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‘Helen! Oh my God! How nice to hear from you again!’ Toni exclaimed. ‘Nice to hear you voice again hun! Gosh… I miss you so much!’ Helen replied. Toni pressed the phone closer to her ear, since the line wasn’t clear enough. ‘Yeah, I miss you too.’ ‘Well, we all miss you here, especially you know who… anyway, the other girls say hi.’ Helen said, quickly changing the subject. ‘Aww… well, tell them I miss them too. Umm… how’s Patricia?’ ‘She’s fine but she’s still pretty upset that you couldn’t go to her wedding.’ Helen answered. Toni bit her lip. ‘Could you tell her I’m really sorry?’ she asked, playing with the telephone cord. ‘I will, and I’m pretty sure she understands.’ said Helen. A brief silence fell upon them. ‘Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you why I called… goodness I’m becoming totally forgetful these days! Listen, I need a favor from you…’ Helen said, crossing her fingers. She prayed with all her might that Toni would say yes. ‘Sure! Anything!’ Toni said cheerfully. ‘You mean it? Anything?’ Helen asked, surprised at Toni’s enthusiasm. “Yes! Helen! Get on with it! The suspense is killing me here!’ Toni said, laughing. ‘Okay! Okay! Well, we need you to take care of a few things… Patricia quit her job being Westlife’s tv plugger, because Kian asked her to I think. And well… I quit being Westlife’s publicist coz I’m 3 months pregnant and…’ “WHAT?!’ Toni screamed, shock filling her. ‘Tell me I heard it right! Tell me you’re really pregnant!’ Toni said, almost running her words on top of each other. ‘Yes! Isn’t it great? Bry and I are so thrilled!” said Helen. The happiness was clearly heard in her voice. ‘It’s totally fab! Oh my God! This is so wonderful… is it a boy or a girl?’ Toni asked eagerly. Helen laughed softly at the other end of the line. ‘It’s too early to tell Toni. By next month, we’ll know if it’s a boy or girl.’ ‘Oh… I see…’ Toni answered, embarrassed at her stupidity. ‘So, are you willing to take my job?’ Helen asked, catching Toni off-guard. ‘What?’ she asked, surprised. With all the excitement of hearing Helen’s good news, she totally forgot about Helen’s request. ‘Toni, I asked you if you could take over my job as the band’s publicist for the mean time. And there’s no way you can back out of this ‘coz you said that you’d do anything I asked.’ Helen said matter-of-factly. ‘Well, it looks like I don’t have much of a choice do I?’ Toni said, sighing. She could practically hear Helen whisper “Yes!” in the background. ‘Great! Well, I better go now… this phone call is gonna be huge when I get the bill! I’ll just email you and tell you all of the important details okay?’ said Helen. “No problem.’ Toni said. She was secretly happy that Helen asked her to be Westlife’s temporary publicist. That way, maybe, just maybe, she could get back together with Mark. It was a huge mistake to have let him go in the first place.
‘What did she say? What did she say?’ Mark asked, practically half-shouting at Helen. ‘She said yes, and I’m quite surprised at her enthusiasm!” Helen said, grinning at Mark as she placed the phone down. ‘YES!’ Mark shouted, doing a little victory dance. He knew Toni wanted to get back with him. He could just feel it. He knew her far too well. Helen laughed as she watched Mark dance around the living room. Bryan, who was sitting on the couch, stood up and joined him, making Helen laugh harder. ‘Helen! I owe you big time! Thanks a lot!’ Mark said, giving her a hug and kissed her on the cheek. ‘Oi! Get off my missus! She’s mine!’ Bryan joked as Mark turned and looked at him. ‘Ha! For all I know, you’re just jealous! Come here and I’ll hug and kiss you too!’ Mark said, opening his arms. “Aaah! Helen! Help me!’ Bryan shouted as Mark chased him around the room. He hid behind Helen who was now laughing uncontrollably. ‘You guys! Stop it! You’re killing me here…’ Helen gasped in between giggles. ‘Yeah… and I gotta go do something for me mam. I’ll see you guys later. Oh, thanks once again!’ Mark shouted as he made his way to the door, a smile on his face. ‘Finally! She’s coming back, and this time, I really hope she stays for good.’ He thought happily as he got into his car and drove off. |
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