Chapter 53
Yolanda knew that Aaron's 'you've become so bold' was by no means complimenting her. But since she had decided to do this 'indecent' thing, Yolanda didn't expect to get any serious evaluation in front of this person.
Besides, didn't he give these silk stockings to herself? So why he was pretending to be serious here?
Yolanda purposely tightened her legs around Aaron's. "Don't you like it?"
Aaron's eyes darkened. After a moment, he raised his head and asked, "Am I being too kind to you ?"
Yolanda was not afraid of him. Blinking her eyes, as if the bribe was not enough; she stepped directly on Aaron's leg and sat down at his table. Her legs were almost parallel to his line of sight.
"Brother, please make a phone call-" She started to act like a spoiled child again.
Under the light, the silk stockings fitted close to her skin, making it look firm and smooth. It seemed that one could see something beneath it, but couldn't at the same time.
Yolanda crossed her legs into a beautiful posture. The higher her calf was lifted, the thinner the stocking's transparency.
What was underneath was lust, and also allurement.
Aaron's chest rose and fell slightly for two seconds, then he stood up and wrapped his hands around Yolanda's waist.
While leaning over and pressing her down, he uttered in a hoarse voice, "Your brother wants to get married, but my sister doesn't. It's as simple as that."
Yolanda, who was posing sexily, paused. "How do you know that?"
"Before you entered, I've called her."
"..." Yolanda instantly changed her expression and retracted her legs. "Then why don't you tell me? You're taking advantage of me!"
She wanted to jump off the table, but Aaron stopped her. "Don't tell me you're letting things done like this?"
"You've seen it all, what else do you expect?" Yolanda flexibly bent over and slipped away from under his arm, not forgetting to point out, "Brother, you can't be too greedy."
Aaron was speechless. Anyway, her waist was quite soft.
The scent which was lingering on his nose soon only dissipated. Yolanda, like a deer, quickly escaped from the dangerous place.
She was smarter than anyone else. She knew that she should quit while she was ahead, and she also knew how easy it was to arouse the man's desire to conquer if she stayed here.
Aaron sat down again and drank the rest of the coffee. He wanted to refocus on his work, but the image where the pair of legs that wrapped around him always came to his mind.
He just simply bought it and he didn't expect that Yolanda would wear it, nor he would force her to wear it. But after she wore it today, Aaron noticed that she could indeed wear that silk stockings in a high-end temptation and elegant style. Even he could not avoid being tempted.
Back in the room, Yolanda took off her stockings in frustration and hung them on the bedhead. She thought about what Aaron had just said. If Marc and Rose broke up because of their different opinions on marriage, there was really no way to force them.
As for Marc and Yolanda, both were grown up in a divorced family since childhood. So she hoped to have a family of her own more than anyone else.
But why did Rose unwilling to get married?
Nonetheless, their relationship is their business after all, and it was not easy for others to interfere.
Yolanda sighed. In the end, she could only hold this matter temporarily.
The whole night passed peacefully like this. Probably because her brother's relationship was not smooth, Yolanda's mood was affected too. When she woke up the next morning, she was feeling gloomy.
The weather outside seemed to have the same feeling as hers. It has been gloomy since the morning, and the dark ominous clouds were across the sky.
At 9 a.m., as soon as Yolanda arrived at the company, Lewis brought her a small gift box. "Miss Walter, someone gave it to you."
Yolanda thought it was a surprise for herself by Aaron. But when she opened the gift box, she found that it was a pair of very expensive designer earrings, with its market price of around 70,000 to 80,000 dollars.
She frowned. "Who gave it to me?"
Lewis replied, "It's Fire's manager."
Originally, Yolanda thought that Phoebe's words yesterday were a joke, but now it seemed that Fire was being quite obvious. It couldn't be that he had fallen in love with her and wanted to go after her.
Yolanda ordered Lewis, "Give me to contact to Fire's manager."
Lewis uttered, "Alright."
Not long after returning to the office, the phone call was picked up. Yolanda asked to the person on the other end of the phone, "Are you Fire's manager?"
"Yes, I am. Greetings, Miss Walter."
"I'll make a long story short. Go get someone to come here and take the earrings back as soon as possible. Don't use such a tactic on me. I'm not interested."
The manager was a little embarrassed. "No, Miss Walter. This is a little token from Fire. It means nothing else, please don't take it to your heart. If you like it, take it with you. If you don't, just throw it away."
"Call someone to come and take it, that's all."
Yolanda hung up the phone and handed the earrings to Lewis. "Mr. Cullen and I are going to have a meeting. If anyone comes from Fire's side, return this to them."
Lewis answered, "Roger, miss."
