"How long are we going to carry on with this stupid parody?" I asked, glancing up at the chapter title. "It has already been three chapters, at least."
Lily Ling and Riley Rong stared at me, confused. I sighed and shook my head. "Never mind. Let's go home, Lily."
"You're not going anywhere…" Riley Rong started, but Lily cut him off.
"Oh, just shut up, President Rong. At this point, you're embarrassing yourself."
"What?! How dare you…?"
We left him spluttering in icy rage, but he was able to muster enough dignity to stop throwing a tantrum. He simply glared at us when we departed the room, balling his hands into fists.
Unfortunately, we hadn't gotten very far when we ran into a more troublesome character.
"You're leaving already?"
Roland Rong chose that moment to show up, with Richard Rong still chaperoning him. He rushed forward and held onto Lily, clinging to her and sobbing uncontrollably. Lily knelt down and ruffled the top of his head gently.
"What's the matter?"
"No…I don't want you to go! I want you to stay with me!" He sobbed and then looked up tearfully. "I want you…to be my mom!"
"I'm afraid that's not possible." Lily continued to gently stroke his head. "I like you a lot, Roland, but I am not your mom."
"You will be, if you marry my father!"
"Good job, Roland!" Richard Rong whispered, winking at the kid and holding a thumb's up. I wondered how much of this was his scheme. It was kind of weird that a kid would be so proactive and say such un-childish-like lines. Normally they wouldn't be thinking of things such as making a woman his mom by having his dad marry her.
"Unfortunately, that's not possible." Lily rose to her feet and grabbed my arm. "I'm already married to this uncle here. Unless you would like Uncle Trevor to be your dad too?"
Roland glared at me, as if I had stolen his mother or something. That brat. Not that I was going to be petty. I actually felt sorry for him. Speaking of which…
"You don't have a mom? What happened to your mom?"
For a moment, Roland didn't reply. Instead, it was Richard who provided an answer.
"Uh, we don't know. She disappeared five years ago, shortly after giving birth to Roland. We don't even know who she is. Apparently her child was taken from her when she was hospitalized and given straight to my brother, who conducted a DNA test and confirmed that Roland is his son. He suspects that it's that mysterious lady he had a one-night stand with about six years ago, but no matter how much we investigated, we couldn't find any traces of her."
"It's definitely you! You're my mom!" Roland continued to cling onto Lily, who was looking simultaneously perplexed and troubled.
"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but no." Then she glanced at me and rolled her eyes. I nodded in agreement. Both of us had the same opinion regarding this matter.
I mean, seriously? Did this just rip off the scenario of almost every CEO with child story ever? You know, the one where the female lead ended up having a one-night stand with the CEO male lead a few years ago after being drugged by her stepsister/ex-best friend who betrayed her, got pregnant somehow from that single encounter and either ran overseas to raise the child on her own before returning to the country a few years later or her child got abducted from her and sent to the father without her knowledge – often she was deceived into believing that she suffered a miscarriage – only for her to return from overseas yet again after a few years and ended up reuniting with both future husband and child?
Yeah, that was super unrealistic. Not going to happen.
"I have never met your father before, and I have never gotten pregnant before," Lily told Roland firmly. "I'm sorry, but I'm afraid your mom is still out there somewhere. You shouldn't give up looking for her. If you persevere, you'll definitely find her one day."
"I already found you! You're my mom!"
"No, I am not." Lily sighed and patted him. But when he didn't budge, she gently pried his hands away from her. "I'm sorry, honey, but I have to go. I'll see you later?"
"You…don't like me? You don't want to…be with me?"
"It's not that, but I have my own life and family, you know?" Lily held my hand, smiling kindly. "This isn't goodbye. I'm sure we'll meet each other again."
"No! I want you to stay!"
"If you don't behave, I might reconsider visiting you, you know?"
That shut Roland up and he fell silent. He lowered his head before holding up his little finger.
"You'll visit me again? Pinky swear?"
"Yes, we will visit you again." Lily was clearly hinting that she would bring me along for the next time, but Roland was far too delighted to pick up on that. He nodded enthusiastically and beamed brightly when she wrapped her little finger around his and shook it. She then waved and pulled me away. "Then until next time?"
