thank you, Alana.”
Celine was thankful that Chris was such a gentleman. He rode with her back to the Carlton in the chauffeur-driven limo provided by Neil Lane. She gratefully returned the jewelry to the company’s representative who was just so happy to inform her to come to their suite anytime if she needed any more jewelry for the succeeding festival events, or they can visit her suite anytime she wished. She was flattered at the extra concession given to her, no doubt because of Dare, a valuable client of theirs.
When she reached the hotel, she didn’t want to stay there and wallow in self-pity. Thinking of Alana and Dare locked in each other’s arms was just too torturous. The image would probably be etched in her mind forever.
“Is there anywhere we can go to have fun tonight?”
Chris grinned. “A dozen places. This is the Cannes. Parties every night.”
“I’ll just change and then we go.”
“Are you sure? Shouldn’t you call Dare first?”
“He’s not my nanny. What place do you have in mind?”
“There’s a bash going on at the Armani yacht. We can go there first and then hop around. There’s also a party hosted by Chopard at the Eden Roc Hotel and another one at Hotel du Cap. Or we can crash Beyonce’s and Jay-Z’s giant pyramid tent.”
“Aren’t they invitational?”
Chris grinned. “When they see you, we won’t need an invitation. They’d kill to have you. You’re the talk of the Cannes.”
She grimaced. “How flattering. What’s the talk going around? I hope it’s...decent.”
Chris blushed. “Uhm, I haven’t heard.”
“Liar.”
He smiled sheepishly. “Go change already.”
“Okay. Gimme ten.”
Dare had been calling Celine but she was not answering her phone. He was getting pissed off. He dialed Cruz’ number. “Where is she?”
“Aboard the Armani yacht with Chris. There’s a party there,” Cruz reported.
He abruptly calmed his rising ire. He was currently having a drink with Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Robert de Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Martin Scorsese, JJ Abrams and Quentin Tarantino at the Palm Beach Casino. It was a group that he cannot say no to.
He didn’t know what time he could leave the hotel. He didn’t want Celine to get bored waiting for him when she can enjoy the festival herself. She was young and still hadn’t lived her life to the fullest and damn, this was the Cannes. When he first came here as a newbie in the biz, he felt like pissing in his pants in excitement. “Just watch over her, man. I’m fine here.”
“Carlos and two of the men are on her, don’t worry.”
“Where’s Kelsey?”
“Already asleep in the hotel.”
“Okay, keep me posted.”
She couldn’t stand the curious stares and sly looks anymore. Chris was right. She was indeed the talk of the Cannes but in a not-so-nice way. But they were not rude, at least.
Nobody talked to her in an insulting manner. They were all just extra-curious about her, about Dare’s new girl. They probably wanted to know what tricks she’d played in getting Dare’s attention.
She knew first hand now how big a fish her boyfriend was and everyone wanted to be in his favor. A lot of women in this place were wishing they were in her shoes, having a super A-lister boyfriend and reaping all the perks in the process— designer clothes, eye-popping jewelry, easy entree into any marquee and all the fabulous shindigs in town.
She dreaded checking the internet. What were they saying about her? She hoped they’d be kind to her. After all, they didn’t know her. Did her family hear about this already? Surely, there were pictures of the opening ceremony circulating by now. But nobody was calling her yet to go home pronto so the Filipinos probably hadn’t seen her yet or recognized her. Who would ever think that she’d be at the Cannes sashaying beside Chris Pine, much less illicitly sharing a presidential suite with Dare Montgomery? Nobody would believe it. But well, pictures won’t lie. She had to be ready when the storm hit home.
She checked her phone. Dare had called her twelve times tonight and she ignored each call. She wondered where he was now? Who was he with? She didn’t want to torture herself with questions like that or worse, call him and ask such clingy questions. He came here to do business. Whatever he did here was nothing new to him. It was all part of his world. This was his world.
But she was lost in all this posing extravaganza. She wasn’t used to masking her feelings, pretending things were okay even if they were not. Smiling casually at people or in front of cameras while she felt miserable inside proved to be a very taxing job. She couldn’t pretend to be brave when she was being eaten up by her misgivings. Now she wondered how she would succeed as an actress if she didn’t know how to play the make-believe game? Thinking about that now made her feel worse.
Her eyes scanned the fashionably dressed women aboard the yacht. They were all here to be seen, to sell something, a brand or themselves, to rub elbows with lucky people hoping to contract luck, to sleep with some powerful men in the business hoping they’d get a break in exchange.
Did she truly want to be part of this world? Would she sacrifice her privacy and dignity just to be able to keep up with Dare’s high-rolling lifestyle?
A part of her shrunk in shame. She was changing herself to fit into Dare’s world. She was adapting to him, eradicating her self-identity so that they won’t clash in the future.
Was it worth it?
She sadly looked for Chris in the crowd. He was laughing with his friends, enjoying the party.
She was a stranger to them all.
Discreetly, she disembarked from the yacht. She’d just take a taxi back to the Carlton.
But Carlos was waiting for her on the other side of the gangplank.
“Carley!” She was relieved to see him.
He smiled. “Going back to the hotel?”
“Yes.”
She rode with Carlos in one of the luxury Rolls-Royces rented by Dare for their daily use.
When she arrived at the Carlton, Dare wasn’t in their suite yet. It was already past midnight. She still didn’t call him. Being a juror and a big mover in the industry as an actor, producer and budding director, she knew these times were crazy for him. No matter how jealous she was with Alana, despite her doubts and fears, all of that should take a backseat for now. She must not interfere with his work.
She took a shower and felt really sleepy and tired afterward. The moment her head hit the pillow, she was dead to the world.
When she woke up the next morning, Dare was already gone from the suite. She didn’t even know what time he arrived last night. Sometime at dawn, she felt him reaching for her, touching her. In between sleep and awakening desire, she welcomed him into her body and gloried in the fact that he still came back to her, to sleep with her, to make love with her. To her. Not Alana. Or anybody else.
It was her who was occupying his bed. HER.
That momentarily pacified her already suffering ego.
Holding that thought in her head, she took a shower and prepared to experience the day.
Celine discovered that she was here at the Cannes to start building up her career for real.
Kelsey had arranged for her to meet up with a casting director at lunch at the famed restaurant La Villa des Lys at the Hotel Majestic Barriere.
“I don’t know how you’re going to sell me with zero resume,” she commented on their way there.
Kelsey smiled confidently. “Before I became an agent and manager, I was a sales person for a cosmetics company and after that, for a real estate company. That was how I met my first celebrity client, an actor. I sold him a mansion in Beverly Hills.”
“Real estate and representing celebs? That’s odd.”
“In those times, I was a twenty-eight year old, ambitious, career-driven saleswoman and I became that actor’s mistress for five years. He was forty-five and married with two kids. We kept it really discreet. I met a lot of people from his world during our relationship and that was when I started to entertain the thought of actually penetrating the industry by selling something else, talent and looks.”
“I’m curious who this actor is. Is he famous?”
“I won’t be this big if he isn’t, my dear. This is a business that requires a will of steel, a heart of diamond, flexible morality and alligator skin. Having the right connections will shortcut your way to the top. We’re still friends. He introduced me to Dare.”
She nodded. Without saying, Kelsey told her to thank her lucky stars that she was mistress to one of the most influential men in the business. She was a bit scared by the way Kelsey put things. Flexible morality? She understood what it was of course but she had never lived in such world.
But to be honest, she knew she was living in it now, embracing it, accepting her position as Dare’s mistress. Her morality was getting flexible.