Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107808 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Even so—-
Her fingers trembled a bit as she slowly reached for his face, and she bit her lip when she finally felt his soft skin.
Vassi.
He had made love to her the entire night, and oh, Holy Mother of Russia, but she had made love to him right back.
And yet, even so—-
It didn’t feel enough.
After knowing how losing him tasted, after living for two long months with the knowledge that he was thousands of miles away, despising her, she didn’t think it would ever feel enough.
Leaving the bed as quietly and carefully as she could, Seri grabbed her phone from the bedside table before padding out of the bedroom. There were a couple of texts from Davey, but it was Max’s reply she read first.
Max: Thanks for informing me. Take care.
Guilt made Seri squeeze her eyes shut, and for a long moment she could only stand there.
Oh, Max.
Her mind told her that she would never hurt the way she was hurting now if she chose to be with the other man.
But her heart didn’t want it.
Her heart, in spite of all the time she had spent trying to purge her feelings, had always and only belonged to one man.
Inhaling shakily, she opened her eyes and forced her limbs to move. As she headed to the kitchen, she checked on Davey’s messages next, with the first two having come in last night.
Davey: Emergency in uni, sorry, I gotta leave.
Davey: Oh, and I forgot to lock the door.
Seri rolled her eyes. Yeah, right. Did Davey really think she would fall for that?
The last message was just this morning.
Davey: Have you seen the news?
She raised a brow at the vague message.
Seri: What news?
Putting her phone down on the counter, Seri checked Davey’s fridge and decided on a quick morning fix of scrambled eggs, sausages, and slices of cheese. The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, she thought, and Vassi did always like to start the day with a hearty meal.
As she arranged the food on the tray, she thought about her next steps. First, she would confess the truth about what she had done. And then she would—-
Seri swallowed.
And then she would take the risk and ask Vassi if they could get back together – and stay together – if Fyodor ended up not supporting their relationship.
As she squeezed some oranges, her phone buzzed, and Seri tapped on the screen. It was Davey, sending her a link to click.
SERI DEVEREAUX: ONLY GOOD ON PAPER?
Seri Devereaux, daughter of iconic voice actress Marianna Devereaux, is reported to have been causing extreme trouble to the cast of Drawn: His Secret Toy.
According to our sources, the project’s sound director has let the higher powers know of his frustration and threatened to quit if Devereaux continues with her unexpectedly poor performance during rehearsals. The younger Devereaux had recently enjoyed a streak of success with a string of minor projects, and both fans and critics alike had expressed their hopes that the eighteen-year-old would follow in her mother’s footsteps.
If rumors prove to be true, however, then it may seem that Seri Devereaux is only good on paper and all she’s got going for her is her last name. Companies that had been in talks with her management had supposedly retracted their offers, and plans of featuring the once-promising seiyuu on the front covers of Japan’s most popular teen magazines have been retracted.
Is this a case of Seri Devereaux biting off more than she can chew?
Or was she really never good to begin with?
One thing’s for certain: if her stepbrother, Vassi Grachyov, who only co-stars in Drawn, comes to her defense, his Russian gorgeousness won’t do him any good. He’ll only end up tarnished with the same brush.
Arielle answered Seri’s call on the first ring, saying right away, “Do you want the good news or bad news?”
“Good,” she said immediately.
“Okay, let’s start with the bad.” Her manager’s tone took a serious note. “Most of the report you saw on Seiyuu Updates is right.”
Seri paled. “M-most?” There was nothing at all good about the report.
“I was in talks with a gaming company who was hoping to get you to dub for one of its RPGs, and I had kept it under wraps hoping to surprise you once I had ironed out a couple of deals but—-”
“It fell through,” she said dully.
Her manager said quietly, “I’m sorry, Seri. I just got off the phone with them half an hour ago. They’re not interested in reconsidering either.”
The old Arielle would have yelled at her for making a mess of things before promptly telling her what she should do to turn things around. This Arielle, however, exhibited no signs of anger or even the slightest inclination to shout at her.
“And the g-good news?”
“You still keep your spot as Aya in Drawn.”
“I see.” She wasn’t sure at all that was a good thing, if the part about the sound director threatening to quit proved true, too.