Amid the array of unfamiliar and delicious dishes, Lucius deliberately pushed forward a seemingly ordinary slice of grilled bread topped with fresh tomatoes
Isabella was enjoying her meal when she mumbled, “Where did you order this food from? It tastes really good. Hmm, but it seems a bit like the dishes we had at the wrap party the other day.”
Lucius remained silent; These dishes were actually prepared and delivered by the top chef.
Isabella picked up the most unassuming dish among the delicacies—the grilled bread—and took a bite. Her face immediately scrunched up. “It’s too sour, and there’s garlic skin in it. The chef’s other dishes are top-notch, but this one is a disaster. They must have added lemon.”
Lucius, who had been eagerly watching her, saw his hopes dashed in an instant.
Isabella was puzzled by the stark contrast in quali
Seeing Lucius preoccupied with the cat, Isabella, fuming, turned to leave. Just as she opened the door, Lucius closed it behind her.Isabella’s anger was still simmering. On her birthday, Lucius had given a gift to a cat instead of her, which was incredibly frustrating. She stubbornly gripped the door handle, ready to storm out, when suddenly a shimmering bracelet dangled in front of her.Lucius’s magnetic voice, filled with affection, drifted into her ear. “Silly, are you getting jealous of a cat? Trying to steal its collar? I didn’t know my Bella was such a big jealous pot.”“I had already prepared your birthday gift,” he said, taking her delicate wrist and placing the bracelet on her snowy-white arm.Isabella glanced at the bracelet and realized it was something she had admired once while passing by a mall. The price had been too high, so she had just looked and walked away.
As Isabella followed Lysander Knight and the top executives to the spacious and well-lit executive elevator, she noticed its luxurious features: a small bar, comfortable leather sofas, and a relaxing atmosphere.“Please, have a seat. We’ll make it before clock-in time,” Lysander Knight said with a gentle smile.“Isabella breathed a sigh of relief. Although she was tired from standing, she noticed that the executives did not sit down and awkwardly said, “Vice President, I’m not tired. Thank you for letting me use the executive elevator.”Lysander Knight’s smile remained warm and sincere, “No need to be formal. It’s my pleasure to help you.”Isabella couldn’t help but feel a bit self-conscious under the surprised gazes of the executives. She wondered if Lysander Knight was like a savior sent to her.The elevator reached the 35th floor, and as the doors opened, Isabella ch
Cecilia and Karrie were frozen in place. Losing twenty points was equivalent to a death sentence for them. They had struggled and given their all for two years in the training camp, and now half of their points were being deducted, making any hopes of promotion seem impossible.Cecilia, who was always concerned about face, began to cry in public.Karrie also pleaded with a pained expression, “Vice President, we’re sorry. We won’t do it again. Please don’t deduct our points. We’ll definitely correct our mistakes.”Lysander Knight replied coldly, “When you were sabotaging someone else’s punctuality, did you consider the importance of these points?”He ignored the two women’s self-inflicted plight and turned to the mentor, instructing, “Skills are important, but we must also maintain ethical standards. Issue a penalty notice and announce it company-wide to set an example.”
The trainees in the pool watched Isabella with mocking expressions.Isabella’s face grew pale as she stared at the glaring water, her limbs growing ice-cold. Her forehead, palms, and back were covered in cold sweat.The image of her grandfather’s face, immersed in the icy river, flashed in her mind.Her grandfather had lifted her body out of the water, while he himself was pulled into the swirling current.She screamed for her grandfather, reaching out to grab him, but she could only watch helplessly as he disappeared, sinking into the river.Until she saw her grandfather’s cold, lifeless body...Since then, she had been afraid of water.Isabella took a step back, her eyes filled with terror.The laughter grew louder.Ignoring the mockery, Isabella turned and tried to flee the sw
Cynthia shivered under his gaze, feeling both embarrassed and furious, unable to respond.“Alright, Cynthia, apologize to your sister. After all, our worker was the one who bumped into Isabella,” Samuel interjected, trying to defuse the situation, and attempted to check Isabella’s shoulder.Lucius, however, pulled Isabella back, maintaining distance from Samuel.Samuel felt displeased but, seeing Isabella’s slightly reddened shoulder, offered, “Isabella, I’m sorry. How about I take you to the hospital to get checked out?”Isabella shook her head. She was about to tell Lucius it was time to leave when Cynthia interjected, “Go to the hospital? Samuel, don’t delay the competition.”She cast a dismissive glance at Isabella, saying, “Samuel was specially invited for this surfing competition. This opportunity is precious, and ordinary people don’t even have the chance to part
The competition was about to start.Isabella watched the waves rolling in with frothy crests, feeling increasingly anxious.She looked at the vast coastline; the waves here were moderate—not too big, not too small—making it especially suitable for surfing. No wonder the international championship was held in this area.But the farther she looked, the taller the waves seemed to rise.What if Lucius got knocked over by the waves and fell into the water?The more she thought about it, the more terrified she became. She ran over to Lucius, who had already changed into his swimwear, grabbing his hand tightly, fear evident in her eyes. “Lucius, please don’t go. I’m really anxious...”Lucius comforted her, “I’ve already signed up. Everything is ready; I just need this favorable wind. Bella, don’t worry. I’ll win the championship and come back safely. Did
