Chapter 161 - Hiatus

The decision that Scarlet made wasn't an easy one. For an artiste or celebrity whose fame had just begun to grow, taking a hiatus from work was akin to never being able to return to the showbiz world. The lifespan of a celebrity is short and a hiatus could permanently impair future opportunities. Yet, under Alex's convincing, Scarlet still decided to let go what she had built up so far.

"Are you sure about it?" Pamela asked. Jupiter Records was not only losing their biggest source of revenue but also their biggest talent from the decision. While the CEO of the recording company had nothing but gratitude towards Scarlet, Pamela was faced with mixed emotions at Scarlet's decision to leave. The five-year contract was coming to an end and Scarlet decided that she wouldn't renew it.

Orita was overjoyed when she heard that Scarlet was coming home. At the same time, Alex decided to slow down on her work and attend an art school to become an ill.u.s.trator. The sisters decided to still focus on their luxury brand's business while studying and the butler was more than happy to be of assistance. Orita also offered to help manage it on their behalf so that her daughters could focus on school.

When Wilmer heard about Alex and Scarlet's decision to go back to study for their degree, the CEO asked if Jasper was going to do the same. Unfortunately for him, the young start-up founder wasn't keen.

"Maybe in a few years," he replied and nobody could persuade him otherwise. Jake was also unable to get Jasper to reconsider so they let the matter rest.

The announcement that soon followed after the Golden Pineapple Collaboration announcement caused yet another huge wave. With both Wilde daughters announcing their official hiatus from the entertainment industry, there were many conspiracy theories surfacing on the internet. While some theories were convincing and entertaining, others were absurd and ridiculous. Whichever it was, the internet was set ablaze with both Wilde sisters becoming hot topic searches.

Ming Yang was rather understanding about Scarlet's decision and told the young singer not to worry. He would still continue his investigations and uphold his part of the bargain while Scarlet attended school. Scarlet promised to keep in touch with the CEO and agreed that she would be in frequent contact with him about Golden Frost's collaboration.

There was still some time before the school term and bridging program started for the sisters so after they announced their hiatus, Orita booked a two week trip for mother and daughters to go on a cruise. She trusted her butler to handle the necessary preparations for the university applications and left everything else to the servants.

When Wilmer heard that his wife and daughters were spending some quality mother-daughter bonding time over a two-week cruise trip, he could only cry bitter tears of envy. Orita showed no pity for her husband and chided him over the hologram device. Scarlet and Alex giggled in the background as Wilmer whimpered. Orita then told him to hurry up and finish his work so that they could go on their second honeymoon trip to make up for the lost time.

Wilmer's eyes softened and he sighed with a small smile, knowing full well that it might be impossible again this year. Up till now, the CEO still hasn't found much about Anastasia. With Danny and Elfie's help, they were able to prevent Anastasia's influence from growing any larger but the threat still remained. EZ Express may not be as powerful and rich, unlike the Wilde empire that had grown and expanded over the years. However, Anastasia has been up to some really shady deals. All those government contract jobs that EZ Express won sounded fishy to Wilmer and Danny was currently assisting him to investigate further.

Orita knew that look. Wilmer didn't like lying to her and he wasn't the kind of person who would make false promises just to make her happy. It was one of the things that made her fall for him but also one of the things that frustrated her most about him. Not wanting to put her hardworking and secretive husband in a spot, Orita shifted the conversation to a more cheerful topic.

"Alex and Scarlet are finally going to pursue higher education. Can you guess what courses they are applying for?"

Wilmer looked at Alex who had a mischievous grin and Scarlet who had mastered the art of poker face.

"Alex is going for a design course, right? I heard that you want to be an ill.u.s.trator?" Wilmer guessed and Alex pouted.

"Someone must have told you! How did you know?"

Wilmer laughed. It's nice to know that his daughter hadn't changed all that much over the years. Alex was still very much an open book and after six years, he was happy that he still hasn't lost touch yet.

"But daddy, I'm not just studying how to be an ill.u.s.tration. To be more precise, I'm going for a double art major in fashion and design."

"Oh?" Wilmer was surprised. "Is it related to Golden Frost?"

Alex smiled. "Of course! I'm actually the lead designer for Golden Frost and I come up with a lot of the concepts for the products produced. Scarlet's more of the business brain for our brand."

Orita and Wilmer were impressed by the detailed plans about Golden Frost and Scarlet turned a riper shade of red with every passing minute as Alex continued to sing her praises. Unable to endure the embarrassment, Scarlet begged her sister to stop much to her parents' amus.e.m.e.nt.

When it came to guessing what course Scarlet wanted to study, the CEO was surprised to know that the singer wasn't going to learn creative writing or journalism. It wasn't even media-related.

"Could it be business? So that you can run Golden Frost better or help Jasper with Kiwi Cat Studio?"

Scarlet shook her head. "I actually thought about it but eventually decided against it. Like writing, it isn't necessary to study business just to do well in it. I've chosen something more abstract that can help me achieve what I'm looking for in every aspect of my life."

Even with the hint, Wilmer still wasn't able to guess it. He did come close on his fifth guess when he mentioned psychology but Scarlet didn't let her father go so easily. Eventually, Wilmer had to give up much to Orita's amus.e.m.e.nt.

"Darling, don't be sad. I don't blame you at all. The course Scarlet chose surprised me initially too," Orita tried to cheer her husband up and Scarlet took pity on her father.

"I'm going to study philosophy," she told him with a shy smile.

It was true that Scarlet spent a long time after she decided to pursue her further studies. Although Alex told her a lot about the courses available in universities within New York, Scarlet didn't like any of the courses they offered. They might be useful but for a writer like her whose talent is in researching, none of what the university offered appealed to her.

Business was something that could easily be learnt and picked up from the numerous books that people have already written. Art was subjective. Music wasn't interesting because she was already a professional after working with Lin Lin for so long. Creative writing wasn't interesting because Scarlet's style of writing was unique to her and she'd already learnt from Debbie all the writing techniques that they taught in universities when she was younger. There really wasn't anything new.

Scarlet did think about studying psychology because they had a course called criminology. She wondered if studying that would give her the skills necessary in order to catch Anastasia. However, she soon realised that it wasn't a rosy path. Even if she studied and graduated as the top of her class in psychology, she wasn't going to be offered a position in the international criminal investigation department. Elfie's involvement was a special case and Scarlet knew that even if she was accepted to participate in the raid, Wilmer would never allow it.

Hence, she decided on the one that looked the most interesting that was rather similar to psychology but different in its own way. The singer thought that psychology and philosophy was the same thing at first but after two nights of in-depth research, she now understood that they were complete opposites.

While psychology was backed up by numbers and data, philosophy was built upon expression of thought. Psychology was science but philosophy was art. It was a no-brainer after that discovery and Scarlet quickly made her mind up.

Wilmer was slightly surprised at the choice but after thinking about it, he smiled and praised Scarlet for choosing something that he thought was perfect for her. To study something so abstract was something that they would expect out of Scarlet. Over the years, Wilmer and Orita had learnt to expect the unexpected with the young writer who was vastly different in both mentality and capability when compared to Alex. If Alex was like a steady tractor then Scarlet would be like a robotic vacuum cleaner.

The call ended not long after and Scarlet was excited. In less than a month, she would be going for her bridging program at the university. While not much had changed, she could finally relax a little and be herself now that she was no longer scrutinised by the public.

"I can't wait to go to school and not need to wear make-up and diet all the time," she told Alex who agreed.

"It'll be great to be able to wear a loose hoodie and jeans again. I hate heels!"

Orita sighed at her daughters' conversation with a small loving smile. It was nice to have her family back.