Chapter 176 - She Did It Again

Elfie and Edward weren't happy. They did not know what to do with a certain girl. As much as the list of factories and warehouses involved with Anastasia's EZ Express were important to helping them find the crafty man's tail, Scarlet broke her promise.

One part of Edward was happy that nothing happened between CEO Zhu and Scarlet at the hotel that day. Even if Scarlet and CEO Zhu had been hanging out a lot during the week that Scarlet took a study leave, it was merely to promote Golden Pineapple's collaboration efforts and stir the headlines towards the two big companies.

Scarlet worked hard and helped to advertise not only for Golden Frost and the Pineapple Group. She also announced that the Pineapple Group might be interested in collaborating with Wilde Inc. on their latest game development with Kiwi Cat Studio. CEO Zhu confirmed that the next step that Pineapple Group was looking into would be the new edge of technology for the younger generations. He wanted to bring in a popular chat room to China that Kiwi Cat Studio was working on and Elfie almost fainted when he read the news.

"What are we going to do?" Edward asked. "She's not going to stop meddling in the case. Even if she was in the limelight with her sister, I don't think Anastasia can sit back after hearing that CEO Zhu has intentions to work with Wilde Inc. EZ Express cannot afford to have their business partner team up with their enemy."

Elfie groaned. "I don't know. Can you please kill me and make it painless? I don't even have time to hack anything now that emails and jobs are pouring in ever since that CEO said he wanted to buy over the chat room. Jasper has been trying his best to push back the meeting between me and that shady businessman. Danny is ready to step in since my identity and involvement is meant to be a secret. I live in the shadows, for the light to suddenly shine in my direction makes me scared. You're a spy, aren't you? Let me hide at your place for a while!"

The nineteen-year-old university student grumbled and Elfie gave him a levelled stare over the video conference call. "Scarlet has a reason to go to the hotel with CEO Zhu. You don't have a reason to be alone with Scarlet in your apartment, much less hers. She met up with him in secret so that he could pass her the list of warehouses and factories. You don't have the same excuse."

Instead of giving up, Edward became even more determined. "If I find a good enough reason I can invite her over?"

The hacker slammed his fist on the table and the camera shook. "No! I forbid! Not until Wilmer and Orita approve of your relationship with her. Besides, you haven't even confessed to her, you have no chance!"

Growling at the sore spot that Efie hit, Edward scowled. "She doesn't even talk to me as Edward Bayon. She only talks to Jedd77. I can't exactly tell her that I am Jedd77 now, can I? The two personalities are simple worlds apart."

Instead of showing sympathy, Elfie snorted. "Serves you right. If I wasn't working with you for long enough to know the different faces you have, I would have called you a creep. You can either continue deliberating about whether to confess to her or not and have another man like CEO Zhu snatch her away from under your nose or man up and confess to her somehow. Your choice. I'll be here to go on a movie or gaming marathon when she rejects you."

Annoyed that the hacker immediately assumed that he would get rejected, Edward ended the call without saying goodbye. Elfie who saw that Edward lost his cool actually howled in lighter so hard that he tumbled off his chair and continued laughing on the floor until his sides hurt and tears were running down his cheeks. Who would have expected that the day the almighty top spy would be so rattled up when he was in love?

While the two boys figured out what to do with Scarlet who broke her promise, the writer was dead tired. Entertaining CEO Zhu was the easy part of that week. The hard part was figuring out why Edward was suddenly talking to her privately and why Jedd77 was acting oddly all of a sudden. Could it be that they found out about her secret? Scarlet shook her head. That couldn't be. She was very careful to prepare a believable cover story about her absence from lessons. Alex was a good alibi too.

Alex saw the news and instead of scolding her sister who had clearly met up with the CEO for 'business', she decided to take matters into her own hands to deliver punishment. Scarlet was way too involved with Anastasia's case and Elfie had complained to Alex about it. The model didn't know how Scarlet was able to weasel out information about EZ Express from CEO Zhu but she was convinced that her sister was doing something dangerous again.

