Sherry's offer

Marcel quickly took a shower and unlike that morning, he was not too embarrassed with seeing his body below his waist. After the shower, he went back to the bedroom and put on his pyjamas before crawling into the bed. It was past 9 pm at the time and as he was falling asleep, he vaguely felt Liam crawl into his bed to sleep with him. He personally did not mind it so he did not bother the boy.

The following day he woke up at 9:30 am and he only woke up because Liam was persistent with him going for breakfast as the kitchen would stop serving at 10 am. Marcel changed out of his pyjamas and wore a pair of jeans with a hoodie vest and went to get his breakfast with Liam trailing along behind him.

He took two trays for himself and Liam and took everything that the servers were offering. He brightly smiled at Sara when he saw her and made some small talk before he showed her his younger brother.

Liam was surprised when he saw Marcel easily talked with Sara and on top of that, he kept calling her big sister even though she looked much older than him.

"Liam, this is big sister Sara, you should greet her when you see her okay?" Marcel said cheerfully making the other servers stunned. Sara couldn't help but smile at Liam since he was so adorable.

"Hello Big sister Sara," Liam said with a cute smile that made Sara's heart flutter. She could slightly tolerate it when an 18-year-old called her big sis, but a 7-year-old was a bit of a stretch.

"Call me auntie," Sara said and proceeded to add more vegetables on the trays that Marcel was holding. Liam nodded obediently and revealed a dimpled smile.

"Big sis, I'll come to see you a bit later," Marcel said with a charming smile and left while holding the two trays with Liam trailing behind him.

Sara watched the two retreating figures and without realising it she revealed a warm smile. She had never talked to Marcel before but from the interaction they had the previous night, it showed that he was a very charming person, even though he lived a majority of his life in such a depressing environment.

The pair of 'siblings' went to sit on an empty table and Marcel heartily ate his meal while he made sure Liam ate all his greens. When Marcel was done with breakfast he patiently waited for Liam to finish his food.

"I'll be going out today too since I'm looking for work," Marcel said as he stroked Liam's soft hair.

"Alright," Liam answered.

"Don't isolate yourself and play with your friends, what will you do when I leave?" Marcel said as he pinched his cheeks. Liam solemnly nodded and avoided Marcel's gaze.

"I'm going to freshen up before I leave, go play with your friends," Marcel said easily and left the table to go wash the dishes they used.

Liam watched him leave and couldn't help but think that there was something different with the way Marcel was behaving, but he could not pinpoint what exactly was different.

After Marcel returned the dishes to the kitchen he had a quick chat with Sara before he returned to his room and went to take a shower before he wore a white t-shirt and light blue jeans with a pair of sneakers.

He said goodbye to Liam before he left the orphanage and started to make his way to Paul's studio. By the time he arrived, it was already noon.

When he entered the photo studio it was as quiet as it was the previous day. He went to the front desk and surprised Milly all over again, As expected she was not too happy about being disturbed but she could not vent on the handsome Marcel that was happily smiling at her. She rolled her eyes from frustration and took Marcel to Paul's workroom.

"Big brother!" Marcel exclaimed when he saw Paul making Paul almost drop his camera lens that he was cleaning.

"Don't do that again" Paul said solemnly after he sighed.

"Mmmh, did you get any calls?" Marcel asked excitedly as he watched Paul meticulously clean the camera lens.

"I got a call from Ladder's and from Sherry's manager," Paul informed.

"What did they say?" Marcel asked.

"Sherry's manager wanted to offer you 150,000 dollars," Paul said calmly. When Marcel heard what he said he choked on his spit. After having a coughing fit, Marcel was able to compose himself once more.

"150,000?" Marcel asked incredulously.

"Yes, ladder's is offering an idol contract rather than a modelling one.

"Forget Ladders for now. I had explicitly told them that I was not interested in being a singer. Since they disregarded me I will reciprocate" Marcel said cheerfully making Paul wonder if he was talking to the same person.

"Can you help me contact Sherry?" Marcel asked. Contrary to his expectations Paul tossed his phone at him rather than try to call the manager himself.

Marcel saw that Paul saved the manager as Sherry's manager so he did not have a hard time looking for his name.

Marcel promptly called Sherry's manager and agreed to meet that day to discuss what exactly they wanted him to do during the filming of the music video and also receive a script for the video. After he finished with his conversation he saw that Paul was looking at him with a weird expression.

"What?" Marcel asked since he was getting more uncomfortable with Paul's gaze.

"I don't understand, why won't you consider the idol contract?" Paul asked.

"Well the amount of work that goes into the whole thing is ridiculous" Marcel answered like it was something obvious making Paul look at him strangely.

"If you want a more relaxed life I will have to burst your bubble now. All professions will require a lot of work. You being a singer is like a pie falling from the sky, you will be propelled into popularity almost immediately and with your looks, even if you sit and do nothing you'll still get fans. But you can't compare the fans you will get through modelling to those you will get if you become an idol." Paul said.

"Heh, I understand that, but being an idol is too much, I don't think I can deal with the constant pressure and the spotlight. I'd rather deal with the diets that I'll have to do when I'm a model" Marcel said with a smile

"Suit yourself," Paul said before he left in confusion.

"Wait, can I use your photos?" Paul asked Marcel as he stopped midway.

"Sure, but 250 dollars is too cheap," Marcel said.

"I'll owe you a favor," Paul said

"Three and it's a deal," Marcel said.

"Whatever" Paul agreed and continued walking away.