Isabella felt her heart tighten, rushing over to ask, “Who? Who fell into the water?”At that moment, she heard Cynthia running over, breathlessly shouting, “Isabella! It’s bad! I heard from the rescue team that your husband fell into the sea while surfing because of a violation. His surfboard fell off, and now there’s no trace of him!”Isabella felt a buzzing in her head, her legs gave way beneath her, and she collapsed to the ground.Cynthia hurried over, pretending to support her and said, “Hey, don’t be too upset. He clearly can’t surf but insisted on showing off to give you face. But the price he’s paying is just too high.”After speaking, Cynthia smirked inwardly, eyeing Isabella with ulterior motives.In reality, when Lucius fell into the sea earlier, although he had lost his surfboard, he was an excellent swimmer. He quickly surfaced from the water and, with the
Samuel looked at Lucius with satisfaction and said to the judge, “If Lucius's score is voided, who is the champion?”The judge checked the scoring device and smiled at Samuel, saying, “Of course, Samuel is the rightful champion.”Immediately, the fans surrounding them became restless. Just moments ago, they had been fawning over Lucius, the incredibly handsome new sports idol, and now his score was reduced to zero.Samuel's fans erupted with deafening cheers: “Congratulations to Mr. Hayes for winning the surfing championship gold medal...”Samuel's smile stretched from ear to ear as he basked in the adoration of his enthusiastic fans.Cynthia hugged him tightly and planted a kiss on his cheek to congratulate him.Watching the sudden reversal, Lucius's expression remained calm and unchange
Since Carlos had already decided that it was Isabella’s fault, if Regina spoke up for Isabella, it would only add fuel to the fire, making him even angrier with his biological daughter.“Mom is right. Maybe it’s just that my sister doesn’t understand the seriousness of the situation. Dad, you should clearly explain to her the urgency of the matter and make her pull herself together. She shouldn’t always be hanging around with that good-for-nothing boy who depends on her for a living. A daughter of the Rivera family is too precious to be associating with someone like that,” Cynthia said, cleverly fanning the flames and deepening the rift between father and daughter.Her insinuations suggested that Isabella, as Carlos’s biological daughter, was not nearly as good as his stepdaughter. The Rivera family had already suffered significant financial losses and was facing a massive crisis, yet Isabella was out there enjoying herself and keeping a
After leaving the training camp, she received countless messages from people wanting to cut ties with her.The entertainment news had exposed Cynthia's true colors, making those wealthy young men who had been deceived by her finally wake up.But she thought, let those small fry go; after feeling down for a while, Cynthia came to realize that Samuel was her best option.With the situation having escalated so dramatically, Samuel hadn’t even called to confront her, which led Cynthia to misinterpret the situation, believing he must love her dearly. He didn’t care about the photos and videos, and he must trust her, thinking the person in those clips wasn’t her.Feeling somewhat reassured, Cynthia decided to call Samuel.“Samuel!” As soon as the call connected, her sweet voice rang out.However, on the other end, Samuel’s response was cold and indifferen
When Lucius got home, he found Isabella in the kitchen wearing an apron, cooking. The delicious aroma wafted from the kitchen to the entrance of the living room, greeting Lucius the moment he walked through the door.Although this place was small—perhaps not even one-tenth the size of his residence—it filled Lucius with an overwhelming sense of warmth and happiness.He thought to himself that it would be wonderful if the days ahead could be as eternally beautiful as this moment.As he walked toward the kitchen, he wrapped his arms around Isabella from behind, resting his chin on her shoulder, leaning into her. In that embrace, they both felt each other's heartbeat and the fragrance surrounding them.“Bella, thank you for preparing this dinner for me. Just the smell is making me so hungry. You’ve worked hard,” Lucius said, savoring the scent of Isa
After hastily apologizing to Isabella, Samuel quickly redirected the conversation back to romance.Once he finished speaking, he let out a light sigh and was about to say something else to Isabella. However, after rambling on for a while without hearing any response from her, he glanced at his phone and realized she had already hung up.The post had been deleted, and this makeshift forum run by students didn’t have any backup features, so Isabella couldn’t use it to track down who was scheming against her.However, this person was indeed very suspicious, seemingly intent on ruining her reputation.Isabella was currently just an insignificant actress with very little fame; aside from Cynthia and her mother, who would want to target her like this?“Hello, are you Isabella Rivera from Next Girl?” A new person had entered the dorm room; it was Melissa.
