CALLED OUT

Ronan, as he promised earlier, called the actress the next morning. "Hi, friend."

"Hello." The actress replied in the calm tone she always spoke in.

"Are you alone?" Ronan asked, deepening his voice as if someone was eavesdropping on their conversation. He knew that the actress didn't like to share her private life and so he always asked this question before he spoke anything about her life.

Eirene looked at her surroundings. The filming was on a break for a scene change, and everyone was busy. Nobody was paying attention to her, but she still wasn't taking a risk. "Not exactly. Give me a moment." She asked and quietly walked out of the congested room to one of the places where she knew nobody came. "Now, I'm alone."

"When you came by the last time, I think Theia forgot her crayons here. It has her name written on it." Ronan said as he turned the pack of crayons to the bottom to see Eirene Queen's daughter, Theia Queen's handwriting with lots of hearts surrounding it.

"Oh, it was there. She has been looking for it ever since we got home. Thank you for finding it." The other thanked him.

"You're welcome, although I wasn't the one who found it. It was Shawn."

"Ahh. Then thank him for me."

"Sure thing." The owner of the garden agreed and chuckled lightly.

Sensing that the conversation wasn't going to end Eirene asked, "Is there something else you want to tell me?"

Ronan inhaled the flowery scents that surrounded him, "Mmm, let me ask myself if I should tell you."

While Ronan thought to himself, trying to get some reaction out of the actress, Eirene had a stone face. She didn't care about what Ronan was trying to do, and her mind was busy trying to erase someone off.

She had a dream, a nightmare, about him. It had been some time since that face resurfaced in her mind. Because of that, she couldn't get a wink of sleep after she woke up at three am at night until now.

Somehow, in the dream, his face wasn't the last time she saw them, but all were from the 'happy times' when all he was doing was fooling her and slowly but surely manipulating her.

Eirene...

Eirene...

His voice called out in her mind, making her shudder and boil anger from the depth of her body.

Eirene closed her eyes to calm her mind but that didn't help. His voice continued to call her out to the point that she wanted to shut them out and rip her mind and stitch her ears forever but before she put that into action, a different voice called her out.

"...Yes?" She finally answered Ronan.

"Ahh, thank God. I thought something happened to you." The older dramatically sighed and placed a hand over his heart.

Eirene shook her head slightly before answering, "Sorry. I was spaced out."

"That's okay." The man assured her. "So I decided to tell you. Do you want to hear it?" Even though they weren't on a video call, she could see the smirk on Ronan's smile as if they were talking in person.

"Go ahead."

"I think you know who Genie's family is," He paused to get an 'ng' from the other before he continued, "So the heir and his friends came to the garden yesterday and guess what."

"What?" She asked, not exactly interested. She knew the clothing brand, Wish and Dreams since she wore them a couple of times and was famous, but she didn't have an interest in them. Sure, she may have bought a piece or two, but that was it. If she remembered right, the son was a student at the White Sky university... the same university she first met the boy...

"There was boy who said the same thing as you. Isn't this a miracle?" Ronan rhetorically asked.

The picture of the boy flashed before her eyes. but she shook them away. Too much of a coincidence. "Maybe..."

Ronan sighed again as he handed the crayons to one of his workers and looked up into the clear sky without any clouds. "Apart from you and my wife, everyone thought that keeping the rose garden was a waste and opening it would definitely attract more people. Until that boy showed up. He knew how to appreciate nature, just like you. You used to say that the person who thinks the same way and feels the same way you do is someone you are looking for. What if the person you are looking for is him?"

Eirene chuckled. "You sound like my aunts. Are you trying to get me to meet someone that I know nothing of?"

"No pain, no gain."

"I say no gain, no pain. And I don't like pain." The actress's reply made Ronan laugh out loud

"Come on. I can feel and see that he is not a bad person."

Eirene's faint smile vanished from her face when she found people staring at her from behind one of the pillars. "No, thank you." Her joyous tone (to people who knew her, they could hear the difference between her normal tone and happy tone) was gone.

The people behind the pillars were usually the ones who snitched on paparazzi and earned spare money from it. Since she was ill-famous and her private life was always covered in a thick fog, paparazzi and newspapers were so eager to find out things about her which involved paying off the new members of the filming crew and newcomers into the entertainment world to find out more about her.

