Ch. 2011..2015

Chapter 2011

Amanda could not make sense of the strange question. "What? Weren't you the one who told the Carter Corporation president to instruct them to make another official announcement?”

Isabel chuckled, amused by the intriguing thought. Roland sure was very thoughtful for someone who always looked so disengaged with things around him.

Once the team of the "Legend of the Goddess" and "The Wonder" posted the official announcement, there was no need for her to say anything at all to defend her name. Just like that, the whole internet would know that she had taken back the roles that were rightfully hers.

She promptly texted Roland again.

She sent him a smiling emoji and thanked him sincerely. ‘Thanks for pulling through. | promise you | will personally give you a big bonus at the end of the year."

Roland replied curtly, "You're welcome, but no need for the bonus.”

Isabel asked brazenly, "Huh? Why?"

Who in their right mind would refuse a big bonus?

Roland explained tactfully, "You’re my boss. I’m just doing my job."

Isabel broke out into a wide grin.

When did this guy learn to talk like this?

"If this is what you want, then fine. Just don't turn around and complain about your year-end bonus!"

That being said, she still planned to give him a larger bonus than she originally planned to.

Even without factoring in this event, he had certainly proven his worth with the quality of his work and attitude.

Roughly half an hour later, the official pages of "Legend of the Goddess" and "The Wonder" made a series of official announcements for all to see.

“Legend of the Goddess" wrote: "We are sorry to have held off the official announcement of our lead actress for so long. We have been releasing a series of teasers for a while to keep you all guessing, and we are sure you have an idea of who the great Goddess will be by this point! The goddess of grace and beauty is @lsabel!" ‘The Wonder" wrote: "We have kept you all waiting long enough. The new member joining The Wonder family for its new season is none other than Isabel! Welcome, (©lsabel. We can't wait to see you!"

Agiant storm of debate broke out nearly instantly as soon s the announcements were made. The people who had been following the drama had a lot to say.

“My God, what a shocking twist!" "| was not expecting Isabel to come out on top in the end! Is it true what they say about Isabella trying to steal the roles away from her originally?" "Huh? How come all those journalists who were accusing Isabel of weaponizing her fans against Isabella are so quiet now? Weren't they going on something about Isabel not having respect for them?" "I heard that Isabel's manager has a lot of connections. Do you think there's a chance that these two roles were always Isabella's, to begin with, but it was Isabel’s team who had pulled strings behind the scenes to snatch the roles away?" "Come on, if Isabel’s team had this option all along, why would they have relied on the fans to fight for Isabel? They could have done this from the very beginning!" ‘That's right. Isabella claimed that she was given the roles solely based on merit, but if it was true, why did the official pages not announce her right away? Even after she revealed that she was going to be the lead actress of Legend of the Goddess’ and that she was joining ‘The Wonder’, none of the official pages bothered to confirm the news." "Some of us are not that dumb. We've seen this coming from the very beginning. The clues were there all along. We knew that Isabel was going to star in ‘Legend of the Goddess’. Besides, everyone knows that she talks to the show directors of ‘The Wonder’. They've even been seen dining together in public!" "Huh, | really thought Isabel was the one trying to drum up this drama to get at Isabella. | was wrong about her this entire tim Isabel, but she is nowhere near Isabel's level in terms of charisma and acting skills. Some of the best shows Isabella had been a

“'To be honest, Isabella may have debuted and risen to stardom earlier than

part of are nowhere near as popular as Isabel's as well, and she has always come across as very stiff on variety shows. It doesn’t matter if it's a TV show or variety show. | will pick Isabel ten out often times if | was a director."

Isabel's fans swarmed her page to congratulate her. Meanwhile, Isabella's fans were left to silently stew in rage.

Isabel replied to the official posts made by "Legend of the Goddess" and " The Wonder". After that, she happily put away her phone.

 

Chapter 2012

Unbeknownst to Isabel, the online debate revolving around her and Isabella continued in full swing after she tucked away her phone.

Most of the people paying attention to the ongoing development were reasonable folks, but they could not help but start slandering Isabella." Look at Isabella. She was being all high and mighty showing off about how she managed to be cast in ‘Legend of the Goddess’ and ‘The Wonder’. Just like that, the official pages came in and rained on her parade by announcing that Isabel was their choice the entire time. | wonder how she feels right now." "Heh. If you ask me, I'd say it's pretty embarrassing.

