WITH LUSTROUS, BLACK hair swirling around a well defined face and beige lips set in a pout, the model continued to sit unnerved at all the people worried around her.

A young girl hurried alongside Leyla as she replied to emails on her tablet, the stylus moving along her every move, tapping here and there. "Ms. Aydın, I would never disturb you but the set manager hasn't arrived yet and I don't know what to do, the model won't budge and is very..." The girl held herself back and looked into the editor's eyes with a distraught expression.

Leyla put a hand on the nervous girl's shoulder and nodded her head in understanding, her eyes sympathetic. "You're new right? It's okay, you'll get used to all of it. Now where is she?"

The girl, who introduced herself as Olivia, increased her pace slightly. Blonde curls bouncing around as she nervously twisted her hands.

Before entering, Olivia halted and faced Leyla, "Ms. Aydın... I don't have the set manager's contact information which is why I had to inform you because your name flashed first in my mind, now that I thought it over I could've told someone else and-"

Smiling gently again, Leyla reassured the frightened young girl, "Olivia, sweetie, it's okay. I don't mind, really. And about the set manager do you know their name? Because that you should be-"

Olivia swiftly interjected before falling silent again, "Mila Alvin."

Irritation finally began to seep into Leyla, of course it was Ms. Mila Alvin! This definitely wasn't the first or seventh time the woman had pulled this stunt.

"Mila, correct? She won't be coming in anymore. I'll send Janina Chiotti in ten minutes, max." Leyla pauses and turns to her, "Oh, and if Mila does arrive, tell her to see me without making any further comments," She ends as she slides her phone back into the pocket of her beige trousers.

Olivia looked up with a grateful smile at her senior, "What about Xenia?"

"Xenia, yes! I'll help you so be observant, alright. Next time you might not get lucky."

As Leyla was opening the door, she heard Olivia squeak to herself quietly, "There's worse?"

Shaking her head at the young girl's guilelessness, she put on a professional smile and entered the room. Almost instantaneously, she noticed the tired look that swirled around in the make-up artists' and hair stylists' eyes as they continued whizzing around the model who sat with her nose stuck up in the air.

"Oh Leyla! Chérie, how are you?" Xenia, the model nasalized, straightening up with a dazzling smile.

"Very well, thank you for asking. And you?" Leyla moved aside to give way as she put on a friendly expression.

With her eyes screwed shut, the model shooed the hairstylist that was working on her hair and leaned towards Leyla, "I hate the atmosphere and energy in this room today! Also I specifically wanted the Froicelli white lily tea not the Viva white lily tea and to top that, it's so humid!"

With a figurative eye roll, the editor brought her smile back up, "I sincerely apologize for that, things are a little frazzled right now with the MET approaching. However, I promise to check on your tea myself."

Hyperbolically, Xenia clapped and kissed the air around Leyla's face, "Ciao!"

Her phone's muffled message tone shifted her focus of the model as she left the room and stood in the hallway.

It was her brother.

"I have a lead, lunch's on me"

━━━━ ☆ ━━━━

"Hi," Leyla whispered out meekly, standing in front of Yusef. Her fingers clasped tight.

Her brother looked up at his sister, the semblance of her actions too nostalgic. "Come, give your abi a hug."

She crossed over the little distance between them, and soon, her arms went around her brother's back. "I'm sorry."

Kissing her hair, he looked over her. "For what, tatlı kız kardeş?"

Moving a step back, she shrugged slightly, "For not listening, for not staying and not being there for Baba and you. Ikiniz de benim kalbimsiniz."

Smiling, the siblings sat down, "We all know I'm very valuable so don't sweat it," Yusef grinned at his little sister.

Pushing her sunglasses over her head, Leyla shook her head playfully, "I'm serious Yusef."

"I know solucan, you'll always be my sweet, little, annoying sister." Leyla pursed her lips at her brother's words but eased into a smile.

"Shut up ayi, you talk too much." And just like that, the dynamic duo was back.

The waiter placed two sweet and frothy milkshakes in front of them which compelled Leyla's attention away from her brother.

"Milkshakes? Ok now we're talking," Leyla cheered on but then pinched her lips almost immediately, "Yusef? What lead did you text me about?"

Bunching his cuffs up his forearm, he stared at her steadily. "Baba has been bringing Hudson around the office a lot frequently than usual, hell he visits the house more often than you."

Furrowing her arched brows, Leyla questioned as to why it was a big deal.

"Now my little sister, know this that Erin has implied that she has no connection with Hudson whatsoever and is or perhaps portrays herself to be incredibly nonchalant when someone brings him up." Yusef tutted.

"And- ah!" He silenced his sister, "It's not that they're 'siblings who fought' because multiple transactions have been made from Hudson's account to Erin's, even though she shows that they have no connection whatsoever."

"Wait, Pause. Have you been keeping tabs on him? Yusef, that's illegal! And Blake's with you? İyi, çok iyi!" Leyla half-yelled and half-whispered ,connecting the dots while fuming.

Yusef leaned across the table and explained, "Blake is our finance analyst and my brother. He cares about the company as much as we do and the problems with the stocks were noticed by him. Also Theodore told me that Hudson's planning to buy at least 15% of the company's shares."

She chuckled sarcastically, "Yusef, stop it. I told you we'll figure it out together and not illegally. Who's even helping you keep tabs on him?"

"Ah kelebek, ah. The world's a nasty place where your own turn against you; having real love, trust and family is a huge blessing." He paused before turning his head to stare out the window, "The wolves are out, that's what you need to be aware of."

hope you guys liked that! sort of a filler but bad things are upon usssss

also sorry for going m.i.a, my schedule has been crazy lately!

as always, do let me know what you think x

love you guys <3