Ryleigh tapped Holly's shoulder gently. 'Yeah?' Setting aside the buttercream she was making, Holly lifted her head and smiled widely.

'Do you have a cousin in Navesland?' Ryleigh asked.

'Yeah, she lives in a giant house there. How does a social media person even earn so much money?' Holly joked.

Ryleigh grinned at her response, 'Tessa Wesley send her regards to you by the way.'

'Yeah, yeah...wait...' Holly went wide-eyed, confused, she asked, 'Wait, how do you know my cousin?'

'She used to be my neighbor when I was in Navesland.'

After recovering from her shock, Holly chuckled, 'Did she tell you any horror stories of me?'

'Um...just a few about how you were a copycat and a moody teenager with major anger management issues.'

Holly burst into laughter, bending down to slap her leg. Her continuous loud and throaty laugh left her gasping for air. People in the kitchen through her questioning glances but Holly didn't care and kept sending out giggle after giggle from her mouth. 'Alright, girl! You're going to push the bowl over!' Ryleigh warned.

Holly finally managed to calm herself down. 'Oh, yeah what Tessa said was probably understating true facts.' Holly admitted. 'I was a horrible teenager, the worst. Which is probably why no one except Tessa could tolerate my temper tantrums.'

'Wait seriously? I thought Tessa was exaggerating!' Ryleigh proclaimed.

'Well the copycat part maybe but anything she said about me after the age of 13 was definitely an understatement!' Holly said with a cheeky grin.

'Huh? But how bad could you be, I mean, you're the nicest, sweetest person ever.' Ryleigh was completely mystified by Holly's confession. She was almost certain that Holly would either deny it or call it an exaggeration of the truth.

Holly took a deep breath and looked at Ryleigh meaningfully. 'When I was younger, my parents were constantly working, working, working, chasing nobility, wealth and other pointless materialistic things. Tessa was sort of like a second parent or an older sister to me.'

Ryleigh took in her words. Maybe Holly did have something dark in her past that still haunted her as well...maybe Ryleigh wasn't so different to everyone else after all.

Holly continued. 'So as a teenager, I basically treated people the way my parents treated me, cold and condescending which I know now is horrible by the way. Anyway, my parents didn't really have time for me so since I was 13, I basically lived with Tessa in her apartment for about 3 years, then she left to Navesland. In those three years, Tessa taught me how to act appropriately, how to treat people properly and I know that it wasn't easy at all on her end but I'm grateful.'

Ryleigh pondered for a bit. Why Navesland? How did she scrounge up enough money to move into a decent-sized house at 22? 'How is Tessa...how did she...um...' Ryleigh stammered, unsure of how to phrase her sentence without sounding like a busybody.

'How did she do it? Buy a giant house in Navesland at 22?' Holly finished Ryleigh's sentence. Ryleigh nodded.

'First is the obvious reason, Tessa was blessed with alluringly beautiful features, long and silky hair, stunning blue eyes, a symmetrical high nose, a tall statuesque figure, honey-coloured skin...She was the epitome of beauty. While she was in New York University studying media arts or something, some modeling agency saw her on campus and asked her to do a few photo shoots with them and slowly she began working with them more and more.'

Holly paused for awhile to put her buttercream into the refrigerator and continued. 'Tessa knew she was super gorgeous so she started an Instagram account and became an influencer almost overnight. Brands paid her to promote their stuff and all that. After a couple more months, she took it one step further and started a youtube channel that now has like four million subscribers. Mostly it's just clothing hauls with her self-indulgent posing but it looks good so people watch it.' Holly giggled.

'Wait, I've never heard of her youtube channel! She never told me!' Ryleigh said, pulling out her phone to search up Tessa's channel. She typed 'Fashionably Tessa' like how Holly told her to and a bunch of videos popped up. Clothing hauls, healthy eating, workout routine, makeup tutorials, vlogs...All with over five million views. 'Wow.'

'That's my cousin for you.' Holly said.

'But why did she move to Navesland?' Ryleigh asked further. It didn't make sense. If she had just got a degree in media arts and she's gorgeous and is an influencer, she could have easily gotten a job in fashion or even on broadway if she had the passion for it.

Holly eyed at Ryleigh hesitantly, pursing her lips together. Finally , Holly whispered softly 'Promise not to tell Tessa I told you?'

'Of course!' Ryleigh nodded and swore to secrecy.

'Being a model and super active on social media, you're bound to have some crazy stalkers, Tessa did. He would dm her on Instagram everyday asking for...pictures and sending her pictures. It was really disgusting.' Ryleigh stared at the floor guiltily, feeling like she was hearing something very private and intimate to Tessa that she shouldn't be knowing.

Holly continued. 'Somehow, this guy found out Tessa's schedule. That day, Tessa was modeling for a swimwear line that was going to be released. This guy posed as the photographer and took a lot of pictures of her. He even went up to her and touched her very inappropriately, claiming to be showing her how to pose. Although she was uncomfortable, Tessa was very professional and went with it. He then took out a super revealing bikini from his bag and instructed her to model in it.' Ryleigh froze...she sensed that something very bad was about to happen so she braced herself.

'Tessa refused to do it and he threatened that she would lose her job as a model. Tessa told me he gripped onto her waist and traced her body until she agreed to wear it. So she did and he took so many pictures of her from different angles and positions.' Holly gritted through her teeth, speaking about this sorry excuse of a man was making her blood boil.

'The next day, she got a call from the agency saying that the photographer apologized for not being able to attend yesterday because he caught the flu. That's when she knew...she had been sexually harassed. She couldn't stay in New York anymore, she was emotionally scarred.' Holly's voice broke as her eyes started to well up.

'I remember that night so clearly... Tessa crying helplessly in her room and I didn't do anything about it because I wanted to keep up my 'cool' teenager reputation so I just went back to my room and slept, even though I knew why she was so miserable. The next day, I woke up and she was gone. My parents told me she left to Navesland for a better job but I knew the real reason behind her departure.' Holly said as tears streamed down her cheeks.

Ryleigh was left speechless after Holly's words. It was disgusting as it was tragic. Through Ms. Wesley's story, Ryleigh realized that everyone had a scar or some sort from the past, be it an emotional one or physical one. And the fact that something so unfortunate happened to one of her best companions was just heart breaking. She hugged Holly in her arms, finally understanding the tears behind Ms. Wesley's jovial smiles.