#THE_LAST_MINUTE_GROOM_S2
©Sir_Zach
EPISODE 68
Oldest brother Feng narrowed his eyes before he got up to leave the room. However, getting to the top of the stairs, he left an instruction to his men who were still inside with Brian and the unconscious Piper. “Don’t give them food and water for five days. I want to see you crawl under me and beg for mercy!” With that, he left and his men followed after a while.
Brian breathed a sigh of relief. That should be more than enough time for his people to come to their rescue.
However, Brian thought too lightly of the situation….
…
By now, Manager Sarafina had gone wild in her search for Piper.
It’s been three days, yet Piper still can’t be found anywhere and the Police haven’t been able to find out anything about the car. The bones they collected are still under the forensic department for examination and the results aren’t out yet.
Manager Sarafina had gone to find Madam Caroline to ask where Piper was but the woman seemed nonchalant and told her Piper must have gone on a break, however, Manager Sarafina knew Piper too well. That girl won’t go anywhere without her Assistants and guards accompanying her.
After Manager Sarafina had tried to reach Piper on all the platforms she could with no success, she took the matter upon herself and reported it to the police, despite her Company’s disapproval.
Rainbow Entertainment was like a stainless glass on the outside but a decayed toilet on the inside. Everyone only saw its goodness, which is why wh@ťěver they tell the public stays.
Inside a conference room with less than ten middle-aged men and women sitting around a rectangular table, Manager Sarafina was seen standing erect behind an empty seat with almost everyone in the room glaring at her.
“How could you bring the matter to the public even after we warned you not to?! What do you expect them to think of our Agency? That we can’t control our artist and now she’s gone without seeking permission?!!” The man in the head seat barked at her his face turning red.
“Manager Sarafina, you should have known better than to do this, dragging the Agency through the mud is a wrong mood!” Said another.
“I’m disappointed in you! To think you’re a top manager in the company,” a woman sighed and shook her head.
“Who doesn’t know how Piper is? What if she went out to have fun? So what are we supposed to tell the public on her return?”
They went on and on, throwing a barrage of comments at her, yet the young woman didn’t seem to freak. There was only worry on her face.
“Say something!! Why are you so quiet?!! How are you going to fix this mess??” The man in the head seat yelled at her.
Manager Sarafina finally raised her head and glanced at everyone in the room. “You said you’re disappointed in me? No, I’m more disgusted to be part of this company!”
The people gasped when they heard her. The impudence!!
“Your artist has been missing for three days and some hours and none of you, none… cares about her situation. What if she was kidnapped? What if she is dead? What if she is sick somewhere? What if something bad happened? Just what if?!” She screamed.
“What ifs…” One of the women who never cared to say anything since the meeting started finally spoke up, interrupting Sarafina. “The said artist’s mother is not bothered about her ‘missing’ daughter, so why do you expect the company to care? The mother knows where her daughter is, else she would have been the one In your place right now.” She turned to look at everyone else in the room and said;
“If you’ll ask me, I’ll say that this manager here is blowing this matter out of proportion with her assumptions because she’s working for our rivals to bring us down, so something needs to be done immediately!” She concluded.
The others nodded, causing Manager Sarafina to gasp in disbelief. She has an inkling of what these people were trying to do, they’ve been looking for ways to send her packing for a long time now but because Piper only wanted her, they drew back their hands. However, with this incident, they won’t care to know what the truth is since it came from her.
With that in mind, Manager Sarafina turned and walked out of the room. She was going to look for her artist no matter what it takes. Even though it means getting fired.
On her way to the station, she saw a billboard with Jeslyn getting interviewed on a talk show. Her eyes shot open and she immediately pulled the car to a stop by the side of the road, staring at the Billboard to find information on where Jeslyn’s interview was held.
…
“Jeslyn, do you mind telling us the inspiration behind your debut songs? There are some speculations that it has something to do with your past with your sister, the people want to hear from you.” The host, a young and handsome man, asked with a smile.
“Hehe,” Jeslyn chuckled lightly. “How can people say that?” She hesitated, then smiled sweetly, “The song was written for me, I’m just a rookie, remember?” She concluded with a knowing smile.
“Aha, that’s right. Your fans must have been too excited.”
Jeslyn shielded her mouth with the cup of tea she was offered and smiled.
“That leads us to the next question,” the man raised his card and asked; “how do you feel about your leap to success? Are you scared of how big you’ve become in just a few days? Did you picture this? Or… just tell us something.”
Jeslyn sighed and placed the mug down. “Success, I would say, is a double-edged sword. Scared? You may be correct… only if I made it my priority.”
“Do you mind elaborating? We are dummies. Hehe,” he chuckled and Jeslyn laughed lightly.
“I want to make music. I want to leave a record that I would be remembered by, even centuries from now… that’s possible, right?” She asked with a smile.
A thunderous round of applause and screams that contested with the sound of claps were heard from the excited audience.
After the noise died down, the host continued. “Hahaha… of course. But Jeslyn, you mesmerize me. This is the first time I’ve come across an artist who has a big dream like yours and I’m impressed and I guess your fans are too.”
