Chapter 8

Hearing the phone abruptly hang up, Keegan could not help but frown deeply. The woman beside him called out to him again. “Keegan?” Keegan looked up and glanced at her indifferently. He put his phone away and coldly said, “What exactly do you want?” Bella handed him a beautifully packaged box. Then, she whispered a little shyly, “I didn’t have much to do at home for the past few days, so I baked some pastries, and I wanted to give you some.” Keegan did not move. He lifted his gaze and stared at her.

“Just for something like this?” Bella’s breath hitched. She gripped the box and mumbled, “No… I also wanted to ask you about work.” Keegan responded coolly, “Stop meddling with what’s going on online and hand over your Facebook account to your manager. In a few days, someone from Neon Nebula will discuss the contract with you. After that, cooperate with them for the promotion.” Bella was delighted. She had offered to voice act in Honor of the Deities to Vermont several times, but he dismissed her every time. This led to Bella being angry about it for a while. However, it was not because she liked doing voice acting for games but merely because she did not want things to go well for Dusk Galaxy. A while ago, when Secret Sweetheart was a hit, she became a hot topic because of online criticism related to voice acting. Netizens were saying that the dubbing carried her acting skills and that people would think she was acting in a puppet show if they watched the drama muted. In the hot topic, Dusk Galaxy was praised profusely. ‘I worked hard to film that drama, yet Dusk Galaxy is the one getting a good reputation? How could I just let this go?’ she thought. In order to prove that her original voiceover was not bad, Bella posted a video of her voicing the script during the filming of the drama on her burner account. She even paid money to get the hot topic “Bella Young Original Voice”

trending. She thought this would blow everyone away. To her surprise, they ridiculed her instead. Once again, the so-called audiences and film critics criticized her acting and praised Dusk Galaxy profusely. ‘I’m going to lose my mind! Just as I was thinking of a way to relieve my anger, I heard Vermont and Andrew discussing the voiceover for Honor of the Deities. I learned that they intended to cast Dusk Galaxy as the voice actor. I’m too good to voice act in a game. But, if snatching the opportunity over would allow me to be a nuisance to Dusk Galaxy, naturally, I’ll have to do it,’ she thought. Even though Bella was ecstatic, she asked with a hesitant expression, “Did Mr. Snyder agree?

He doesn’t seem to like me that much. If Mr. Snyder isn’t keen on it, then it’s fine. Don’t make things awkward between you two because of me.” Keegan glanced at her meaningfully as if he was going to bore a hole through her. Bella felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand. However, Keegan merely reminded her, “Your manager’s here.” Bella snapped back to reality. She looked out the window and saw her manager waving at her. She frowned. She initially wanted Keegan to send her home. However, Keegan’s assistant— Aldor Hart—had already opened the door and was beckoning her to get out. At this point, Bella could not shamelessly ask to stay. She bade Keegan goodbye and got out of the car without forgetting to give Aldor a deathly glare. “Where to, Mr. Kane?” Keegan pinched the bridge of his nose and said tiredly, “Home.” He had not been sleeping well for the past few days. To be precise, ever since Stella moved out of the house. He felt annoyed once more at the thought of her. Keegan twisted a bottle of water open. He took a sip and frowned, “Plain water?” Aldor explained, “The tea bags that madam gave are all used up. The new ones haven’t been stocked up yet. I’ll call madam later.” Keegan paused and coolly responded, “There’s no need for that.” ‘If I go find that woman, she’ll say things that’ll piss me off again!’ he thought. Then, he took another sip of water. For some reason, the plain water he had been drinking for the past twenty-something years had become unpalatable. ‘Did plain water always taste this bad?’ wondered Keegan. They arrived at Royalpark Villa. Just as Keegan got out of the car, Aldro retrieved a beautiful gift box from the car. Then, he handed the gift box to Keegan. “Mr. Kane, the bag you pre-ordered two months ago has arrived.” ‘A bag that costs over four million dollars. It’s like carrying a house around. My worldviews are constantly being changed while I’ve been working here for the past few years,’ Aldor thought. “When madam sees it, she’ll definitely like it.” Keegan unfurrowed his brows slightly. However, he coldly said, “How could she not like something she wanted?” Aldor raised his eyebrows but did not speak. ‘I’ve never heard madam say she wants this bag. But, she did say that the bag looked nice while she was reading a magazine in the car one time.

