ANDERSON CORPORATION

"What’s this?!"

"The fuck! Did it happen to your own computer too?"

"Shit! Thank goodness I listened to the directive from the chairman’s office. We were asked to stop every important thing we were doing ten minutes ago..."

The whole of Anderson corporation headquarters was in an uproar, as they all stared at the blank screen of their computer. Confused, the employees didn’t know if it was a virus or if their IT department was currently working on something that affected all their computers. However, they were consoled with the fact that the chairman’s office had sent a message to all the employees ten minutes ago, which requested that they all stop whatever important thing they were doing during that time.

"Should we raise a complaint?" Someone asked out loud, and the others were already yelling their agreement when another loud voice interrupted them,

"The computer screens are on! It has a writing though!"

"A text?"

"Yes. Too much speech but it’s basically telling us to take a break for an hour and half and watch the show... Elovien’s Spotlight which is airing for that period. And it says here that the text is from the chairman’s office. Any employee who refuses to comply will face adequate penalties."

The message was read at the same time in each floors and departments, and the uproar died down as the employees went silent. Each of them took their seats and waited for their computers to light up, while whispering among each other.

"Isn’t this great? My wife teased me with the show this morning, mocking me that I won’t be chanced to watch the show even after anticipating?"

"I watched the rehearsal too and it was great. Most business icons would actually watch today’s episode too because of Miss Stone. Who knows if she will actually make a tongue slip of something that concerns DL Corp, or even Ethan DeLoach?" 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"That’s true! And I guess it’s probably the reason why the Chairman wants us all to watch it. I guess he’s doing the same now..."

The first floor, Liam Anderson’s Office.

"Did you prepare it?" Ethan asked, his gaze fixed on his own computer screen, which displayed the same text as that on the employees computers.

"Yes. It’s displayed like this on all the computers, apart from that of those in the technical department. It’s just like we are streaming this right now," Raymond replied him.

Beside Raymond, Enoch frowned,"Will you really be watching it?"

"I just have to keep my eyes on Shikera alone. It’s the least I can do to watch Mignon being vindicated," Ethan replied. He motioned to the couch and stared at his two assistants.

"Take your seat and get your own laptops."

★★★

Preston Media House.

Clasping and unclasping her hands beneath the desk, Shikera took a deep breath before grabbing the notepad which Skyler was extending to her. She gave her a small, reassuring nod and watched as Skyler retreated back to stand behind the camera men.

She then turned to Ruth who was sitting on a couch just a few distance away from her, and smiled slightly to signal they were almost starting.

"Shikera, you’re ready?" Maxwell asked.

"Yeah."

"Miss Stone?" he asked again.

"I am," Ruthlyn answered. It was not her first media appearance, but it was the first one where she had to smile and relate with the host in an informal way. Though it wasn’t that difficult as she was already comfortable with Shikera, she still found it hard when she thought the whole country would be watching her like this.

Maxwell nodded in acknowledgement at their answers, before walking back to the camera men. He then raised three fingers of his hand and brought it down in a one, two, three motion.

"Cut!"

Shikera took the cue and smiled brightly at the camera.

"Hi! It’s a new day, and a very special one at that. I can hear you asking why even though you know why," she laughed lightly at the camera and got a thumbs up from Team leader Zuresh before continuing, "It’s Elovien’s Spotlight very first show and right from out very first discussion, you’re gonna know we are cut out for great things alone!"

"For today, we want to talk about MD, yeah...we all know her. But who knew she was Mignon DeLoach and that Miss Stone over here was her manager?..."

★★★

Jumping out of the car immediately it stopped, Shikera ran straight towards the villa’s front door without waiting for Ruth. The short gown she was wearing didn’t deter her as she swung the door open, kicked her legs out of her heels and slipped them into the slippers before running into the living room. And she finally stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Ethan in the kitchen with his back facing her.

"Eth—"

"Mummy!"

Before Shikera could complete Ethan’s name, she felt a strong wind hit her, and thin human hands wrap around her waist. Unable to keep her balance, she had to fall onto the white couch.

"Esther..." she groaned, when the girl still didn’t separate herself even after Shikera had fallen.

She got no reply and after a while, she finally felt Esther releasing her.

"Thanks bab..." She cut herself off when she realized that it was actually Ethan who pulled Esther, who was wearing a wide and mischievous grin, off her.

"What’s wrong, Esther?" Shikera asked. Esther had not hugged her as tightly as this before, and also not with this much emotions.

"Nothing! I used Uncle Enoch’s phone to you on Instagram," Esther announced triumphantly.

Shikera’s brows furrowed in confusion before realizing something.

"Oh! I will follow him back then."

She reached for her bag and took out the phone, switching it on to see various notifications popping up on her phone.

"Woah!" Shikera exclaimed when her eyes caught one of them.

"OMG! How did they increase so much?!"

Esther inched closer to her and together, their exclamation of surprise piqued Ethan’s curiosity.

"What’s the matter?" he asked.

"My followers increased!" Shikera announced in excitement. She added, "Esther, what’s Enoch’s username? I will just follow him and Ruthlyn and Raymond, I already followed Cyprian before. And eh...how about you, Ethan? You were the first to follow me, right?"

In answer to her question, Ethan could only raise his hand to itch the back of his neck.