If Scarlet was able to do dangerous things, it only meant that she had too much free time to plot. Alex couldn't allow that. Given her sister's brilliant intelligence, it wouldn't be difficult for Scarlet to cope with the pressure at school. Instead, to occupy Scarlet to the extent where she wasn't able to try anything funny, Alex decided to introduce something else into her innocent sister's life.

Alex was going to play cupid. Scarlet needed a boyfriend. If Scarlet had a boyfriend, she would be too busy dating and worrying about her relationship to bother about Anastasia. It would be even better if Claire could help and her mother got involved. Scarlet needed to be eyed on twenty-four by seven by everyone. Still, Alex was feeling slightly guilty. She should have insisted that she wanted to tag along with Scarlet to meet CEO Zhu as the owner of Golden Frost. If she did, Scarlet wouldn't be able to try anything funny. If only university art projects weren't so time-consuming!

The model m.o.a.ned. Why was Scarlet taking to school life a lot easier than her? It was totally unfair! Alex had to work out to keep her figure, update her social media and hang out with new friends at all kinds of events and parties. On top of that, Alex had to maintain her model student image and turn in assignments on time, attend all lectures and even join a club after school. She was busy till no tomorrow but Scarlet had time to come home and write her books after completing her assignments with plenty of time to spare. Where was justice?!

When Scarlet went for her shower, Alex quickly divulged her plan to match-make Scarlet and her secret crush. The head maid agreed and Alex was surprised that it didn't take much effort to convince Claire.

"You're not going to object?" Alex was surprised and Claire raised her brow.

"Why should I? Scarlet would be happy if he agrees to date her. If he makes her cry all I have to do is break his kneecaps so that he will grovel before her in apology. If that doesn't work then I can only kill him and dump his body into the Hudson River."

The model shuddered. Claire was scary when she wanted to be. Then again, Alex turned to the head maid. "Will you do the same for me if I get dumped?"

This time, the head maid smirked. "You? Good luck with that."

Scandalised by the difference in treatment, Alex protested while Claire hacked into Scarlet's phone to get Edward's number. There were no secrets between ladies when it came to romances so Alex and Claire already know the name of the boy Scarlet has a crush on. It wasn't difficult to figure out. Still, Alex raged over how different Claire treated them.

"I work for your mother and not you," Claire said dryly when Alex demanded to know if this was how she treated her employers.

"Then why do you treat Scarlet so differently from how you treat me? This is unfair!"

Claire rolled her eyes. Alex was being dramatic again. "I treat Scarlet differently because I like her better than you, Ms I-take-an-hour-to-shower."

Truthfully, it's not that Claire disliked Alex. However, it was so fun to rile the model and Alex always took the bait. On the other hand, Scarlet was very much like a fragile glass that had to be handled with care. Nobody knew when Scarlet would jump off a cliff if she was pushed too hard and even Orita worried over Scarlet more. Scarlet fought depression and PTSD all on her own, never asking anyone for help or telling anyone her troubles. Hence, it was obvious who needed more attention.

Unlike her sister, Alex was more open with what she struggled with. It wasn't difficult to know what was going on with Alex and things were often resolved before they became a real problem. Claire wasn't too worried about Alex even though the model was stressed over finding a balance in her new lifestyle.

Once they got Edward's number, Claire and Alex put the phone back to where it originally was and continued with their argument until Scarlet came out. Now that the writer was present, Alex and Claire decided to tease the girl about her phone's wallpaper that Claire changed from cats into Edward's profile picture that the head maid saved.

Scarlet turned bright red at the merciless jabs at her crush on Edward all the way through dinner till bedtime. Satisfied that she punished Scarlet enough for her mischief with CEO Zhu, Alex reported to Elfie about what she did as well as Scarlet's crush on a boy called Edward Bayon at school.