Chapter 174 - EZ Express

As Scarlet and Alex were slowly getting used to their university life, a certain company was starting to make major movements behind the scenes. CEO Zhu didn't want to disturb Scarlet from her school life. After all, it had only been a month since it officially stated. However, the situation was becoming worse and there was no way he could contain it for long.

Scarlet just came back from the university and was about to update her blog when she received an email from CEO Zhu. Immediately, the writer read the email. CEO Zhu did say that he would let her settle down into her school life before consulting her about other matters concerning Golden Pineapple Collaboration or Anastasia. It had only been a month so she doubted that CEO Zhu would contact her so quickly for a courtesy call.

The email started out courteous enough but Scarlet quickly noticed something amiss. Both CEO Zhu and her had agreed on only using certain phrases when there was a situation concerning Anastasia's movements in any messages. The phrase was well blended into the email that congratulated her on her university acceptance. It had a casual tone to anyone who was reading it so the phrase "go get 'em" would easily be overlooked by anyone else who intercepted the email.

The writer chose to compose herself before drafting a reply. To match with CEO Zhu's friendly and casual tone, she weaved in some replies about her mundane university life before introducing her concern for the collaboration details. Using that as an excuse for the new fashion line and production, Scarlet asked if they could meet up soon for a face to face discussion as well as a factory tour.

Naturally, the factory tour wasn't just a regular facility tour. If CEO Zhu was reaching out to her this early, it would only mean that EZ Express was doing something huge in the warehouses of subsidiaries that the Pineapple Group owned. She wanted to know which warehouses and factories were involved in Anastasia's new scheme so that she could tip off Elfie even though she had been warned to lay off the case.

According to the email, CEO Zhu randomly brought up the topic of security in America differing from China. He mentioned gun laws in a passing remark but Scarlet wondered if there was more to it. CEO Zhu could have easily kept to a generic message. Why did he deliberately drive the topic towards guns? Unless it had something to do with Anastasia, Scarlet couldn't think of another reason why Ming Yang would bring it up.

After checking through her drafted reply, Scarlet sent it and went to shower. She had some assignments to be done today and Scarlet wondered if a certain someone could help her out seeing as they were studying psychology.

Claire kept an eye on Scarlet. For some reason, Scarlet seemed to be glowing ever since she started going to university. Maybe Alex was right about her sister needing a break from all the limelight. Ever since Scarlet announced her hiatus, the girl had returned to her quiet origins and dressed down tremendously. She hid behind nerdy fake glasses, didn't wear any make-up and was almost unrecognisable from her red carpet looks. Scarlet looked like the sweet girl next door and was almost out of place in the Beverly Hills neighbourhood with her get-up.

Alex, on the other hand, was still a popular social butterfly. It didn't make much of a difference if Alex was in front of cameras on the red carpet or going to lectures. She was still the centre of all attention. Unlike Scarlet, Alex made no attempt to hide her wealthy status. Her social media was extremely active and even after her hiatus announcement, Alex still continued to gain followers. The model wanted to involve herself with Scarlet's social media account as well but Scarlet refused to participate and even begged Alex not to tag her so Alex stopped. Instead, Alex helped to manage Scarlet's social media account to promote Golden Frost's new collaboration project with the Pineapple Group.

"Dinner will be ready in two hours," Claire said. "I will fetch Alex in an hour. Will you be alright at home by yourself?"

Scarlet thought that it was an odd question to be asking. Of course, she would be alright by herself in the apartment. Why would Claire ask? Still, to reassure the worried head maid, Scarlet nodded with a smile and told Claire to busy away.

Claire looked unsure but promised to be back as soon as possible. She also told Scarlet to call her if anything happened while she was gone and Scarlet had to agree to make the head maid give her breathing space.

What Scarlet didn't know was how everyone in the Wilde Family including Claire and Tina as well as Pamela was aware of Scarlet's PTSD and depression. Scarlet did not get diagnosed but the family doctor mentioned that Scarlet might develop symptoms and they should look out for the signs. Initially, nobody noticed anything off about Scarlet even after the scare from almost getting kidnapped and running from men with guns with her leg in a cast. Scarlet didn't have any particular outburst after finding out that her parents practically sold her to be adopted for money. Nobody noticed anything different about Scarlet even after some scary stalking incidents over her career. Many people admired Scarlet for being so resilient but only the close ones knew that those people were wrong.