Not content with merely gossiping among themselves about what was happening, some folks decided to fan the flames. They quickly swarmed Isabella's page, specifically picking her post from the day when she announced her being cast in the two shows. They bombarded her with comments, asking her how it felt to be disgraced.

Inside a hotel, Isabella looked at the barrage of comments coming in and angrily tossed her phone on the bed. She stormed out of the bedroom and went to Decker.

Decker was standing by the window and reading the post made by the official announcements of "Legend of the Goddess" and "The Wonder". His face was sullen.

Isabella wrapped herself around one of his arms and whimpered dearly," Mr. Rockwell, they're making fun of me right now. What happened? Wasn't it you who told me that Isabel couldn't possibly pull this off?"

Decker's eyes gleamed with ice. He gently caressed Isabella and firmly told her, "I've asked my assistant to investigate the matter. Just go back to your room and get some rest. | will have my people take down these comments for you."

There was a soft, comforting glow in his eyes that made Isabella swoon, and yet, there was a sharp and commanding authority to his voice, she knew she had to obey.

"Alright." She let go of him reluctantly before heading back to the bedroom. Immediately after that, Decker got a call from his assistant. The tender, coaxing expression on his face was wiped off instantly and replaced with a glower. "What’s going on?"

His assistant informed cautiously, "Sir, | just contacted the producers of ’ Legend of the Goddess’ and 'The Wonder’. They told me that it was Carter Corporation that told them to relinquish the roles back to Isabella or else they will have to face dire consequences.” "Carter Corporation?” Decker was astonished. "The Carters of Westchester?

“Yes." His assistant verified, "Carter Corporation is a very powerful corporation, and the Carters themselves are influential oligarchs that have been running things for more than a century by now. The show directors could not risk offending them, so they did as they were told, giving the roles back to Isabel."

Decker frowned, a dark glow cast on his face.

No wonder Isabel refused to return to him and even dared to slap him in the face and pour wine on him. She had Carter Corporation behind her the entire time!

He wondered in what way was she connected to Carter Corporation.

His assistant added cautiously, "Sir, the directors said they will give the funds you've invested in them back to us and that they wanted to apologize for how things turned out. What do you think?"

Decker took a breath.

Carters were not only powerful in Westchester, but their circle of influence also went beyond the region.

Forget about the showrunners of "Legend of the Goddess" and ‘The Wonder". Even he, the head of the Rockwells could not risk getting on the Carters’ bad side.

After a moment of silence, he said, "Forget about it. Still, tell them that in doing this, they have directly affected Isabella's reputation in the public sphere. | expect them to find some way to mitigate the damage they have caused and clarified things with the netizens, or else they will have dire consequences as well."

His assistant answered dutifully, "Alright, consider it done." Decker hung up.

It was already dark outside by this hour. The hotel was located in one of the central districts of Westchester, and from his vantage point, he could see the city now adorned with bright lights everywhere.

Regardless, the view could not quell the seething anger inside him.

He clenched his hands tightly. The only thing running through his mind was this unforeseen discovery of Isabel being connected to Carter Corporation.

 

Chapter 2013

Rumor had it that the Carters were a very close-knit family and that their children were all successful and kept a low profile. There had never been any shape or form of scandal revolving around the family, whether internally or externally. With this information, Decker ruled out the possibility that Isabel was backed by a direct family member. Instead, it must either be a shareholder or a high-ranking member of Carter Corporation.

The identity of this person was currently unknown.

One way or another, this person was just someone working at Carter Corporation. A mere employee at Carter Corporation could not possibly be a match for him, Decker Rockwell!

Meanwhile, Isabel was busy chatting with several of her friends in the entertainment industry.

In addition to congratulating her on reclaiming the roles that were rightfully hers, they were curious about how she managed to pull it off.

Isabel was careful to not let outsiders find out about her connection to Carter Corporation. With that in mind, she stole a page from Isabella and told them, "| got them back purely based on merit.”

It was a clear enough hint that she did not want to elaborate, so they leave her be. Ding!

She received several voice messages from Carla.

She proceeded to listen to them one after the other.

"Isabel, have you seen the latest news? The showrunners of ‘Legend of the Goddess’ and 'The Wonder just posted another statement on their page explaining that the entire ordeal between you and Isabella was all a misunderstanding. 'Legend of the Goddess' says that a new employee at their office made the mistake of confusing you with Isabella, which is why they accidentally issued the role that was supposed to be yours to Isabella instead. They are publicly apologizing to Isabella for the unfortunate mixup.

