Am I Seeing Things?

Irene snapped out of her deep thought, "Oh these?" She touched the crystal pendant and continued, "No. A-… a friend gave this to me,"

Valerie just raised both of her eyebrows and nodded as they share a silent time together by the ocean.

The necklace looks like something that was specially made and not like the ones being sold in the jewelry stores. The pendant is a rare purple crystal.

The only thing that gives Irene an assurance that she was indeed at Rosemoor is the necklace. If everything that happened was merely a product of her imagination, how come the necklace is still in her possession?

Irene told no one about Rosemoor because nobody would likely believe her, even her Uncle and Aunt who are her number one believers.

A month passed by quickly and Irene once again catapulted back to resuming her activities. Valerie became her manager as she is the most suited person for the position being a graduate of Human Resource related degree.

Valerie snappily clapped her hands and then scrolled through Irene's schedule for the day on her laptop, "We have a long day today, Irene. TV show guesting, radio program appearance, and the long overdue fan signing event,"

After hearing what is on her schedule, Irene took one last sip of her black coffee and grabber her luxury handbag as they make their way outside her condo building.

As expected, paparazzis and journalists flocked the entrance and parking area of Irene's condominium building.

"Nothing can go wrong with sunglasses," Irene said to herself out loud while seated on the back seat of her car beside Valerie who is wearing her signature bold red lipstick.

After the incident, Irene's agency took the initiative to remove all the staff around her who might be an accomplice to the kidnapping. Proving it's dominance in the entertainment agency, Lotus Entertainment used its massive tentacles to stop media companies from producing articles about the abduction as per Irene's request.

The media opposed, at first. However, they could not decline the tempting offer from Jerrick, the CEO himself who rarely goes down from his office to settle matters of his most valued artist on his own hands.

"Sunbaenim, these flowers are for you." A rookie girl idol in bright and colorful attire handed over a bouquet of flowers while bowing down her head.

Irene's make-up artist stopped dabbing brush on her face as Irene received the flowers. "Thank you, fighting!" The young idol bowed one last time before exiting the dedicated dressing room for a superstar like her.

"Irene, we have to remove this necklace. It doesn't go well with your outfit," Irene's personal stylist suggested. For a moment, Irene hesitated to do so and looked at her reflection on the mirror in front of her with lights on each sides.

Irene touched the pendant one last time and removed it herself. She let out a sigh and then gave the necklace to Valerie.

"Take care of it, that necklace is so valuable to me." Irene requested.

Valerie took the necklace from her hand, "I will. It is safe and secured inside my bag," Valerie assured before she accompany Irene as they leave the dressing room and proceed to the studio where the TV show is being shot.

-

The long day is finally over. Irene plunged herself on her soft bed that is situated across a wide glass panel that occupies majority of the wall of her unit showing a panoramic view of the heart of the city from the 30th floor of her condo building.

Irene is left alone in her condo unit which took a lot of time convincing Valerie to attend her blind date and to not worry about her as she will be alright.

High-rise buildings shined from her perspective as they stood tall and illuminated. Irene misses this picturesque night view from her condo. After lying still on her bed for a few minutes, Irene almost fell out of it when she felt a strange shadowy figure pass by so fast.

These type of instances makes Irene hate herself for still having fear lurking in every corner of her gut waiting to be awakened by a familiar scenes her head refuses to stop playing and anticipating that it may happen again.

Getting bold after the incident, Irene sprinted to her kitchen, hurriedly pulling drawers and grabbed the biggest and sharpest knife she had purposely set aside for drastic times like this.

Irene steadied her shaking hands and firmly gripped its chilling metallic handle as she took a few calculated steps forward, conditioning her mind that she may encounter a burglar face to face so she should immediately pierce the knife right in the flesh.

Her breaths were short and shallow, every part of her body turning ice cold. Irene tactically walked to grab her phone on the bedside table and dial security.

Only a few minutes later, a crowd of uniformed security personnel swarmed inside Irene's condo unit to conduct a thorough check of the premise.

Armed with high-power firearms and ready to shoot anytime should anyone's life be jeopardized, they searched every nooks and crannies of the singer's massive luxury unit.

The security personnel found no one which seemed very odd to Irene because she was so certain someone passed by her earlier. She have always had sensitive ears and a strong sense of sight.

Irene didn't insist it further so as to avoid them thinking she is being a paranoid.

"Why didn't you call me right away?!" Valerie screamed after swallowing her food. They were suddenly craving for Chinese food and decided to order online and have it delivered.

Valerie is living with Irene because it would be easier for them to coordinate and she also has a spare room.

Irene ignored her cousin slash manager's remark and strategically aimed her chopsticks to get a dumpling, "So how was your blind date?" Irene casually asked and shoved an entire dumpling to her mouth while waiting for Valerie's response.