Dan brought the pictures of the actors who auditioned yesterday. Yolanda would have a meeting with them today to decide on the final actor candidate.
The director has the most speaking right, and Yolanda has given him enough respect for that.
Dan stated, "I prefer Fire to the rest. His acting skills are passable, and his appearance is also in line with the original work."
The screenwriter David Perry has similar opinions to him. "Thomas's acting skills still need to be polished, whereas Liam's popularity is slightly lacking."
After the two of them finished speaking, they spontaneously asked Yolanda's opinion. After all, she was the biggest investor and the first party who paid the money.
Yolanda thought carefully. Her gaze lingered on the photos of the three actors for a while. Just as she was about to speak, Lewis suddenly knocked on the door and came in, walked straight to her side, and whispered to her, "You've gotten into the trending topic, miss."
Yolanda frowned. "Me?"
Lewis handed over the mobile phone. Yolanda looked at it, and her expression changed in just a few moments.
On the other side, in Azel Group's conference room, Aaron was attending the summit conference. Blair Archer, who was taking notes, received a call from outside. After receiving the calling, she walked quietly to Aaron's side, lowered her head, and whispered something in his ear. Aaron's expression paused subtly.
He frowned and looked at the content on Blair's mobile phone. Blair suggested, "If we intervene now, it shouldn't be able to appear as the most trending topic. Within half an hour, it can be withdrawn from the trending topic."
There were still many high-level executives sitting on the stage. Aaron just thought about it for less than a minute and looked away.
"You need not do that." He sat upright and raised his chin to signal the person who was just reporting. "Continue your report."
Blair was speechless.
The entire people in the conference room continued to discuss the project without knowing it. Aaron was listening and occasionally glanced at a few photos on his mobile phone. There was no visible expression on his face.
Until the end of the meeting, only then did Blair hand over the mobile phone that he charged nearby.
"Miss Walter has phoned you twice."
While calling Yolanda back, Aaron instructed Blair, "Go and check who was behind it."
"Noted."
After a few seconds-
"Hello," Aaron's voice was as calm as usual, one couldn't hear any emotions from it.
It was impossible for him to not know if she had seen it.
Aaron was a very possessive man. After knowing that she has gotten into a scandal with a popular young hunk, she was afraid that he would be misunderstood, jealous, and angry.
After a few seconds of silence, she asked carefully, "Did you see it?"
"Yup."
"Then why don't you ask me something?"
"What should I ask you?"
Seeing Aaron so calm made Yolanda didn't know what to say.
She had prepared a bunch of explanations beforehand, but she didn't expect that after contacting him, there wasn't any questioning from Aaron.
Yolanda felt a little calmer. After a while, she took the initiative to say. "Do you believe me? "
After a pause, he replied, "Of course."
His words of affirmation that sounded from the mobile phone made Yolanda instantly relieved. She sounded more confident in her tone. "That's great. Then I'll go to work now."
Although Aaron decided not to intervene when he was just informed about this matter, this trending post was her first public relations crisis throughout her career, and she should have the ability to adapt.
Even if she couldn't adapt, she still needed to grit her teeth and went through it once.
Experience and lessons come like this. Giving her protection could not help her grow.
But after hearing her voice, Aaron couldn't help but ask, "Don't you need my help?"
Yolanda smiled relaxedly. "No, I'll handle it myself."
Aaron was a little surprised by her calmness when the phone hung up. But at the same time, he also began to look forward to how his girlfriend would deal with such a crisis.
Fire Beaumont was currently a rising star. After his scandal has been exposed, he almost unstoppably rushed to the most trending topic on social media.
His marketing account released a few photos of Yolanda and Fire meeting alone outside the venue of Azel's Evening Party. In the post, the two stood close, the lighting was blurred, and the word "secret meeting" was used. It inexplicably resulted in people thinking they were having a secret love affair.
Yolanda's identity was quickly revealed by netizens.
[Damn, isn't this woman Yolanda Walter, the investor of 'The Moment in Love'? Does she want to involve Fire with the unspoken rules?]
[I'm impressed. Fire is focusing on his career, please stay away from him if you want to blackmail him.]
[Fire seems to be auditioning for their drama, don't tell me that she has taken a liking to him by this?]
[But to tell the truth, these two looks matched to each other.]
[Fire is only 21. Please don't lay your hand on him, Miss Walter.]
[Doesn't anyone think this young lady is also very good-looking?]
[Finally, someone said it. Her temperament while holding a wine glass is amazing, right? How come she would blackmail such an influencer when she was very rich?]
[After searching for a long time, I couldn't find her Twitter account. May I know where can I follow her?]
