The Treasure She Never Asked For

"So what do you think about your partner?" the director asked behind the camera. The camera focused on tired-looking Chloe. Among the female contestants, she was the youngest, and it looked like her initial reaction had intrigued the production team enough for them to pick her to be interviewed first.

"I thought the interviews would be chronological like you did with the random selection," Chloe said after a few seconds. She didn't really have anything nice to say about Lydia. The woman was very vain and fake. She would give people goosebump-inducing smiles and was someone who did not mind talking shit about people behind their backs.

She had experienced it already in just a week when she tried to turn things sour between her and Micah, since they were the ones sharing a room while the other three models occupied the other room.

Chloe and Micah sharing a room was because of their popularity, so if things turned sour between them, one of them could have chosen to trade rooms. What was really infuriating was the fact that the facilities in the two rooms were not different. If anything, the room shared with three people was even a bit larger!

"I want to finish this challenge as soon as possible," Chloe said after getting lost in thought for a while. She was not feeling enthusiastic about it, but the thought of having to act like a couple with Lydia made her want to punch the wall. She was a nice girl on a normal day, but she could not stand hypocrites.

"Do you have any idea of how you would want the shoot to progress?" the director asked and Chloe had to do all that she could to maintain her expression

"No," she answered bluntly. She almost cursed at the production crew that was looking at her as if they were enjoying her misfortune.

"What are your expectations with this collaboration?" he continued to ask her, but Chloe only frowned in response.

"I don't have any expectations," she said, and looked like she was ready to leave.

They tried to ask her a few more questions, but she refused to answer, so they let her go. The footage they had was enough to amuse the audience.

After she left, they called Lydia in. They asked similar questions and unsurprisingly; she played the role of a victim to a T.

"I don't know why she doesn't like me, but I'll do my best to make sure our team wins," she said and the female staff had to mobilize all of their patience not to scoff at her words.

On the other hand, Marcel had pulled Adrian over to the kitchen to eat together, completely forgetting about Alistair who was currently letting out his grievances about Micah being paired with Nick who had shown interest in her from the first day they had arrived at the house.

Marcel quickly stir-fried the veggies he had prepared earlier and Adrian patiently watched the whole process from the other side of the kitchen counter. He couldn't cook, so he did not want to disturb Marcel.

"Have you dated before?" Marcel asked him as he seasoned the veggies.

"Mmmh, I have," Adrian answered directly. Physically, Adrian was four years older than Marcel, so his having dating experience wasn't abnormal.

"Then you'll have to take care of me. I've never dated before," Marcel responded as he looked Adrian straight in the eyes. Like this two pairs of green eyes stared at each other.

"Are you hungry?" Marcel asked, changing the topic to get rid of the awkwardness between them.

"A bit," Adrian answered politely, and Marcel couldn't stop himself from smiling. Back in the day, he liked men who were forthcoming and more ȧssertive, but he couldn't help but feel that Adrian's shyness and reserve were also very cute.

It didn't take long for him to finish with the food and he served it up on two plates. Knowing that Alistair was probably bothering Micah, he left his portion in the pot and moved to sit next to Adrian to eat.

Adrian had not eaten Marcel's food except for the first day when he had cooked for everyone in the house. .

"How is it? Is it good?" Marcel asked as he eagerly looked at Adrian, waiting for feedback.

"It's delicious," Adrian responded, and a brilliant smile appeared on his face.

"That's a relief," he said and started eating as well. The two of them haven't had much of an opportunity to communicate with each other over the past week, so Marcel was quite excited about this encounter with Adrian.

"Do you have any idea on how to go through with the photoshoot?" he asked Adrian since he wanted to know what ideas Adrian had.

"I have yet to think about it," Adrian responded and Marcel nodded in understanding.

"Mmmh, I think chemistry is very important in a photoshoot with this theme. We would have to spend more time together so that we aren't awkward, don't you think?" Marcel asked with a smile that left Adrian stunned for a few seconds. With reddened cheeks, Adrian took a bite of his food and took a long drink of his juice.

Marcel was quiet, even though he found his reaction quite interesting. They had never talked because Adrian was introverted and quiet, but it looked like he was a really nice guy.

The two of them chatted as they ate their meal and when they were finally done, Adrian offered to do the dishes. Marcel could see that he looked like he wanted some time alone, so he didn't hover around, and went to look for Alistair to see if he wanted to take a walk.

As he was roaming around looking for him, he was finally captured by the crew and was taken in for an interview. Marcel sat on the high stool in front of the camera as he looked at the director, who was sitting behind it. 

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