Chapter 250 - Bahamas Work Holiday (5)

After a satisfying lunch and getting to know more about Alex's work, Lucy decided to carry out the second part of her interview with the family with Orita's consent. The girls sat down and talked a little bit about their family relationship that everyone must be dying to know.

"May I know if you're comfortable sharing a little bit about your past with us before you were adopted into the Wilde family?" Lucy asked and immediately, Scarlet stiffened.

"It's alright," Orita told her. "You don't have to share what you don't want to."

Alex also nodded at her sister and Lucy felt that mother and daughter were very protective of Scarlet, not that she couldn't understand why. The actress was an absolute angel to be with.

"I-I was a doll without a personality before I joined the Wilde family. I wasn't mistreated but I was neglected. Eventually, I outlived my usefulness and became a transaction so that my biological parents could retire comfortably with their ideal life. Becoming a Wilde has been the second-best thing that happened in my life."

"Second-best?" Orita couldn't help but be surprised. Alex was confused as well but when Scarlet looked away, they smirked.

"You sly girl!" Alex tackled her sister on the sofa and Orita laughed. Indeed, they were the second-best thing now ever since Scarlet met the love of her life. Orita had to admit. Before she met Wilmer, she thought that her life was complete too.

Lucy was puzzled by the reaction and Orita shook her head, waiting for her girls to calm down. "A woman's greatest joy is meeting her future husband and knowing that he is the one. Both my girls have finally found a place to call their home so my nest is currently feeling a little empty now."

The photojournalist wasn't expecting the exclusive interview to cover the topic of the Wilde's private life including the hot topic that has been making everyone curious.

"Is it really alright to tell me this?" she asked.

The heiress nodded. "I wouldn't call it an exclusive interview if we weren't ready to share. I'm leaving it to you to phrase this as best as you can to create the biggest splash you've ever seen in your life."

Alex gave Lucy a victory grin after calming down beside Scarlet who was exhausted from the tickle attack. The family gave off a very harmonious vibe, something that was relatable to most families from the working class. It was very different from what Lucy had observed in the upper crust where they prided image over intimacy. Compared to them, the Wilde family was very normal if one ignored all the price tags around them.

"I'm dating Jasper Hopper," Alex told Lucy outrightly. There was no use beating around the bush and the model started complaining about how she couldn't tag him in any of her photos on her social media simply because her boyfriend didn't own one.

"Don't you find it strange? He works with Kiwi Cat Studio and they're known for that chatroom app that's become the latest craze but the CEO of the company doesn't own social media. Heck, he's so busy that he doesn't even pay attention to what he wears. I have to pick his outfit which is the only reason why the men's vogue will include him in the rankings of fashionable young CEOs."

Lucy laughed. "I suppose that explains why he would be seen wearing so many Golden Frost clothing. Does he also help out with the business of your apparel brand?"

Orita let the girls talk about their brand and Alex explained how the business was run by the sisters with Alex spearheading fashion designs and trends while Scarlet took care of the more business side.

"I take care of marketing and that's why my social media is super active. Scarlet's social media is normally dead if nobody manages it for her. She often forgets her own password too because that's how seldom she touches it. It's only been active lately after she found her sweetheart. In any case, Scarlet mostly works with our suppliers and negotiates on Golden Frost's behalf. You might have heard how we're talking about moving our production and shipping operations to the East. Scarlet found a good business partner to work with while she was working in China."

"Is that CEO Zhu from Pineapple Group? Am I right to assume that Scarlet has a rather close working relationship with CEO Zhu? There were many pictures for the last few months when Scarlet was seen with him. Some people speculate that Scarlet and CEO Zhu shared a little more than a professional working relationship especially after the collaboration. Could you tell us more about what's going on?"

Scarlet felt nervous about it. She didn't want to make it sound too serious and thought about Edward's words. Instead of denying it, Scarlet smiled.

"I won't confirm or deny anything about my relationship with CEO Zhu. However, I will say that as the one managing Golden Frost's collaboration with Golden Pineapple, we have started to see many favourable results from the partnership. At this point, I'm still waiting for the opportunity to go over to check out the factories and warehouses in person but we're both very busy people so it might take a while before I can get to that."

Lucy noted how Scarlet was talking more about the work aspiration she has with the company and was a completely different person from earlier during the photo shoot. This side of Scarlet intrigued Lucy a lot. Unlike the soft and loveable image that Scarlet had earlier, this businesswoman side of Scarlet was strong, sharp and deadly. If anyone doubted her claim to the Wilde name, they would think twice after meeting Scarlet when she was in her working mode.

After twenty minutes of answering work-related questions, Lucy couldn't wait to get to the highlight of their interview.

"Does your lover know that you have two sides to yourself? I'm getting two very different vibes from you from the photoshoot and the interview. You can be endearingly awkward but also a strong and sharp businesswoman who knows what she wants. It's a very drastic contrast, which is the real you?"

