Ch. 2006..2010
Chapter 2006
Chapter 2006 It was a dreamless night.
The next morning, before Isabel’s alarm had even gone off, she received a call from her manager Amanda who was supposed to still be recovering from her illness. Her shrill voice blasted through the speakers, "Isabel, what trouble did you get into this time?"
Isabel rubbed her sleepy eyes and asked in a dazed state, ” What happened?"
Amanda said without the least attempt of concealing her anger, "It’s Isabella. She managed to snatch the female lead role in the show ‘Legend of the Goddess’! She also managed to steal the special guest spot on the variety show | was just talking about with you the other day!"
Isabella was another celebrity who had launched into stardom several years earlier than Isabel. However, ever Isabel’s first big hit, she had always been more popular than Isabella was.
Both of them were household names in mainstream media. Due to the extreme similarity of their names, people had always referred to them as the Isabel sisters.
The people in the circle who were in the know were all aware that the two were anything but sisters; they were rivals. Isabella’s popularity was trending upward for a while before
Isabel suddenly broke into the scene. Not only did Isabel overtake Isabella out of nowhere, but the unfortunate likeness of their names meant that most people searching for Isabella online ended up getting redirected to Isabel who was more popular instead.
Since they were around the same age and starred in the same genres of movies, a narrative eventually formed around them. People would always compare them to each other which led to a lot of competition.
The entertainment industry was competitive enough as is, so it was not surprising that these circumstances led to them essentially turning into enemies.
In the past few years, Isabella’s team had tried every trick in the book to sabotage Isabel’s career, all to no avail. How was it that they suddenly managed to snatch a female lead role and another guest spot right from under her nose?
"Isabel, are you there? What kind of trouble did you get into?" Amanda asked anxiously when she failed to receive a response from Isabel.
Isabel's eyes darkened, and her mind immediately went to what Decker said to her last night.
Both she and Amanda were aware of Isabella having a certain benefactor who put in a lot of effort in boosting her career. Still, Amanda commanded a lot of respect and influence in the industry, hence there was no chance that Isabella and the person backing her could manage to pull this feat off.
That was unless there was another more resourceful person involved that was for some reason plotting against her. By process of elimination, the only person who could fit these criteria was Decker.
"Yeah, you could say that. There's this person | slapped last night," Isabel said without any attempt at deflection to ease Amanda’s nervous state.
Amanda gasped audibly before asking, "Who did you slap?" "Decker." "Who is Decker? Why does this name sound so familiar?" "The Rockwells from Southboro," Isabel clued her in.
Amanda gasped again. "Isabel, are you insane?! Why would you slap him? Even | wouldn't dare to upset someone of his level. What in the world happened?"
Isabel said calmly, "He was my ex-boyfriend and wanted to take advantage of me, so | slapped him."
Amanda was startled by the candid revelation. "He's your exboyfriend?"
"It was many years ago." Isabel was not in the mood to go into details. She assured Amanda, "Don’t worry. I'll find a way to deal with this situation."
Amanda asked curiously, "Are you going to see him?"
"No."
"Then, how are you going to deal with it?" Amanda sighed." Forget it. I'll figure something out."
"No, you're still recovering, aren’t you? Stay at home. | can take care of this." Isabel hung up promptly.
She got out of bed to wash up, then she quickly got dressed before heading out.
As usual, she got into her car and went to the filming set. First things first.
Carla was seated next to her. She was scrolling on her phone and grumbled, "She has the nerve to post about how she managed to steal your role. How low!"
Isabel glanced at Carla's phone.
It was Isabella's profile. She was quoting an official post from the creators of the show "Legend of the Goddess" and announcing that she was cast as the female lead. She followed it up with another post along the same lines, confirming that she was going to join a certain variety show as a guest star.
Chapter 2007 Isabel pouted. "Stop reading that."
Carla was still very upset. "But you're the one who fought for the female lead in Legend of the Goddess and the guest star spot on The Wonders. There is no reason that she should swipe them away! So many times in the past, you could have stolen her role but you never did it even once out of common decency. How could she do this?"
Isabel gently patted her head to console her, "Everything is fine. Don't worry about it.’
She was not going to let anyone take away what was hers.
Upon sensing her unusual calmness, Clara asked curiously, "Do you already have a plan?" "Not yet. I'm thinking about it.” Carla scowled. "Then, how are you so calm?" Isabel smiled and made no further comment.