"Next time!"
After we left, Roland turned to Richard and held up a few strands of hair.
"Uncle Richard, I managed to get some of her hair. Can you do a DNA test and prove that she is my mom? We'll use this information to get her to divorce that bastard and marry my dad instead."
"Bastard…? You know he saved your life, right?" Richard sounded exasperated and amused. Roland snorted.
"So what? He's a rival to my god-like daddy. He doesn't deserve to marry my mom. We must find a way to eliminate him, by any means necessary."
"…you're learning all the bad things from your overbearing dad." Richard sighed and shook his head. "Please don't murder people over such things. You'll go to jail."
"No, I won't. My dad is rich and powerful. He controls the courts. Besides, I'm only a kid. At most I'll be sent to juvenile."
Richard couldn't help but shudder at Roland's words. By the way, I managed to eavesdrop on them because of my hi-tech devices, and so I was prepared for the mischief that Roland would be up to.
*
The next day, I brought Lily to work. She hadn't gotten very far when she ran into Linda Ling's agent, a bitch by the name of Veronica Vang. She stomped forward, shoving staff out of her way as she confronted Lily.
"Lily Ling! You're auditioning for the empress role in The Emperor's Pampered Concubine?!"
"Yes, Arnold has already made the arrangements."
"Withdraw immediately!" Veronica Vang shoved Lily rudely, causing her to glare at her. Folding her arms, Lily stood her ground.
"No. and what right do you have to demand that I withdraw from the audition?"
"The company has already arranged for Linda to take the role. You should know about that!"
"Um, no? Why would I know about that? And if they have already made their decision, why bother having all these auditions?"
Lily knew what Veronica Vang and Linda Ling were up to, though. They were trying to get her to withdraw because they were afraid that Lily would still Linda Ling's role. The agent continued to rant.
"The Ling family has already invested thirty million into The Emperor's Pampered Concubine. They've decided that Linda will take the role."
"If that's the case, why are you so afraid of?" Lily responded. Veronica Vang clenched her fists.
"So you want to do this the hard way, huh?"
Before Lily could respond, Veronica shoved her into a storage room and locked the door from the outside. Lily stumbled on the floor before getting to her feet, astonished by the sudden turn of events. Outside, after chaining the door, Veronica Vang sneered triumphantly.
"Hmph! This is what you get for going against Linda! Serves you right!"
Somehow, she managed to grab Lily's smartphone and toss it on the ground as well, so that she couldn't call for help. How she achieved that, I had no idea.
"…so Linda Ling is resorting to such tricks now?" Lily shook her head in disgust as she surveyed her surroundings. The storeroom was dark and dusty, with a lot of boxes piled about. She wasn't worried. When Arnold Ang realized that she was missing, he would find her. Not to mention, the staff would have to enter storage sooner or later, for the props, costumes and other equipment. It was only a matter of time before she was found.
Then she heard a faint rustle from the corner of the room. Surprised, she made her way there, only to find a shivering child.
"Roland? What are you doing here?"
Roland looked at her, upset. He wrapped his arms around his knees, shivering from the cold. Lily sighed and bent down to place a hand on his head.
"Don't worry, I'm here with you. I'll definitely get you out of here." She then hugged him. "See? It's a little warmer now, isn't it?"
"Y…yes." Roland nodded. He looked around, gritting his teeth. He wasn't able to see much, given how dark the storeroom was. Lily then realized that he was a little afraid.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I'll definitely get you out of here."
"Yeah," I agreed, kicking the door open. Both Roland and Lily jumped up, astonished by my sudden appearance.
"How…how did you…?" Lily asked. I shook my head and gestured at Veronica Vang, who had been apprehended by my staff.
"We saw on security videos that she shoved you into storage and locked you in. So I came as quickly as I could to free you." I stared at Roland. "How did you end up in here?"
Instead of answering, Roland glared at me. "How is it you instead of my daddy?!" he demanded sullenly.
At that moment, I realized that he had somehow orchestrated this so that his dad could swoop in and play the hero saving the beauty.
Whoa…this kid was scary.