The Light of my Life

Dirty Laundry

After having their evening tea, Tamotsu would walk Illyana to the guest room she would be staying in. It was a fairly sized room with quaint decorations and a traditional Japanese bed. She was amazed how much space it appeared to have. She had heard Japanese homes were small. While it wasn't gigantic like some opulent mansion, it was grand in its own way. She was really glad he invited her over.

He would take a step back, handing her some extra bed sheets. "If it gets cold at night you can use some extra. The furo is just at the end of this hall." He knew she had a diligent bathing schedule. "Liu is in the room over there and mine is right here." He pointed just next door to her. "If you need anything come see me, but as far as you are concerned: consider this place your home."

"Thank you!" Illyana was thankful, but more so she was hopeful this would lead her to a new relationship with Tamotsu. "Oh,I wanted to ask--"

~beep beep~

~beep beep~

She felt her phone buzzing in her bag. She was carrying her bag of toiletries, the extra clothes, and the bedding. Reaching into her bag she quickly fished out her phone, hoping her father was calling her finally to give her the gist on the situation with her place. Looking to the caller ID she would stiffen uneasily. It was her mother.

"Lily? Who is it?" He was a little concerned by her response.

She turned her gaze away. "I -- uhm, I have to take this. Excuse me." She hurried into the room, closing the door behind her.

His dark eyes followed her movement. When she closed the door he felt his annoyance only grow. Only two people could make her act in such a flighty manner. For now, it didn't matter. He did not wish to intrude on her personal business. It wasn't his job. What was his concern though was that in the morning she would be preparing for tomorrow night's show, which would be starting early that evening. They would need to spend much of the morning preparing.

Illyana walked into the room, glancing back to the door. Though she wasn't worried Tamotsu would push her for the answer, deep down she did wish he would so she could decline the call. Illyana set her things down on the bed and crossed her left arm over her chest, feeling uneasy. Putting the phone to her ear she dropped down to the edge of the bed.

"Mother, I wasn't expecting a call." In fact she often dreaded it when her mother called. "I hope you're well."

Lilitu Alukah. She was Sahar Helel's second wife. The woman was privileged from birth. Coming from a noble Devil clan there wasn't a day she didn't spend in the limelight or getting everything she wanted. She was a descendent of Lilith, a legend among not only her kind, but Humans as well.

Being one of hundreds of daughters, Lilitu fought tooth and nail to be noticed. It's what first drove the woman towards the modeling industry. It fed not only her ego, but her desire to be seen, noticed. The woman dreamed of marrying a rich and powerful man to worship her, to make her feel like a queen!

As a glamorous maiden of the stage, she spent years perfecting her style and creating a presence that none could replicate. The Devil was seen as a threat among her rivals as she never failed to draw all eyes to her when she was on stage. She had done work for big names through Europe and Asia, becoming known as the Bloody Red Queen for her command over the audience and leaving her rivals and coworkers alike in the dust.  Not only that, but the Bloody Queen built her empire on the ruin of her enemies. Their failures became her victories.

She eventually met her match. Sahar Helel's business eventually bought out the Queen's power through well planned corporate takeovers. She wouldn't give up without a fight though. Once she was able, the woman confronted the man directly. It was a battle of wits.

Over time, the two began to get to know each other and soon became closer. They became romantic and would eventually marry, but their personalities were too similar. They often fought for dominance through shouting matches and threats of abandonment. Neither ever learned from their conflicts and would come back together only to start out all over again. It strained the relationship between the first and second wife. Their bickering also distressed their daughters. Illyana, who was often used as a bargaining chip between her parents, ended up suffering the most.

She didn't have an enjoyable childhood, not the carefree kind many felt children should have. She grew up fast and had to work from an early age. In the end Illyana had ended up following in her mother's footsteps, searching for something more. She wanted to experience the true love she would read about in storybooks. It was a beautiful love devoid of conflict, anger, and hatred. Maybe her wishes were what remained of her selfish, childish personality, but she wanted nothing more than to be whisked away on the back of a white horse by her prince. In Tamotsu she saw a lot of what she read about princes in those stories. He was always willing to help her and truly cared about her well being, despite not having to. He was responsible for himself and those around him and despite his age he was quite mature and didn't seem to obsess over having a grand career or selfishly use others to climb the corporate ladder.

She had first met him when he came to work for her father's company and since her own life was such a mess he had done the impossible and came in, straightened out many things she had struggled with. Before she knew it she fell in love with him.

It was utterly stressful dealing with her mother. She put her through rigorous training and constant work to make her the perfect model. She was being built into a modern beauty, meant to surpass her mother, but she wanted a different life, not the one everyone wrote for her. Just talking to her mother brought back a lot of those memories.

Lilitu sighed. "My lovely daughter, you sound unwell. Have you been eating?" A manipulative woman.

She was overbearing and often accused Illyana of overeating, advising her to go on diets to be able to keep her job. To Lilitu it was damaging to one's image to become a heavy model and unable to wear the smaller sized clothing created by the more popular designers. The industry tried to show they were inclusive, but there was still a great deal of abuse and dangerous rhetoric being spread around about the standard of beauty.

Plus size labels to her mother were second rate and not worth her time, nor was it worth damaging her reputation with more famous designers going down such a route. There was a time where Illyana struggled with her weight due to her mother's meddling and began following dangerous diet fads in order to maintain a low weight which was quite unsuitable for the hybrid's size. During the process of finding a successful means of weight loss that worked for her species Illyana became severely underweight and became unable to work for some time as fainting spells became more frequent and her body became rather unsightly as her bones would often jut out against her skin. As a result of the dieting, Illyana became sick. Though she tried, it was much harder to regain the weight to get her back to work, so she had lost a year to recovery. This series of events had stressed not only her mind, but her body and she became bedridden for another two months, further debilitating her ability to gain decent show work. No one wanted a model who became sick frequently or overlong. Since recovering, Illyana had worked extra hard to regain her passion and placate rumors of having eating disorders or binging excessive drugs.

None of it seemed to work. They eventually had to hire a manager for her because her mother claimed to be no longer able to care for a daughter who constantly refused her advice. Of course what Illyana did not know was that Lilitu had, herself, picked Tamotsu for the role among what were several applicants. She knew he had no real experience and had been in the center of the Ju Xie controversy with Dynamis. What she hoped hiring Tamotsu would do was send her daughter running back to her, Illyana finally realizing her mother had always been right. But Lilitu's plan backfired and Tamotsu was more competent than she had given him credit for. She would have to do the footwork herself it seemed.

"I'm fine, mother. Why are you calling so late?" She was genuinely curious, but she was concerned that she was up to something untoward.

"I wanted to check on you, I heard you were chased out of the apartment your father got you. Wasn't your manager able to keep those paparazzi in check...?" She knew Illyana was weak-willed so it would only take a few good pushes to break her down.

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