Episode 2: The CNN Entertainment

Francheskha failed...again.

But what happened to her yesterday won't stop her from pursuing her dreams.

Just like the other past days, Francheskha's day was ruined again. And even more, yesterday was the worst day for her.

"Why did I have to cross paths with that jerk!?" Francheskha cursed in her mind.

Francheskha did not even have the chance to introduce herself properly. She was humiliated because of her image, a young lady who has nothing but herself and that small room she stays in.

Zienso Company was her second to last choice to apply for a job.

Francheskha's dream is to work at CNN entertainment, where many famous artists, models, and endorsers work.

-- 7:30 a.m, Saturday --

Francheskha wanted to start her day with a slurp of soup. She went to a mini restaurant, joined the line, and waited for her turn to order.

As soon as she got her order, she looked for a place to sit.

Francheskha was savoring the soup while looking at the view in front of her through the glass wall. She was enjoying her soup when something flashed in her mind.

She was thinking...

"What if they reject me again because I'm not from a wealthy family? That I'm just a nobody, needing money to survive?"

She felt nervous. Afraid of rejection, once again.

Francheskha didn't want to fail anymore. She wants to achieve CNN entertainment, no matter what it takes.

Until an idea came to her mind.

Francheskha put her resumé down the table. She smiled, finished her soup, and left.

-- At CNN entertainment --

Francheskha gathered all her strength and did not hesitate to enter the building.

Standing straight, walking elegantly with her hair swaying, she marched inside the building and asked for assistance.

"How can I help you, Ma'am?"

Francheskha cleared her throat and flipped her hair.

"Ahem. Is the interview for the applicants..."

"Oh, yeah. It's not finished yet. May I please ask for your name?"

"Actually, I can wait for the last applicant. Can you tell me the name of the last applicant?"

"Sure, Ma'am. It's, Francheskha Ruquiel."

Hearing her own name, she hesitated to continue with her plan. But, her dream is what matters the most. And she'll never do anything to fail!

"Sure. Please call me once the last applicant is done."

She waited for almost two hours until the interview was done.

"Miss Ruquiel?" The assistant keeps looking for her. But she didn't respond and was just sitting there, looking at her wristwatch.

"Miss Ruquiel, it's your turn. Are you still here?"

And it was silent. No Francheskha answered.

The assistant came to Francheskha and showed her the way to the room.

Soon as she entered the room, the judges were mesmerized by her appearance. Flawless, confident, glowing.

"Please. Have a seat." The judges were on their feet, staring at her with their large, sparkling eyes.

Francheskha chuckled and bowed politely. She sat in front of them, with only her sling bag above her lap.

"May I please look into your resumé?"

Francheskha gasped for air and pretended like she was shocked.

"Actually, left it at the restaurant when I had my breakfast. Should I go back and get it?"

"Oh. No, no. It's fine. Please, make yourself comfortable."

And then, the questioning began.

"May I ask, what's your name?"

Francheskha clipped her hair through her ears and smiled a little.

"I'm Arabella Keller. Ara, for short." She answered softly.

"Are you from a wealthy--"

"Wealthy family? Of course. Why would I bravely apply here if I'm just a nobody?"

The judges laughed awkwardly, lowering their heads as they looked at each other.

*phone ringing*

"Please excuse me. I have to answer this." One of the judges stood up and left the room.

After some minutes, he was back inside the room.

"May I ask, do you know how to do makeup?" He asked Francheskha.

Francheskha didn't expect such a question from them. But, she laughed and nodded.

"Of course. I'm willing to do whatever work you give me, as long as I'm an employee here at CNN." She answered, running her fingers through her hair.

All of them stood up and bowed to her politely.

"We'll call you back soon, Miss Keller. We're looking forward to working with you."

"Likewise."

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Earlier at the restaurant. While Francheska's feeding herself with the soup, she thought of a grievous way to assure that CNN could never turn her down.

"Right. It's the image the company's after. I can't continue with this life. Not anymore. All I can do is change my identity."

Francheskha discarded her resumé and intentionally left it at the restaurant.

After all those years of misery and pain, she felt the tiredness and sickness of the life she's living ever since her family left her. And now, she craves some changes.

Her plan really is grievous to go with. But to her, if everything she does to improve her life makes her the villain, then she'll willingly hold a gun and change her life.

She was afraid of the consequences. But she thought that the aftermath comes only in the end. She hasn't even started yet, so she has nothing to be afraid of.

She grabbed her phone and listed everything that she included in her new identity.

Name: Arabella Keller

Age: 20 years old

- College Graduate, Bachelor's Degree

- Daughter of a business owner couple

- A young lady that came from a wealthy family

And then, she was ready to leave. She ran towards the door, but when she was about to open the door, a tall and handsome guy opened the door from outside. He was wearing a plain white shirt and black pants.

He keeps staring at Francheskha until she leaves, and can't be seen.

Of course, he ordered some food and looked for a seat.

While he was looking for a seat, he saw the resumé of Francheskha.

He was about to call the waitress to remove the papers from the table. But he started to become curious about what was written in the document.

He looked into it and saw Francheskha's face.

"She was the girl from earlier." He said in his mind.

"Francheskha Ruquiel? Applying at CNN?" he said while reading the resumé thoroughly.

"What is that?"

He suddenly looked behind him and saw his manager, holding the tray of foods he ordered.

"It's a resumé." He answered.

