Rise To Stardom: My Villainess

[ November 7, 2019; Thursday ]

Two days have passed, and yet the interaction between Alessio and Ember remains as stiff as ever. Was there even an interaction from the start when the couple didn't bother with each other? For two days straight, they straight-forwardly ignore each other's existence despite them being engaged and all. The same would have happened today if not for the quick thinking of their parents.

Currently, the two were hibernating by themselves in the hotel residence they were staying in. It's a waste of a trip, isn't it? The beautiful beach was just before their residence, but they haven't done anything to take the time to admire its beauty. Instead, our beautiful Ember is occupied with scrolling through her newsfeed on her phone while Alessio himself is focused on reviewing his work-related doc.u.ments. They won't remain in those positions for too long as a loud knock is finally heard on their door.

Hearing the sounds of pounding on the door, Ember is the first one to acknowledge the noise. The amber-haired beauty slowly looks up from her phone as she turns to Alessio, who looks at her a few seconds later. Staring at each other with curiosity in their eyes, the two snap out of their staring contest when a three refined knock ensues again.

Ember isn't clearly going to ask Alessio to open the door as they are not in good terms to ask him a favor. She is not that lazy herself, so she decides to take action in opening the door. While she is in the midst of putting on her flats, however, Alessio unexpectedly stands up and opens the door himself. She frowns, but she doesn't say anything as she instead quietly trails after him to see the intruder for herself.

Upon opening the door, they are instantly welcomed by the sight of a smartly-dressed man who seems to be in his early forties. Alessio and Ember are rather confused to see a stranger; but when the person suddenly bows and declares that he works under their parents, the engaged couple can only assume that something not good is about to happen.

"Forgive me for barging in, but we would like to inform you that boat is made ready for you two. It is currently waiting for you at the docks, Mr. Xu and Ms. Wang," the intruder politely informs.

The two are left astounded with the sudden news, clueless even. Alessio and Ember instantly glance at each other, simultaneously wondering if the other happens to know about the information. When they see that they feel the same way, Alessio turns to the man and questions, "Boat? What for?" Ember curiously looks at the man, who politely stands with his hands neatly placed on the side.

The man smiles as if he has been trained to smile all his life before replying in a professional tone, "Upon receiving the news that you have been staying here for quite a while now, the Wang and the Xu family have decided to send out their private yacht with the intention of having you two enjoy a whole day of island hopping."

Hearing that, Alessio can only run a hand across his smooth black hair, almost revealing a hit of frustration in his expression. Ember takes note of that, immediately biting back the scowl that is wanting to slip out of her face. Instead of that, she innocently gives out a soft "oh" before faking out an apologetic smile as if she didn't mean to trouble the guy and her parents in their situation.

"My Xio-ge wasn't feeling well a few days ago, so we didn't decide to go out for a while. We didn't mean to trouble our parents." Ember pretends to not notice those jade eyes intently staring at her. "But he's fine now as you can see. Well, we're just about to head out; but I guess taking a cruise is also fine. I mean, I would love to spend time with Alessio while enjoying the beautiful scenery." The corners of her lips twitch as she sneaks a little glimpse at Alessio. He looks a little annoyed, which, in return, makes her smirk. But hey, as much as she doesn't want to be with him too; they still have to keep up this facade, right?

"I see. It's good that you're both doing well. Let me excuse myself then. I'll be in the lobby if you are done with the preparation. If you need any assistance, you may just phone the receptionist." The man then nods, still smiling, then politely excuses himself as he spares the couple some time to prepare themselves. Ember and Alessio watch him retreat, walking through the hallways in a very poised manner.

As soon as the door shut, the couple looked at each other with frowns on their faces. Knowing that they have been found out by their parents of the fact that they have chosen to seclude themselves inside their room instead of fully enjoying their Bora Bora trip, the two people couldn't do anything but sigh. They should have realized before that their parents— especially their mothers— are always schemeful when it comes to their relationship.

Turning their gazes away from each other, Ember and Alessio then begin to prepare their things as they go back to ignoring each other's presence.

