The next day, Iris Long and her team woke up early to prepare for another busy day. They all looked refreshed after resting yesterday.
Bright sunlight stread from the floor-to-ceiling glass windows through the living area. Fluffy, white clouds floated in the blue sky.
If they hadn’t witnessed it with their own eyes, they wouldn’t have believed that such a frightening storm had passed.
The devastating storm had quickly passed, wreaking havoc in the capital and its surrounding areas, like a petulant child throwing a tantrum and calming down after being offered candy. The city and towns had been fine before yesterday, but in the blink of an eye, almost everything got damaged. Those with sturdier infrastructure were alright, but those with less engineering integrity suffered severe repercussions.
Now, everyone was picking up all the pieces and doing their best to rebuild what was left.
Life had to go on.
Business resud as usual.
Iris, sitting in front of the vanity mirror while her glam team bustled around her like busy bees, couldn’t help but sigh as she listened to the local morning news channel.
The door to the primary bedroom opened, and out ca a freshly-showered and freshly-shaved Jin Liwei.
She glanced at her husband’s reflection in the mirror as he made his way towards her. He no longer looked like a zombie.
"You look better, darling."
"En, slept well." His voice still sounded a bit hoarse. He leaned down and gave her cheek a quick peck. "Morning, love."
"Good morning." She smiled and tilted her head upwards to him.
He answered her silent request and kissed her mouth next.
The makeup artist could only ntally sigh as he re-applied lipstick on Iris’ lips. He and his colleagues were already used to it anyway. They would worry more if their bosses stopped acting lovey-dovey.
"Go drink coffee first," Iris told her husband. "We’ll eat breakfast together once I’m done."
"En." He gave her lips another quick peck before pouring himself a mug of freshly brewed coffee.
The main door opened.
He saw Jiang Ying Yue returning from the airport.
"Eldest Brother left already?" he asked.
"Yes, Yehan’s plane should be taking off in half an hour."
"En."
The two didn’t say anything more.
Jiang Ying Yue nodded at him before returning to her post.
The main door opened again.
Dom entered, accompanied by his parents, Domingo and Reina Chua. Jin Liwei greeted the husband and wife.
Domingo and Reina brought a homade breakfast. Jin Liwei helped in setting up the table as they waited for his wife to finish getting ready.
Finally, everyone gathered together for breakfast. So of them couldn’t fit in the table, so the others could only find other places in the living area. Nobody minded, though, because the food was truly delicious.
"Eat more, Xiulan," Reina said.
"Thank you, but I can’t," Iris said. "I don’t want to be bloated when I’m working later. But I’m going to have a taste of everything you brought, Auntie Reina."
Reina sighed. "It’s difficult being a celebrity. You have to watch what you eat all the ti."
"I’m not like Dom, who can eat a mountain of food and not gain weight," Iris replied.
Everyone laughed.
Dom tossed her nonexistent long hair, feeling proud about his innate ability to stay slim no matter how much food he ate.
After enjoying breakfast, Iris sipped on fennel tea to aid digestion while her hairstylist continued working on her hair. She and her husband chatted with the Chuas. The local morning TV news program continued playing in the background.
"I heard from my son that you want to operate Iris of Hope here in the Philippines?" Reina asked.
"Only if it’s not a bother to you, Auntie Reina," Iris replied. "Iris of Hope is very important to . Now that I want to bring it here in the Philippines, I can only leave it to soone I trust. And I trust you and your family to maintain my foundation’s original mission, vision, and values."
Reina exchanged a look with her husband. Domingo nodded at her.
"Linda already got the hang of running Orchidia Philippines. Marjorie and her husband are the sa with their real estate construction and developnt company. They don’t need our help as much as before, so your Uncle Domingo and I are now relatively free. If you really trust to operate Iris of Hope here, then I’ll do my best."
"I’ll also do my best to assist your Auntie Reina," Domingo said.
"Thank you very much, Auntie Reina and Uncle Domingo," Iris said.
Then she talked about the kind of projects that she wanted Iris of Hope to do.