“Yes, we are!!!” Came the audience’s excited screams.
Jeslyn blew them a kiss before she continued her answer. “…As for my leap in success, hmm… of course, it wasn’t expected. I was shocked and I believe most viewers saw that…”
“You mean this?” The host cut her off and a shocked photo of Jeslyn was brought up on the screen behind her.
It was an unaware photo taken while Jeslyn was on stage… precisely when she saw Valen and her husband walking in.
“Hahahaha…” the audience laughed.
Jeslyn was startled by the picture before she also burst into a fit of laughter. “Hahaha… oh my God, that’s a horrible photo of me…”
The interview continued after a short fun.
“We also noticed a little unusual spark between…” the host turned to the camera and explained.
“Ahem! I’m scared to say this, hope he doesn’t get mad… haha… sorry, Mr. Chaos, it’s the fans’ curiosity…” he said with a bow to the camera.
The host was scared of losing his job. Who knows, Maverick might get angry over his playful questions and make a call that would destroy him.
Jeslyn smiled and made an ‘O’ expression.
“Oh, you mean the handshake?” She turned to look at the audience and spread her hands in the air. “Y’all saw I didn’t initiate the handshake, right?”
“Yesssss!!!”
“Good. Could I have said no? It’s Alpha Chaos we’re talking about. Would you have said no if you were in my shoes?”
“Of course not!” They replied.
Jeslyn turned to the camera, and then to the host and made a baby face, “see?”
The host laughed out loud. She’s so cute!
“That’s right. So, do you mind sharing with us the secret to which you captivated the son?”
“Oh, I think my face is enough as an answer to that. Hehe,” she winked.
“Ouch, please don’t do that to me,” the host held his chest dramatically like he’d faint anytime soon.
“Hahahaha…..” Everyone laughed it off.
“And the last question on the list is… how did you become Superstar Celestine’s student?”
“My teacher posted about wanting three persons to be under her sometime again, I think it was a sensation for a while on the internet…”
The host and the guest nodded. They saw the post and it was taken down in less than thirty minutes.
“… I was one of the lucky three.”
…
The happy show ended with the host asking for a handshake. Not only did Jeslyn gladden a lot of fans’ hearts, but she also won many over.
The competitive and toxic fans then started to compare Jeslyn’s talk show and Christine’s talk show. They went as far as making memes with Christine’s words that were taken out of context.
That became a lot of fun for most jobless people online for a long time… until another drama pops up.
Meanwhile, because Jeslyn was dominating the internet doesn’t mean she blocked others from being on top too.
The other person who was also trending alongside Jeslyn was Piper’s case.
Jeslyn saw the news regarding Piper on her way to the talk show this morning and meant to ask her husband when she returned because her Assistant told her about the call Manager Sarafina put through three days ago, but Jeslyn never saw Piper, so she thought the girl changed her mind.
However, being stopped by Manager Sarafina on the road was something she didn’t expect.
“We can’t discuss something like this on the road, so I’d say, let’s find a place to talk this out,” Jeslyn suggested.
Manager Sarafina didn’t object and got into her car to follow Jeslyn.
Even though Jeslyn was going everywhere in the company’s car, it didn’t mean Code 5 and the others weren’t following her around.
At a coffee shop along the road…
Jeslyn was staring speechlessly at Manager Sarafina who just told her what happened.
“You said Piper was on her way to see me and then went missing?”
“Yes,” Manager Sarafina replied.
“But–” Jeslyn frowned. How’s that possible? “Are you sure she didn’t go on a vacation?”
She shook her head. “Piper isn’t such a careless person. She would leave me hints if she wanted to do anything. I’m literally her servant, so there’s no way she wouldn’t have called me to come pack her bags or book her ticket if she was going somewhere.”
Jeslyn sighed. “Have you spoken to her family– her mother, brothers?”
“Her mother seems to believe that her daughter went on a trip…”
Jeslyn subtly rolled her eyes. It would be surprising to her if that witch cared.
“As for her brothers, they aren’t people I can reach out to. The Xu and the Lus…” she sighed.
“I’m sure the police won’t be sleeping on her case. They’ll find something soon.”
It was obvious that Manager Sarafina had no idea who Jeslyn was. After their meeting, Jeslyn returned to the dorm but instead of resting, she called Code 5 to help her leave the dorm.
While Code 5 was hacking into the CCTV footage, Jeslyn disguised herself as a clumsy Assistant. The disguise materials weren’t difficult for her to find because has a wardrobe filled with them.
No one was in the room because she sent her Assistant home.
The company gave her an Assistant but Jeslyn preferred the girl to live away from her at the moment as she is sharing the Dorm room with Lolita anyway.
Fearless Entertainment would never give all artists or trainees a separate apartment or too much luxury, unless they’ve started to make enough money that can pay for the kind of luxurious lifestyle they want.
Although Jeslyn just started, her potential has been seen and the company was getting things ready for her.