"No ," I told her .
" Don't cut me off yet ," her gripped my hand more tightly," Once you see me work on you . You will definitely like it !"
" Still , no ," I shook my head ," The make-up team goes through school to get proper degree and then get interviewed and get selected after it ."
" But I assure you I have the talent ," she was desparate," Why won't you give me a chance ?"
" There are many more like you waiting for chances, they work hard on their degree to get the job ," I reminded her .
" But I have the talent !"
" I prefer hard work," I told her .
" This is so unfair ," she looked like she would start to cry ," I am also trying my best here ."
" Then why don't you ask Mrs. Anderson to get you in a makeup school . And Liam had more hands in the industry than me ," I really could not understand why I was her target for exploiting.
" It is cause they won't let me ," she started sobbing ," Mother said that she would not have both her kids in entertainment industry unless it is after her funeral ."
I could understand how disappointing it might be for my mother-in-law when both her children were not showing much interest to the company.
" Please I will work for me ," Jewel sobbed ," And if you don't like me at first try , you can cut me off instantly."
" Will it look good if I am toeing around daughter of the chairwoman with me to a shooting?," I reminded her of her status , hoping that would stop her from making such ridiculous request .
" I will wear a wig, I will shave my head if you tell me to , I will wear mask and not make a sound ," she urged clinging to me .
Now I understood why Liam had such hard time saying no to his sister. No wonder she was always spoiled by her family.
" I can not promise you that it will be very pleasant considering my career is going down the hill ," I gave in , she had helped me to stay away from Liam after all ," And you will be introduced as just as apprentice. If my artist tells you to bring water , you do it . You do whatever they ask of you . I am not helping you with anything. If they don't let you touch my face -"
" I won't nag about it ," she gave a violent nod .
" There is no promise on how long it will take before you can actually do my makeup ," I told her ," I can not suddenly appoint you as my new makeup artist that will be betrayal to my old collogues."
" Yes ," she was disheartened a little but came to the conclusion," Atleast I can start somewhere like this ."
" And I am not responsible for your absence in school . You have to deal with it by yourself," I told her ," If you want to continue working , you will need a degree in makeup later ."
" That , I understand,"she was too much excited about it to see the hardships that were coming ," Once I can prove to my mother that I can endure staying in this industry, she will definitely support me ."
There was no scale of endurance in the industry. Infact , it would try to test you for long enough to actually break you down suddenly.
No wonder the chairwoman was so against it .
Well , I was assuming that once she actually started to work on the set , she would realise how comforting her mother's nest was and ran back home .
I never expected her to stick for long enough , anyway .
Still , Jewel started taking care of me whole heartedly . From morning to night, she was right by my side , talking with the nurses , helping with my physiotherapy. Even at dead of the night , I would wake up and find her in a sleeping bag , right by my bed . It made me wonder if there was some invisible glue making her stick so close to me .
Her sincerity made me feel bad about her. It might have been her plan all along ,to make me be on her debt like this .And it was working .
So I had to call Myra , leader for my makeup team , also my hairstylist , if they could allow a kid to watch them do their work and learn . They gladly accepted the free labour .
The agency never bothered with our makeup team . They were always working overtime with payment for half of their work . They would accept any hands they could get .
I knew that my long vacation was coming to end . And everything made me more anxious.
And Liam ....I stopped seeing him around the house . Suddenly he was again busy with work . I knew all along that he was trying to avoid the confrontation .
And when the dealine arrived , he never came home .
That was his answer , I realised, he would rather end the marriage than give me an explanation.
Maybe there was nothing else to explain anyway . He took the initiative to date a rising hot actress - rather than dealing with his boring wife.
I did not feel like crying this time . Although my whole body ached for the attention he had given me for the past few months. I was angry at myself realising how awfully accustomed I had become to his presence.
A part of me wanted to call him and beg . Maybe if I just acted like I did not notice his mistress , maybe then , he would stay with me .
I still clung desparately onto my last piece of dignity as a human . When most of it was stolen by my father ,I could not let the rest be stolen by my husband.
I could deal with the heartbreak. I could curl myself into the ball and tell myself that I had been alone all along anyway .
He was never going to be mine .
I called my brother that day, to tell him to look for an apartment.
I did not know how much fine it would cost me from the agency for my long leave of absence. If I could buy a place to stay under my brother's name , then maybe in the future I could stay there .
One afternoon, Jasper came to pick me up just few days before my work started . I took some essentials , since most of the items here were bought by Andersons.
I did not need the nurses much . I could walk around a little now .
I could try to pay for one to stay with me , but I needed to save money from now on .
Strangely Jewel was the one who tried to stop me from leaving.
" Does Liam know you are moving out ?," she seemed anxious ," You are not totally healthy yet ."
" Yes he does," well , I did mention him that ...if he failed to give me a proper reason , I would move out .
And the deal had ended more than a month ago . I was long past my place to stay .
" But you can't still walk properly."
" I can use a crutch," I almost smiled ,"'Do not worry , I will message you within this week for the work."
" So you think that I am worrying just cause you offered me a job ?," she looked like she was insulted.
Oh well , it would not be long for me to stop seeing her after I would leave the Anderson family . Did it really matter now what she thought of me ?
" It was a transaction, wasn't it ?," I reminded her and walked out with my brother .
I prayed that I could brace the storm that was waiting for me after leaving the Anderson family.