“This is the result of your plan?!” 

Albert Luz’s angry shout sounded like a thunderclap.

A phone call came from the Rosamaria’s butler informing them that the madam went to Greece for vacation but just half an hour after that a photo was leaked that Mrs Rosamaria was still in the country attending a business meeting with her husband and the party was held on a cruise ship.

Crisanta’s hand shook as she placed the tea cup down. “What are you mad about? Timothée promised to bring Maya to Chartreuse Gala and besides, wasn't it just a few days ago that the madam brought her to the Lion’ Club for a stroll?”

Albert’s livid face did not ease. 

“Have you heard about the madam mentioning our membership to the Lion’s Club?”

The question from her husband suddenly hit Crisanta like a ton of bricks. 

“This…” her tongue froze. 

“No, right? The Rosamaria only mentioned it once during the auction but these days, they seem to have forgotten about saying it. It was you and Maya who were in-charge of entertaining her. What went wrong in your end?”

Crisanta’s face turned ashen when she remembered what happened at the Shu Villa last week. She had no idea that the origin of the pill box would suddenly be brought up. She had little information of its history and thought it was just one of those must-have trophe toys Paula got bored of looking at. A priceless antique bought with her dirty money and eventually discarded. But who would have expected it was not a treasure but a bomb left by that dead slut?! 

“Why don’t you speak?”

Crisanta squirmed under her husband’s cold gaze. “D-Darling, the pill box might have been recognized as something owned by your ex-wife.” 

“So what?” He snapped, tapping the coffee table. “She left it here to rot. It was our good intention that sent it to the auction and used its proceeds to the charity.” 

Yes, people believed that rhetoric before but the problem was that they knew so little of its origin and claimed it was made by a master jeweler. That alone is embarrassing enough in the upper circle. What’s even worse is that it was merely a replica and the original might be just around the corner! 

“Even if someone comes up saying it was owned by her they wouldn't be able to produce any evidence.” Albert said confidently, “Did madam Rosamaria ask you about it?”

“No.” 

“Good. Neither you or Maya will admit that the pill box was owned by Paula. You might as well say it was a gift from a good friend.” 

Crisanta was uneasy, “What about Sena?”

“Like I said, they have no solid proof it was owned by Paula.” He replied impatiently. 

Sena had little regard to material things she and her mother owned. He doubted she could still remember the pill box. If she wanted to create a ruckus out of it, it was too late. 

“For the meantime, you and Maya must work hard to get on Mrs Rosamaria’s good side to secure our membership to the Lion’s Club.” Albert said heavily. “That Timothée, he is a promising young man.”

He rose to his feet and left to work in the study leaving his wife fidgeting uneasily. 

Things weren’t going so well recently... Crisanta dug her nails to the soft cushion of the armrest. Mrs Rosamaria suddenly made up a lie about going to Greece. She understood many wives do that when they do not want to entertain guests or simply want to water down the relationship.   

But it was exactly because she knew about using that kind of excuse that she is feeling nervous. 

Mrs Rosamaria was displeased.

 

When La Bella released their feature about Andy Zhang it finally put the lid on the circulating rumor about Cassandra Liu and Sena Erde. Subsequently, the old editor-in–chief resigned due to poor health and passed the torch to the most promising junior of outstanding talent and excellent quality, Harley. The first thing he did when he took the position was to clear up the rumor about Cassandra saying that there were no official talks between two parties about her casting for the next issue nor did they promise her a spot. The same goes with Sena Erde, the difference is that they were optimistic about working with her in the near future. 

“That’s it?” Cassandra gripped her phone tight. Her other hand combed her hair frustratingly. 

On the line is Manager Gina, “Kaitlyn lost the promotion and we can no longer do anything about this since La Bella’s chief editor has already changed. Whatever she promised you is voided.” 

“So now Kaitlyn resigned?”

“She was poached by Ruche Magazine’s executive for the same position.” 

Cassandra could not accept the result and became even more upset when Gina reminded her that Sena was doing better these days. 

“No! How could she…?”

Gina said she became the darling of the crowd now after her secret tour to K Province was revealed. Some small issues were easily overlooked. The big fire caused by the cover girl issue was about to be extinguished so though there were haters who kept saying that maybe Sena is using these negative gossips to hype herself, it has no effect. 

Cassandra clenched her teeth. She wasn’t entirely convinced that Sena could whitewash so quickly and leave her to drown in spittle alone. It was no longer about the cover girl issue, her pride is at stake!  

“Did her camp reply?”

Ms Gina was silent for a few seconds before returning with an uneasy tone, “Something went wrong. Quick, open your phone, an ambush interview with Sena Erde was streamed a few hours ago!”

Interview? Cassandra smiled sarcastically. 

She swiped her phone impatiently and looked for the video. She thought she was about to see Sena being humiliated by paparazzi. But the outcome only left her tingling with anger after she finished watching. 

