"Cole!! Your girlfriend is on TV!!" Liam hollered in a teasing way as he sipped his glass of Martel, his eyes on the TV screen.
"What did you say?" He heard Cole question as he joined him in the living room.
"Look...," Liam pointed at the TV "isn't that the love of your life walking that the fashion runway?" Liam jeered and the next thing he felt was the force of a pillow on his head.
"You play too much," Cole grumbled as he took his seat on another sofa.
"What? Is she not the love of your life?" Liam questioned, but the glare Cole shot at him told him that the jokes were enough.
He knew Shantel and Cole were not exactly in the best of relationships. The fact that it was mostly long distance killed their passion for each other.
As they watched the lead model walking down the runway, his mind wandered to how their relationship started.
On their last year in highschool, Cole asked Shantel to be his girlfriend. She was the most popular girl in the school and the head of the school's cheerleading team. She flaunted her assets to everyone who cared to notice, but they all knew she was untouchable. No guy had the guts to ask her out on her out on a date. A few of them did, and they were duly embarrassed.
Every girl was either a fan of hers, or hated her. Some worshipped her like she was a deity, while.the rest were jealous that they couldn't have the privileges she had.
Cole had just got out of a relationship, and as the coolest boy in the school - and the captain of the school's basketball team, he needed another relationship as fast as possible. While he was in the previous relationship, he had his eyes on Shantel. So once he was done with the naive girl, he went for Shantel and in less than a week of talking to her, they began dating.
It was the most perfect relationship the school had witnessed. The popular boy with the popular girl, sharing kisses in public places and holding hands on their way to classes.
However, after about three months of dating, Liam began to notice that they'd gone out of touch. By this time, both Cole and Shantel had acknowledged the fact thay they were in for what they could get from each other. Cole needed a girl to have sex with, and Shantel needed to elevate her popularity status.
After graduation, Cole was supposed to go overseas for more basketball training before becoming a professional basketball player, but Shantel got pregnant.
Cole asked her to abort the baby, but to his surprise, she blatantly refused. She wanted to keep the baby. Cole knew that she had ulterior motives and just wanted the privileges of being pregnant for the only son of a billionaire businessman, but she didn't understand that she was about to ruin his future and any chances of becoming a professional basketball player.
He begged her, but she didn't heed.
Cole resorted to flying himself out of the country once he was done with exams, hut Shantel was too smart for him. She went straight to his father, and his dad pulled him back to Louisiana.
He forced him to stay in Louisiana and forget about ever becoming a basketball player. Because of that, he had a lot of resentment towards Shantel. She killed his dreams, and he didn't know if he could ever forgive her.
Unfortunately, Shantel lost the baby, but for some reason, she still clung to Cole, and his father supported it. According to him, this was the punishment Cole had to face for being reckless and irresponsible in highschool.
And so for seven years, Cole had been in a bondage of a relationship.
They almost never saw each other, and whenever they did, it was from one argument to another. If things didn't go Shantel's way, she would report Cole to his dad who would scold him.
Sometimes, he felt for Cole. He wished there was a way he could help his friend, but this was something he had to face on his own.
Cole couldn't help but stare in contempt and the lady he was staring at on TV.
It was an all black fashion night, so the models all wore black pieces. Except that Shantel's piece wasn't just black - it was see through. He could practically see her nipples through the clothes.
They were finally done with show, and a section where they interviewed the models came on.
It soon reached Shantel's turn.
"Good evening, Miss. Shantel. You did extremely well on the runway,"
"Oh? Thank you so much. That means a lot to me," she smiled.
"You're the most sough-after models in the world, Shantel. You've made a name for yourself in this industry. Is there any advice you could give to girls who would want to be like you?"
"Well, hardwork and persistency is all that matters. You need to be ready to work for what you want. And when you do, always stay humble, because you won't hold it down forever"
Cole scoffed in anger.
Who the hell did she think she was to talk about persistency and hardwork? She literally had this model job served to her on a platter of gold by his dad. She didn't work for anything. All she need to do was to show up and look pretty. His dad was the one who gave her all the connections she had now.
"One last question, Shantel - and this might just be a little bit personal. A lot of people - especially your male fans - are dying to know... Are you in a relationship?"
Cole already knew the answer to this.
He knew she wouldn't want to talk their relationship in public, so she would give the interviewer a "no comment."
First of all, she had an awkward laugh.
"Well, since they want to know that bad - no. I'm not in any relationship. I'm single, right now," she said with a smile and Cole gritted his teeth, slowly seething in rage.