Kaija was starting to feel like Juho was taking her teasing a little too seriously. He was going out of his way to defend himself, clarifying things she hadn’t even asked about, which was so unlike him.
"Erm... but why are you telling me this now?" she asked, one brow lifting.
Wasn’t he usually the one starting inappropriate jokes and having the most fun with them? She’d only been playing along up to this point to get through the exhausting photoshoot.
"Your impression of me is already bad enough," Juho said, the seriousness still etched across his face. "I have no intention of adding more dirt to the image you already have of me in your head. In fact, I intend to wipe that image away altogether."
"And... why would you even waste your energy caring about something so trivial?"
"Trivial?" Juho repeated incredulously. Here he was, trying his best to steer her feelings back his way, and to her, his efforts were nothing but a trivial matter.
Still, pride wouldn’t let him make it too obvious that he was chasing her feelings, trying to correct her view of him.
"It’s not trivial to me that I clean up my reputation with you," he said evenly instead. "You’re not just my model now, but my partner in several deals we’ve made so far. Who knows how many more we might share in the future? Reputation is crucial when it comes to sealing deals."
Kaija blinked, baffled by his reasoning. Was he really coming up with all this reputation nonsense just because her jokes had somehow insulted him?
With a sigh, she decided to clear it up once and for all, abandoning the teasing altogether.
"I was just joking around, Juho. Maybe that was my mistake. So please stop taking it the wrong way. As for the image I have of you, honestly, I don’t care how many girls you’ve slept with or haven’t, or whether you were serious about them."
Her attempt at clarification only pushed Juho into deeper frustration. "But you should care, Kaija," he stressed, his calm façade beginning to crack. "You were so ready to trust me to save you in life-or-death situations. Don’t you think you should at least know me a little personally before trusting me with your life?"
"The trust I have in you comes from how you’ve treated me one-on-one," Kaija replied. "So far, you’ve never harmed me, even when you could have. You’ve protected me, helped me. Since we make such good partners in crime, like you said, wouldn’t it be simpler to keep this strictly professional and leave personal matters aside?"
"So that’s what this is to you?" Juho scoffed. "A professional cooperation?"
"Erm... didn’t you say that yourself?" Kaija countered. "You said you like giving favors to people who’ll return them someday. The more troublesome the favor, the bigger the return. You help me, I help you. We’ve been perfectly fine keeping things that way, haven’t we?"
Ring, ring.
Both their attention snapped toward Kaija’s bag, which was hanging right on the outfit rack.
"Sorry, let me check the call for a minute," Kaija said. With a bit of struggle in the long gown, she reached the bag and found an incoming call on her phone, leaving Juho still standing stunned behind her, turmoil boiling in his gut.
Alvar Dalton was the contact name on the screen. Her eyes narrowed at the name for one second, already sensing something wrong, before picking up the call at last.
"Yes, Mr. Dalton?" Kaija said into the phone, hoping it wasn’t Niklas causing trouble that made the security team leader call her right in the middle of her shoot.
Unfortunately, her concern was confirmed the moment the other end spoke. "Ms. Sepala, I’m calling to inform you that we’ve spotted Niklas Morze, the man bothering you yesterday, entering the building."
Kaija’s mind quickly worked out why Niklas was even here today. He might have come to spew shameless words at her yesterday, but with Marja in the building today, the guy obviously must have come to see Marja, or maybe to take her home later.
"And your men didn’t stop him when he walked in this time?" she asked.
"We were about to approach him like we did yesterday, but before we could, a model came greeting him at the door and the guy followed her inside. This model... I’m sure you’re familiar with her name as much as we are. She was Marja Ralpha, so we didn’t want to make any brusque moves without consulting your opinion."
"I see," Kaija nodded, already grasping the whole situation. "Good call, Mr. Dalton. Please tell your men to stand by, no need to enter the building and draw unnecessary attention. I’ll deal with the guy myself, should I run into him."
"Ms. Sepala, should the guy make any physical contact with you again, or anything beyond that, I’m afraid Mr. Kosonen wouldn’t be very happy with me and my duty to you."
"You need not worry about that," Kaija replied. "With Marja Ralpha in the building, I doubt he’d do anything risky toward me." Then her gaze darted to Juho, who had been standing behind her all this time, her voice lifting a notch playfully. "Besides, I actually have a really good bodyguard inside the building with me."
Hearing Kaija’s decisive tone, Alvar, though reluctant, didn’t want to displease the lady and decided not to push her further.
"I’m glad that you do, Ms. Sepala. Just give me a word should you need my assistance. My men are stationed right outside the entrance and ready to intervene at any time."
Satisfied, Kaija ended the call.
"Who was that Mr. Dalton just now?" Juho asked, eyeing the faint smile playing on her lips with strange irritation.
Wasn’t one Mr. Kosonen clinging around her already annoying enough? Who was this Mr. Dalton now? And if he wasn’t mistaken, she’d just referred to him as her bodyguard over the phone.
"The guy leading the security team Charles gave me," Kaija replied. "After so many recent incidents, I finally have a whole security team ready to assist me whenever I need it."
Juho’s mouth twitched upward. Had he, the prideful son of a dangerous drug lord and a filthy rich politician, just gotten himself jealous over a security guy?
Regaining his composure, he focused on the more pressing matter he’d picked up from her call instead.
"Which guy were you talking to your security about?"
"The very one I just told you about," Kaija replied in a dispassionate tone. "My ex-boyfriend, the guy who cheated on me with Marja. I ran into him here again yesterday at the entrance, and he started blabbering nonsense, causing a scene. So I had my security team kindly ask him to leave."
"What sort of nonsense?"
"Nonsense like..." Kaija’s eyes squinted, trying hard to recall what Niklas had even said, though it was only yesterday. "I think he said something like... cheating on me with Marja was a mistake, and that he was still in love with me." Saying something so ridiculous out loud almost made her squirm.
Juho’s face darkened at once, his blood boiling again. Just how shameless could this ex-boyfriend be, getting her friend pregnant and then crawling back, crying that he was still in love with her?
And not just that. How could her taste in men be so terrible that she stayed with such a spineless jerk for four years, while here he was, working every neuron to win her feelings?
Clearing his throat, Juho said, "I assume that guy is here again today, and that he entered the building with the model we met earlier?"
"Indeed," Kaija replied. "I have no desire to see him again today. So, Juho, could we please wrap up the shoot and leave as quickly as possible? Just seeing Marja again was dreadful enough for me."