Rise To Stardom: My Villainess

As the clock strikes eight, Ember who usually wakes up in a much earlier time finally opens her aureus eyes to reality. Rubbing her right eyes as she turns her attention to the bed she is in, Ember recalls the day before wherein her fiancée left her without even saying anything. 'So he didn't really come home, huh?' she indifferently ponders to herself before later standing up to fix her bed. Pressing her lips, she has no words for the young man who broke her heart into pieces. While neatly spreading the blanket over the sheets, she somehow suddenly gets a whiff of something. Her brows furrow as she quickly turns to the direction where it is coming from.

She narrows her eyes upon seeing him having the time of his life on the balcony. She almost stumbles from the shock; but fortunately, she is able to take a hold of herself. While Alessio is fixated in reading several piles of doc.u.ments, he takes a sip of his coffee now and then. Instead of wearing his usual black suit, he's only clothed with a robe. A pair of reading glasses quietly settles on the bridge of his nose. He looks different… Ember somehow feels strange, not used to this casual appearance of Alessio. Although she has seen him in informal clothing, seeing him in this attire is a new thing.

Shaking her head, she resolves to ignore his presence as she takes her phone from its charging state to see any new updates from her manager. Opening the device at hand, Ember sees a text message from her manager, saying that her personal staff crew already arrived yesterday, but there is still no replacement available for the personal assistant she has fired before. 'Enjoy your trip. I'll take care of your things while you're gone.' Ember frowns as she can imagine her manager saying that in a very obvious happy tone.

Ember sighs. Enjoy her trip? How can she even enjoy her trip with the presence of the man that broke her heart into pieces around? Heading straight to the bathroom with her clothes on hand, she decides to take a shower first and fix herself up as she would rather not let that heartless guy see her in her most vulnerable state. Entering the restroom, she is immediately greeted by her very own reflection. Her golden eyes are dull as they stare back at her. The confidence that she usually has doesn't seem to surround her.

That missing confidence… is the confidence Ember has been building through the years of being called the best while she is in the center of the limelight. She was once just a pretty child with a princess syndrome that is actually very insecure on the inside. Spoiled and confident on the outside, kind and shy on the inside. But no one would survive in the harsh entertainment industry without being completely confident, and so confident she became.

Placing a hand on the mirror as she stares at her beautiful reflection, she composes herself and reminds herself of her identity. 'You are the best of the best. You are the Muse of Beauty. He's nothing compared to you. You are perfect, Ember.' She brings out her smile as she regains her confidence once more, making her dull-like expression turn radiant. As she looks away from the mirror, she proceeds to take off her clothes and refresh herself, letting the showerhead pour down its warm water on her slender body.

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As she exits the bathroom with her clothes for the day on, she frowns upon seeing her fiancée still in the same position she left him. She's slightly disappointed as she has expected him to leave while she's taking her time in the shower because now since he's still here… there's nothing she can do but cope with his presence. Slowly walking towards the balcony, she joins Alessio in his breakfast.

Taking the chair that has been reserved for her beforehand, she also catches a glimpse of the meal. Pancake dipped in chocolate syrup; not her exact favorites, but this will do. She takes a fork and knife. Neatly slicing the treat, she then stabs the pancake in the most graceful manner. Calmly biting the small piece from the utensil, she soon raises her brow when she spots Alessio intently staring at her back for no apparent reason. When he doesn't retreat his gaze, she bites the inside of her cheek before retorting a question in a very unpleasant tone.

"Why are you here?"

"..."

His white cup of black coffee is held gently by its saucer. While Alessio is supposed to lift it to his lips, his initial actions of drinking his black coffee are put to a stop by her question that is intending to spite his presence. His jade green eyes only emotionlessly stare back at her as he makes no response to reply to her words. Ember cannot help but be slightly aggravated, but instead of showing what she feels, she puts on a smile to conceal that simmering irritation.

"Well, since you were so adamant on avoiding me to the point that you didn't even spend the night here, I'm very surprised to see you here—" She then unconsciously crosses her arms as she slightly narrows her eyes to let him know of the dissatisfaction she felt upon seeing him here. "You shouldn't have bothered returning, however. We both know that you hate being here; and if you're worried about me, then there's nothing to worry about. As you can clearly see, my life is fine without you here."

She feigns a sigh as she looks all over the food in their small round table. As her eyes skim, she can't help but notice a lone cup of hot chocolate placed beside the right corner of her plate.

While she seems interested, she doesn't bother to initiate an action. Alessio, who doesn't even bother to refute the claims of his fiancée, suddenly stands up and rudely takes that hot chocolate for himself. Ember is surprised. Isn't that her drink? She looks up, almost glaring at him. She's about to protest and retrieve that drink for herself when the cup of chocolate is suddenly pushed towards her.