Yolanda was the investor behind the scenes. So, she hardly got any fans in front of the screen; not to mention that this was the first time she has been exposed to netizens. Except for her beauty which has attracted the attention of some people, most of the comments were controlled by Fire's fans. The malicious comments were all targeted at her.
Time passed by minute by minute. By 2 p.m., the post was still trending on social media.
Aaron glanced at his watch from time to time. The best time to deal with a crisis was within 24 hours. Of course, for the entertainment industry, the most golden time was the first 6 hours.
4 hours have passed since the trending post came out. Yet, there was no response from Yolanda.
Although Aaron said that he would not intervene in this matter, in the past few hours, he has prepared to help her in the end. It's just that he wanted to wait a bit.
Yolanda was smart, and he has always known that. However, he didn't know that would her cleverness would come in handy this time.
Finally, at 3 p.m., the last hour of the golden six hours, Yolanda replied. She did not apply for a personal Twitter account, nor did she use the company's official account. Instead, she sent out an exclusive interview report through the most convincing account in the entertainment industry, 'Starry Studio'.
Her choice of choosing 'Starry Studio' to make the announcement was already interesting.
Aaron then clicked on the content of the news. In the process of browsing, he unconsciously grinned. He took his mobile phone, called Yolanda, and asked, "Who taught you this way?"
Yolanda replied, "It's you."
When falling into a crisis, if one could not resolve it directly; he could use the crisis to create a new topic. This was indeed what Aaron taught her.
Aaron sneered, "I didn't teach you to use your boyfriend as a speculation."
Yolanda sighed and acted coquettishly, "Just let me make use of you, cheapskate."
If the perfect score for crisis public relations was 100, Aaron could give her 80 points for her response.
Not only did she get rid of the scandal with Fire, but she also took advantage of this trending topic to promote her movie and seized any opportunity that could be used.
In the exclusive interview, Yolanda didn't only explain that her relationship with Fire was merely the audition relationship. The most important thing that she mentioned was:
[I have a boyfriend, so it's bad for this kind of news to appear. I care about my boyfriend's feelings very much.]
The first point was to appease Aaron, her boyfriend.
The reporter immediately asked her if her boyfriend was in the same industry as hers. Yolanda made good use of the crowd's gossiping psychology and had an ambiguous conversation with the reporter. She took advantage of the situation by promoting her invested drama while giving the people conclusion that-
Her boyfriend was working in the same industry as hers. He was the kind of person to get into the trending topic whenever he appeared in the news. Besides, he was very outstanding. His fans were between 10 million and 30 million people.
The second point was to deliberately create topics and popularity. Anyway, her words were true. The total number of fans of the Azel Studio official account was 15 million people.
The third point was even more powerful.
Yolanda finally acted generously and said jokingly to everyone:
[If 'The Moment in Love' can hit 100 million box office on its premiere, I'll announce my relationship through broadcast!]
Through these words, Yolanda had let the hashtag #When will The Moment in Love premiere# reach the trending hashtags.
By making use of this chance, not only did she manage to promote her movie, but she also got free exposure to the public. Also, she even let her company, 'Pisces Studio' flood the screen.
The scandal with Fire has long since fallen out of the trending search, and a new topic has been replaced into 'who was the top man behind this beautiful investor'.
Netizens enjoyed gossiping too much. In just one-day time, they have listed not less than 10 possible men from acting to singing firm, who would be Yolanda's boyfriend.
The hustle and bustle on the Internet continued. Yolanda, who was in the office, finally went out from the crisis and breathed a sigh of relief.
She quietly looked out of the window. It was after 5 p.m., and it finally started to rain after a gloomy day.
Her mobile phone beeped. It was a message from Aaron: [I'll pick you up from work.]
Originally, Yolanda wanted to reply to him 'alright'. But after remembering that she has gotten into the trending search today, she was not sure if she was being targeted. Thus, she texted him back cautiously: [You need to change your car.]
The rain was getting heavier. When Yolanda began to pack up, Lewis entered and reported, "Fire's manager called and explain that it's definitely not them to buy the trending search."
"I know." Yolanda said indifferently, "He wasn't that stupid, using this kind of romance news to popularise himself.
"Then..."
The three male stars were fighting for a role, so there would definitely be competition among them. But this person even dared to use himself. It seemed that he was like a cornered beast who would do something desperate to achieve his goal.
Yolanda still didn't know who was behind it. Her day was too thrilling that she didn't have the energy to check for the time being.
She just wanted to see him right away.
When she saw the trending post for the first time, Yolanda admitted that she was a little bewildered. Yet, she subconsciously worried about Aaron's feelings.