"Caleb, give me that and just eat this. We have so many things to do today.", Alexander said, showing no interest in the resumé.

"Alright.", Caleb answered and gave the resumé to Alexander, his manager.

Caleb Warren, a young guy with lots of dreams. He is a soon to become soloist artist on CNN. He's not well-known by the public yet, and he can still roam around, not worrying about any paparazzi.

His parents own a business.

They make different clothes with their own hands.

Caleb has two gorgeous sisters. Both are high school students.

Ever since he was young, he always dreamt of becoming someone known by the public, loved by the netizens, the topic of the journalists. An artist with a gleaming and great image.

He worked hard. He learned how to dance, practiced singing, and studied the music for his dream.

And then, there he was! Signing a contract under CNN entertainment. He's one step closer to his dreams. And nothing should go wrong.

It's already been two weeks since he became an artist under CNN, but no activities were listed under his name.

But, his manager is capable of everything. In fact, they will go to CNN entertainment today to talk about Caleb's activities and events.

Caleb was all ready for his debut. All they need to do is talk to the producing team and get confirmation from CNN.

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-- at Caleb's studio room --

Caleb was preparing himself to propose what he readied to CNN. But, he's bothered by something which causes him to lose focus.

"Hey, Caleb. Is everything alright?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Of course. I'm just...a little nervous." He answered.

"Alex, can you...call the judges that are doing the interview for the new applicants?" Caleb added.

"Why?" Alex confusedly answered, grabbing his phone from his bag.

"I want to hire someone there as my private makeup artist."

"Who?" Alex was already calling Tomas, one of the judges.

"Tell them... it's Francheskha Ruquiel."

Alex looked into Caleb, worried. He knew that Caleb was interested in that lady he saw in the restaurant. Alex saw the resumé as well. And he knew that it was Francheskha's resumé.

Alex didn't answer but still called Tomas.

He went out of the studio and talked to Tomas through the phone.

"Hello, Tomas?"

"What is it? I'm still at work!"

"Caleb wants to hire a private makeup artist. He wants Francheskha Ruquiel."

"And? What does that have to do with me?"

"But, I think that girl will only be a distraction to Caleb from his career. Can you just hire the applicant that you're currently interviewing? I have a bad feeling about that Francheskha."

"Fine. I'll ask the applicant. I'll get back to you later."

Manager Alex has no idea that Francheskha was the last applicant they have. And what's more, she's the applicant that the judges are currently talking to.

After the call, Alex went back inside, hiding his worried face.

"Have you informed them? About that girl, Francheskha?" Caleb was waiting for him inside, excited to hear his response.

"Yeah, but Tomas told me that she didn't show up. I asked him to hire anyone from the new applicants." Alex answered.

He saw Caleb's face, disappointed.

"Hey, Caleb. I got your back. Let's go?"

Caleb nodded and went out with Alex.

When they got off the escalator, he saw a lady that's about to go down the escalator.

He stared into her. Alex was bothered completely by Caleb's strange actions. He, too, looked at the lady that Caleb kept staring at.

Alex recognized her...

It's Francheskha!

He tried to calm and hold back his emotions. He sighed heavily and rubbed his chin.

"What do you need from her?"

"Nothing.", Caleb answered and smiled strangely.

Caleb knew that it was Francheskha, the lady from the restaurant.

"I've run into her many times already today. I'm pretty sure she has a role to play in me. She has something to do with me in the next few days."

Caleb felt like he and Francheskha had something to do with each other. He was really desperate to take a step closer to Francheskha.

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-- at Zienso Company --

Tristan asked Secretary Shem yesterday to gather all the information about Francheskha.

Secretary Shem was already done with his work. He rushed to Tristan's office to give him the information he gathered.

"Mister Zienso, I have already gathered her information. I don't think we can ask her to sign a contract with us."

Tristan put his pen down and stood up.

"What do you mean?"

"I think she applied for a job at CNN entertainment. And, from what I heard, CNN had already accepted her and gave her a job." Shem explained.

"Do you know what job they gave her?"

"She's a private makeup artist. One of the entertainment artists asked for her personally."

Tristan scoffed and smirked.

"We'll offer her something bigger than that. Something she can't turn down. How about the contract, are you done with it?"

Shem went closer to him and gave him the folder with the contract he prepared inside.

Tristan scanned the contract and told Shem to look for her.

It was a bit of a difficult task for Shem to look for Francheskha. He has no idea of her whereabouts right now. But he didn't want to disappoint his boss.

He went from here to there just to look for Francheskha.

He went to the mall, speculating that Francheskha's in there, enjoying her time.

He looked everywhere, but he didn't see any shadow of her.

While standing in front of the department store, he saw a familiar lady through the glass window.

Secretary Shem narrowed his eyes--trying to identify her.

"That's...Miss Ruquiel!" he joyfully said, pointing his finger to her. He rapidly ran and went inside the department store.

He felt so happy to stand behind the lady his boss wanted to look for. Indeed, he never disappoints Tristan.

He kept observing Francheskha while she was checking different clothes.

"Hi, Miss Ruquiel! Are you out for shopping?"

Francheskha turned around while holding the clothes she was planning to buy. She saw Secretary Shem standing in front of her, with his arms crossed, smiling at her.

She knitted her eyebrows and looked curiously at him.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"How about having a conversation with some drinks, Miss Ruquiel?"