Next One Is a Babe

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In other words, Hannah was worried that Aurora might end up causing trouble for herself. After all, she and Ian tended to become subjects of controversy and scandal. This was specifically the case for Ian, and if anything happened to Aurora, he would inevitably be dragged into it as well.

Aurora felt for her phone and stared at the man's number. She had unblocked it last night, but she blocked it once more.

Frankly speaking, she thought her indecisiveness was rather irritating as well, but perhaps boredom had gotten the better of her. Now, she was so languid that she didn't know what to do with herself.

When she saw the man's number in the list of her blocked contacts, she sighed in exasperation and went back to the homescreen. She curled up on the couch, and at that moment, she felt as if she had returned to the days when she had nothing to do and was left to her own devices to pass the time.

She closed her eyes. Since she was bored out of her mind, she started thinking about all that had happened in her past. Have I ever really loved anyone before? She realized that she had, but that person was now buried six feet under; all the sentiments, good or bad, had turned into dust and ashes alongside him.

She hadn't loved anyone since, and those who came and went only managed to alleviate her loneliness for brief seasons at a time. The world seemed too large for her to spend the rest of her life alone; she liked the idea of companionship, but those who came and offered to stay never kept their word about forever.

They left her for a plethora of reasons, and while some of them were valid, most of them were not. She could be happy or reluctant to let them go, but she could never stop the end from coming. If she had to be honest, the past seven or eight relationships of her adult life had scarred her. Only one or two of them had actually ended in a clean, amicable break.

The rest ended so sourly that she found herself left with tatters of the relationship. She didn't want things to end on such an ugly note, but every man she had been with said she was a hard act to follow. They even said that she was exhausting to be with because she wanted to win all the time.

At the thought of this, she let out a bitter laugh. She didn't have a choice but to be assertive and aggressive because she needed to protect herself. No man could ever give her the sense of security she needed, so she made herself stronger and put her guard up just to keep herself safe.

She didn't have to be that way had the right man come along and promised her the security she so desperately craved. On the contrary, she would have given him her feelings on a silver platter.

After all, any woman would want to have someone they could depend on. Any woman would love to have her guard down and allow a man to take charge of the bigger things in life so that she could indulge in the romance of a relationship instead of fighting for it all the time.

Yet, none of the men she had met so far could give her that privilege, so she put up a strong and unwavering front that made her come off as disagreeable at times, but it wasn't as if she had a choice.

She flipped on her side and faced the back of the couch. A while later, hot tears pricked her eyes, and she thought they might spill over. She couldn't remember the last time she had been so sad and wallowed in self-pity. She was so used to being strong that she forced herself to pull through hardship on instinct, but it was only in moments like this that she realized just how tired she was.

Meanwhile, over at the set, Ian had only just finished filming a couple of scenes. Now that he was taking a break, he sat 0 one of the chairs to the side and took a sip of water.

The driver leaned over and asked in hushed tones, "Hey, what's going on today? You guys had a lot of takes for the same scene, right?"