Hollywood Zenith

Candice felt frustrated when she left Miranda and others back at the hotel. What she wanted most was to go back to her boyfriend that she had been seeing for three years at this point. She was only seventeen when she met him and from their first meeting they were inseparable.

At least that's what she thought about their relationship. Others warned her that getting involved with him would only hamper her career but she didn't care. She was scouted by an agency when she was only fifteen, it was quite common in the fashion industry but after countless parties and meeting new people she was exhausted, being a minor also didn't help.

She had heard the horror stories from her other colleagues but fortunately, her parents were very protective of her. When they found something wrong, they would decide to pull her off the set taking a hit rather than risk her well being.

There were many child actresses and models that got swept under the dark side of fashion and hollywood before realising that they had missed out on their childhood and needed serious help for them to continue living normally.

Her parents stubbornness fortunately shielded her from such events but it in turn made her more rebellious. By the time she turned eighteen, she was protected by law and could live an independent life as how she see fit. She wasn't reckless just needed a breather away from their constant reminder of the ugliness of the world.

It had helped her many times, whenever a director, photographer or anyone on set started getting close to her, complimenting her constantly would mean that they had ulterior motives to approach her. She knew all the signs and avoided any conflict during the shoot but always tried to avoid them in the future, that was her best solution.

It all changed when she met her current boyfriend. They talked about their first meeting numerous times categorizing it as a 'love at first sight' encounter. She first met him in a fashion event in Paris in '06 where they both were on modelling assignment. At that time he was 23 years old while she, a new bee in the world of modelling with just two years of experience, was 17.

They developed an instant liking for each other and started dating. As both are models and require meeting up extensive travel schedules their relationship has often been a long distance one, however, the 'love birds' thrived in taking it forward in an elegant way. Both stayed quite, keeping their relationship private as best as they could.

This tall and handsome Brazilian-born model with appealing green eyes and brown hair who is surely a heartthrob for many, also stole hers by his charms.

She was quite thankful for making her feel truly valuabled, not just for her ravishing beauty but for who she was. She felt that they connected on a deeper level, much deeper than anyone else had experience.

But not everything was sunshine and rainbows from the perspective of people looking at them from outside. It was clear that she didn't have much experience in dating and men in general. Getting into a serious relationship right off the start made her blind to his many flaws, some were egregious to say the least.

Not even a year into their relationship, she found him cheating with one of the model he was working with. Not knowing what to do and not having her family around to advise her she decided to forgive him since he sounded so remorseful for his 'lapse of judgement'. She was confused but thought their love would get them through this tough times.

After that he changed suddenly, maybe because he thought that she would forgive him but he started increasing his 'extra' activities but more discreetly. Candice would hear few rumours and murmurs but chose to ignore it. She thought everyone who was around her was just jealous of their successful relationship after all how many people could boast that their first love was successful?

After about an year she eventually met Miranda when she climbed up the ladder, her gigs grew more substantial as she began to earn multiple times of her boyfriend's yearly salary. It increasingly made him more resentful about her success as he started to feel like less of a man relying on her for his success.

Candice fame meant that people began to disassociate his personality and began limping him together with his girlfriend. He became known as the partner of new Victoria secret model rather than a successful model himself. Maybe he couldn't handle her fame or because of his insecurities, he began to grew distant but still maintained a cordial relationship knowing that without her he would be nothing.

It became a love hate relationship where he would repeatedly accused of her doing inappropriate things behind his back whenever she showed too much skin on the camera. It may be projection because he started having more and more flings outside their relationship.

Candice grew wary but chose to stay trusting him trying to make it work but everything shattered when rumours of him being involved with one of her fellow models started to go around in fashion circles.

Miranda warned her repeatedly providing guidance but Candice chose to ignore the 'senior' model's advice. Miranda heard first hand account from Candice's so called best friend about her encounter with her boyfriend. She had seen too much of these things to know that some people couldn't handle their other halves success.

Candice was a beautiful young girl with her full life ahead of her. She was deemed one of the most sexiest women of the year ever since she was selected for the Victoria secret newcomer's list. Miranda thought it was a waste for her to focus on such silly things rather than looking forward and channelling her will toward making a career out of the opportunity that she was given.

When Anastasiya suggested her plan, she had similar thoughts. Maybe mingling with someone different would change her mind. Miranda didn't want her to jump into anything serious or cheat on her boyfriend but only wanted her to see things from a different perspective but unfortunately she was unsuccessful in convincing her to join.

Candice who wanted nothing more than to return home to the comfort of her boyfriend was shocked to find there was someone else sharing their bed. She flew for more than thirteen hours only to be stricken by such a strange surprise.

Candice scarified her time and love along with moving away from her hometown just so that he could live closer to her family only to be disrespected in such a blatant matter.

They didn't even hear her come in and were sleeping as it was still in the middle of the night. She quietly put few of her things in her travel bag and booked a flight back to Paris that very night. This city was the only thing that was familiar to her as she spend most time of her year here.

She was still in dazed because of the shock and hardly slept. As she checked for passport she found the note that Anastasiya left, it was the place that she was suppose to visit with Miranda and others. Seeing no other option she just asked someone to drive her to the destination.

After staying awake for more than twenty four hours, she was both mentally and physically exhausted. She sat opposite to Samuel and for the first time looked at young man carefully. She didn't know why she was telling him her life story but she knew if she didn't tell someone about her troubles, she would broke down!

Samuel who listened to her rambling felt bad for her, unbeknownst to her her face was streaking with tear and she looked awful despite it, he felt a need to comfort this poor soul. He got up and just hugged her tightly and she finally broke down sobbing uncontrollably.

Samuel could feel her turbulent emotions and knew how bad she was hurting, what she needed more than anything was a friend to support her.

Fortunately, Kate and Disha arrived when Nicole called them. They saw him quietly consoling Candice who couldn't seem to stop crying.