“As for ‘The Wonder’, their explanation is that they were originally going to introduce two guest stars for the new season, which are you and Isabella. They issued invitations to both of you but due to some complications that came up later, it turned out they could only bring one new guest star to the new season, which ended up being you. They haven't had time to clarify the situation with Isabella before everything went down.

“Anyway, the point is that they are taking the blame for what happened. The netizens have stopped poking fun at Isabella and are directing their anger at the showrunners instead."

Carla hissed sharply, "What are they trying to do? It’s obvious that Isabella was the one trying to steal the roles. Why are they trying to defend her?"

Isabel smiled and replied, "Someone from higher-up must have applied pressure on them.”

Decker must have found out that she was backed by Carter Corporation and was careful to not punch above his weight class. While he could not steer this situation back in his favor, it was still in his power to cleanse Isabella's name and perform some damage control.

The showrunners of "Legend of the Goddess" and "The Wonder" must be wary of his influence, which led to them coming up with these two statements. Their aim was to take responsibility for everything that happened so they could reverse the damage inflicted on Isabella's reputation.

"Isabella made a new post just now. She said something about having learned a lesson from this and that she will be careful to not make rash announcements before signing official contracts. She's playing this like she was the victim, and now her fans are out in full force blaming the showrunners of 'Legend of the Goddess’ and 'The Wonder’. How low can she be?!"

Carla was furious, and her voice raised to a sharp pitch.

Isabel did not seem as bothered. "This was their choice. Let them be. Don't worry about it."

The showrunners of "Legend of the Goddess" and "The Wonder" must have thoroughly considered the consequences before making those announcements. They knew Isabella would pounce on the chance to clear her name.

Either way, none of this had anything to do with Isabel.

Carla must have caught on as well, so she threw in a few more complaints about Isabella before dropping the subject.

Isabel hung up after that and started thinking about what to have for dinner.

Ring!

The doorbell rang.

She was not expecting any visitors. She went to the door and asked, "Who is that?” "It's me." A familiar, masculine voice came through.

She was startled.

Roland?

Chapter 2014

Chapter 2014 Isabel promptly opened the door. Roland was dressed in a suit, standing tall and straight as an arrow.

Isabel asked suspiciously, "Why are you here?” "My mother saw the news about you and got worried. She said she’s worried about you not having the appetite to eat, so she made me bring some homemade food for you.” He held up a bag filled with food in his hand.

Isabel's eyes sparked at the mention of food. She remarked, "Why didn't you just call me and ask me to come over? You didn't have to trouble yourself with delivering it yourself.”

Roland eyed her. "Do you want it or not?” "Of course, | do. Your mother made it for me, and you took the trouble of delivering it to me, so of course, I'll eat it."

With a smile, she stepped aside to let him into the house. Roland carried the bag to the dining table and set it on top. Then, he carefully opened it and laid out the dishes one after another.

Isabel was going to tell him that she could do it himself, but he had already laid out all its contents along with two sets of cutlery. Then, he pulled a chairout for himself.

She asked curiously, "You haven't eaten as well?" "No." "Oh."

She did not think much of it. With that, she sat across from him and started eating.

The food was still steaming hot and utterly delicious.

She gobbled everything she could like a hungry wolf and did not lift her head off the plate until she had eaten her fill. Roland was finished slightly earlier than her and had set aside his utensils.

Upon noticing that she had finished her portion, he asked, "Are you full?"

Tm full.” Isabel smiled gleefully.

She had eaten far more than usual because of how delicious the food was.

Roland made no further comment, then he proceeded to pack all the Tupperware into its original bag.

Isabel hurriedly stopped him. "Why don't you take them back home after | wash them for you?"

His mother had kindly cooked for her and had Roland deliver it, so it was the least she could do for them as a thank-you for the kind gesture.

Roland peered at her. "Do you know how to wash them?"

Isabel made a face.

She... she had never washed dishes herself before.

Still, she insisted, "Well, we can’t have your mother washing them, can we?"

That was outrageous!

"My mom wouldn’t mind,” Roland clarified.

Isabel insisted, "I do."

Roland stayed silent.

Isabel considered for a moment before asking reluctantly, "Do you know how to wash them?” Roland eyed her, "What's on your mind?"