The moment Isabel arrived at the set, Max and Marcus turned to her with what seemed like a look of sympathy. They must have found out about the latest news as well.
After filming a scene, Max said as if to comfort her, "It's fine, Isabel. After | come up with the script for my next project, you'll be my go-to."
Isabel smiled appreciatively. “Sure.”
Marcus also approached them and expressed with a sigh, "Isabel, | think you should take care to not get on the nerves of the wrong person in the future."
This stung a nerve in Isabel, evident by her scowl. It was not so much that she wanted to provoke people, but she could not help it if some of them had it coming from a mile away.
The day passed quickly.
After she finished work and was about to head home, she checked her phone and saw messages from the director of "Legend of the Goddess" as well as the show directors of "The Wonder".
Both of them had said something along the same lines, expressing how they were looking forward to working with her but that the unfortunate replacement of her role was out of their control. They were both apologetic about what happened and tried to remedy things by giving a transparent explanation.
Isabel thanked both of them courteously.
Meanwhile, Carla went up to her. "Isabel, it’s not looking good. The fans found out about Isabella taking your roles, and the two fandoms are at each other's throats.”
Isabel frowned and promptly grabbed her phone to swipe to her social feed.
It was an all-out war. Both her name and Isabella's were on the top of the trending page.
Isabella's fans insisted that Isabella was given the roles purely based on merit, based on her superior acting ability. Isabel's fans were adamant that Isabella had stolen Isabel’s much- deserved roles.
Team Isabella demanded evidence, and Team Isabel delivered immediately. They showed pictures taken by the paparazzi of Isabel eating at a restaurant with the directors of "Legend of the Goddess", engaged in conversation about the show. They also had screenshots of Isabel's friendly interactions with the show directors of the variety show, "The Wonder".
Team Isabella refuted all of these by claiming that mere gossip could not serve as evidence. They proceeded to slander Isabel and claimed that her acting skills were nothing compared to Isabella's.
Team Isabel refused to relent and immediately came up with a comprehensive list of all the films the two stars starred in in recent years, then compared their performance to prove a point.
Team Isabella refused to have it. They began to quote scandalous news revolving around Isabel, all of them stemming from questionable, fake sources.
Despite that, the scandalous nature of these news drew the attention of many people who were not in the know. Isabel's fans got very upset and began resorting to insults.
Things immediately took a vicious downswing, and they were now all hurling insults at each other. Isabel frowned.
Carla, on the other hand, seemed excited. "A lot of people are taking your side now, even the ones who are just tuning in to the latest drama.”
That was comforting enough to hear, but Isabel did not want things to spiral out of control.
She was also not fond of the idea of her fans being ridiculed just because they supported her.
Chapter 2008
With this in mind, Isabel instructed Carla mindfully, "Carla, go to my fan forum and tell my fans to cool it a little." Carla was about to say something when Isabel's cell phone rang suddenly.
It was Amanda, her manager.
Isabel answered promptly, "Hey, Amanda, what's the matter?"
Amanda said in a voice seething with fury, "Did you see Isabella's latest post?"
Isabel held her breath. "What did she say?" 'Take a look for yourself." "Okay."
Isabel promptly hung up before swiping to her feed again.
The two fandoms were still going at it.
There was now a new topic on the trending page that read: Isabella got the role based on merit.
Isabel tapped on it and immediately saw a new post made by Isabella only several minutes ago. It was an officially worded post that read: "Formal announcement: The female lead in 'Legend of the Goddess’ and the guest star spot in ‘The Wonder’ were given out purely on terms of merit. Please calm down, everyone. Don’t get manipulated by the false narrative."
By merit? False narrative?
No matter how you look at it, it seemed like Isabella was taking a jab at Isabel while also implying that she was mobilizing her fans on social media.
Isabel was not the only one who felt this way. Her fans felt the same. Instead of putting out the flames, the post only fanned the flames.
Isabella's fans were out in full force now, mocking Isabel's fans for not having any sense of classiness. They said they were a mirror of Isabel, lashing out when they themselves were unworthy.
It was hard for Isabel not to be upset by everything she was seeing. Naturally, her fans refused to lie down and take it, so they continued to argue.
