Chapter 153 - Moderator

After the reunion party, life went back to normal for everyone. For Scarlet, she was more cheerful and even Pamela noticed the change. Scarlet became more glued onto her phone than before and the manager had an inkling the singer wasn't talking to her sister or close friends. That smile on Scarlet's face wasn't one that the manager was familiar with. Still, Pamela tried not to pry too much. After all, Scarlet was a girl in the springtime of her youth.

While it was true that ever since Scarlet and Alex were given moderator permissions to fool around with the chat room that Elfie released on the app store, the girls found themselves incredibly addicted to this new world of chatting with mysterious individuals hiding behind an anonymous identity. On some days Scarlet would troll and on some days, Scarlet would find herself acting as a counsellor to listen to troubled peoples' ranting.

The singer didn't really mind playing the role of a therapist or listening ear. As a writer, hearing the thoughts of individuals and snippets of their lives gave her great inspiration for future character development plots and personalities to model after. The Human Observation Journal was finally becoming more interesting after a long time. Instead of focussing on the less desirable entertainment industry and the top bitches who ruled it, Scarlet enjoyed writing more about the mediocre worries of a regular person. It was easily relatable and she hasn't received such good feedback from her readers for such a long time.

The reason for that genuinely happy smile on her face was because Scarlet found that she was actually able to meet more kindred souls and like-minded individuals who shared her views about some beliefs that she hadn't been able to openly talk about with the people she knew. Of course, some were nasty but others were understanding. Scarlet enjoyed it the most when some of the people she chatted with became regulars in some rooms. It would sound odd but Scarlet was enjoying this strange form of friendship.

It hadn't been long since the alpha launch of the chat room but already, there were thousands of downloads and hundreds of users at any one point of time. Even Elfie was having a hard time moderating the chat contents while fine-tuning the coding behind it. There were forums reporting a lot of bugs in the chat room even after beta testing that Elfie had to fix. The poor programmer didn't have enough resources to look at the moderation logs.

In the previous video call that Scarlet had with Elfie, the programmer looked a lot worse than she ever remembered him to be. To lessen the burden on Elfie's shoulders, Scarlet suggested opening up the moderation positions to all the E.C. Class and Special Class members. Initially, Elfie declined but after three more days of being overwhelmed, Elfie conceded reluctantly.

After the moderators were increased, the E.C. Class and Special Class members found themselves frequenting the chat room more. While it was always nice to chat with each other, it was also fun chatting with other anonymous users. As moderators weren't able to see each other's unique number code, the E.C. Class and Special class had made it a game of hide-and-seek to uncover who each moderator was.

For Elfie, he was nervous. He honestly didn't expect the success of this chat room to blow up. It was initially an excuse so that he could match-make Edward and Scarlet to fulfil his end of the bargain. Now that the success had taken the tech world by storm, Jake and Wilmer decided to step in and help Elfie out on the business aspect. The poor hacker wasn't given a break and was once more employed in Kiwi Cat Studio as a freelance developer to manage the chat room app. Edward and Scarlet had yet to meet and the programmer felt bad for the delay.

Unknown to him, Scarlet had been acquainted with Scarlet since the second day of the app's launch. There was a particular user who never changed his username so Scarlet found him interesting enough to talk to. The user went by the name Jedd77 and Scarlet often wondered if there was a meaning behind it.

The two hit off as fast friends and slowly their conversations became deeper in topics. For the first time on the internet, Scarlet felt vulnerable. Without her speaking much about her thoughts, Jedd77 was able to accurately guess her feelings and plans. It was also one of the contributing factors to why Scarlet had the courage to face the Pineapple Group's CEO at last.

Pamela had rescheduled the meeting a total of six times before Scarlet finally agreed to have a dinner meeting with Ming Yang. The restaurant Ming Yang reserved was very famous and obviously meant for the upper class. Scarlet didn't feel comfortable attending alone and Raven didn't want her to go alone either but Scarlet bit the bullet because it was Ming Yang's request.

"It's ok, Scarlet. If he hints at anything, just tell him that you're only interested in girls," she whispered to herself in the car.