_____________________________

As the time continues to move at its own pace, it is already four in the afternoon when the two are finally roaming around their very last island. Their hands are wrapped together as they romantically take a stroll along the shoreline. Eyes are all centered on them as they walk around the area, hand in hand.

Ember's fashion taste once again doesn't fail as she shows off her beach attire. Her flaming red beach dress calmly flows in the air, trailing after her every step she takes with Alessio. A white floppy hat comfortably rests on top of her head, meant to shield her unblemished skin away from the sunlight. Alessio is wearing casual clothing. Despite the plain white shirt and blackboard shorts though, he's still able to attract attention with his looks.

Ember sends a tiny sweet smile now and then to Alessio while her annoying fiancé would once in every hour. Behind those sweet gestures are the exhaustion and dedication in maintaining this facade. They have been keeping this act for several hours now. Not even when they are alone, they dared to show their vexation with each other. There's just a high possibility that they are being secretly observed, and it will really really be misfortunate if they are caught red-handed by any stranger, especially by the people who serve their families.

Photos of them together are suddenly requested by people; for their support, Ember kindly gives them what they want. For a romantic pose with her fiancé, she suddenly leans her head on Alessio's broad shoulder while she squeezes out a bright smile. The black-haired man is taken aback by her sudden action, instinctively stiffening by the intimacy. Ember takes note of that but doesn't express any emotions in regards to that. She could only hope that he isn't showing a disgusted expression to the public. Luckily for her, her fiancé's reaction is not what she assumed to be. People who are able to witness it can only coo at the sight of his fl.u.s.tered face. "Oh, my! You guys are really a cute couple!"

Ember's smile slightly twitches as she struggles to maintain the facade. A few minutes later, she eventually distances herself away from the businessman. Turning to him, she is unfortunately not able to capture the image of him blushing. By the time that she looked, Alessio had already composed himself, only granting her that emotionless look when she averted her gaze to him.

At the sight of the beautiful indifference, she mentally rolls her eyes. She then suddenly feels annoyed by his presence. But since they're still in the public's view, she cannot show her vexation; so she just smiles and smiles, letting the cameras capture photos of them lovingly staring at each other. Breaking their eye contact, Ember soon concludes that enough photos of them have been taken.

Fortunately for both of them, even real couples don't have to hold hands nor stick together for forever, they eventually decide to take a break from physical contact.

Alessio heads over somewhere while she calmly takes a stroll. She walked quite a while before taking a seat on the white sand. There's still pretty much more than thirty minutes to waste before they can finally head back to the yacht. She happily takes that opportunity to spend some time with herself, contentedly enjoying the peace and solitude.

She closes her eyes. Letting her beautiful face feel the wind sweep through her, she sighs. The area where she is currently in has no people around; so she doesn't really have any worries being in danger until a few minutes drift by. Her aureus eyes are too focused on the sea to even notice a few foreigners coming towards her with smirks all over their faces.

She soon feels a hand rests on her shoulder; Ember turns to look at the newcomers. Pretty, the brown-haired man instantly thinks upon seeing the beautiful face of the lady. The stranger is dazed by her beauty for a moment until his friend snaps him out of his reverie by literally shaking him.

He awkwardly chuckles, shooting his friend a glare, before trying to charm the woman with his smile. "Hey, what is a pretty lady like you doing here all alone? he kindly asks; his English is laced in a thick, indistinguishable accent. "Don't you feel lonely? Don't you have anyone with you?" He tries to act friendly towards her while cautiously looking around them, scanning for any of this girl's acquaintances but sees no one.

' Bingo.'

Ember doesn't reply to his questions as she only gives them a deadpan look, but they don't really need her answer. Ignoring her cold shoulder response, the guy turns to his friends. His two friends simply nod as an encouragement to go on, making the brown-haired foreigner reverts his attention to the lady, kindly smiling. "Hey, why don't you come with us? Maybe you can use our company," he says. His invitation was said in a very straight-forward manner; she has a gut feeling that these men are a big red flag.