She began to wonder if Decker had bought the allegiance of some people in the industry because soon enough, several verified accounts of high- profile people in the industry got involved. They spoke up for Isabella and uttered negative sentiments against Isabel. Some of the things they said were as follows: "This has been going on long enough. Isabella herself has clarified things, so why hasn't Isabel said anything? Is her plan to let her fans bully Isabella's fans while she hides in the corner?" "Isabel's agent is one of the titans in the industry. | don't think Isabella can steal the role away just because she wants to. She got them because she was the better choice, plain and simple." "Isabel is probably upset because she lost the female lead and guest star spot. If you look at her past performances in different variety shows, you can see that she's a pretty shallow person. | think it's a good enough exemplification of her true personality." "Even though Isabella stars in the same type of film as Isabel, she’s been doing this longer. You can't deny that she holds seniority over Isabel. The least Isabel could do is to show some respect to her senior."
These were all comments made by the famous talking heads in the entertainment circle, which drew even more attention to the scandal.
The narrative swung the other way very quickly. Soon enough, the consensus was that Isabel was a narrow-minded and hateful person.
More and more people were piling onto the drama to see how things would be resolved. Many said that Isabel had let her game get to her head.
Isabel read some of the things people said about her, frowning all the while.
Carla exclaimed furiously, "What kind of garbage nonsense are these people spouting? You've been filming all day today. How are you supposed to find time to tell your fans to kick up the storm for you?"
Meanwhile, Amanda sent another text to Isabel: "Isabel, don't say anything yet. | suspect that Isabella paid some of these talking heads under the table to slander you publicly and sway public opinion. Just don't pay attention to what people are saying online. I'll have the admins take care of it.”
Isabel pursed her lips and replied, "Leave it to me."
Amanda replied instantly, "What are you up to? Don't make things any worse than it already is."
Isabel did not reply. She went to her page and posted, "Calm down, my loves. Go get some dinner, go get some rest. I'll take care of this myself. Be good now."
This was directed to her fans.
After making the post, she took Carla with her back to the car and was driven back to her place. Her latest post was already trending by then.
Her fans flooded the comment section.
"Isabel, we will do as you say, but we can't bear to see them dragging your name through the mud after stealing what is rightfully yours!"
"We can't stomach this. It's outrageous!"
Chapter 2009
Chapter 2009 As time went on, more people were drawn in by the sensational drama.
"What's going on here? Isabel says she's going to handle herself. Does this mean that it's true that Isabella stole her roles?" "Wow, don’t mess with her! Isn’t she worried about the netizens riling against her?" "Look at her performance in the past few years since her grand debut.
Every show she starred is in at the top of the year-end list, and the variety shows she guest stars in always see record numbers. She's the type who speaks her mind without fear. Do you remember that old director who was ousted as a sexual predator harassing female students? Isabel was the one who called him out publicly when she went on that variety show. Do you think someone as tenacious as she is is going to be afraid of some measly online gossip?" "Who is the one telling the truth? Isabel or Isabella?" "I don't know. | guess we will know in time."
Fans of Isabella's stormed Isabel's page after that but were eventually chased away by Isabel's loyal defenders. Isabel swiped through the comments, then she went to the forum dedicated to her by her fans again.
She posted a message: "Everyone, take it easy, alright? Just wait for my good news."
She very rarely showed up on the forum. Now that she had spoken, everyone went rabid.
In a matter of seconds, she was bombarded with notifications.
All of her fans promised to do as she told them.
Soon enough, the online storm had more or less died down. Isabel and Isabella's names were slowly sliding off the trending page.
Isabel heaved a sigh of relief.
Carla asked curiously, "Isabel, how are you going to deal with this?”
The car had just stopped at Isabel's place.
Isabel smiled and assured her with a pat on the head, "You should get some rest too. Just wait for good news." With that, she opened the door and got out of the car.
Meanwhile, inside the presidential suite of a five-star hotel, Isabella was wearing a lacy dress that hung loosely on her body, on the verge of sliding off. She sat sideways on the couch in a position that accentuated the curves of her figure.
She looked coquettish at the handsome man sitting next to her. She wanted to get closer to him but was slightly apprehensive.
She got as close as what was deemed a safe distance and spoke softly,* Mr. Rockwell, Isabel just made a new post and managed to convince people that | was the one who stole the roles from her. What should | do now?"
