Chapter 38
Josh Hunter simply sat there with a calm expression. His gaze fell upon Sarah Reed for a few seconds and then shifted away swiftly. It was difficult to tell what he was feeling.
The producer's heart sank for a moment. He got up to get Josh Hunter more wine and quickly changed the topic, "Mr. Hunter, I'm not sure if you visit X City often, but Vivian Restaurant serves the best crab in the entire city. You must try it when it's served later!"
The producer had no idea what he had said wrong, but he could still tell that his investor was unhappy.
His heart was thumping. He pinned all his hopes on the investor's mercifulness to not hold grudges against them. Of course, if the investor could play along and turn the page, it would be all the better.
Unfortunately, Josh did not buy it. He got up and left without even bidding goodbyes.
Just as the waiter was serving the dish, one of the main casts walked out, while the other yelled "Mr. Hunter" and went after him hurriedly. The rest of the group exchanged looks with one another at the table. The atmosphere became very strange instantly.
"What happened? Why did he suddenly leave?"
"I don't know. It was just out of the blues."
"How can he not pay Bryon any respect..."
"Who is Bryon to him after all?"
In the private room, everyone was whispering and discussing, while outside the private room, the cold wind was blowing.
Sam Rodriguez followed Josh Hunter and stretched out the coat as they walked.
After putting it on, Josh slightly raised his arms and straightened the collars. From the beginning to the end, he didn't bother looking at the producer at all.
The producer was horribly anxious. He didn't dare to drag Josh Hunter, so he could only drag Sam Rodriguez, demanding to understand what had happened.
Sam Rodriguez had been with Josh Hunter for a long time, so he was relatively indifferent in handling matters. He broke the producer's grip easily. Before getting into the car, he sneered, "Bryon, you'd better stop bad-mouthing others."
"...?"
Did they bad-mouth anyone? Weren't they simply praising the two designers that the Lux Hotel Group wanted to support?
Bryon couldn't make sense of it at all. He could only watch Josh Hunter's car reverse out of the parking spot and gallop away on the main road. All he could think about was if the sponsorship was gone.
In the car, without Josh's orders, Sam had already found out Diana's whereabouts and reported them to Josh one by one.
Josh Hunter responded faintly and looked out the window. He seemed to be in a bad mood.
He knew that Diana had a lot of flaws, but that didn't mean that he liked to hear others criticizing his wife.
Seeing this, Sam admitted his mistake hastily, "I'm sorry, Mr. Hunter. It was my dereliction of duty."
It was obviously because of Diana Swift that Josh Hunter attended the banquet of a small-scale program that he had invested in.
But as Josh's personal assistant, it was indeed derelict of Sam that he didn't find out about Diana Swift's return to P City in the afternoon.
What was even more derelict was that he simply let the group of fools talk about Diana Swift in front of Josh Hunter. It was as if heading straight into the muzzle of a gun.
"No year-end bonus for you this year."
Josh Hunter looked out the window indifferently.
Sam felt rather bumped out. He knew that Josh was taking his anger out on him, but he didn't say anything.
The sponsorship for The Designer had already been allocated, and the production of the program had also been completed. It was obviously not realistic to cut off the collaboration at this point due to a moment of unpleasantness.
But if those attendees who had insinuated Diana Swift earlier tonight showed up in any other investment projects by the Lux Hotel Group in the future, Sam should pack up and leave his position as the chief assistant.
The only thing he was praying for at this moment was for The Designer to be broadcasted smoothly. There shall be no more drama involving the president's wife.
-
The fact that Josh Hunter left the place abruptly caused the production team to be in panic.
After Diana had finished bathing in the hot spring, she saw the text message sent by the staff.
She glanced at the time, replied "Sorry, I'm not in Star City", and brushed it off. At this moment, her mind was all focused on how she could outshine Mandy Lee tomorrow.
Diana Swift and Mandy Lee had been rivaling each other for more than 20 years. Anyone who grew up together with them would have heard about it.
The root of their feud could be traced back to the first grade of elementary school.
At that time, Diana gave a candy she brought back from abroad to a super-good-looking little boy in class. He accepted it, but he then forwarded the gift to Mandy.
Mandy knew that the candy came from Diana, so she bit the candy in front of her, showing it off. Diana was so pissed off that she fought with Mandy.
The relationships between people seemed to be destined. Starting from the first grade of elementary school, Diana Swift and Mandy Lee found each other disagreeable. Since then, over the years, their resentment became stronger and stronger to a point where there was absolutely no possibility of reconciliation.
-
The next afternoon, a brand reception was held at P City Art Center.
When Diana Swift looked at the invitation letter, she realized that the keyword for this reception was casual. Originally, she wanted to outshine Mandy with a gorgeous gown, but the idea wasn't suitable for this occasion at all.
After picking and choosing for a long time, she finally picked out a burgundy knee-length tube skirt. It was not too pompous and yet it could outline her exquisite figure. Matching it with a pearl-white clutch bag, she looked perfect!
But coincidentally, Mandy Lee wore a pearl-white tube jumpsuit and carried a burgundy clutch bag.
She held the investor's hand and greeted everyone present with a gentle smile. Every movement of hers was overflowed with grace and elegance.
Headed by Diana, a group of ladies gathered together and stared at Mandy from a distance. They simply couldn't stop criticizing her.
Somebody joked, "Diana, you two dressed like a red rose and a white rose today."
Someone else immediately retorted, "A white rose? Is she even close?"
"Exactly. Mind your words. Don't you know that her mother used to be a nanny at Diana's house?"
"Huh? Seriously?"