But first, she wanted to provide imdiate relief to those devastated by the recent storm. Since there was no ti to arrange a fund-raising event, she and her husband would donate from their own money.
"I think it’s also feasible to cooperate with Orchidia Philippines," Iris added. "A small percentage of every purchase would go to Iris of Hope. We’re already doing sothing similar at the headquarters back ho."
Reina nodded. "Okay, sounds good. You don’t need to worry about the details, Xiulan. I’ll coordinate with Linda. Just wait for my report."
Excited about her newfound mission, Reina said goodbye to everyone and dragged her husband, Domingo, to start working on establishing the foundation in the country.
There were a few legal hoops that they needed to jump over first, but with the reputation and influence that their Chua family had built in recent years, mostly thanks to the significant remittances that Dom and Clover sent after working for Iris, Reina and Domingo felt confident about fast-tracking the process.
Iris was relieved that Reina accepted her offer to operate Iris of Hope in the Philippines. If she needed to find and hire another person, then establishing her foundation in this country would take longer than she liked.
Just as she was about to change into her outfit, Dom gasped and exclaid.
"What happened?" she asked.
Dom pointed a manicured finger at the TV while his eyes widened dramatically. "Boss! Look, it’s Girl Abante!"
The local morning news program showed the showbiz entertainnt segnt. They listened to the reporter’s voice-over while several video clips of Girl Abante played one after another.
"Several forr celebrities, whose careers had faded in the lilight, have co forward to reveal the injustice that they experienced under renowned film producer and popular talk show host, Girl Abante."
Forr popular drama actress: "Three years ago, I was forced to guest on her talk show. When my answers to her questions didn’t satisfy her, she and her staff edited my interview to reflect badly on . They edited my interview to make look uncooperative and arrogant. People began bashing . When I started fighting back and attempted to reveal her true nature, I suddenly found myself blacklisted from the industry."
Forr actress with a sexy image: "Girl and I go a long way back. She was my forr manager. Yes, she made famous back in the day, but she also destroyed my career when I refused to obey her. I’m not innocent. I’m not proud of the things I did to get where I was before, but I still can’t accept that I’m the only one paying for the consequences when Girl did dirtier things than I did. Yes, I admit. I slept my way up. I had affairs with directors and producers. Girl was my pimp. When I finally wanted to settle down, marry who I thought was the love of my life and build a family with him, Girl disapproved. She wanted to continue being her cash cow. For the first ti in my life, I opposed her. She revealed all my dirty secrets while keeping her own. My scandal swept through the nation. Even though I was at the height of my fa back then, I couldn’t escape public judgnt. They rejected , calling dirty and telling to get out of showbiz. Back then, Girl had already started creating a vast network of strong connections. I was no match for her."
Forr male action star: "She wanted to sleep with , but I refused. I was blacklisted from the industry imdiately. No director or producer dared to hire once she had spoken."
Forr child actress: "If so of you may rember, I was called Madam Girl’s protégé back then. I starred in many of her productions. I was the first choice whenever she produced new films. I also frequently guested on her talk show. Everything went well for several years. Then she found out that one of her boy toys was courting . I didn’t even know that the guy was her boy toy! Before I knew it, she blacklisted and sared my reputation, creating nonexistent scandals that weren’t true at all! My carefully cultivated pure image was destroyed just like that by sex scandals that I didn’t even participate in. Just because she got jealous that her boytoy wanted to be my boyfriend!"
Forr famous director: "I thought about it long and hard. I kept silent for so many years. Girl and I were not only lovers, but we were also the best partners when it ca to creating films. She produced, I directed. We weren’t clean. Even when we were together, we each had our own affairs. At first, we didn’t mind because we worked well together. We saw all the filthy machinations behind the glitz and glamour of showbiz. We participated in them. But we were profitable, extrely so. We prioritized profit above all else. Then I beca involved with an actress and got her pregnant. Girl went crazy. She hired soone to push the actress down the stairs while filming. Needless to say, the actress miscarried my baby."
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