Trapped In-between.

Hated by him.

Mateo blinked once, then twice. He was sure that his eyes had deceived him into thinking that the person he thought was standing was actually not the one. Yet, no matter how many times he blinked, he could not stop seeing her standing at the same spot.

She was dressed in a very short dress that was no doubt meant to accentuate her body curved. The dress indeed did the job it was gotten for. Her heels made her long legs even longer and in return, she looked even taller than she already was. When he realized what he was up to, he batted his eyelashes several times to keep from imagining the impossible. How could he be seeing what and what dressing up did for her when it was obvious they were going to be partners?

More correctly, a boss and a worker. So, no, he shouldn't be gloating so hard at the woman, even if all he wanted was just to rip off that dress from her body. He blinked hard and cleared his throat the moment he realized what he was thinking about again. He gave the woman of his thoughts just a single look and went over room where Mr. Fernandez was seated.

"Mr Fernandez." He said as a form of greeting to the man who had employed him to boost his fashion line.

Mateo was proud of what he did for a living. Apart from the cool cash that came with being a fashion expert that helps fashion brands make their name in the fashion world, it was always fufiling when he could always point brands and companies he had helped attained a more greater height when the owners were already losing hope.

"Mr. Andrea." Mr. Fernandez greeted in response. He gestured over at Sandy. "That is Sandra. She is one of the models you would be working with on this project." He confirmed.

Sandy waited to see how Mateo would react to those words. She also wanted to hear what he would say or even if he would bother about acknowledging her. When the man walked in, her heart had flown out of her chest as she became apprehensive that he would mock her for even bothering to come for an interview when she had dished herself out and had a casual one night stand.

But imagine her shock when the man just took a single look at her and dismissed her like she didn't exist in the first place, not to talk about standing in the same room with him. Perhaps he had done that because he didn't want to implicate her. She could only imagine what Mr. Fernandez's reaction would have been of if he found out that the same person who would be supervising the models already had s*x with one of them. Everyone would be thinking nothing other than saying that Mateo would favor her because they had some kind of history together.

If she was to look at it that way, it was the best way to avoid many things. She consoled herself with that fact. She nodded her head slightly as if to feed the words in to her skulls until every being in her accepted that fact.

Now that they were going to be working together, she wanted to know what he thought of her. What he thought of her as a worker, as a model, if he thought that she was worth being trained. If she could make the effort of making it big in the industry. She didn't want to think about it twice,but somehow she knew that the man's opinion mattered to her. It could be a boost to her and her start of a career.

"Her?" Mateo said. His tone was disconsending.

Even before he finished what he wanted to say, Sandy knew without a doubt that the man was going to say something that would make her wish that they had never met before, not even by chance.

"She doesn't even look to me like someone who knows just how to dress right. So, how did she pass the interview?" He turned to face Mr. Fernandez. "Are you telling me you don't mind lowering your standards just because you think you really need models?" He finished.

Sandy's eyes burned. She didn't know why, but it felt like some kind of hot whatever had been dropped into her eyeballs, and she didn't know how to get the pain to ease. How could they man say such a callous thing to her? She sniffed to keep the tears from falling. There was no way she would show a weakness in the presence of the same man who thought so less of her already. Never mind that she already constituted nonsense in the presence of her employer, Mr. Fernandez, just a few days ago.

"But, she is the best from all the models we got." Mr. Fernandez said in her defense, and she has never been more grateful. "Prior to this interview, I already met her outside. Believe me when I tell you she looked like a Disney princess." He chuckled as he added the last part.

Mateo, who was supposed to join in the compliment, shook his head and hissed loudly. "If she is the best you got, may I suggest that you fire every one of them and leave the job of finding the right models to me?" He turned to look at Sandy finally. "Because I don't think you got the right ones."

"But what is wrong with her?" The woman with them finally spoke up.

"You want to tell me you don't see it?" Mateo asked them. He looked surprised that none of them saw what he was seeing. He pointed his hand at Sandy and waved it up and down her length. "Just take the way she is dressed for an example."

Sandy looked down at herself even before he finished talking. She glanced at the short gown she wore. It was an animal skin dress. On the two sides, there were keyholes that had ropes on them. The ropes were used to adjust how wide the hole would be. Currently, she made sure the rope covered a considerate amount of flesh rather than exposing it the way she usually did. Also, she wore silver heels that had sparkling stones sets on the tips to compliment the dress. To her, the dressing was top-notch. She couldn't see why Mateo was picking on her unnecessarily.

"Maybe she wore whatever she had to the interview. Once the real work starts, our stylists will be the one to choose their dresses." Mr. Fernandez tried to explain to the French man.

"And her hair? What's with all the waves and curls? Whatever happens to steight and bouncing hair?" Mateo said, acting like he didn't hear the first excuse.

Sandy became tired of how harsh he treated her. If he had any problem with her -which would likely be because she threw herself at him- then he should come out clean with her, instead of trying to humiliate her in front of people that mattered. That would have been even better if he stopped at that. The man was trying his all best to sabotage her chance of working for the big shot like Mr. Fernandez.

She knew how damaging this kind of situation could turn out to be. If he succeeded in making Mr. Fernandez threw her off the list of his models, the news would fly back to her agency, and that would mean an automatic black list for her. The agency would refuse to recommend her to people , especially people who could give her career the turnover she needed. So, no, she wasn't planning to remain mute.

"Actually, my hair is this way because that is how it is naturally. It has a lot of waves." She explained to him. A smile was plastered on her face that she felt she would never be able to take off again because of how she strained to keep it on.

"Whether it is curling or wavy or its just rough, I don't care. The point is, when wearing a dress such as the one you currently have on, a straight hair is the ideal hair to spot with it."

"But then, most people usually just wear their hair-"

"Mr. Fernandez, may I talk to you? Alone?" Mateo said, cutting into Sandy's words, effectively dismissing her from his line of thoughts.

He and Mr Fernandez went out, leaving Sandy speechless. The other woman with her gave her an apologetic smile and went out of the place, leaving her alone with her thoughts.

The first thing that came to her mind was to curse the French man for sabotaging her dream. She managed to keep her tears at bay since she figured that it would be a little uncalled for when she was not yet dismissed. For all she knew, Mr. Fernandez might be a man who stood on his order, and no matter the pressure from Mateo, the other man might not give in.

Nonetheless, that didn't stop her from saying the word, "i***t," as she walked out of the place.