Half past six in the Morning.
Katy's mother slightly pushed open the door to Katy's room and saw Katy and Samantha in deep sleep.
A lovable and amused smile formed on her face as she silently closed the door and left the house for a morning walk.
It was only when the sun had long risen and the small hand of the wall clock was pointing at nine that Katy was woken up by the subtle vibrations of her phone.
She reached for her phone in her drowsy state and accepted the call.
"Hello?" She asked as she placed the phone near her ears, and a yawn escaped her mouth.
"Katy? It's me, Victor. Where are you? The reporting time is nine fifteen in the morning, and it's already nine. Hurry up, or the staff won't be very happy about it," Victor's concerned voice came from the other side of the phone.
The drowsiness in Katy's eyes disappeared the very next moment as she glanced at her phone's screen for confirmation, and she couldn't help but feel irritated as she had accidentally attended this call.
"Hello Katy? You there?" Victor asked from the other side.
"Yes, regarding my absence today, it's alright, I've already informed the agency about it via email, so you don't need to worry about it," Katy replied the next moment.
A frown formed on Victor's face because, from his understanding, Katy was a diligent individual who wouldn't even dare to miss a class in school.
'She must be in a difficulty then…If she reveals something vulnerable to me now, then won't I be able to exploit her with that in the future?' A smirk appeared on Victor's face as this thought entered his mind.
"Ah, is there something you're busy with? If it's difficult, do tell me as I'll do my best to help you," Victor feigned a concerned voice and spoke.
"There's no need for you to worry about me. I can take care of my problems. If there's nothing else, I'll be hanging up now since I'm busy," Katy replied bluntly and turned down the call.
"Katy, how can I not be worrie-" Before Victor could finish off his words, the call was ended, and his face became scrunched.
"Playing hard to get again, aren't you…" He muttered under his breath and narrowed his eyes in anger.
"Victor, are you alright?" Gwen, who was observing Victor from not far away, noticed Victor's irritated mood came up to him and asked with concern.
"Yes, it was just the usual spam calls. They get on my nerves sometimes," Victor laughed it off and put aside his phone.
"I know, right? They sure are irritating as hell," Gwen readily accepted his excuse and used that to start a conversation with Victor in a delightful mood.
A few minutes later, a staff member appeared before the nine of them in the waiting hall and briefed them about their day.
"All nine of you are on time, great. Let's start with your briefing, then." The staff member was about to begin, but Gwen all of a sudden raised her hand and asked when she was given permission.
"Um, excuse me, but there's still one of us that hasn't come, Gwen Perkinson. I think she might have been a little late because of some personal reasons, so can't we wait for another few minutes?" Gwen asked with a worried look.
However, on the inside, she was gleefully waiting for the staff member to become irritated and lash that irritation out on Katy when she appeared in the hall. Too bad, her expectations were quashed by the staff member's next words.
"Oh, you need not concern yourself with her. She willingly dropped out of this New Actors Training Program and is no longer a part of Terence." When the staff member finished his words, a snort escaped his nose as he needed to do some extra last-minute changes, all because of Katy.
"I see…" Gwen answered with disbelief as she sat back down in her seat.
The staff ignored her reaction and began briefing everyone about Terence Entertainment Agency and what is expected from the nine of them as new members of this agency.
"She's not picking up my call. I wonder why she left the program all of a sudden. Did she get an invitation from an even better agency?" Victor, who was sitting beside Gwen, lightly muttered with a voice just enough to reach Gwen's ears.
"Let me try, I have some contacts who are close to Katy's friend, Samantha. They must have an idea as to what is going on," Gwen said and started messaging those contacts in an attempt to not only satisfy her curiosity but also to impress Victor.
Victor glanced at Gwen's action in a satisfied manner and focused on the briefing.
Meanwhile, Katy was in the bathroom and was freshening up. After a long, relaxing bath, she came out of the bathroom only to see Samantha chatting on the phone with one of their classmates.
"Yes, I'm going to apply for Gior Entertainment Agency. Tough? Yes, but I have Katy with me and she's of great help to me..."
Katy just gave her a cursory glance and sat in front of the dressing mirror to arrange her hair. Samantha soon got off the call and said, "It's weird. Why is she suddenly so curious about me in the morning?"
"Who was it?" Katy asked curiously.
"Jessica, my desk mate," Samantha said while placing her phone away, took a pouch out of her bag and went to the washroom to freshen up as well.
Katy didn't think much about it, and after getting ready, went to the kitchen to help her mother out.
….
After the briefing was over, when Gwen read the texts sent to her by Jessica, a deep frown appeared on her eyebrows, which was followed by an amused and satisfied expression.
"Good riddance," She muttered under her breath and looked for Victor.
She soon caught sight of his figure near the water dispenser and approached him, "Victor, my friend just informed me about Katy, and now I know why she left."
"So soon?" Victor was pleasantly surprised by the good news as an involuntary thought appeared in his mind, 'She's more useful than I thought.'
"Hehe, I got a lot of contacts, so it wasn't a big deal at all," Gwen felt satisfied seeing Victor's expression and continued, "It seems that Katy turned down Terence to give the entrance test for Gior. The new agency that has just become trending in online forums,"
"Gior?" Victor had not heard about this agency at all and couldn't help but ask.
"Yes, it's just a small agency that started a month ago. It became trending in the online forums because of its unusually tough entrance exam.
To be honest, it's very stupid of Katy to turn down Terence for such a lowly agency…but if I have to guess, then the reason must be her poor financial condition...did you know that apparently her mother had given their house on mortgage to pay up for Katy's tuition fees.
She must have thought that joining a small agency would ensure that she could get to act early. How immature,"
Being privy to a lot of information about Katy, Gwen was able to easily make her own theory and couldn't help but tell Victor about it in a mocking tone.
'So, she's of no use to me anymore, huh? Well, that's disappointing.' Victor's expression couldn't help but fall at this realisation.
Seeing this, Gwen mistook it for anger and soon realised that she had lost self-control and immediately apologised to Victor, "I'm sorry, Victor, I didn't mean to mock Katy…I was just-"
"It's alright, Gwen," Understanding her concern, Victor just waved his hand and said, "Thank you for your help. How about I treat you to a coffee in the evening as thanks?"
"Sure! I would love that," Gwen replied enthusiastically and soon left to accompany her other friends.
'How's that, Katy? The man who had his sights upon you until yesterday is asking me for a coffee?' Gwen thought smugly to herself with a proud expression on her face as she engaged in a conversation with her friends.
Meanwhile, Victor's lips subtly curled as he glanced at Gwen's vulnerable figure from a distance.
'Now that I look at her, she can be an even better pawn than Katy. She even looks much easier to control than her.' With this thought in his mind, Victor gulped down water from the plastic cup in his hand.
Gwen had no idea that her earlier actions had captured a snake's attention as she giggled with her friends while anticipating in her mind about the lovely coffee date she was going to have with Victor in the evening.