Isabella hadn’t kept up with the rumors circulating online. After leaving the training camp, she was eager to get home, took a flight back, and rushed to her house. With the start of the new school term approaching, she had been busy eating out and shopping with Lucius, completely forgetting to address the rumors.The rumors continued to spread like wildfire online.But regardless, other people were now being dragged into the mess, and Isabella knew she couldn’t let things continue to spiral out of control.After a quick lunch in the cafeteria with Celia, Isabella hurried back to her dorm and called Mr. Derek.“Mr. Derek, this is Isabella.”“Oh, Isabella, aren’t you still at the training camp?” Mr. Derek was surprised to receive Isabella’s call.“I was eliminated. Recently, there have been rumors circulating that I have an improper relationship with
Samuel continued to chatter about how he wanted to help Isabella as he walked alongside her up to the fourth floor of the dormitory.However, his so-called help amounted to nothing more than empty words, with no real action to back it up. It was as if he were blind, completely oblivious to the fact that Isabella was juggling bags in both hands, walking slowly while having to endure his incessant buzzing in her ear like a fly.Isabella had long grown accustomed to Samuel's annoying presence.If she responded to him, it would only encourage him to be even more persistent.So, she decided to pretend she hadn’t heard him at all, giving him no reaction.But the girl and her father following them up the stairs could no longer stand it. Her father pointed at Samuel and gently advised, “If you really want to help, you should take the girl’s things and carry them for her. Just t
Within an hour, he had gathered all the information into a report and sent it to Lucius’s phone. He also managed to block all negative comments about Isabella across the internet.He made sure that all terms related to her were blacklisted in search engines on major platforms, hoping this would quell Lucius’s fury.He worked efficiently; Lysander knew him well.It turned out that after the ‘Next Girls’ announcement, Knight Entertainment had quickly arranged for both Isabella and Masha to participate. To prevent Masha from overshadowing Isabella, they had even scheduled them to perform separately.Knight Entertainment had been trying to promote Isabella, but the subsequent editing had taken an unexpected turn.The staff misunderstood Isabella's background, assuming she only wanted fame. As a result, they failed to consult the higher-ups and allowed her to become 'controv
It was unexpected that ‘Next Girls’ had become a major hit, especially with Isabella stunning everyone on her debut stage. This had catapulted her into the spotlight, and the rumors surrounding her and Derek had further increased her fame. As they walked down the street, some people recognized her.But unlike other rising stars, Isabella had a unique status—she was both popular and controversial. Thus, when people saw her, they didn’t rush over for selfies or autographs. Instead, they simply took out their phones and began filming her.Isabella understood that if she chose the path of acting, she would inevitably face this kind of attention. She didn’t mind it for herself, but with Lucius beside her, who wasn’t part of the industry, she wanted to protect him from being photographed. She stepped forward and said to the two girls, “Hi, were you just filming us?”“No, I was just taking pictures of the scenery. I wasn’
During the second group assessment in the trainee camp, Isabella found that due to the reversal of public opinion, many people wanted to be in a group with her. Zinnia, Lylia, and Masha all joined her team.Coincidentally, the group limit was four members, and they delivered an excellent performance.After their performance, the scores would be combined with votes from fans online to determine which one-third of the hundred participants would be eliminated.Before the list was announced, to create an emotional atmosphere, the show’s production team allowed the trainees to call their family and friends, showcasing heartwarming moments.Seizing this opportunity, Cynthia immediately called her father, discussing how Isabella was in the trainee camp. As expected, her father reprimanded her, accusing her of doing things without informing the family.