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I sat uneasily in my seat, facing the teacher and doing my best to listen to the lecture on physics, continuously pressing the lock button on my phone to hide the never ending string of notifications appearing on my screen.

I actually wanted to turn on the do not disturb in my settings but the amount of people ogling me in class stopped me from doing so.

Freakin' Hannibal and his stupid messages.

Before you ask, yes all the notifications appearing on my phone are from Hannibal. Ever since our last talk, I ignored him for at least a week and then that's when he started sending messages. At first, he sent me personal texts, but then he went via facebook messenger, direct message on twitter, instagram, viber and now he's even sending messages through my mail!

I know so because the vibrating in my hand made me look a few times at the screen.

"Hey, Gigi." I stopped shaking my leg when I heard the whisper behind me.

I whipped around and was confused to see a cheerleader sitting at my back. Wasn't a boy seated there? I raised an eyebrow. "Um.. Yes?"

"Oh my gosh, you actually talked back to me!" She squealed like a fangirl while I continued looking confused at her. This is a very unlikely situation if I wasn't famous.

After she finished squealing and silently screaming at her friends who were sitting at the back, she looked back to me with a smile. She tucked a stray hair behind her ear. "Anyway, me and the others were just wondering if you and Hannibal are together or not."

Of course they'd ask that. Although I was looking at her, I could see from the corner of my eye that her friends were snapping pictures of me and taking videos as well. They're too hungry for gossip I swear. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, it's not that I'm trying to invade your personal life or anything but—"

Girl, you already are. Gosh.

"—my friends and I are a part of this Hagi fan club and there's a contest to see who is the first to know if Hagi is real. The prize is $200 so please tell us!"

What the heck?! $200? All that just for a yes or no?

I stopped the urge to look at her disappointedly and nodded with understanding. "Okay."

Her eyes lit up at my reply and she took out a voice recorder from her pocket, ignoring the heated physics lecture in front. The teacher wasn't even paying attention to us. "So..? Is it a yes or no?"

I can already imagine their silent chanting of 'please say yes!' in their heads, and it almost made me laugh. I looked her in the eye and smiled sweetly.

"Nope. We're not dating."

And with that, I looked in front of me again, ignoring the heartbroken expressions behind me.

I almost snickered until my phone dropped from my grasp and fell on the floor.

Oh no.

I inwardly smacked myself in the head for my clumsiness and was just about to grab it when someone else snatched it from the ground. My eyes were probably as large as saucers because that someone turned out to be the cheerleader behind me and her fangirl screams turned the class's attention to us.

I am dead.

"They're dating! They're dating! Oh my gosh, I'm gonna die! This is the best day of my life!"

I took the phone from her and my jaw dropped at the sight of the recent messages Hannibal sent me.

now

Babe, talk to me.

now

I love you so much.

now

Please call.

now

Come on, Gigi. Don't leave me hanging.

now

Babe, please. You're breaking my heart.

now

Gigi, I need you right now.

My ears turned red. What kind of game is he playing now?!

At that moment, the room erupted into all pitches of congratulations and papers were flying in the air. There were some glum faced guys in the room, but most of the people were dancing and shouting praises. Even the teacher was jumping in front, giggling because apparently, Hagi is real.

Please kill me now.

Even though I got my phone back from the cheerleader, I'm certain that she already snapped a shot of the messages and she probably sent it to who knows who and now, the rumors will grow even worse.

I swear I'm going to choke Hannibal when I see him.

My line of thought stopped when I felt a vibration in my hand again. Putting the phone away from eye's view, I sneaked a peek.

now

lol I'm kidding babe. That's just gross. Don't think of my messages the wrong way. I'm just messing with ya ;)

You know what? I change my mind. I'm not going to choke him. I'm going to kill him.

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After school, I spent my time in the studio discussing matters about my music and did a little bit of recording. I sang some new compositions and learned the tones of the songs. Not surprisingly, Paul wasn't around because he still had school. Meredith did the job of watching over me instead.

"Do you do any sports or gym?" She asked me as I munched on my lunch, a big hamburger and extra large fries. I could hear the judgmental tone in her question. Her stare aimed at me made me feel self conscious.

