“That‘s not possible!” Frank insisted.
“Give me a minute,” Melanie said. She parked her car at the hotel car park and pulled out her phone to
show Frank a photo of Lily.
Even though they had met in Middle Valley, it had been a long time. There might be a possibility that
Frank had forgotten how she looked and found someone that resembled her. “It‘s her! You sure you
didn‘t know about it?” Frank remarked. Their eyes were clouded with confusion as Melanie concluded,
“Looks like I‘ll have to get to know Lily again.”
When Lily got home, she took out the two wooden puppets and placed them in a cabinet in the living
room. Then she carefully wrapped the other piece of wood with a piece of paper and went to take a
shower.
At first, she was not in a rush for a shower, but when she recalled physically touching that scum, she
wanted to scrub lierself from the filth. Lily did not want to waste her time arguing with Frank, but now,
as she thought about what he had said during their encounter, she realized what he was trying to imply.
Apparently, Frank would be one of the judges for the championship and had vowed against allowing
her to participate. Lily thought that his threats were not empty and that he eitlier had the authority to do
so or a method to achieve his goals.
The organizers had already released their selection of judges, so it was no surprise that he knew of it.
Moreover, he was invited as a special judge in the last sampling event, which meant that he had some
authority or influence in this industry. It was a shame that someone held in such high praise was a
sc*m!
After showering and changing into her home wear, she went to the kitchen to look for some snacks.
Alexander suggested that she should not cook, but he was also considerate enough to prepare a snack
cabinet so she would not starve when alone at home.
When Lily opened the cabinet, she noticed that most of the snacks inside were her favorites.
She was amazed that he knew her so well. Whenever Lily thought about Alexander, her lips
unconsciously curved upward into a smile, and she felt happy inside. She chose a few snacks she
loved and put them on the coffee table. Then she went to prepare a pot of fruit tea to go with it. She
loved it when the room smelled sweet and fruity. Lily sat on the sofa and started munching her snacks
while watching TV. In the past, she was always busy with work and never had time to do things she
liked. However, Alexander taught her how to have a work–life balance, relax, and enjoy life during her
free time.
Lily slowly realized that relaxing from time to time also helped in her work. It allowed her to notice the
beauty around her and obtain new inspiration when she slowed down her pace. At that moment,
coincidentally, the TV was broadcasting a drama about a beauty pageant that was shady and unfair.
The drama’s main character was one of the contestants along with other people, and even though she
excelled in the contest, she was constantly overlooked, and the winner would always go to someone
else. This was because she had refused to sleep with a judge from the contest, so he was the one
pulling the strings as revenge. This situation reminded Lily of Frank. No matter how she looked, he
resembled the bold actor playing the judge.
‘Does this mean he was trying to make me sleep with him? When we were in Middle Valley, he was
with Melanie, and Jenny told me they had hooked up. Does this mean that they were sleeping
together? Was that why Nathaniel got into a strange accident?‘
Lily found it astonishing as she connected all the dots. However, she was confused as to why Frank
would come to her when he already had Melanie. Was it because he was greedy or had another plan
up his sleeve?
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