Sena's bare face came into view. She was walking holding a cup of coffee on her right, fresh flowers, a phone, and car keys on the left hand. Her hair gathered into a pink cap messily and it looks like she intends to get into the nearby French bakery to buy something. 

“Ms Erde, what are your thoughts about La Bella choosing Andy Zhang?”

“Are you disappointed they didn't choose you?”

The bombardment did not quickly register into her brain. Sena blinked her sleepily and turned absently to the camera. The early morning sun shone softly giving her a faint halo, her cheeks were smooth and pink like ripe peaches, the rims of her eyes were a little red from yawning making her appear fragile and people can’t help but look at her more. After receiving a full frontal look of the innocent and harmless face, those watching behind could only sigh. 

Whose child looks like an angel first thing in the morning?

No one was inclined to make extra noise for fear of breaking the quiet atmosphere. The sluggish response made everyone think she was sleep walking if she wasn’t carrying so many things in her hands. 

It took a few seconds before Sena realized she was being interviewed. 

“Ah… oh! I’m sorry,” she quickly came online and plastered a business smile.  

[Hahahahaha] A barrage of laughing emojis and hearts filled the comments section. 

Oh, what a crime. Don’t you feel sorry for disturbing this baby?!

“I was counting loose change in my head.” She replied embarrassedly. “What was the question again?”

The man holding the camera repeated the question slowly. 

“Andy Zhang… I have no opinion. Andy Zhang deserves to be recognized. As we all know, she’s not only a young woman of talent but someone with keen vision as well.” She said sincerely then put the bouquet on the nearby table along with the phone and keys. “I need to get my wallet. Do you mind?”

“Uh?” 

The paparazzi who were geared up to launch all kinds of embarrassing questions were dumbfounded. 

“Go, go ahead…” 

Usually, celebrities run away or hide the moment they see them coming but the girl in front didn’t even care how many of them came to pester her. She walked in a big white Shin-chan shirt and black cotton shorts, a pink baseball cap with her hair poking at the back. Sena yawned again then dug into her pockets taking out a cutesy white purse with a kitten hanging on it. The physiological tears hanging in her eyes made her look so soft and pitiful. In the comment section, the discussion was nothing about the interview content. 

[sleepysena.jpg I just made a new emoji.]

[Did she just wake up?]

[Hm, I have the same suspicion…] 

On the screen they could hear her counting the contents of her purse. “Ten… fifty. Good, good.” 

[Wahahahaha paparazzi wasted their time. She’s not worrying about some big time endorsement but her money!]

[I bet she’s hungry. Please don’t hinder the poor girl.]

They watch her walk up to the counter pointing at at least ten types of bread and pastries without blinking an eye and return with a huge plastic bag filled with small boxes. The sleepiness is gone now and on her face is a big bright smile as if she won the lottery. 

Everyone: Did she buy breakfast or went on a shopping spree???

A female reporter pushed a mini microphone forward. “Ms Erde, can you finish all of this?”

“Of course not.” Sena exclaimed in horror then hugged the plastic protectively. “I usually keep this for guests.”

Why does it look like she’s lying?  

“What’s in the bag? You seem familiar with this place.”

“This is my favorite bakery. I have cheesecake, manga pudding, tiramisu— but I don’t buy them everyday.” 

Everyone: You don’t have to explain. We understand. 

“Then what about the rivalry issue with Cassandra Liu?”

Sena’s eyebrows curled. “This is not the first time I heard of this. I’m certain we did not have any intersections.”

She sat down on the bench and gestured for the rest of them to find a comfortable seat.

“Social media? Not even personally?”

She shook her head like a rattle. 

Her eyes were clear and there was not a hint of artifice in her words. The people could not pick out any signs that she’s pretending. “As for La Bella’s cover girl, I’ll only say this once: They never contacted me nor I had any contacts with them. My agency and my handler Mr Adin had all my works lined up and none of those is with La Bella so I’m surprised where this gossip came from.” 

“It’s been fermenting for several days and you never issued a statement.”

“I believe La Bella has already cleared this up.” She replied. “There is no need for me to butt in since I was never involved in the first place.”  

“But aren’t you benefiting from it as well? You get to hang on the top trends because of this issue.” A man with long hair smirked.

Sena turned to him as if she was facing a backward child, “I wouldn’t be if no one puts a camera right to my face and writes dubious articles about my life. It’s not healthy to patronize fake news.” 

The man, for some reason shut up abruptly. It was as if she had seen right through him. 

[She’s got a point. In the first place the issue only got bigger because Cassandra Liu’s fans kept harassing her.] 

[Thanks to this paparazzi we finally get to hear her side. I have never seen a celebrity clarify so straightforwardly online.]

[Yeah, at most they would not mention any names to avoid further issues.]

[Compared to Cassandra Liu, what achievements does Sena have anyway? Did she have a box office movie? How many TV series has she starred in?]

[Begone hater! Who said only actors and actresses can be famous? All you Cassandra fans are everywhere making trouble.] 