"Not really. I do some biking, but that's just it. I'm not really athletic and all that." I chewed with my mouth open, accidentally making bits fall on her dress.

She breathed in and closed her eyes before removing the remnants of my food with tissue paper. She looked at me with a serious face and stood up, brushing off imaginary dust on her clothes. "Well then, you're gonna have to find a sport of some sort to get you into shape."

"Get into shape? Why? I think my body looks perfectly fine." I said. I mean, I'm a little skinnier than the average but otherwise, I think I'm okay.

"You'll want to look good because in a few months, you'll be performing in an annual music event. There'll be many artists attending and you have to do your best to stand out." She started typing on her phone. "Hurry up and pick a sport or register in a gym, or I'll be forced to pick what you'll do."

I huffed. There I was again, being told what to do and being forced to do things I didn't want to do. I won't even be shocked when I'm forced to change my last name for the sake of a pleasant sounding stage name or be told to disown my family because they aren't good enough in the eyes of the public.

Ugh.

By the time I got home, it was already half past eight.

"Dad?" I questioned, looking at my father who was lying on the couch with a blanket wrapped around him and a coffee mug in his hands. He was watching the television with his head turned to the side and I'm pretty sure that could lead him to having a sore neck.

"Oh, Gimelle! You're back!" He smiled at me, making me feel warm and at peace. He was the only person who truly made me happy. Everyone else but him just seemed to place heavy burdens on my shoulders.

I sat on the space by his feet and frowned. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be manning the restaurant at this hour?"

He chuckled and sat up, rubbing his nape. I knew his position would make him feel sore. "I just got a little dizzy this morning and decided to stay in for the day."

"Dizzy? You can't stay in just because you're dizzy." I said and touched his forehead with the back of my hand. It was warmer than usual.

"Are you sick?" I asked worriedly.

He still smiled at me despite his state and waved his hands in the air. "Probably just tired. I might've overworked a little for the past few days."

I gave him a serious look. "Don't do that, okay? It's not good. I don't want you being kept from doing what you love because of a cold."

His hand settled on top of my head, ruffling my hair. His smile got wider. "Okay, dear. Don't be so worked up. The fans won't like you with wrinkles."

"Doesn't matter. You'll still love me for it, right?"

"Of course! But we don't want others to start thinking funny of the lines on your forehead, hmm?"

He quickly put his arms around me for a hug and leaned his head on my shoulder. I let myself be enveloped in his embrace and giggled. I missed my dad.

"By the way, who's taking care of the restaurant if you're not there?" I asked.

"Oh, since Porter quit recently, Tracy volunteered to help me."

I immediately sat up straight and gave my dad an 'are you serious' look. "Really now? Why her? She can barely even manage me and Paul in this house!"

"Hey, don't say bad things about your mother, Gigi."

"Step mother."

"Gimelle." He pursed his lips, making me stop pouting. He set the mug on the table and placed both hands on my cheeks. "Just trust me on this, okay? I trust Tracy with my whole heart, so you should too."

"Ugh. Fine." I looked away and turned to the television to avoid being talked to. I don't understand just how my loving, caring, and amazing father ended up with a bratty, reprimanding, biased and extremely annoying tyrant of a woman. He's just too precious to stoop to her level. It really must be some sort of enchantment.

I sighed before focusing my eyes on the channel.

"Now on Gossip Daily! The rumors between instafamous star Gigi and artist Hannibal are further heating up due to recently surfacing text messages—" I felt a zap of electricity as I hurriedly switched the channel. I glanced to see if my dad was watching and thankfully, he was too absorbed with his coffee mug.

He looked up just as I faced the television again. "Oh? You changed it? I was watching the news."

"Pft, news." I said nervously, glueing my eyes on the screen to find a reasonable excuse. They were featuring wildlife animals. "C-can't you see how interesting snakes are? They're almost the same as news! Both showing uh—venomous predators and, and sad deaths! Yeah!"

My dad only looked at me with an amused expression before laying back comfortably. "Okay, Gimelle. Whatever you say."

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Okay so this is just a filler chapter (kinda) before I go back to the matters at hand. I'm also deciding on the character playing Hannibal and I'm torn in between Colton Haynes and Max Irons. Help me choose, if you will. Hope you liked this update!

xoxo

~Naf ♡