Chapter 26
26
Everyone sat in silence for a while, staring at different corners of the room like they’d all sworn to appear as disinterested as possible.
It was strange. Our lunchtimes had always involved non-stop chatting, stomach-aching laughter, and excitement for all the things we had planned for the weekend ahead.
‘OK,’ I said finally. ‘We need a realistic schedule for our collective channels. For obvious reasons, it may be difficult to create content together. So we should start posting separately. The goal should be keeping our joint platforms active.’
Felicity raised a hand. ‘I don’t get it. We post separately on our personal channels anyway. The Exes page is meant to be us doing videos together .’
‘I was just coming to that. From now on, create content with whomever you want from The Exes, and plan a new schedule with them. Abeo, Felicity and I can post on Wednesdays and Sundays.’ I looked over to Chloe and Sanjay with the most professional mask I could muster. ‘You guys need to decide when you’d like to post and let us know.’
Abeo cleared his throat. ‘But our collective-lifestyle vlogs get the highest engagement. Which means we still need to have a presence together, as The Exes.’
‘I think you’re right,’ Chloe added. ‘We should still do the occasional vlog or video all together. We didn’t work this hard to build up this brand only to let personal things affect it.’
Abeo gave her the filthiest look I’d ever seen, making me smirk a little.
‘Yes, exactly,’ I replied. ‘Let’s confirm an uploading schedule by tonight over WhatsApp. We can start doing whatever feels natural and easy, and perhaps with time we can start shooting things together again.’
‘I’m happy with that,’ Chloe said, and then turned to Sanjay. ‘Seems good, right?’
I ignored the lingering smile they shared.
Felicity pretended to puke, and Abeo failed to contain his snort.
‘Another thing we need to address is events,’ I continued. ‘London Fashion Week will begin in a few days, and we’ve always attended together in the past. I think we should do the same this year.’
‘That seems perfectly reasonable to me,’ Felicity said. ‘I only have one condition: no gross public displays of affection from any of us.’
‘What is that supposed to mean?’ Chloe asked sharply.
Felicity shrugged. ‘No need to get defensive. I was only stating a fact. Literally no one on this planet wants to see either of you canoodling. You look like a pair of inconsiderate clowns.’
Chloe stood up, her face twisting with offence.
‘Hold on, please,’ I said, raising my hands in an attempt to calm her. ‘That was wrong, Felicity. You should say sorry.’
To my surprise, she instantly mumbled a half-hearted apology.
‘We’re here right now to protect our brand,’ I reminded them. ‘Can we please be adults and focus on that? I’m the one most affected by … everything. If I can look past it, the rest of you can too.’
Everyone looked down, no longer able to meet my gaze, and Chloe took her seat again.
‘We can’t let Mr Ex take control of our narrative. We need to be in control. And that means sticking together.’
‘There’s something else you guys should know,’ Chloe murmured. ‘I received my first text from Mr Ex last night.’
‘Do tell,’ Abeo prompted, not sounding particularly sympathetic.
‘Erm, I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but Mr Ex has been dropping hints in his blogs about … my roots. He’s basically threatened me. If I don’t post a photo of myself wearing an outfit from his merch collection on Instagram by tomorrow, he’s going to start exposing my family history.’
‘Are you going to do it?’ I tried to keep the judgement out of my tone.
Her silence said it all. It was unthinkable that Chloe would wear an outfit of someone else’s choice without charging thousands for it. Even more unthinkable that she would basically be putting money directly into Mr Ex’s pocket.
‘This is him testing the waters,’ Felicity said quietly. ‘He wants to know whether he can control us. Very soon he’s going to start ordering us to do the stuff he really wants us to do.’
Felicity was right. This was only the beginning. Soon Mr Ex’s demands would start to really feel like threats.
‘I’m still trying to trace his messages,’ I said darkly. ‘It might take me a while longer. As for now, we need to show a united front.’
Sanjay cleared his throat. ‘The Exes is only going to work if we change the rules. The old ones won’t work for us any more.’
‘It’s true,’ Chloe said, locking eyes with him. They’d obviously discussed this between themselves earlier.
I averted my gaze from the pair even as I spoke to Sanjay. ‘Well then, what do you propose?’
‘That we have more freedom over how we represent our brand. And even if we do attend events together, we stick together only at the start of the occasion before doing our own thing.’
‘Essentially what you’re saying, Sanjay,’ Abeo said tightly, ‘is that you want all the benefits of being in The Exes and yet don’t want to make an actual effort to be a part of the group.’
Chloe looked flustered. ‘That isn’t what he’s trying to say –’
‘Is your name Sanjay?’ Abeo cut in darkly, then turned to him. ‘Are you letting her talk for you too now?’
Sanjay looked peeved.
Before he could answer, I said, ‘I understand where you’re coming from. And if you’d prefer to spend less time together as a group during events, that’s fine.’
‘I just think that if things are this tense between us,’ Sanjay explained, ‘we should give each other some space. It would be better than to risk creating a scene like the one at Queen Charlotte’s Ball.’
Abeo and I exchanged a look. The others still didn’t know it had been staged, and it seemed that neither of us wanted to tell them. All the resulting tension between us certainly felt real enough.
Felicity scoffed loudly while looking at Chloe. ‘I know what this is about. You guys are doing an iconic couple look for London Fashion Week, aren’t you?’
‘And what if we are?’ she asked nonchalantly.
‘That’s something you and Karim used to do together,’ Felicity cried. ‘Do you have any idea how painful this must be for him? I just can’t believe you’re this selfish. You know what? I hope someone breaks your fucking heart just as badly one day and that you have no one left to turn to.’
She stormed out.
‘That day doesn’t seem far off to me,’ Abeo murmured before exiting as well.
We sat in stunned silence, and then Chloe spoke, her voice thick with emotion. ‘I’m never going to get any of you back, am I?’
She sniffed, trying to steady herself. ‘I’m not trying to be selfish. I just feel like there’s no going back to how things were, and I need to at least try to move forward. Either that or I’ll just fall apart and never …’
My gaze locked on Chloe’s, and those glassy green eyes shared a hundred unspoken things with me.
I can’t stand the thought of losing you forever.
I don’t want to hurt you.
I hope you’ll forgive me for everything.
Sanjay shifted uncomfortably. ‘Shall I give you guys some privacy to talk?’
‘No, you stay,’ I said swiftly. ‘I’ll go.’