"Why isn't she picking up my phone?!" Victor cursed under his breath while standing beside a tree.
In his other hand was a golden trophy which he had just received for getting first rank in his year. However, that didn't bring him any joy as he dialled Katy's number once again on his phone.
"Victor, what are you doing here all by yourself?" Gwen called out Victor's name from behind and walked up to him.
"Oh, Gwen? Why aren't you inside? The buffet should be going on now," Victor put aside his phone and asked her with his signature smile.
"It's all too boring there, so I came out to catch some breath," Gwen said with a hint of expectation in her voice.
However, in reality, she had come out to teach Katy a lesson since she was unable to find her inside but seeing Victor nearby decided to approach him.
"True, it's much calmer here," Victor agreed and seeing that little expectation in Gwen, he asked what she had been waiting for, "How about we walk around to relax a little?"
"I'd love to do that," She replied with an enthralled look, and the two soon started walking next to each other while talking on random topics.
Victor glanced at Gwen from the corner of his eyes and, seeing her trying her best to contain her excitement, he couldn't help but think in disappointment, 'If only it were Katy beside me instead of you,'
The only reason he wanted to get close to Katy was to take advantage of her. Among the top ten rankers, although Katy was publicly ranked sixth but he knew what the reality was.
A lot of inner politics had taken place to push her rank down from the first rank to the sixth.
It won't be wrong to say that she was the most promising graduate this year. Initially, he had befriended her just for the sake of it and to look good among his peers for treating a woman of lowly status equally.
However, a week ago, he accidentally overheard a conversation between faculty and came to know about this inside job.
Realising that a girl like Katy was more talented than him, first a sense of anger and shame overwhelmed him, but what followed afterwards was a desire. A desire to get close to her and exploit her until she's at a point of ruin.
'So what if you're talented? I'll make sure you'll never be able to use it the fullest,' Victor thought along those lines.
While the two were roaming around the acting school's campus, Katy had already reached home.
In the taxi, she had called a nearby reputed hospital's number and made a booking for her mother's check up tomorrow morning.
When she was at the doorstep she saw that the door was locked. Her mother was at the shop right now, so Katy just reached for the keys under the door rug and entered the apartment.
After changing into a regular outfit, she soon left to help her mother out with the business.
Unlike Samantha, she wasn't worried about the entrance test Gior was going to take. The reason was simple. She had given the test in her previous life as well and got selected.
However, when she consulted Victor about whether to join Gior or not, he outrightly called her crazy and laughed at her along with others, which made her stick to her former agency.
'This time I'll be the only one making decisions for myself,' Katy reaffirmed in her mind while cycling her way towards their shop.
"Katy?! Why are you here so early?" Katy's mother asked in surprise when she saw her daughter arrive at the shop.
"Well, why would I attend that boring ceremony till the end? After I got my certificate, I spent some time with Samantha and then returned to help you out. You can't just do everything by yourself when I'm free, right?" Katy said while taking an apron from the side and tying it around her waist.
"Alright then," A doting smile formed on her mother's face as she accepted her daughter's help.
Katy then helped her mother out with the next set of customers and continued to do so until late evening before finally helping her close the shop.
At home, when they were having dinner after a long day, Katy brought up the topic of a medical checkup to her mother.
"Tomorrow? Isn't that too early?" Her mother asked while showing hesitation on her face.
"Mom, the sooner the better. Besides, I've already paid them money to book a slot, so the money would go to waste if you don't go tomorrow," Katy tried to further push her mother.
Hearing that the money would go to waste, Katy's mother no longer hesitated and nodded, "Alright then, I'll go for the checkup with you tomorrow."
Katy smiled, seeing things going the way she wanted. After helping her mother do the dishes, she left for her room.
It was time for some revisions and also to help out her friend.
She had a cursory idea of what questions would be asked in the entrance test and interview because of her memory.
She therefore first segregated all the PDFs of the reading material online and then sent them to Samantha with the following text.
Katy: Go through every one of them. Happy learning ^^
Samantha: So many (´⊙ω⊙`)!
Katy: I've already condensed it for you. Want me to send 500-page-long documents instead? 😊
Samantha: No! Thank you. I'll just go through these instead ಥ‿ಥ
Katy: Good girl.
Katy replied with a smirk and placed her phone on aeroplane mode before opening the study materials on it.
It was time for her to study and revise all those materials as well.
She glanced at the time. It was 9:45 PM.
"Enough time to study for a while," Katy muttered to herself and after stretching her arms high in the air, sat on her study table.
With her eyes fully focused on studying, she kept noting down important points on a piece of paper.
It was only at 2:00 AM that a yawn escaped her mouth, and she decided to call it a day. She leaned back on her seat and thought to herself with a smile.
'Today was the most fruitful day I've had after several years,' Katy smirked to herself and thought which solidified her desire to do what her heart wants in this lifetime.