"Wha— what?" Ember exclaims, clearly taken aback by his unexpected gestures. His jade green eyes look down at her while his masculine figure towers over her slender self. "Drink or you won't have any energy to spend the day," Alessio says in an almost uncaring tone as he pushes the cup of hot chocolate again to her hands. She stares up at him, trying to read the intentions behind this gesture. What is he doing? Why is he pretending to care?

Ember narrows her eyes and decides to refuse the drink despite wanting it herself. "For your information, I'm not allowed to drink hot chocolate. It's too sweet anyways. I'm not a kid anymore for you to order it every time we eat breakfast together," she snarkily remarks, lying through her teeth.

Alessio though doesn't care about her words and still insists on pushing the chocolate drink to her hands, compelling Ember to accept it. "I didn't order it, so there's nothing to worry about. Just drink it," he says in a dismissive tone, looking away from the stubborn beauty, before calmly walking towards the railings of the balcony. Ember suppresses a huff as she looks down at the cup that she has received from that man. Her irritation urges her to finish her pancake quickly, unconsciously drinking and finishing the hot chocolate in the process.

After taking her time, Ember stands up and immediately leaves the balcony alone to her annoying fiancé. Leaving in a hurry, she doesn't notice the black-haired man tilting his head to their table. Upon perceiving the empty cup, Alessio's gaze softens while the corner of his lips seems to slightly twitch. Turning his attention to the scenery before him, the young black haired man observes the waves calmly rolling back and forth on the shore. A moment of peace surrounds him for a while.

*Flashback — 3 years ago*

"Why are you eating so little, Princess?" Upon perceiving that Ember has only been served by a tiny plate of salad by the waiter, Alessio cannot help but express concern for his dear fiancée. He thought that the waiter must have gone her order wrong and is about to call for someone when Ember suddenly prevents him, compelling him to sit down by tugging his arm, as she answers with a tone of disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e. A childish pout lies on her beautiful face while she tries to poke a circular slice of tomato on her tiny plate. "You know how strict people are on my diet, Zio-ge."

She sighs as she pokes that slice of fruit again and again. "I'm only allowed to eat salad—" When she sees the worry over his face, she suddenly feels guilty and quickly puts on an assuring smile. "— Bu— But don't worry though, Zio-ge! They always make sure I eat enough. They won't let me starve. These days are just torturous, but that's just the process. So there's really nothing to worry about!"

Hearing the words of his fiancée, Alessio doesn't get more assured as he feels more worried instead. She's already skinny; and for her to be required to eat such little amount of food, isn't that too much? She's already too little… Alessio then resolves to call later the higher-ups of Ember's company and talk about this issue, but for now… he should better focus on her. A sigh leaves his lips upon observing her sluggishly eat the salad.

Shaking his head by the sight, Alessio intentionally ignores his beloved fiancée's reassurance and proceeds to call the waiter. Ember's eyes widen. Despite trying to stop him from ordering, Alessio is too determined to feed his little princess.

"Zio-ge, I told you it's fine!" Ember protests, pouting, as she crosses her arms as soon as the waiter leaves them alone. The black-haired man sighs at her cuteness and cannot help but shuffle her amber hair. While Ember is about to complain again by his actions, she is suddenly left surprised when he places a cup of hot chocolate before her.

She blinks her golden eyes at him, who gently smiles back at her. When she doesn't accept the cup after a few seconds and seems curious instead, Alessio softly sighs and then explains, "I'm not in the mood for hot chocolate right now. Do you want it instead?" In reality, Alessio specifically ordered the hot chocolate for her; but he decides to leave that unsaid.

Ember pouts and takes the cup without a word. Leaving the delicious drink unfinished would be such a waste— she uses that as an excuse to drink the treat. While she enjoys herself with the content of the cup, warmth floods within her as she momentarily forgets just how much she is currently suffering for her dreams. As she gulps down the last drop, Ember gives out a satisfied sigh. Turning her attention to the young man before him, she gratefully smiles at her fiancé as she promises to herself to not burden him even more with her problems.

*End of Flashback*

The first day on Bora Bora goes on with Alessio and Ember never leaving the unit. As the woman takes the whole bed as her space, Alessio, on the other hand, either uses the balcony and the sofa as his own workspace. The hotel employees are the only ones entering the room to serve them their food. Of course, on the other side of the world, their families are aware of what they're doing. Their mothers— Celina Xu and Serenity Wang— naturally won't let them stay like that throughout the week.