The trio must have been living under the rock as they don't recognize the identity of the woman who they are currently preying on. Ember doesn't let them faze her, however, as she maintains her calm. She offers them a smile, which immediately stuns all those three men and gives them hope for her company. Their hopes though are instantly shattered when she says a cold "no." The foreigners gape at her as the smile that had them bewitched them earlier slowly starts to get under their skin.

"Oh come on. Don't be shy. We don't bite." The other man grits his teeth as he forces a smile on his face. A hand is placed on her arm as he starts to drag the lady with them.

Ember is surprised by his sudden action as she struggles to escape from the predator. "I said no! Are you guys deaf?" she angrily exclaims as she tries to ward these foreigners off her. Her constant attempts of rejection don't help as one gets a bit braver than the others; the man suddenly lifts her body and presses her close to his c.h.e.s.t.

The foreigner's chuckles at her futile kicks and hits as he offers her a c.o.c.ky smirk. "Don't be scared. I promise you that you'll have a good time." They are already on the water as his other buddies follow behind them; victorious expressions all over their faces. They seem happy with being able to harass her. Ember isn't happy with the situation herself, nor she is scared. She is just mad.

And since she's super mad, she won't be that merciful anymore. Without even having any hesitation, she knees onto his queen's jewel so forcefully that it makes the poor man scream in pain. He unconsciously drops her body as he stumbles a bit backward from the sudden attack. Ember automatically falls on the water while her b.u.t.t instantly hits the soft sand.

Fortunately, they haven't carried her far away from the land as they are not in the deeper part of the sea. The transparent waters are only reaching up to her c.h.e.s.t as she takes a seat. She laughs under her breath as they gape at her with horrors in their eyes, not expecting her cruel revenge.

"You— you'll pay for that!" he stutters; rage in his eyes, as he clutches onto his manhood. He turns to his friends for help, and they seem to have a silent understanding of what they are going to do with her cruel self. Ember blinks her aureus eyes, having enough with their antics. Standing up, she has a smirk tugging her pink lips. "It was your mistake to disturb me anyways; should I crush that even further?" she asks, almost challenging those boys. There is no fear in her eyes while she stares at them.

"You—!" Anger darkens his vision as he seeks to avenge his crushed ego. He stands up, angrily coming towards the beauty. Ember of course senses his wrath and prepares herself for self-defense. While the foreigner, however, is about to raise his hand and smack that pretty mouth of hers, someone unexpectedly grabs his wrist before he can further do his damage. His brown eyes widen upon seeing cold jade eyes glaring back at his. In a blink of an eye, his body is mercilessly thrown away just like a doll.

"Who— who the hell are you?!" A friend angrily exclaims at the sudden appearance of a stranger. He even struggles to scare the man by pushing the black-haired man on his c.h.e.s.t. His attempts are futile as it is the other way around. The glare of his jade eyes is enough to cause a shiver down his spine, resulting in him being the one who unconsciously takes a step back from the man.

"Leave."

The air suddenly seems chilly as the murderous intent warding off the newcomer seems to almost overcome their presence. Despite this, the foreigners are, however, too stubborn to leave, making the ambiance turn more deadly by the second. "You're not going to leave?" he darkly mutters as he glowers at all of them, memorizing each of their faces for future purposes. "I'll call the cops then for all of you daring to harass my fiancée," Alessio angrily threatens while he suddenly takes his phone out to use.

From the newfound information, all those three foreigners experience shock in their souls and immediately flee for their life. They were not aware that the beauty was engaged; if they had known it from the start, then they wouldn't have chosen to disturb her. Well, f.u.c.k— that's what they can only say.

Meanwhile, Ember watches the scenario before her with an amused expression over her face. She had never thought that he would come to her rescue. The moment she was thrown to the waters; she spotted Alessio watching them from the shore. Well, she initially thought that he would simply watch and do nothing to help, but she didn't expect that he would actually march towards them.

