Someone From The Past

"Hey, my bro messaged me just now. He has already reached the mall. How about I call him here?"

Anna pondered for a while. That person won't be any weirdo, right? As he helped Yujun before.

"Eh? Sure….."

"No, of course not."

Suddenly Kiera declared from behind Anna while holding the tray of the burgers and cola cans in her hand. When did she stand behind her? She didn't notice before.

"Why?" Yujun asked.

This is just like back then. Whenever Yujun tries to do something or ask Annabelle about something, Kiera would always interrupt them. Sometimes, she looked more like a mother than a manager of Annabelle to him. Come to think of it, why is this woman still with Anna? Though she told the whole media that her contract with Annabelle was over and for this reason, she stopped keeping any contact with her.

"What why? She was already struggling with that scandal a few days ago and now you are saying I would allow her to meet some journalist or something? A no can do. she left that shit three years ago, but still, the people are dragging her into that again and again. I won't allow it."

This is it. When Kiera declares something, that was something unavoidable. Both of them knew that very well. Also, she kinda made sense. But the fact was he already invited his friend to the cafeteria before asking Annabelle. He just wanted to show his friend that he is the friend of the former singer 'Annie' because once he told Yujun that he liked Annie's songs a long ago.

"Why don't you think about getting rid of her, Anna?" Yujun whispered to Anna.

Anna didn't say but returned him a pained look as if she was more than tired with Kiera's bossing around.

"Believe me, he will do no harm. He doesn't do anything when he is not in his work mood," this time Yujun turned back to Kiera to reassure her.

"And you want me to believe this shit?" Kiera squinted her eyes with disbelief.

"What's this suddenly about believing?"

Suddenly Anna heard someone say from behind her. The voice….it really sounded somewhat familiar to her. Where did she hear it?

As she was trying to remember the voice fumbling in her memory, that man from behind walked beside the sitting Yujun. As soon as his long figure caught her eyes, her whole body became numb. She couldn't believe her eyes anymore. She isn't having any dilution, right? How come he is here?

"Hey, Bro! You are already here?"

"You told me to come here, didn't you?"

As soon as, Kiera heard the friend of Yujun say that she gave a murderous look towards Yujun. Shit, he was exposed.

Kiera thought Annabelle would be busy hiding her face by now. But for some reason, she didn't even move an inch. It was as if someone did a spell on her.

"Anna? What is it?" Kiera touched her shoulder to get some response from Annabelle as she was still in a daze looking at the stranger weirdly. As if, someone has snatched her voice from her.

"Anna….?"

When the stranger heard Kiera, he turned back to look where the two of them were sitting with a little surprised look.

A long minute passed. Their eyes met, that stranger and Anna. Neither of them said anything. All of a sudden, Anna squeezed her eyes shut making the other two wonder at her sudden change of behavior. On the other hand, that friend of Yujun was staring at her as if he was trying to remember someone with this name.

"You… you are Annie, right?"

Anna jerked a little as if someone had poured a whole bucket of cold water upon her. But that was for a split second. She looked at his eyes straightly which was devoid of any hard emotions. Just like him, casual and cool.

"Yes, I am. No, actually I was," Annabelle's voice was quite loud and clear.

"I guess now I know what you guys were talking about. Hello, I am J. He. Nice to meet you," Mr. He said, extending his muscular hand towards Annabelle in a manner of shaking hands.

"Nice to meet you too," Anna replied.

Somehow, that expression of Anna looked kinda rigid to Kiera. What happened to her all of sudden? And why the hell was she exchanging greetings with a journalist out of nowhere?

"Bro, you just haveta' make them believe that you are not gonna do anything harmful to her. You won't do something like this, right?" Yujun asked all of a sudden.

Mr. He smiled a bit. Maybe he understood the reason why the atmosphere looked so tense a minute before. Actually, right now, the situation looks tenser than before.

"Yes, of course. As I don't have any intention to hurt my friend's friend," he replied politely.

Though Yujun was already pleased to hear that, Kiera somehow found him a little fake. Why does his smile look so fake?