Raven raised a brow at that. For some reason, Scarlet has been acting strange the past few days ever since she agreed to meet the CEO of Pineapple Group. The bodyguard reported this to Claire who also confirmed that Alex was seen acting oddly from time to time. The girls were both glued onto their phones and while the bodyguards weren't able to figure out what's going on, they've concluded that whatever Scarlet and Alex were doing wasn't enough cause for concern as they weren't malicious in nature.

Scarlet was beyond nervous. She expressed her worry about meeting someone she didn't know and gave off bad vibes. The singer had postponed the meeting several times because while she was curious to jump on the opportunity and dig for dirt about Anastasia's dealings, she understood the complications if something should go wrong with her meeting. The CEO of Pineapple Group didn't just deal with business in China. They also worked closely with other companies that could potentially threaten the Wilde Empire.

"Be safe, milady," Raven bowed and Scarlet smiled before leaving the car.

As Scarlet entered the building, Raven couldn't help but feel uneasy. They tried to find information about Ming Yang but nothing much was known about the young CEO in his private life. In fact, it was odd how tight-lipped the employees of Pineapple Group were about their young CEO. There were more rumours circulating around Ming Yang's father but nothing much was known about Ming Yang himself.

Why the CEO of such a huge company took interest in Scarlet was anybody's guess. Raven knew for a fact that Mr Zhu did not have a lover. That in itself was a worry. As for his love for Scarlet as a fan, even Pamela agreed that that sounded rather suspicious. However, the CEO was nothing but persistent. Despite turning him down so many times, Ming Yang continued to send Scarlet gifts and invitations. The singer had relented and decided to meet with the CEO once to resolve the matter but Raven couldn't shake the feeling off that Scarlet was up to something again.

For Scarlet, she was downright nervous. Although there was nothing wrong with her gown, shoes or make-up, Scarlet didn't know if Ming Yang would discover that she actually had a recording device hidden in her clip-on earring tonight.

Scarlet was led to the top floor by a pretty waitress after she told them her name. Apparently, Ming Yang had reserved a VIP room so that they could meet in private. This made Scarlet even more ill with ease but she persevered. Along the way, the writer was scanning the place for emergency exits she can run to and where the cameras were located at just in case. It was a force of habit that she picked up from training with Claire. Scarlet hasn't been slacking off on her self-defence training either and with that confidence in her abilities, she took a deep breath to calm herself down.

The room that Ming Yang reserved was a mix of modern and traditional in terms of décor and furnishing. Scarlet appreciated the artful taste in Chinese porcelain and rice paper paintings. The table and cutlery were western-styled which made Scarlet wonder if this was done on purpose.

In the room, a fine man in his thirties with slicked-back hair and vibrant eyes greeted Scarlet. The girl was immediately reminded of the lawyer Benjamin whom she met when she was a child. Ming Yang smiled and offered Scarlet a handshake that she accepted. Scarlet returned the smile and they engaged in some small talk to break the awkward atmosphere. Scarlet found herself relaxing a little more as they delved into deeper subjects while the waitress poured them tea.

"So, I heard that you've finished filming. Do you have any new plans or job contracts after the film?" Ming Yang asked.

Scarlet smiled politely. "Yes, I do. I'm currently in the middle of putting together a new album and taking on some side jobs for commercial filming."

Ming Yang hummed. "Always working hard, as expected of my idol."

Scarlet blushed. Ming Yang wasn't bad looking but Scarlet didn't know what to think of someone like the CEO before her. He was good-looking enough to catch her attention but there was also a somewhat dangerous aura around him that made her feel like a rabbit in front of a sleepy lion.

The food arrived and Scarlet was thankful for that. Ming Yang didn't seem to be up to anything no good and neither did he suspect her. For now, Scarlet decided to go with the flow and try to find out more about what kind of person Ming Yang was in his private life. If things went well for her, Scarlet might just be able to squeeze into his business and do some digging around for Anastasia's trails in the Pineapple Group.

For now, it was all pleasant smiles and small talks, just the way Scarlet preferred it to be.