Bound by Deception, Freed by Love

Chapter Three The cooking show ad

It all began when Moon was relaxing comfortably on the couch with her legs crossed and her best friend beside her. They both rested their heads down and their eyes roamed the magazine paper in their hands.

Moon was not a fan of magazine papers up until the moment her best friend, Solange introduced this magazine company known for printing out the latest trend in papers, Eleganza magazine.

They showcased all kinds of trends on paper which keep people updated on everything happening in the world. Solange became a fan of them a long while ago, while Moon just recently became a fan after enjoying reading a few of their papers.

Solange was close to flipping over to the next paper when Moon's loud screech caused her to freeze in her action.

"Wait, wait, wait. My eyes caught something." Moon screamed, trying to take the magazine from Solange's hands, but her grip on the magazine was firm, causing Moon to give up.

"What Moon? What did you see this time?" Solange groaned in frustration. Ever since they started reading the magazine after having breakfast, Moon would not let Solange read in peace, she would interrupt Solange every minute to talk about something else, and it had started to irritate Solange.

"Come on Sol, I am serious. I saw something like a cooking ad." Moon said, flashing Solange a puppy smile. Solange dared not to fall for it, she just rolled her eyes at how dramatic her best friend was.

"So what, Moon? We just had breakfast not long ago. Is the cooking ad making you crave more food because there is absolutely nothing at home for you." Solange said in a harsh tone that caused Moon to touch her chest in fake pain.

"Sol, just let me see the cooking ad. I promise that it will be worth your time and eyes." Moon whined, giving her best friend a slight nudge on the arm.

Sol groaned loudly but gave in any way, because she knew how pointless it was to even bother herself by arguing with Moon. Solange knew fully well that Moon never agreed to defeat in an argument, even when she was wrong. Solange tagged her best friend as a pest sometimes.

"Oh fine, but it had better be worth my time and eyes like you said." Solange snapped, shooting dagger glares at Moon who raised her hands in mock surrender.

Solange reluctantly flipped the pages backwards and Moon snatched the magazine from Solange's hands forcefully, almost ripping the magazine into two pieces. Moon's eyes widened in excitement as she read the details on that particular page of the magazine, whereas something else had caught Solange's interest.

"See! I told you, did I not?" Moon squealed excitedly.

"Told me what?" Solange snapped at her best friend. She turned her head in the direction of Moon and stared at her with a blank face.

"It is an ad, a cooking ad!" Moon went on, but it did not pique Solange's interest in the littlest way.

"So what Moon? No s**t Sherlock Holmes" Solange fired at Moon.

"Actually, it is a cooking show ad. A cooking show will be hosted to celebrate the seventy-five years anniversary in partnership with Tees Enterprise!" Moon yelled, causing Solange's attention to drift to the magazine at the mention of Tees Enterprise, a very famous company known for their massive sales and reliable partnership with other companies.

"Wow, Sol. Look at the prize money. The winner of the competition will go home with two hundred and fifty thousand dollars!" Moon screamed at the large figure.

Solange jumped to her feet at the imagination of having such money, her life would be set for eternity and the same thing was applicable to Moon.

"That is such an exciting gift. I wish one of us could participate, but we both suck at cooking. Your egg sauce this morning tasted really sour." Solange said, adding the last part as a joke which caused Moon to laugh hysterically.

"I do not suck at cooking." Moon tried to defend herself, but Solange interrupted her with a loud cough.

"I am sorry ma'am, but you do not get to determine if you cook well or not, only someone who has tasted your food a lot, and I am a living testimony that your food sucks." Solange said, which caused Moon to raise a brow at her friend.

"Okay fine. Maybe it does not suck, but a gazillion of people will also be out there wanting to win this prize money. I should remind you that even if you are not as wealthy as you used to be, you were born into a rich home and cooking is not really your thing." Solange said with a small sigh.

"Well, I know you do have a point, Solange, but at the same time, I need you to understand that I need this money by all means. I need to cover up my student debts and a lot of other debts. This would be a life changing experience for me if I won the competition." Moon said.

Solange nodded her head slowly in agreement with her best friend's words.

"I mean, it would not hurt to try, right?" Solange agreed with a small shrug.

A bright smile appeared on Moon's face as she nodded her head slowly.

"Oh, I am so going to register!" She said, already imagining the beautiful things that she could use the money for.One thing Moon had always learned was that she would always dream big and would always try any opportunity that came her way because she holds a strong conviction in the saying that opportunity only came once.

Her zeal to always seize any opportunity that crossed her path was what made Moon a lot different from everybody else. She was taught to always take risks.

The moment Moon clicked the button on her phone that indicated Register was when it all truly began for Moon.

The quest for money was what had set the path for her first meeting with Zanga.