"And also I only work on something which is worthy enough to invest time on," he added, making all people at the table dumbfounded except Anna. somehow, Anna was least interested in the whole thing. She was staring at the floor, focused, god knows why.

Kiera was a little bit annoyed by his remark. Yeah, it was true, J. He was one of the world's most acknowledged journalists and to meet him here like this was something very surprising. But she couldn't like him anymore as the way he is treating Anna right now is something unacceptable. It was right. You can't judge a person by only learning about his or her autobiography. The more successful one person's career is, the more character development they need.

"So, how do you think which one is unworthy here?" Kiera questioned him, giving a piercing gaze.

"Oh, don't feel offended. It's just that the rumor was baseless. It kinda looked like a fabricated picture to me. Wasn't it, Miss Annie?"

This time, finally, Anna lifted her gaze to look at him.

"Sorry to say that but it wasn't Mr. He. I am surprised that it missed your eyes. Whatever I do with my life is up to me. No one has any say to this."

Her voice sounded sharp and quick-witted, which surprised Kiera. She is accepting in front of a stranger that the rumor was true? Yujun was also quite shocked, as she denied the rumor being true a while ago in front of him. Which was the truth then? Sigh, this is confusing. He never took this much load inside his head at once before.

"So, you are accepting the rumor though you tried so hard to suppress it?" Mr. He sounded as if he was sneering keeping his straight face.

"Yeah, I did because I still didn't realize it then. But thanks for your reminder, I really think it doesn't matter. After all, I am not a figure who normal people want to idolize anymore. It was quite unfortunate that some people still can't accept me as I am. And yes, Mr. He, I would like you to call me Miss D'Costa instead. As you know more than anyone that I am no longer Annie."

"My apologies, Miss D'Costa. Pardon me."

Now, this time, Yujun really regretted inviting him. But he didn't imagine Anna giving an answer to him either. He didn't know what was happening anymore. He was too confused to get the real idea.

"Will you stop making things weird, dude? Why are you making these girls furious for no reason?" Yujun whispered to his friend, though it was in vain. He didn't pay any attention to him and sat down on the chair beside him.

Anna started eating her burger as if she didn't give a damn about the whole suffocating situation right now. Her facial expression looked all calm and composed. It was like the old times, whenever she was preparing to perform a live concert on the stage.

On the other hand, Kiera was not in a better position than Yujun either. It's been a long since she saw Annabelle this aggrieved. Who was this young man actually? He had a bit of a muscular body as a journalist. And his sharp tongue, it felt like he knew Annabelle. And not for a few days, probably he knew her for years. After all, he dared to act all cocky in front of Annabelle, a complete stranger, for no reason. He already knew that the picture was real. Then, why? Why did he anger her on purpose?

… … … …

Though Kiera planned to take Anna to some shops to buy some more clothes, she decided to close it off for the day. After their battle at the cafeteria, things didn't go the way Yujun expected and so asked to excuse them for today. He told Anna that he would contact her over the phone after some days so that they can hang out together again some other time. Anna didn't say anything. She just nodded.

She was still silent, sitting in the back seat of the car purposely, closing her eyes, she was taking a rest after a long day. It really was a long day, though it was not supposed to be as tiring as she is feeling now.

"Anna…?" Kiera called her out as she was driving the car. She was really curious right now. Curious about that man, curious about his rude behavior all along.

"Emm….?" she replied, still keeping her eyes closed.

"Who was he?"

"A journalist."

"That's not what I am asking," Kiera said, stepping on the break in the middle of a quiet alley.

Anna didn't reply this time. She was silent the whole moment. Her eyes were hurting and her mind was totally blank. She didn't know what to say to this actually.

Who was he?

Was he someone she knows?

Maybe she knew someone who matched his physique a long time ago. But it was sure, this man that she met today, was not the same person from her past. The person she came to knew back then was someone more gentle, more pious, someone, who always cared about others secretly.

Come to think of it, maybe he is the same person. He is the same person who helped good people. The one who has changed is Annabelle. She is no longer a good person. She is someone who people came to hate. Nothing more, nothing less. That's why, it was not necessary for him to treat her well like before, truly.