The returning Deja vu!

The very next morning, Lillian woke up to the continuous buzzing of her phone. With her eyes tightly shut, she searched the nightstand to grab it and answer-

But, the buzzing noises died.

Lillian loosened her grip, and the device fell on the pillow, near to her face. She returned to sleep. Shortly, the noise returned to disrupt Lillian's peaceful rest.

Disturbed by the sound, Lillian tried to search to grab and answer when the noise disappeared again.

It was no wonder since Lillian's movements were sluggish, and the growing sound soon died before she got the chance to answer the call.

The process repeated until Lillian eventually woke up, looking grumpy and annoyed. She sat on her bed with a grim face and held the phone in her hand, and just like before, the call ended before she had the chance to respond.

Woke up irritated, Lillian finally opened her eyes languidly to a blurry vision. It took her several seconds to see clearly.

Several missed calls and bombarding messages from- both Jenna and Shane.

For an instant, Lillian felt she was in the middle of her work. However, the exhaustion from yesterday made her realize it wasn't.

Luckily, just as she kept thinking, another call came right on time, and Lillian quickly answered.

"Hello!" she spoke without knowing who it was.

She guessed it has to be between Jenna and Shane.

"Lillian Grey,"

It was Shane Ricardo.

"What's up, Shane?" Lillian casually greeted.

"Nothing. Nothing at all! I just wanted to hear my favorite author's voice."

Shane's voice sounded unusually shrill, sending a sense of shiver to its recipient.

Lillian, who woke up from her sleep, still appeared dizzy. She didn't grasp Shane's high pitched reaction. Instead, a familiar feeling overwhelmed her mind.

The Deja vu!

The repeating pattern from last night blew Lillian's mind. She only presumed that Shane might call her following Anna and Diego.

Who knew the possibility of it truly happening?

For a good while, she remained speechless and stunned.

"Alright! You too! Tell me, what's troubling you?" Lillian addressed on her own.

Shane did not quite understand what went inside Lillian's head, but he knew she has gone crazy.

"Troubling me, you ask?" he repeated, stupified.

"Hmm... That's why you're calling me, right? You want to share your troubles with your good friend and get comforted by her!" Lillian kept shamelessly making assumptions and spoke carefree.

On the other end, Shane had it enough, finally exploding.

"YOU! IT'S YOU!"

"Me?" Lillian got startled by his sudden accusation.

"What did I do to give you trouble?" Lillian equally raged as well.

"You have the nerve to speak to me in this situation!" Shane grunted.

Lillian lowered her voice and kept quiet.

"Answer me this, Lillian Grey. Why am I receiving pictures of you and Giselle the first thing in the morning?"

Blown away in surprise as she heard Shane, Lillian Grey continued to remain dumbstruck.

"Why aren't you talking back? Where's that big voice?" Shane ridiculed.

"I wake up, and what am I seeing as the first official thing in the morning? Pictures of yours truly, along with Giselle, a little kid, which I assume is her daughter, and a bunch of people. Thankfully, those who snapped these pictures highlighted only you and ignored the rest."

"Do you realize what's happening right now?" Shane asked.

Finally opening her sense to realize what is happening right now, Lillian Grey sensed she is in trouble, a big one too.

"That was-" she mustered the courage to speak, but no words came to serve her.

Lillian was at a loss for words.

Shane sighed.

"I'll listen," he spoke softly, finally letting Lillian defend herself.

Lillian recalled the story of brave little Lia's bold attempt at inviting her to see her stageplay and how Lillian couldn't help but agree to Lia's wish.

"Do you know that Giselle is also working for KeyLine and that she is- the celebrated author, Jayce's editor?" Shane reminded Lillian.

Seeing her remain speechless, Shane realized that Lillian knew the cost of her choice.

He sighed again, wearily.

"Why wasn't I informed? I mean, You don't have to tell me what's going on in your personal life, but shouldn't I get notified if you're about to go to events, despite in disguise?" he cornered her with his interrogation.

Yet, no words left Lillian's lips as she anticipated this reaction from Shane.

She only prayed that it would ensue later and not the very next day following her visit.

"Fine! Luckily, we got your pictures and stopped them from getting leaked, so there should be no trouble," Shane informed.

Lillian finally exhaled. She apologized to Shane for not letting him get familiarized with her decision.

"Don't ever do anything reckless like this again, okay? You are no longer someone who can roam anywhere freely. People recognize you, your readers, fans, and the public- You need to learn to at least inform me beforehand so that I can help you out without anyone slandering your image by sending unwanted gossips," Shane advised.

Lillian calmly listened to him without interrupting and waited until he finished.

She promised to obey him but stuttering another apology.

"What's going on?" Shane asked, seeing her submissively apologize unnecessarily.

"I'm sorry in advance, Shane," Lillian appealed.

"Lillian?"

"I'm going to attend the Christmas celebration at Diego's school today," Lillian revealed.

"What?"

"Don't worry! I'm going under heavy disguise. I won't let it happen again, so rest assured. I already informed Diego to put me in an isolated spot- everything will be fine. I will be extra careful," Lillian pledged.

"Wait- wait- wait- Hold on!"

"Diego invited you to his school event?"

"But didn't he know already that you hated attending these events? Why is he suddenly inviting you? And why did you accept all of a sudden?"

"That's because I'm a good friend, Diego!" Lillian responded.

She went on to express her sense of guilt birthed from ignoring Diego all these years. It only came to her knowledge when Lillian realized how quickly she agreed to Lia, whereas, with Diego, she flatly declined him.

"It sounds like he's jealous," Shane remarked.

Lillian admitted.

"Isn't it a little childish? he added.

Shane wondered if Diego's jealous came from Lillian simply visiting another school, so he pushed further to question and heard how Lillian firmly believed it to be the case. Nonetheless, it was still hard to believe.

"Did he tell you that?" Shane persistently asked.

Lillian denied.

"He didn't, but I know for sure he must have felt bad when he heard me visiting some other school," Lillian argued.

"You mean Lia's school, the school where Giselle's daughter goes to," Diego pointed out.

Lillian sighed.

"I know. I admit that I only went because it's Giselle's daughter, but- I did feel sorry for Diego, so I gave him my word."

Shane couldn't overlook this, as it still makes him feel uneasy. If Diego was so worried, he could have invited Lillian next year. Why did he have to provoke her instead?

Lillian continued to add more points to defend herself and her choice in fulfilling Diego's request. Meantime, Shane's wild imagination guided him to a tricky island where the very thought of such an assumption made him disbelieve himself.

'What if Diego got jealous because Lillian went for Lia?'

'What if the school doesn't matter, but the fact that Lillian spent time with Giselle's family?'

Such irrational thought!

Even the possibility of considering them made Shane feel awkward. After all, Diego is someone who's a dear friend to Lillian. He must be aware of Lillian's feelings for Giselle. There is no chance of him getting jealous of Giselle.

Regardless, it burdened Shane within, yet he remained reserved.

He returned to overhear Lillian still going on and on about her reasonable decision.

"Alright. Enough. You can go, but make sure not even a skin is visible to anyone," Shane advised.

"Are you saying that I should go as the Egyptian mummy?" Lillian playfully kidded.

"I'd prefer that very much. Thank you, have fun, and I'll kill you if I receive any pictures from today!"

Shane warned before ending the call. His deadly deep voice threatened Lillian and made her wary. She knew that it is not time to play around or be naughty but exceptionally obedient and invisible to the public eye. It made Lillian sincerely consider the mummy idea.

Now that she is completely awake, Lillian looked at the time, and it was still early. She chose to get out of bed anyway and start to get ready for Diego's school event.