THE MIRRORED WEREWOLF MODEL

#8 Enduring Torture

"Sandra, May, you please get me a glass of iced water, hurry up please." Chloe's voice is trembling as if she's running out of her breath as she pulls out the chair from her desk to sit down

Sandra, looking all puzzled and lost at the same time, she hastily stands up from her own desk and heads to the canteen and comes back with a bottle full of iced water and an empty glass and puts them on the desk in front of Chloe who within a blink of an eye gulped down the glass of water.

"Are you sure you okay?" Asks Sandra as she touches Chloe's forehead to feel the temperature. "Geez, you even sweating." Sandra pours her the second glass of water.

"I'm okay, I guess I was driving faster than usual rushing for the interview." Responds Chloe as she gulps down the second glass.

"As you can see none of the judges have arrived as yet…" before Sandra could finish her sentence, she notices that Chloe's face is really in need of some makeup revamp and suggests that Chloe quickly runs to the bathroom to fix it before the other judges arrive.

Chloe scratches her head in hesitation, dreading to exit the office especially when thinking of passing through those mirrors mounted on the wall right at the bathroom's doorway.

"How about you quickly help me out with it here in the office?" Pleads Chloe

Without wasting time, Sandra grabs her makeup bag from her hand bag. Just when she is about to apply a foundation on Chloe's face, there walks in the first judge, Miss Universe. "Morning beauty queens." She greets

"Hi Miss Universe." Chloe and Sandra greet back in unison with Chloe facing down hiding her face from Miss Universe. Chloe then snatches the makeup bag away from Sandra's hand and runs to the bathroom. Before entering the bathroom door, she pauses a bit and breathes heavily while thinking of ways on how to manuvre through without setting eyes on the mirrors. Her cellphone rings, disturbing her anxiety. She yanks it out from the front pocket of her jeans and looks at its screen before pressing on the accept button. It's Sandra. "Chloe, all the judges are here already as well as the contestants."

Chloe hangs up without saying anything back to Sandra and hastily puts the phone back into the pocket and eventually decides to get closer to the mirror. Just as she is about to apply the make up on her face, there is Busi's face starring back at her within the bathroom mirror. Luckily this time around she is now used to the whole ordeal and it doesn't shake her anymore like how it used to when it first started except for it still leaves her tortured.

She sighs heavily and steps away from the mirror instantly while carrying Sandra's makeup bag in her hand. At this point she wishes somebody could just walk in and save her all the trouble. Before she even swallows her saliva, indeed one random lady barges in as if she is been listening to her prayers and helps her out with with the makeup at last.

Finally, the interview is over and the top 30 finalists have been chosen and only waiting on the actual date of the competition. All the other judges are gone already, Chloe and Sandra are the only two remaining behind as usual. Sandra is busy packing her stuff, preparing to go home, Chloe on the other hand is pacing up and down the office, twirling a pen in between her fingers and not showing any sign of going home.

"Something on your mind Miss CEO?" Asks Sandra as she pauses for a moment from packing to gaze at Chloe.

Chloe clears her throat first and rolls her eyes before responding. She is thinking of ways on how she can get Sandra to call Busi to come to the office without getting neither of them suspicious. "Hmmm...I am actually thinking of our top 30 finalists."

"Thinking what about the top 30 finalists?" Sandra opens her eyes widely so she can thoroughly hear Chloe's response.

Chloe again clears her throat, this time facing down on the floor, shying away from Sandra while thinking hard of the response to give to her next.

"I have created new contracts for our none American citizen contestants and I am thinking you need to call on that South African model." Chloe goes on to scratch her head, pretending to have forgotten Busi's names. "What's her name again?" She glances at Sandra.

Poor Sandra, though she remembers the contestant Busi, who is now among the top 30 finalists, she still finds it hard to pronounce her names clearly unless she reads them out from a book or from a written object. She quickly stretches her hand over the shelf to reach for the contestants' portfolios that are neatly and alphabetically filed and pulls Busi's portfolio out. "Here, her name is Busisiwe Dube. Busi, as known to the people." She hands the portfolio to Chloe

"Please ring her and tell her to quickly come to the office to sign the contract." Orders Chloe

"Done boss lady, she's on her way coming. I'm afraid I'm gonna have to leave you behind though while you wait for her to come. Heaven is working late shift and I have the car with me."

"No it's fine Sandra, you can go. I will wait for her. Thank you"

Chloe, now all alone in the office, she keeps glancing at the widely opened door every second she gets, hoping Busi would barge in at any given time. She is already getting cold feet just by thinking of the name Busi, let alone the thought of seeing her. She wishes she had a bottle of whiskey hidden somewhere inside the drawers of her cupboard's office so she could sip to calm her nerves down.

She silently says a brief prayer whilst still keeping her sitting position, facing through the entrance of the door.

"God please help me look her straight in the eyes and not shy away whenever she walks through that door. She fiercely looks at the direction of the door. "Also, Please reveal to me why I keep seeing her face instead of my own reflection whenever I look myself in the mirror and for how long more must I endure this torture?"