I saw Naomi getting off a cab in front of The Oriental restaurant along with two girls. I recognized them immediately from the photos she e-mailed me. When she saw me coming from the parking lot, she gave me a quick wave and a cheek-to-cheek welcome.
“It’s so good to finally meet you,” Naomi said. She turned to the two girls behind her. “I want you to meet my friends.” She gestured to the girl with dark short hair and dark skin. “This is Moira Rider, she’s also my roommate.” Then she gestured to the pale Asian girl with long jet black hair. “And this is Aoi Erizawa, my next door neighbor.”
“Hi, nice to meet you,” I said giving the two girls a handshake.
“You can call me Ashley,” said Aoi. “It’s my American name, and people usually have a hard time pronouncing my real one.”
“Okay, Ashley,” I responded with a smile.
“Let’s go in,” said Naomi locking her arms around mine.
The Oriental was different from what I expected. I was hoping for a more Eastern interior but everything seemed modernized, and not in a good way. The bright red wall paint made me feel uncomfortable, almost irritated. Contrasting it were blue and yellow stripes on the white columns in the corners of the wall, that made me feel like I’m in my parents’ era. Even so, people say that they serve the best lobster dishes in town and Naomi agreed to try it out.
We got a table by the window. Despite being so popular, the restaurant was nearly empty. It wasn’t as big as I thought it would be too. It could only accommodate about 20 people, but it seems that no one needs reservations if they were planning on dining here.
I slid on the seat next to Ashley and as soon as I did, the conversation began.
“Hey Sae,” said Naomi. “Remember the guy you said you’ve seen in commercials next to Ashley in the photo collage?”
I nodded. The waitress came with the menus and distributed them to us.
“Well, his name is Jessie Kanzaki,” Naomi went on. “He’s slowly breaking into showbiz, and he’s gonna be guest starring in a crime series. And he’s…”
“He’s my fiancé,” Ashley added, bringing up her hand and showing me her huge engagement ring.
I gasped and covered my mouth. The ring was silver, with small diamonds on its double band, centered with an intricate diamond studded snowflake. It was truly gorgeous.
“That’s one of the most beautiful rings I’ve ever seen,” I told Ashley. “Congratulations. You are so lucky.”
“That’s what I told her when I saw it,” said Moira. “You should tell Sae how Jessie proposed, she’ll love it.”
The waitress came back before Naomi could add anything. “Are you ready to order?”
“Um…sure,” said Ashley. “Do we all agree to their famous lobster dish?”
We all nodded.
“I’ve been actually looking forward to eating here,” said Moira. “I love seafood.”
“Me too,” I told her. “So what kind of work do you guys have?”
“I’m CEO of a small publishing company, Polaris Publishing?” said Naomi. “Moira is VP.”
My eyes widened. Most of my favorite books were published by them. I was an unemployed amateur blogger, sitting with corporate big shots. What they want with me I’m not really sure, but at that moment I was feeling pretty intimidated.
Naomi instantly noticed my reaction. “I don’t mean to freak you out. Polaris was built by my grandfather and I’m still new to the whole thing so… I don’t have a full grip on the CEO thing.”
“Sure,” I said. “I’m just confused why you’re so interested in my blog. I mean, I’m sure there are plenty of talented bloggers and writers out there. I’m just doing it because I have so much free time at the moment.”
“Well, we didn’t come here on behalf of Polaris,” Moira explained. “We came here as fans and Naomi and I have always wanted to do a project separate from the company.”
I bit my lip and furrowed my brows. “I don’t get it, why did you come to me for this? I’m sure you guys could start your project without my help. I’m not even sure what I can contribute.”
“It’s not just you who will be in on it,” said Ashley. “We’ll be working with a lot of people in Alcove for this project. Naomi already asked me to help and we agree that your blog is the best place to share it. You have a good amount of readers from different places and you’re very likeable from your stories.”
Moira and Naomi nodded.
I was still unconvinced whether working with them was a good idea. I still need to look for a job and if I’m too busy doing this project with them how will that help my employment?
“We’ll give you some time to think about it,” said Naomi. “But let me explain what you’ll be getting in with us.”
I gave her a quick nod. The waitress came back with a pitcher of ice cold water and the moment she filled up my glass, I took a huge gulp, but my mouth was still a little dry.
“So Moira and I were talking one night about how Alcove has a lot of great places and interesting people that have hidden stories waiting to be written,” Naomi began. “Some of these stories are truly inspiring, but let’s face it, real life is boring.”
“We want to put a twist to it,” Moira continued. “We want to create stories based on their lives but with something extra.”
I wasn’t sure if I had full grasp on what they’re saying. “How do you guys intend to do that?” I asked.
“We put another theme to it,” Naomi replied. “Readers nowadays don’t read stories about things that are closer to reality. The farther they are from it, the better.”
“We came up with the first theme,” said Moira. She took an envelope from her purse and handed it to me.
Inside was a sketch of people in costumes. “Midnight Circus?” I said reading the title below it.
Naomi nodded. “It will be about someone in Alcove, but we change the setting and add more to the plot. We make it as close to their life story as much as possible but add that theme to make it more interesting.”
“And you guys think that people would enjoy reading it?” I said.
Naomi and Moira looked at each other and then back at me. “We’re not sure yet,” said Moira. “But I think it’s an idea worth trying. It might gather people’s interest, who knows?”
I raised my brows. “Then if people don’t like it, I might risk losing my readers.”
“That’s where Jessie comes in,” said Ashley. “I know he’s still new to show business, but he already has several loyal fans who would be happy to support us. He’ll be participating in the project too as much as he can.”
“And we know you have some problems looking for work,” Moira added. “If you sign up with us for Midnight Circus, you’ll be compensated well.” She handed me another envelope. Inside was a cheque for $10,000.
Just then, the waitress arrived at our table with our order. The lobster smelled heavenly with herbs, butter and lemon still sizzling inside the stuffed shell. With my stomach grumbling and the scent of the food, I couldn’t really concentrate on our conversation.
“Think about it,” Naomi said before we started digging in.
We were all quiet for some time, as we tried to satisfy the hunger that I didn’t seem to feel earlier that night. But even with the delicious meal that I happily introduce to my palette, my mind was on Naomi’s proposal. The money would sure help me out with my financial problem, but I’m still not entirely sure of what this all was. No matter how much they explain it, I couldn’t really see why of all people with blogs in cyberspace, they wanted Gossip Sae. But then there was another thing that I wanted to know.
“Whose life are we adapting to Midnight Circus?” I asked Naomi.
She gave me smile before she said. “Yours.”
CHAPTERS:
Gossip Sae 