"Yup. The Swift family was kind enough to take Mandy and her mother in. Yet, Mandy got up Diana's nose since young. Shouldn't she know her place?" The girl's voice was soft, but it couldn't conceal the sarcasm in her words.
Standing beside Diana Swift, Betty Miller exclaimed in her heart. She suddenly had an illusion that Mandy was the Cinderella who made a comeback in the play while the rest of them were the vicious female supporting characters.
Betty Miller was not the only one who had this illusion. The great protagonist named Mandy was a thorn in Diana's heart ever since Diana was a child. After many years, she still couldn't pull this thorn out of her heart. It hurt her from time to time, torturing her horribly.
Mandy was not like Diana and her rich lady friends who had nothing better to do. They only keened to judge others when they came to the reception.
She came here particularly to be introduced to some famous film directors. She wanted to invite them to be the executive producers for her movie debut.
Of course, she had also spotted Diana, but she had never taken Diana seriously across the years. She put up her high and mighty posture as usual and didn't even bother shooting Diana another glance.
Mandy made it clear that she wanted to ignore them. Diana was upset, but it was impossible for her to stir the pot for no reason. She drank a glass of red wine to suppress her anger and then watched the performance on stage with Betty as if nothing had happened.
Betty lowered her voice and asked, "Aren't you going to fight head-on?"
Diana replied, "How?"
Betty answered, "Aren't you here to crush her and warn her not to make that stupid movie? You should at least have a round of harsh talk and throw drinks at each other."
"You've read too many novels, haven't you? Throwing drinks at each other seems a bit much..."
While eating her cake, Betty taught Diana the golden tricks to winning all kinds of rivals in a whisper.
Diana was also a hardcore fan of novels. The more she listened to Betty, the more wrong she felt. She thought the tricks that Betty taught her were the kind of tricks that only a foolish female supporting character would do. It would totally degrade her.
Betty went on and on. Suddenly, she paused and said, "She's heading to the bathroom. Hurry! Catch up with her!"
She jolted Diana and continued, "You can lock her in the cubicle with a broom or splash her with water!"
Betty must be out of her mind. How could there be a broom in the bathroom for such an occasion?
Diana was jolted up. She walked to the bathroom involuntarily while thinking wildly.
-
The restroom in the art center was very artistic.
If it weren't for the sign of the women's bathroom in front of the door, one might think he or she had entered some high-end dressing room by mistake.
Diana touched up her makeup absent-mindedly in front of the basin. She stared at the mirror and paid full attention to the movement in the cubicle behind her.
About three minutes later, Mandy came out of the cubicle.
Seeing Diana retouching her makeup in front of the sink, Mandy paused for a while, but she wasn't particularly surprised.
Diana patted the foundation on her face for the second time. When Mandy walked to her side to wash her hands, Diana uttered calmly, "What a coincidence."
Mandy chuckled and replied without raising her eyes, "I don't think it is a coincidence."
Diana was speechless.
Mandy pulled a paper towel after washing her hands. While drying her hands, she looked at Diana Swift in the mirror and said, "It's been years since I last saw you. I didn't expect that you're still as childish as ever."
"Childish?"
Diana took just one second to activate her combat mode.
"Diana Swift, you have money and time to spare. Why don't you do something meaningful? We're all adults now. Stop pulling childish tricks like this."
Mandy took her lipstick out and applied a light layer of color in a calm manner.
Diana was stunned for a moment. Suddenly, she sneered and raised her voice to a higher pitch. "Don't act innocent when you're such a foxy skank! Aren't you clear in your heart about who's the one playing tricks secretly? You don't even know how to be a quiet ex-girlfriend who keeps to herself. Don't even try to pretend to be elegant and sophisticated in front of me!"
"You know that I want to make a movie?" Mandy paused for a few seconds and glanced at her suddenly. "Josh told you?"
What did Josh have to do with this?
Besides, how could she call him by his first name so naturally?
Looking at Diana's expression, Mandy chuckled and replied, "I bet Josh didn't tell you that the Lux Hotel Group is investing in my movie. He doesn't mind anyway, so why do you care? You've had a crush on him for so many years, and now you've used all sorts of means to get married to him. Haven't you won over his heart yet?"
Mandy had already packed her stuff up and was about to leave. Just when she passed by Diana, she paused for a second and then whispered in Diana's ear, "What a pity."
Mandy's words, together with all the grudges that Diana had held since elementary school, made Diana's heart clench so hard that she felt breathless.
The clicking sounds from Mandy's high heels moved further and further away.
Diana's defense mechanism, which she had built for days, was crushed easily by Mandy's emotionless words. The lights in the bathroom were dazzling. Diana could only hold onto the basin to make herself stand still.
-
When Josh Hunter received Diana Swift's call, he was playing golf with Nathan Jones on Nathan's golf course. Rein Gracia and Eric Cook were also there.
The four of them were standing close to each other.
Seeing that the call was from Diana Swift, Rein Gracia teased, "Yo, your sweet Diana is checking up on you!"
This was the first time Diana called after a few days of stalemate. Josh ignored Rein and pressed the answer button.
Even though Josh didn't turn on the speaker mode, her voice was so loud that all the three other people nearby could hear it.
On the other end of the phone, Diana's voice was trembling a little. In fact, there was a bit of hysteria that she tried to suppress but failed.
"Do you remember what I said to you? Do you remember what you promised me?"
"You invested in Mandy's film to commemorate your love! Are you trying to slap me in the face and let the whole world see how pathetic I am?!"
A few seconds later, she calmed down a little and continued, "I have nothing more to say to you. When will you be back? Let's get a divorce."