Well, guess that he's still humane enough to help her. Not that she really needed his help though as she can handle them herself. She narrows her aureus eyes when Alessio's attention is suddenly on her. His dark green eyes overflow with anger as he reprimands her for her actions.

"You shouldn't be going around by yourself. What if something bad happened to you?!" he snaps at her; the concern is evident in his tone, but Ember is too frustrated by the accusation he just suddenly threw at her.

She grits her teeth as she glares back, not liking his words at all. "You don't need to scold me, okay! I am not a child anymore! I know what I'm doing, so just please mind your own business! I could have easily handled them without your help."

"Exactly! You're not a child anymore, but you're still acting like a child! I doubt that you'll be able to handle them if I wasn't there. There were three men, and they're obviously stronger than you! You might know self-defense, but three is not enough for one. What if they— What if they hurt you?!" Alessio screams at her, deeply breathing in and out, as he just couldn't keep the frustration and worry within him.

Ember looks at him, wide-eyed, then she looks away, pursing her lips in a straight line. Why in the world is he acting like this… as if he is truly worried for her? He hates her, right? Or maybe it's because he's worried that our parents will blame him if she ever gets hurt. Yes, right. That's it. Don't fall for his lies again.

She returns her gaze to him again while a taunting smirk tugs the corner of her lips. "Well, how would you know that I can't handle them? Have you seen me fight? Don't try to underestimate my ability, Xio-ge. You don't truly know me."

She then dryly chuckles to herself. "But you know what. There's really nothing to stress yourself about, Alessio-ge. If I did get hurt, I wouldn't inform your parents. So stop acting like you care because it's annoying."

Alessio is about to argue, but he stops himself. His jade eyes instantly fade the concern in its gaze as he looks away from her face. Arguing is useless; arguing with her will always be useless. He curls his hand, deeply sighing. "Just be careful next time," he murmurs in the most emotionless voice he can muster, returning his green eyes on her figure.

For a moment, they stare at each other until Alessio tears his gaze away. Suddenly, she finds him pulling his white shirt off. It startles Ember for her to see his fiancée suddenly half-n.a.k.e.d, and she gets even more startled when he gives her that shirt.

"Here. Wear it," he says, earnestly.

Ember looks down at her clothes and realizes that her u.n.d.e.r.g.a.r.m.e.n.t can be seen through her wet long dress. "Well, didn't I say to save your care." She dryly laughs, still taking his shirt, as she intently stares at this bastard with her cold golden eyes while she puts on his shirt over her dress, never realizing that Alessio's attention is on her necklace that can be seen through her wet see-through dress for a moment. The beautifully crafted diamond ring is glinting at the sunlight that strikes it…

He snaps out of his daze when she finally puts on his shirt over her figure. From the sight of her wearing his large shirt, Alessio feels something warm and fuzzy deep within his c.h.e.s.t. The anger that has been daring to consume him is instantly gone; his thoughts are thrown into a conflict state for a moment. "Let's go. They must be waiting for us now," he quietly says as he shakes his head to himself.

Before long, they are finally walking back to their private yacht. A silent and tranquil atmosphere envelope between the two despite the argument that has happened earlier. As they sit, side by side, on the boat while they let themselves enjoy the view of the sun sinking its light from the horizon, everything seems in peace as they deeply wished for.

Ember looks at the beautiful scenery; her expression seems to be deep in thoughts. On the other hand. Alessio can't help but look at her. He isn't half-n.a.k.e.d anymore as he is already given a spare shirt. Despite this, his c.h.e.s.t is still bursting with a familiar sensation, but he has no idea why it's so familiar… It was a feeling of something— something that he doesn't want to remember. While the warm atmosphere lingers, Alessio's phone suddenly disrupts the calmness with its ringing.

As if the magic is suddenly worn off, Alessio stands up from his seat as he calmly walks to the edge of the boat, resting his hands on the railing. Ember snaps out of her thoughts as she looks over at the man who is talking with someone. The gentle expression over his face does not go unnoticed; Ember���s calm expression disappears without a trace as a cold smirk replaces it in the process.