Sighing to herself while rolling her eyes, Valentina took the phone and answered the call.

“Hello?”

“Hey. How come you kept ending the call?” Rio’s low voice came out of the phone.

“No reason. How come you kept calling? It’s late.” Valentina replied quickly before glancing over at Kaiser. Seeing that he was staring at her attentively, she quickly got up with her tray and began heading to the kitchen.

“No reason.” Rio chuckled lightly, “Did you see the video? How do you like it.”

“I just saw it. It came out really good. Shout out to the team for such a good job producing and editing it. And I guess the vocals weren’t too bad either.” She joked as she rinsed out her dishes and placed them in the dishwasher.

“Wow. A compliment for once. I'm surprised.” Rio laughed once more.

“Are you?”

“I am.”

“Well don't let it get to your head. Why did you actually call me Rio?” Valentina asked him in a low voice.

“Ah. I realized that I didn’t follow you on socials so I wanted to let you know ahead of time since it might cause an extra buzz for you. Have you properly set everything?”

Hearing his words, Valentina could feel a headache coming. Last time she checked, Rio was following about 10 people on his personaal account. Apart from Shawn, he followed a few important people in his management company and no other women.

“I did but are you trying to curse me. Do you want your fans to do perform voodoo on me?” she asked him in irritation. If he followed her now, his fans might think there was something between them and truly hunt her down. Rio had maintained his single status as far as she knew, and his fans were perfectly fine with their male god remaining single. She didn’t want to be the woman who became the target of their anger.

“Haha it won't be that bad. I wanted to do it a while back and figured now was a good time to do it with all the promotional stuff going out especially things that are getting released tomorrow. It should fly under the radar, but I wanted you to know before I did it.”

“Please don’t. Or if you do, please at least follow Yuri as well.”

“Hard Pass. I don’t like her attitude.” Rio immediately rejected it.

“Rio.” She warned him in a serious tone.

“Val.” He replied with another laugh as he heard her sigh.

“Please spare me.”

“No can do. Welcome to fame. Get some rest and don’t worry too much about it. Think of it as a reward for doing such a great job on my video. The reception has been great and a good portion of it is due to you. Okay?”

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

“Mnn fine. It seems I don’t really have a choice.” She sighed in resignation.

“You don’t. Anyways, text me your new address since you're not at your apartment. The team wants to send you some stuff as thanks.”

“Got it. Anything else?”

“Nope. Good night Val. Sleep well.” Rio said softly.

“I would sleep better if you didn’t do this to me.” She grumbled at him.

Rio laughed once more before cutting the call.

Valentina glanced up and saw that Kaiser had gotten up and was watching her.

She arched her brow at him questioningly.

“Rio huh? You’ve gotten close to each other.” He nodded at her phone.

Oops. She guessed he had heard her.

“Well somehow or the other we became friends, so we chat every now and then. We did work together after all. Is that a problem?” she answered nonchalantly as she examined his expression. He just silently stared at her.

“Kaiser? Is that a problem? Rio and I being friendly with each other?” she doubled down and asked again.

Seeing that he didn’t say anything, she smirked as she hopped onto the counter and gestured for him to come to her.

Kaiser slowly walked over to her. When he stood in front of her, she wrapped his tie around her hand and pulled him closer until his body touched her legs. She willingly separated them, and he pressed himself as close as possible.

“Kaiser? Is it a problem that me and Rio are friends?” She asked again with a teasing smile.

Kaiser sighed before placing his arms on the counter, trapping her within his arms. His head hovered right in front of hers, so close that she could count each of his long thick lashes. As his gray eyes stared at her seriously, she could feel herself almost blushing but she resisted and arched her brows at him.

“Of course, it’s not a problem. I just feel a little jealous that you're close enough to call and chat with another man and yet you don’t do that with me.”

“I send you daily updates of Luca.” She reminded him with a small smile. It seemed that the weird feeling she had been getting was him being jealous.

“Luca is Luca. And I'm me.”

“Well, we see each other almost every day.”

“Not every day. There are days when I don’t see you at all. That the only contact I have with you is you sending me a picture or video of Luca. We don’t talk daily at all.” Kaiser continued in a serious tone.

“You’re upset that I don’t talk to you daily?” She clarified, finding his frustration rather cute.

“Yes. I’d like it if you called me sometimes to chat too. Not just about Luca. I just want to talk and hear your voice. To get to know you better.”

“Mmm, but you're busy at work all day. You leave early and come back late. I certainly don’t want to disturb a big boss like you at work.”

“Disturb me. Call me at any time. I'll pick up no matter what.” Kaiser told her seriously.

Seeing that he meant it, Valentina really wanted to tease him again. She reached out and gently caressed his cheek, before smiling cheekily. Her hands ran through his hair, lightly massaging his head like he had done to her before. As he relaxed, she spoke.

“Hmmm, I hear what you're saying. But Kaiser, the phone works both ways. If you really want to talk to me. Shouldn’t you call me first? After all, I'm already living in your house. Spending time with your son. Doing my part of our deal. If you want anything more than that, shouldn’t you be showing some initiative? Where’s your sincerity?”

“Sincerity huh?” Kaiser closed his eyes as he enjoyed the gentle caress. It seemed that he had been slacking in showing his interest in the girl before him. It was a mistake he would correct immediately.

“Yes, sincerity. Didn’t you say you wanted to get to know me better?”

“Hmmm, I wanted to respect your pace given the work that you do and the fact that you’ve been quite busy. But if it’s sincerity and initiative you want, consider your message heard.” Kaiser then opened his eyes and smiled before pressing a kiss to her palm.

Seeing the smirk on his face, Valentina immediately felt as if she had awakened a wild beast. She immediately wanted to take her words back.

“Actually, on second thought, maybe no-”

“No takebacks. Sincerity and Initiative right? I heard your message loud and clear. Look forward to my sincerity Valentina.”

Kaiser chuckled; his voice low as he gazed down at her.

Valentina: “….” She really needed to reign in this flirtatious personality of hers.

“What kind of flowers do you like Valentina? Roses? Lilies?”

“Peonies are actually my favorite next to plum blossoms. But why are you asking? You’ve already bought me flowers.” Valentina looked at him suspiciously.

“Don’t worry about it. You should get some sleep. You're going to need your energy.” Kaiser chuckled once more, and Valentina swore she saw devil horns appear behind him.

“Okay?” She couldn’t help but look at him suspiciously again. What was he planning?

Kaiser backed away and she slid down from the counter, following behind him as he grabbed her selected vase full of flowers and walked up the stairs before stopping at her room door.

As she took the vase and entered her room, Kaiser called her name.

“Valentina?”

“Yes?” she turned to look at him.

Rather than responding, Kaiser gently lifted a piece of her hair, pressing a kiss to it before releasing it.

“Look forward to my sincerity. Good night. Sleep well”

“Good night Kaiser.” She hesitantly replied before quickly shutting the door before throwing herself down on her bed.

She had definitely released a beast. No matter how she thought about it, those words sounded like a threat!