[They claimed Sena dared to steal their idol’s job but La Bella itself denied it by putting Andy Zhang on the article hahaha.]

[It means this was all one-sided wishful thinking of Cassandra’s fans. They drag an innocent person for the heck of it. But what’s even worse, someone like Sena never took it seriously. She wasn’t even afraid to deny La Bella, a world renown magazine.]

[LOL Sena Erde doesn’t feel like competing with them. How does it feel to be ignored?]  

[Why would she care? She had other jobs to do and my cousin can confirm this. She works as a staff at this huge cosmetic company. She said Ms Erde was busy working for this year’s new campaign because she’s their brand ambassador so while Cassandra’s fans were making noise Sena was doing commercials.]

[No wonder. So why are Cassandra’s fans making trouble?]

[Are you not used to it already? Whenever their idol goes into hibernation suddenly there is an issue and they quickly jump to bite. Don’t you know that they were called blood-sucking leeches by other fan clubs because they have a habit of using other celebrities to hype up their idol?]

[I’m guessing Sena is endorsing another exclusive brand and they saw her as a walking target.]

[True. Although she's not an actress, her commercial value is high. She endorses multimillion brands.]

“Damn you all!” 

The reminder of Fleur’s new campaign sent Cassandra’s phone flying inside her car. She screamed and slapped the dashboard several times but her anger still wouldn’t let up. She tried to dial back manager Gina’s phone number but the line was busy.

“Shit!” She kicked her feet angrily. 

Even her manager is unreliable. Gina is now prioritizing Maya so where would she get time to attend to her? Her mood did not improve as she drove. As a result when she arrived at the studio and found Aera Shin doing the last minute adjustments on the outfit for an ad, she couldn’t help but toss in a few diatribes.

“What a coincidence meeting you here, Ms Shin.” She smiled thinly as she approached. “How was your experience working with Fleur’s newest campaign? It must have been a blast.”

“The shoot went smoothly. It was a success if that is what Ms Liu wants to find out.” Aera replied with a heavy flavor of mockery and sarcasm. “By the way, as my senior, I ought to congratulate you for signing up for a new show. It sure took you three months to work again.” 

Cassandra laughed, the quality of her voice was tinged with malice and wine spirit. 

“Work comes easy to me since I have made my name in this industry.” 

The designer putting pins on Aera’s midriff paused, waiting for her to settle down. “What’s the problem?”

“The bodice is loose.” The designer replied. “But don’t worry, we can finish the adjustments before the photographer arrives.” 

“It must be because of my diet.” 

The designer began his job forcing Aera to stay still but her mouth was moving, “It’s the whole point of me praising you, Miss Liu.”

Cassandra sneered. “By the way, are you not going to the benefit ball this year?”  

Aera stiffened. She hadn’t received the invitation again after her first and last appearance a year ago when she won an international pageant. “I have other engagements, unfortunately. My schedule conflicted. What about you?” 

“Of course I have to go. I will be wearing a gorgeous and classy Lynx dress. The designer personally wanted me to wear her creation.” Cassandra said proudly. 

“My ears must be faulty,” Aera said with an eyeroll. “I thought I heard you say Lynx is gorgeous and classy.” 

Cassandra just smiled, “Lynx has always been top class. Their designs are both flattering and unique which many people can relate themselves into.” 

Aera grimaced at the remark. Her senior’s tone had the cadence of someone going for a commercial release, it sounded memorized and practiced giving it an artificial rhythm. As expected of an actress. 

“Except Sena Erde, that’s for sure” She dismissed the designer.

The subtle current of jealousy in Aera’s tone told Cassandra that her attack earlier was not fired in vain. As someone winning a crown for her beauty, being preempted by a model to such a large endorsement had tore out her ego. A devastating blow to her self-esteem. 

“The blind item written by that blogger. It was from you.”

Aera frowned. “What blind item?”

“The one about Sena Erde throwing her weight around the set of a commercial shoot.”

Aera smiled stiffly.

“Although I don’t have evidence, you cannot fool me, dear. I know you had a hand on this gossip. Did you think that if you smear her image, the public will hate her then she will get fired by Fleur and you will become their ambassador. You’re dreaming.”

“I— I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Aera denied but the sweat breaking out of her skin only proved her guilt. “Weren’t you the one who’s too keen on targeting her because you almost lost Lynx’s endorsement because of her?” 

It was true, Sena was their first choice but she declined. Cassandra always resented being the second option.

“There are plenty of prominent faces in the fashion industry and Lynx is known in five continents. It’s only a matter of extending a hand and a much more popular endorser will come.” 

In short, Lynx is a household name that it doesn’t care whether a single model does not patronize its brand. Cassandra gracefully plopped down the settee to relax, trying to tell herself that what she said was right. That Sena wasn’t impressed by Lynx’s design because she was a vain and shallow woman. And that her style wasn’t that spectacular to convince anyone. 

But she knew she was just merely thinking. 

Reality was another matter.