That very night, Mr. Kane asked me to purchase the bag. Since there wasn’t any stock locally, we had to pull a few strings to purchase it abroad. That’s why it took two months for the bag to arrive,’ he thought again. “Leave it in the car.” Keegan buttoned his shirt and said, “Come pick me up tomorrow morning at nine.” At nine o’clock the following morning, Stella got a call from Keegan right after she got dressed. “Come downstairs.” Stella was confused. Keegan “thoughtfully” added, “I’ll wait for you downstairs.” Stella frowned and said, “You know where I live?” Keegan was not bothered enough to answer her nonsensical question, so he hung up. ‘Every time we fight, she stays at a hotel or at her poor bestie’s place. Since I canceled her room card, where else would she be other than Felicity’s place?’ he thought. Sure enough, Stella walked out of the apartment and saw Keegan’s Mercedes-

Benz parked by the road. She stopped walking. Just as she was about to walk to the passenger seat, Aldor got out of the car and opened the rear door. Keegan was sitting on the other end of the backseat and looking down at his phone. Stella did not want to sit with Keegan. She turned around and wanted to ask Aldor to open the door to the front passenger seat. But, before she could ask, Aldor said to her hurriedly, “Get in the car, madam. We can’t stop here. The cops are coming.” Stella had no choice but to get in the car. The car started soon after. Stella and Keegan did not speak, so the atmosphere in the car was awkward. Aldor had been working with Keegan for a number of years, so he was pretty good at reading the room. ‘Driving here to pick up madam was weird. That, coupled with the atmosphere in the car, makes things even weirder. They probably had a fight,’ he thought. Aldor peered at Keegan. Then, he turned to Stella. Finally, he coughed slightly in hopes of lightening the atmosphere in the car. He started a conversation, “Madam, do you remember the potpourri sachet you gave me last summer? I gave it to my mother. She loves it, and she even put it next to her pillow every night. She told me her sleep quality has improved. When I visited home a few days ago, she asked me for a new one. She said the scent of the old one is fading and that it doesn’t work as well as it used. Where did you buy the potpourri sachet? I want to buy my mother a new one.” Hearing his words, Stella smiled. She responded warmly, “It’s my own potpourri recipe. I found a craftsperson online and had them produce it for me, so you probably can’t buy it.” Aldor was shocked. “Your own recipe? You know how to create scents?” Keegan promptly stopped what he was doing and turned to Stella with an inquisitive gaze. Stella shook her head, “I don’t. I’m just interested in it. I usually just play around for fun. The potpourri sachet your mother has uses very common ingredients. I’ll send you the ingredient list in WhatsApp later. You can get them at a potpourri shop.” “I hope it’s not too much of a nuisance, madam.” “Don’t sweat it,” Stella said while starting the WhatsApp application. Then, she typed out the potpourri’s ingredients and their respective amount. Stella had fair skin and slender fingers. Her usually clean nails were now painted baby pink. Her makeup was also slightly different from before. Even though she did not change much overall, she gave off an air of flirtatiousness. She was overwhelmingly gorgeous. Keegan’s gaze fell onto her chest. The dress she wore today was incredibly form-fitting and had a wide neckline. Stella’s curves could be seen at a glance. Keegan frowned and asked in a low voice, “Don’t you have other clothes? Why are you dressed like that?” Stella rolled her eyes internally. ‘I was kind enough to come with him, yet he’s still complaining?’ she thought. Stella gave him a perfunctory response. “I just bought it. Isn’t it pretty?’ Keegan snorted icily. Then, he said something that made Stella want to hurl her phone at his face. “As usual, your taste hasn’t improved.”