Scarlet blinked. "I believe they are aware that I have such a side to myself. In fact, they told me that they liked it when I worked. It's one of my redeeming qualities despite being a complete domestic failure."

Orita and Alex had to laugh when Scarlet admitted that she managed to burn water and how her very tactful lover liked to keep her out of his kitchen. They often ate out or he would cook because she was a walking culinary disaster.

"The thing that makes him different from all the other people I've met, is his acceptance," Scarlet smiled and Lucy paused in her note-taking.

"They didn't know who I was right off the bat but even after finding out the real me, they never ran away or changed their attitude. In fact, they started to become more attentive and understanding about the things I couldn't tell them. More than their love, I think their trust was what captivated me."

When Lucy heard that, she couldn't help but take that down, This was a true love confession and while she still didn't know who this lucky person was, she felt happy or Scarlet. Many celebrity relationsh.i.p.s fail but she had a feeling Scarlet's relationship would work out. The two most important things for a relationship to work more than love was communication and trust. This girl and her lover had both.

"How did the both of you meet?"

Scarlet tried to recall. Between Edward and her, their history was slightly complicated seeing as how they met on two separate timelines. They knew each other without knowing each other for the first time online and when they met in real life, Edward was the first to find out. They restarted their first meeting formally when Edward asked her out with the confession letter and Scarlet didn't know how to answer this simply.

"By a chance planned by fate?"

Luy laughed. "That's a very vague answer. I'm curious. What do you mean by that?"

Scarlet blushed. "We met each other before we knew each other and the shock of finding out each other's real-life identity was almost too much that the relationship almost failed before it could start. Thankfully, both of us were stubborn enough which is the only reason why we're still going strong. It started online but it only became official over a meal."

Scarlet tried to keep her answers vague because she didn't want any of her fans to find out who her lover was and start harassing him. Edward had enough to deal with on his plate so she wanted to protect his privacy while declaring that he was hers.

"Have you ever fought before? Even about small things like what to eat."

Alex had so many stories to tell and complain about Jasper, amusing Lucy a lot at the young couple's struggles. Jasper didn't understand the mentality of a rich young miss and Alex couldn't understand the need for frugality.

"I mean, he's making a lot of money now but he doesn't spend much of it. I don't understand but I try to respect it. Those differences I could live with. The one thing I cannot agree on is his unhealthy work-life balance. There is no balance. He works at work and he works when he is home. We always argue about this."

When it was Scarlet's turn, Lucy was surprised to hear that Scarlet only ever had one argument with her mysterious lover.

"I hid my celebrity identity from him and he hid many other things from me related to what he did for work. Initially, both of us just tried to pretend to be any other ordinary couple but once reality starts interfering like how he was constantly texting, making private calls and working odd hours on his computer, I knew something was up. For my case, I was paranoid because I was faced with stalker issues bad enough that I had to move. It took the suspicions piling up to explode on my end before we had our first real and big fight that almost ended our relationship."

Lucy held her breath and Scarlet explained the pain she went through but also kept explaining that it wasn't her lover's fault because up until the end, he had been a gentleman.

"He actually knew who I was but he didn't call me out on it and treated me no different from before. I didn't know he had been dealing with so many other things for me without my knowledge like the stalkers. Of course, we made up with Alex's help and we're very happy now."

Sensing that the interview was concluded, Lucy thanked them for the time. As gracious hosts, the Wildes offered Lucy to stay till dinner before the yacht returned. With a few more hours at sea on a private yacht, Scarlet and Alex decided to go swimming while Orita and Lucy sat in the jacuzzi and engaged the onboard spa treatment package paid by Orita as a thank you gesture.

"I hope that you can take care of Scarlet's image, the girl has been through a lot and unlike Alex and Jasper, it wasn't easy for her to be this happy. Alex might fight a lot with Jasper but they've been like this ever since they were children. Scarlet and her lover worry me more than it should simply because they keep too many secrets between them."

Lucy sighed. "I understand. It's not easy to find a good man and as much as I love my job, I hate the way the entertainment world works. I only hope that Scarlet's lover is strong enough to protect her from the celebrity life and lash back from her fans after the interview is published. This might affect her career adversely. Do you really want to publish everything that has been said? I can still remove it."

Orita looked serious. "To sink or swim, it will be their choices to make and not mine. I didn't raise them to only depend on the family name. They're both very intelligent children and have a good education. Even without this celebrity lifestyle, I have faith that they'll still thrive. Just a fun fact, I didn't spend a single cent on Golden Frost for them. Their father had no idea about it until the company started hitting the runways. That brand is built solely based on the efforts of two very talented girls."

Impressed, Lucy decided to weave in this little fact into the exclusive interview. Hearing the joyful screams from the girls, the photojournalist had a feeling that the younger generation will be able to carry the burdens of the older generation and forge a path of their own with their capabilities. The future of the Wilde family was as bright as the sun glowing from the horizon.