'In short, I really have to work harder and become wiser...' she concluded in her mind.

As for the first possibility...

The woman smoothed down the hair gently blown away by the pa.s.sing wind, her thoughts wandering again to what happened earlier.

In the midst of it, Aura's voice softly echoed next to her ear.

"Miss, let's go back to the van. Forget that one setback. Don't be too hard to yourself. Remember, out of 10, 9 fell for your show. Look at the bigger number. Nine is greater than one. The successes are greater than the failure. You've already worked hard enough today, so I suggest you treat yourself to something. Ice cream or a cake, perhaps? I know a nice place where we could have some. Don't worry, this will not be enough to ruin the figure of a future Film Empress."

The response from the yellow dressed girl came after five seconds. And it was after a sigh.

"Fine. But I really can't rid the questions in my mind so I want you and Diaz to investigate that boy."

Aura leaked out a bewildered voice. "Miss?"

"Do it. Before I fell asleep I will be reading scripts and scenarios in preparation for my upcoming movie. I also want to read the report before that."

The a.s.sistant did not show anything on her face. But inwardly, she grimaced and felt pity for her boss who finds it hard to get over anything that remotely challenged her acting skills. As they said, when pa.s.sion meets inspiration, an obsession is born. It seemed her boss was already at that stage. Her pa.s.sion for her goals became an obsession. And she, the a.s.sistant, must work hard too in order to be of great a.s.sistance to this girl's quest.

Resigned to her fate, the a.s.sistant bowed, "Yes, Miss. I will tell Diaz to work on this with me. Within four hours, we will compile a comprehensive report and send it to you ."

The young woman softly smiled and walked back to where the black van was parked. The a.s.sistant followed behind her with a determined look on her face.

....

Meanwhile...

....

"Son, I'm glad you're back!"

After Chris parked the bicycle next to his father's white old model car, he picked up the bags of groceries and paper bag containing the cough medicine. That was when his father's voice rang loudly from the porch to the parking s.p.a.ce. As he strode into the house, he nodded to the other man in the house then walked straight into the kitchen situated on the living room's right side.

The new home for the Meyer family was in a community village located Southeast of Jasper City. This was where cheaper and affordable houses could be found. If he remembered correctly, this house was already the last one on sale and they were lucky to have bought it. Aside from its price to area ratio, the other good thing about their new residence was its security. This village was like a subdivision, but there were proper guards stationed at the various entrances and exits of the whole community. The guards were not mere muscle-bodied decoration because they had undergone quality training before and were only a bit inferior to the bodyguards of VIPs.

Or at least that was what he heard from his braggart father.

As for the downside. Aside from they were new here and had no other acquaintances yet, he couldn't think of others. Their new home was near to the supermarket, school, public transits stations, and church - the biggest one at that in the city.

And most of all, very far from troubles and bad memories.

What more could he ask?

"Chris, you're here! Gosh, what you took so long? I'm almost wondering if you ride your bike back to Alina City to buy the groceries!" his mother greeted when she saw him entering the place.

He wryly smiled as he placed the bags, even the one containing the blister pack, on the kitchen countertop. "Sorry."

His mother raised a brow, then laughingly shook her head,

"My son, Chris. You're already so big yet still so directionally challenged."

He reasoned with a serious face. "I'm not. Just not familiar with the place yet."

"Fine. I'm sure you're going to say, it's not like you grow up here." His mom replied without not shaking her head and laughing.

Chris merely stayed silent then excused himself from the place. Anyway, it was not like his mom would let him help out in the cooking. He could cook. Anybody could. It just depends on how good or bad the finished product would be. His was on the bad side and everyone in the house was aware of it... even Felicity.

While shaking the thoughts away from his mind, he sauntered back to his new room, planning to spend the free time before dinner there. To what he would do there, what else but surf the internet, play pretend with the system, or nap?

He froze for a moment. And when his mind returned to his body, he almost cursed the system and icily stated that it was really an idiotic, insensitive b.a.s.t.a.r.d. Almost.

"Chris! Come here, I think the news is about someone from your former school," said his father when he pa.s.sed by the living room.

For a couple of moments, the young man furrowed his brows, staring at his father absorbed in watching the 6 pm news on the TV.

"Someone from Holy Child Academy?" he asked, to confirm.

"Yeah. It's kind of sad. Come here and see if you know the person so that you can send your condolences later."

He didn't know why his heart suddenly felt heavy after hearing what the older Meyer said. Still, he found his feet heading to where his father was, his eyes narrowing at the modest-sized screen in front.

He suddenly felt as though cold water was splashed all over him when he saw a very familiar face plastered on the left.

As he was now closer to the TV, he could hear the female reporter's voice-over about an incident that took place within Alina City.

And he indeed knew who the subject of the news report was.

Actually, everybody from his school knew her.

'She died... just like that?' he asked himself when he saw the larger right side of the screen showing professionals a.n.a.lyzing the state of a body pixelated on the video. The background was a bit dark. Chris a.s.sumed it was because it was a live newscast and the scene was being filmed at the same time as the report. But actually, none of these details mattered to him because his mind was already far away the moment he saw the picture.

"It's so pitiful. This girl is the same age as you, so I'm thinking maybe she used to be your cla.s.smate. I heard that she was staying at a music compet.i.tion venue before she mysteriously vanished, only to reappear later as a corpse mutilated by bullets... somewhere in Alina's dumpsite," commented his father before clicking his tongue. "I can't believe how vile those people who did this to her are. When I learned what happened, I just couldn't help but doubt humanity as a whole. What wrong did that girl commit?"

Chris only stood there with a very grim expression on his face. Seated on the arm sofa beside him, his father continued commenting about the poor girl. Her face displayed on the picture was smiling so radiantly like a sunflower. Now, this beautiful smile would be forever gone. Its owner had pa.s.sed away, and Chris was suspecting that it was only because she unknowingly got caught in the crossfires between two d.a.m.nable hosts...

With a heavy heart, he took a deep breath, then sadly shook his head. After this, deeming that he needed time for himself, to think everything through, he turned around and started walking to his room's direction.

"Dad, I'm sorry. I'll go back and check on my former cla.s.smates," he said to excuse himself, all without turning his head back. Actually, he simply could not due to the gloomy expression covering his face.

Behind him, the older Meyer still absorbed in the news only replied, "Oh, then, okay. If you're going to message your condolences to them, include mine too. Also, if you're messaging this poor girl's friends or family, don't insensitively ask if they're okay. Just say that we're sorry to hear what happened to her. Emphatize then ask if there's something we can do even if we're far away here."

Ten or so seconds before Chris completely disappeared on the hallway leading to the stairs, his father's voice echoed behind him again, this time with a bit of urgency.

"Wait, son! I forgot to ask, do you know who this pretty girl is?"

Chris waved a hand but did not reply to satisfy his old man's curiosity. However, within his mind, a certain foreign ent.i.ty trailed off,

Chris sighed but did not reply to it too.

Of course, he knew who the girl was. It was not like he lived in a cave before they immigrated here.

t.i.tled HCA's Music G.o.ddess. The one always partic.i.p.ating in the music compet.i.tion hosted regularly at Alina Victory Hall. A pretty gossipmonger queen who befriended, albeit without her knowledge, an immoral host.

He sighed and whispered, 'Rest in peace, Clea Luizon.'

...

...

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