Isabel smirked mischievously. "Well, | have everything we need to wash them in my kitchen, so how about you teach me?”

Roland agreed, "Okay.” He tucked all the dirty containers into the bag and waltzed into Isabel's kitchen. She followed after him.

He tossed everything into the sink before putting on a pair of gloves. Then, he squeezed dishwashing liquid into a sponge and expertly cleaned everything thoroughly.

His movements were adept and swift.

Soon, everything was doused in bubbles from the dishwashing liquid. Then, he gave them a thorough rinse and wiped them clean before putting everything back into the bag. The job was done.

Or so it seemed. Isabel felt something was missing.

That was when Roland turned to her and asked, "So, have you learned how to wash yet?”

Isabel nodded affirmatively. "Yeah."

Except she had wanted to learn by washing the dishes herself instead of watching him do it for her. "Um...why don’t you let me try washing them again myself this time?” she asked hesitantly.

Roland was already taking off his gloves, and he said nonchalantly, "I've already washed them, so there’s no point doing it again.”

 

Chapter 2015

Isabel seemed embarrassed for having troubled him. "Alright, thanks for the help " He remarked casually, "No big deal. See you."

There was no reason to keep him around, especially at such a late hour.

With that, she bade him farewell, "See you."

She walked him to the door and only closed the door after making sure he had entered the elevator. She stretched lazily like a cat before heading into her room.

She was going to take a shower, then settle in for the night. Meanwhile, Roland returned to his place shortly after.

As soon as he stepped into the house, his mother, Martha, came over and asked him worriedly, "Roland, how is Isabel doing? Is she doing fine?"

She saw the online debacle of everything that had gone down with Isabel during the day. Although it seemed like things had died down, she was still concerned about Isabel's mental state.

Roland recalled how Isabel looked with her cheeks stuffed with food and remarked, "She's in a good mood." "Really?" Roland showed Martha the bag.

It was filled with now-empty Tupperware and cleaned utensils.

He stated, "She licked everything clean."

Martha was relieved. "Heh... she seems to be in a good mood."

The weekdays were filled with work and passed quickly.

The weekend rolled around in the blink of an eye.

Acertain well-known entertainment group was holding a gala in Westchester where all of the popular actors and celebrities would show up. Naturally, Isabel was also invited. She was obliged to attend since it was an entertainment group that she regularly worked with.

Acertain high-end luxury boutique that she modeled for had sent her a wonderful tailored dress they had launched for the current fashion season. Though minimal in design, it exuded a fine air of elegance without appearing pompous.

Isabel also had a makeup artist in her crew.

The experienced makeup artist fashioned her with a look that would complement the design of the dress. With everything ready, she headed toward the gala with her assistant, Carla.

Her fans had already found out about her attending the gala and waited outside with signboards.

As soon as she got out of the car, she could hear the joyous shriek of her fans.

"Isabel, we love you!!"

There was a giant swarm of them, and the security guards made sure they stayed behind the barrier, away from the red carpet. Isabel made sure to go up to them and greet them.

"Can we please take a picture with you?" one of the die-hard fans leading the charge asked nervously.

Isabel looked around her.

There were large swarms of fans of other celebrities in the vicinity as well, but it did not seem like they would get in their way by

taking a picture here.

She obliged, "Sure, all of you stay right here. | will have Carla take pictures for us. She will send the pictures to you all later.” "Yay! Thank you so much, Isab ‘You're welcome." She said graciously, "But after taking the picture, | don’t want you all hanging around here anymore. Go home and get back to the things that you need to do, understand?"

There was a hardness to her voice when she said this.

Her fans were mostly teenage girls, and they knew that she was only saying this for their own good and mindfully gave their word.

Isabel posed in front of them and took several group pictures with them. Then, she turned to Carla. 'Take care of them." Carla was accustomed to the procedure by now. "Don’t worry, | will make sure they are sent home safely.”

Isabel nodded and said goodbye to her fans before walking down the red carpet to head into the venue where the gala was to be held.

Many of her contemporaries had arrived already. Unfortunately, she bumped into Isabella the moment she entered. She was surrounded by several rising stars who have recently emerged into the scene. They swarmed her with compliments.

"Isabella, your necklace is gorgeous! Isn’t this a limited edition recently launched by that luxury brand?" "Oh my! | heard that they only released ten pieces of this specific necklace.

It's not something you can buy with money alone." "Isabella, it’s amazing that you can get your hands on such a renowned piece."