In the beginning, she tried to stop them or avoid them just to realise that it did nothing to the situation. There were tens of people always watching her and listening to every single word she spoke to try and find more faults in her.

"At least then, you can look him up on your own." Ronan, hearing the change in the other's tone, lowered his voice as well.

"You know-"

The man beat her to it. "I know you are not interested in celebrities. I know. But you always say that you want to find someone who has a similar opinion and similar view of looking at things. This is your chance, Eirene. At least try and get to know him, even by looking up his name."

Eirene knew how much her friend cared for her but she was still not sure of falling in love all over again. She already had first-hand experience in knowing and feeling how much one person could change another's life, both in good and bad ways. In her case, bad. Worse than bad. Far worse.

The actress checked the pillar from the corner of her eyes to find three people still there. "Is it even famous?" She used the term 'it' to avoid the snitches from digging deeper.

Apparently, Ronan understood without a problem. "He is."

Eirene lightly sighed before she said, "Fine. The name?"

"Ares Queen."

-----

"Huh!!" Ares gasped awake. He felt like somebody had called his name. But he immediately closed his eyes and groaned back into the blanket to get a shield from the powerful and bright morning sunlight.

But because his beddings were white, it did the direct opposite; letting the sunlight in, brighter.

Ares cuddled himself like a turtle, but the sleep he chaste away never came back again. Also the sun was merciless. Maybe that was the price he had to pay for choosing the white sheets and blankets.

When he realised that there was no way he could get back to sleep just like that, he courageously squinted his eyes open, and checked the time on the alarm clock as he he was looking directly into the sun.

The boy once again groaned and rolled when the clock showed that there were only three minutes before it rang, his normal waking up time.

He wiggled and sang sorrowfully in the blanket as if a broken radio until the clock finally rang and made it impossible for him to stay in the comfortable zone.

Ares grumpily got out of the bed and changed from his pyjamas, washed his face, brushed his teeth and walked out into the dining room just to find his usually gone mother, eating breakfast leisurely.

"Good morning." His mother, Nicole Queen, greeted her from the seat. Next to her sat her husband, Cristian Queen, busy guessing the beans in today's coffee.

"Why are you here?" The son confusedly asked as he took his seat at the rectangle dining table.

Ever since he resumed living his mother, he had never seen her wearing a pyjama. It didn't matter if it was at night or in the morning. She always wore something formal and expressed dominance, but today was different. Her clothes were a little more casual, and she was wearing a pale pink top, which he had never seen before.

Nicole didn't raise her head but raised only her sharp eyes from the newspaper she was reading and asked, "So I can't be here?" Her was were cold and showed a little annoyance.

"No!..." The boy shook his head and digged into the food Willow just served him. The mother didn't say anything and went back to reading the newspaper.

Cristian, finally noticing the presence of his son, smiled warmly, "Good morning."

Without looking at him, Nicole spoke. "I'm free today so I'll show up to the party tonight."

Cristian turned to his wife with a smile, although he knew she was still reading the newspaper. "Really? That would be great. Let's go and get a dress for you in the afternoon."

"Don't you guys have work to do?" The son asked while tilting his head. It was needless to say that his parents worked even on the weekends and always busy with work. This was the part of the reason he lived with his grandma during his young age.

Nicole told the boy, "It's public holiday." She then kept the newspaper aside to drink coffee as she removed her glasses and placed in on the papers.

'Why did you wake me up? Today's a holiday. You couldn't have chosen any other day?' Ares desperately asked the person who called him in his sleep in his mind.

After the boy was done, he asked his parents. "So what party are you going to?"

"WE are attending the ball held tonight at our hotel." The father circled his finger around the three people around the table.

Nicole then continued, "You also need to get a new tuxedo... I'm calling the shop." She placed the empty cup onto a plate and made her way to her room, leaving the duo of son and father alone.

"Pss..." As soon as his wife was gone, Cristian gestured for his son to scoot closer to him as if Nicole's ears were microphones and could catch anything.

"What is it?" Ares asked in a whisper but his father was only smiling.

When they were close enough the father murmured, "I heard that the actress, Eirene Queen, and her manager is also attending the ball."