Fortunately, he gave her enough trust. It was this trust that made Yolanda quickly focus on the crisis and began to fight back.
Half an hour later, Aaron arrived at the parking lot, and Yolanda got into his car discreetly.
Although Happer was still in the car, Yolanda got into Aaron's arms as soon as she got in. It's like the kind of child who has been fighting alone for a day outside and suddenly saw a parent that she could rely on. All the grievances that she wanted to vent have flowed out at this moment.
"Give me a hug." She coquettishly said.
Aaron knew how she felt, so he took her into his arms. "What's the matter, didn't you handle it well?"
"I miss you."
"..." MaybeYolanda didn't realize it herself. Unknowingly, this man's shoulder has become her biggest dependence.
After hugging quietly for a while, Yolanda said from the bottom of her heart, "Thank you for believing in me unconditionally."
Aaron paused and replied softly, "I'm not that irrational."
In his eyes, this little trick in the entertainment industry was nothing at all. People couldn't play any tricks under his eyes. At a glance, he could differentiate which was true and which was fake.
Aaron's only concern was-
"According to your response, if the box office doesn't exceed 100 million that day; wouldn't you reveal our relationship to the public?"
"Yeah." Speaking of this, Yolanda was slightly relaxed. She raised her head and grinned. "So, whether the man behind Miss Walter can be officially announced depends on God's will."
Aaron twitched his lips. In the relationship between Yolanda and himself, if he hadn't forcibly taken it by force many times; it would already be over if he followed God's will.
The two of them leaned against each other quietly. The rain was getting heavier and heavier, while the raindrops gradually connected into a line on the car window, sliding down irregularly.
Such weather reminded Yolanda of the most painful day when she was separated from Aaron. It's also raining like this.
But today it rained so much again, and she encountered the first crisis in her own business. It seemed that whenever it rained heavily, her memories were not that pleasant.
Was this also God's will?
After staring at the rain outside the window for a long time, Yolanda suddenly murmured to herself, "Brother, do you know what else I want to do besides confessing to you on Valentine's Day?"
Aaron replied, "I don't know."
Yolanda turned her head to look at him. No matter how deceitful she was before, nor how pretentious she was after being together, or even like today, when the whole netizens were suspicious and ridiculed her scandal; this man, as always, has given her the trust, stood behind her, protected her in his way, and taught her to grow.
Yolanda lowered her gaze and smiled, "I'll tell you when we get home."
Yolanda didn't know if it was God's will. But even if it was tonight, she would go against this day and redefine the meaning of rainy days to herself.
Yolanda took the initiative to hold Aaron's hand while going home and took him to her bedroom once they arrived home.
After turning on the small lights on the ceiling around, there was a gentle light omitted in the room.
"Wait for me here," Yolanda instructed. She walked to the cabinet, pulled out a box wrapped in black kraft paper from the bottom layer, and then walked back to Aaron. "I want to give you this on Valentine's Day as a gift."
Aaron was not unfamiliar with this gift box, he had seen it before when he went to Yolanda's place. Je just didn't ask.
He didn't expect it to be a gift for himself.
Looking back from the gift box, Aaron asked, "What thing you wanted to do is to give me a gift?"
Yolanda shook her head. Of course, it was more than that. She had never felt that the timing of tonight was so suitable. Maybe it was because after facing the hardships, her appreciation and cherishing toward him had become greater.
Perhaps, it was because of the same weather. She didn't want to leave the same regret.
She gently unwrapped the wrapping paper, and when she was about to finish, she pursed her lips and said to Aaron, "Close your eyes."
Aaron rarely wanted to close his eyes in front of others. To him, it was a sign of completely letting go of his guard.
But he didn't know why it was hard to refuse Yolanda tonight. After looking at her for a while, he finally compromised and closed his eyes.
The room was quiet, Aaron heard the sound of the box being opened. Soon, he felt Yolanda's hands clung to his waist. Then gently and slowly, she tightened her hands.
"It's done," Yolanda said.
Aaron could guess what Yolanda's gift was, but when he opened his eyes to make sure of it, he still had some kind of uncontrollable impulsive emotions.
She was trying to conquer him.
Aaron raised his eyes to look at Yolanda. Slowly, his body moved forward to her dominantly.
"Is this the bait you gave me?" he asked.
The rain in the summer night seemed to want to witness their deep affection, rained more and more heavily.
The room was quiet. Yolanda was pushed against the wall.
After gazing into each other's eyes for a moment, she smiled lightly, hooked her index finger on the black belt around Aaron's waist, and unbelted it gently.
Then, she whispered in his ear, "I caught you, brother."