Decker was scrolling on his phone, and he read the latest post from Isabel.
By claiming that she would handle things herself, the implication was clear.
She was hinting that Isabella had stolen her roles and that she would reclaim what was rightfully hers!
What had given her the confidence for such a bold declaration?
Did she truly think that she was popular to a point where producers and directors would bend over backward to appease her and concede the roles back to her?
Or perhaps she thought that he would have mercy on her at last?
Perhaps...
Decker angled his wrist to read the watch.
It was nearing evening. If Isabel was going to come to him to beg for mercy, she should be looking for some ways to contact him by now.
"Mr. Rockwell!" Isabella cried out his name dearly when she failed to draw a response from Decker.
Decker came back to his senses. He smiled and held her by her chin. "Don't worry, I'm not going to give the female lead and the guest star spot back to her unless she comes begging. So long as that doesn’t happen, nobody is going to believe that you stole these roles from her."
Isabella seemed convinced. "You're right.”
Isabel had been foolish enough to make a bold declaration online. If she failed to pull through on her promise, it would be a bad look for her fans, and nobody would believe her.
Chapter 2010
Chapter 2010 Isabel got out of the car and walked back into her apartment.
On her way back, Amanda had called her twice followed by several additional messages. She frantically asked what Isabel was going to do and if she had lost her mind.
Several of her friends in the circle had been texting her as well to offer advice and support.
It would seem like there were only two options at this point. She had to either concede to Decker or find someone more resourceful than Decker to outwrestle them.
Isabel was fully aware of this.
She lay on the couch with a tight frown zipped across her face. She stared at her phone and considered whether she should contact Liam or her father for help.
She knew that all she needed to do was to ask and they would help her get the roles back for her.
The only problem was that she had vowed that she wanted to make a career for herself in the entertainment industry. She did not want to rely on her family connections. It would be very hypocritical of her to approach her family for help now.
However, even someone as influential in the industry as Amanda was afraid of offending Decker Rockwell. Since Isabel had completely ruled out the option of begging for forgiveness from Decker, her family was her last and only resort.
After wrestling with the idea for a while, she reluctantly went through her contacts. Ding!
That was when she received a text from Roland. "Are you okay?”
She did a double-take before replying, "I'm fine. Why are you asking me this?” Roland replied, "| saw the news online."
Wasn't he supposed to be working? Why was he scrolling through social media? She chuckled humorously before assuring him, "It's no big deal. Don't worry about it." Roland offered, "Do you need help?"
Isabel was going to refuse his offer when an idea suddenly occurred to her.
With a sparkle in his eyes, she replied, "Yes."
How could she forget about Roland?
He was now the de-facto president of Carter Corporation, so she could get him to leverage the influence of Carter Corporation to take back her leading role in "Legend of the Goddess" as well as her guest star spot on " The Wonder"!
With this in mind, she explained, "Roland, what they say about Isabella stealing the roles away from me is true. | need your help. You can seize the roles back for me using the name of Carter Corporation. If you pull it off, | promise I'll give you a giant bonus this year!"
Roland did not respond after that. Even after a long and grueling ten minutes had passed, he still had not replied.
Isabel frowned. Where did he go? Why was he not replying?
Just as she was considering calling him, he replied at last, "Done."
Isabel was confused. "What do you mean 'done'?" "| just contacted the producers of 'Legend of the Goddess’ and the chief director of ‘The Wonder’. They have given their word that they will give the role in their respective shows back to you. They should be contacting you shortly.”
Isabel was taken aback with shock. What shocking efficiency!
Sure enough, Amanda texted her shortly afterward: "Isabel, you're amazing! How long have you known the president of Carter Corporation? You should have said something to me sooner. | was nearly worried to death back there!"
Isabel smiled and replied, "I've been more or less acquainted with him for a while. We don't see each other often, but this time | knew | had no choice but to enlist his help.”
It was the truth. She very rarely had time to talk to Roland at all due to both of their hectic schedules. Amanda was very relieved by the sudden development. "Wonderful!
Anyway, enough talk about that. The team of 'Legend of the Goddess’ and ' The Wonder’ will be announcing this on their socials later, so make sure you check their pages."
They were going to make another public announcement?
Isabel asked suspiciously, "Amanda, were you the one who asked them to make a public announcement?"