Is It Right?

We stayed on the roof a little while longer, but we figured we had better get back to the party as quickly as possible. We shouldn’t tempt fate any further.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here? My dear boy Marco and his plaything.” A female voice called from the shadows.

I certainly didn’t like being referred to as a ‘plaything’. Although I couldn’t see her in the shadows, her accent instantly outed her as part of the Italian delegation.

She stepped forward, out of the shadows, and for the first time, I could make her out. She was a tall, pretty woman wearing a white fur scarf and a sleek black suit dress. She looked like she would regularly have a snake draped around her. She looked scary and gorgeous at the same time.

“Hello, Blake isn’t it? Would you spare me a few moments? I need to discuss a few things with you.”

I looked at Marco. He looked nervous.

“Don’t get mad at Blake. I was the one who caused this.” Marco commented, trying to protect me. However, I couldn’t help but notice the slight shake in his voice. I couldn’t have him taking the fall for something I was equally a part of. I wanted to protect him.

She whipped out a fan obscuring the lower part of her face.

“Oh my, why might you think I’m angry? I simply want to have a talk with Blake. I will also have a discussion with you later Marco.”

Marco took a step forward, but I grabbed his hand.

“Alright, I will go with you,” I told her.

“Wonderful.” She put the fan away. “Then, if you would be so kind as to follow me.” She turned around and began to walk down the corridor.

“You don’t have to go,” Marco commented.

“Marco, if I don’t go, I’m sure it’ll be much worse. Besides, what’s the worse she can do?”

“I hate to imagine.”

I decided to follow Valentina. She led me into her office.

“Please take a seat.” She motioned towards a vacant chair.

I did what I was told and sat.

I expected her to do the same, but instead, she remained standing.

“Now then, let me cut right to the point; we can’t have you hanging around, Marco.”

Not you, too? I thought.

“If you keep it up, we will file an official complaint with the solstice committee.”

I couldn’t have that. Not only would it get messy for the entire contest, but it would also make my life even messier with the Government and Stephanie.

“You would do that even though the two of us are consenting adults in a committed relationship? Why is it such a big deal?” I tried to reason.

“Well, you see, Marco is seen as an eligible bachelor and sex sells.”

“So you are just treating Marco as a sex object.”

“Have you seen him?”

“Of course, he’s hot!”

“Interesting to know.” She smiled, and I realised I may have confessed to something that could later blackmail me,

“We have run some modelling. We may get some fans from your relationship, but it also impacts his image as a cool single guy who could easily date any of the fans watching on.”

“That’s twisted.”

“Perhaps, but we want to win. As I’m sure you are aware, the man is attractive; of course, we are going to use that to our advantage.”

“So you want to break us up?”

“Oh, what do you take me for? I don’t object to your relationship. Just not while the contest is on.”

“Will people actually care?” I asked.

She smiled, almost as if I had fallen for another of her traps.

“Of course, I happen to have the evidence here. Have a look at these messages.”

She brought up on her phone messages on a Geddit feed. Sure enough, they were twisted, angry and vile. But there was plenty of anger in our relationship, although it was still just rumours at this point. Neither Marco nor I publically confessed our relationship.

Valentina walked to stand behind me.

“Do you see now?” she asked, smiling.

I nodded, though I felt like crying.

“It’s only a week. That’s not long. After that, you can do whatever you want. You can do that, can’t you?” She said this as if she were being kind, but there was an underlying sense of venom in her words. I thought she would look good with a snake, but perhaps she was the true serpent herself.

“You can go now. I don’t think I need to tell Stephanie or anyone else. This will be our little secret,” she added. I felt as if she was keeping this secret not to help me, but as leverage, she could use later on.

I was beginning to think Stephanie wasn’t so bad. I hastily made my way back to the party.

Once I got there, I looked around to let someone, anyone, know what had happened. Marco wasn’t there, and no doubt, even if he was, I wouldn’t be able to talk to him now.

Jet, Darcy, Noah, and Jane were preoccupied. Without warning, I felt a tap on my shoulder.

“Are you ok?” Luca asked.

I felt like crying, but I kept myself together.

“We got caught.”

“Shoot, is everything alright?”

“Maybe; I think I’m going to head off to bed.”

“Ok, let me know if you need anything. I’ll let everyone else know.”

“Thank you.”

I left the party and went straight to my room. I curled up on my bed and pulled out my phone. I had to see what people were saying about Marco and me.

“Jane Doe was in my top three, but now I can’t bring myself to vote for them.”

“Marco is my favourite. Jane Doe sounds like trash.”

“Goodbye Australia’s first Solstice win.”

“Why is Australia in Solstice in the first place?”

“Is this all staged? If so, it isn’t very good to be toying with people like that.”

I spent that evening reading all the comments on Geddit and Nutube. Some were supportive of us, in fact, most of them were, but there was also a lot of anger and hate in the comments. Every negative comment felt equal to every hundred positive messages.

This was why I never wanted to read social media or check the odds. The pressure was exhausting, tiring, draining, and, perhaps most importantly, depressing. I felt sick reading them, and I cried myself to sleep.

This sudden depression was probably not the best mentality to have the night before the Semi-final Jury performance. Perhaps that was Valentina’s goal all along.

─── ༻ ☼ ༺ ───

End of Chapter 29