Claire was the first to discover how Scarlet was hiding her fear. When Scarlet started looking at her oddly and would flinch whenever Claire touched her shoulder from behind, the ex-army officer knew what that was. She voiced out her concerns to Orita and Jenna who promised to observe more closely. Orita knew that Scarlet was struggling with something but she didn't know what her daughter was suffering from. Ever since Alex pushed Scarlet from the stairs and they had a talk about family, she thought Scarlet had gotten over the feeling of not belonging. However, that never truly disappeared and Scarlet never truly felt like one of the Wildes, choosing to work on her career and distancing herself from her family. Orita planned for the surprise Sweet Sixteen Gala hoping that it would remove the doubts about where Scarlet belonged and thankfully, it worked. Still, there was no doubting that occasionally, Scarlet would relapse back into depression although being around people helped to pull the girl back out.

Alex also knew about Scarlet's inner demons. The sisters sometimes slept together when they met up for work. In the day, Scarlet didn't act any differently but at night when she was at the mercy of sleep, the true nightmares surfaced. Alex would often wake up to the sound of Scarlet crying and whimpering in fear. However, the model could only pretend to still be asleep as her sister woke up in cold sweat and hurried to the bathroom to throw up. Pamela and Tina were also aware of Scarlet's sleeping habits. In fact, Scarlet often suffers from bouts of insomnia from time to time.

The writer kept herself busy and overworked herself on purpose even when she could afford a break. Pamela didn't understand it at first but working with Scarlet for so long, she gradually came to understand that working was Scarlet's way of coping with her fears. When Scarlet was busy, she had no tie to think of the things that made her feel helpless. Now that Pamela wasn't here, Claire took the duty upon herself to watch over Scarlet so that the girl was alright.

The time came and Claire promised to be back as soon as she could. Scarlet waved goodbye to the head maid and proceeded to take a shower. She was going to hit the books and ask the Edarlet group for help for her assignment.

The apartment was eerily silent and Scarlet shook her head, clearing her mind of thoughts and paranoia. Just because Claire wasn't here doesn't mean the apartment wasn't safe. Still, Scarlet felt the sticky sensation of eyes watching her. It was similar to the feeling of having a stalker and Scarlet quickly closed all the curtains, just in case.

Feeling better now that nobody outside could peer inside, Scarlet checked the entire apartment for anything that would look like it would have hidden cameras before she finally decided to hit the showers.

The hot water felt good and all the stress that she was feeling gradually eased away. Scarlet took time to think about her current progress with the normal university life. Although Scarlet still did not have friends in the bridging program class, she was able to mingle around the other students and feel more at ease around the campus now that she was more familiar.

Scarlet liked Alicia and her friends but there was one person, in particular, Scarlet found herself wanting to get to know more. She wondered if the silent and slightly snarky boy would be interested in becoming friends. He didn't really give the vibe of someone friendly but Scarlet didn't mind. In fact, she liked that he respected her personal space and didn't pry too much into her business or pressured her into doing things she wasn't comfortable with. He was patient and observant. Edward was someone Scarlet wanted to get to know more now that she had gotten more comfortable with being around him. The only problem was knowing if Edward was willing to be friends with someone like her.

Unlike Alicia, Edward barely spoke to her. At least for Alicia and the other girls, Edward still insulted them and answered some of their questions. He was more frank with them and outrightly told them to get lost if he didn't like something. On the other hand, Edward had never been so forthright with Scarlet. If anything, he had been nothing but nice to her and Scarlet wondered how she could bridge the gap between them so that he could be more open with her too.

Just like this, without meaning to, Scarlet spent the whole time in the shower until Claire knocked on the door to announce that she was back. Scarlet quickly apologised for wasting hot water and replied that she would soon be out, rushing to finish her shower.