Days had passed since Irina had finally returned to her ordinary routine, and her days were filled with calm. Her biggest discomfort involved dealing with the tedious bureaucracies of financial reports, but nothing surreal. She felt comfortable that way. Her routine was the same every day: waking up, exercising, going to the company, working until the end of business hours, and finally coming home to rest. It was like paradise.
During those days, she hadn't heard about 'Unbreakable,' Emil, or Bella. She also tried very hard not to be recognized. She was sincerely afraid of how the public would react, having read too many unwelcoming messages that sounded very determined to harm her or anyone involved with her. But all that was also a little unpleasant.
In fact, Emil no longer even appeared at family gatherings, and it became really uncomfortable to see his parents worried about their missing young son. The dear son of the Cerdic family, whose whereabouts no one knew, or his health status. How deplorable.
The last hope was the System Threads award that would take place that night, but Irina had already asked ZDF987 to look for information on her brother or any news that would help to understand what was happening. But as her Envoy liked to point out, he wasn't capable of much more than picking up a few rumors here and there, nothing more. So it was up to Irina to find him.
Anyway, all she could do was watch her own reflection in the mirror, while the last repairs were made to her dress. There wasn't much else to tinker with, just make sure the measurements are correct and the right places are getting their necessary privileges.
Irina was an almost immaculate beauty; she had gained much of her popularity from her stunning looks, which only grew with her passionate and emotive acting.
She attracted all audiences, whether men or women; everyone sighed for Irina. Of course, how could they not feel extremely involved by a beautiful black rose in the middle of a white rose garden?!
It was almost like slowly watching some kind of plague spread, so tainted with hate and hopelessness, it only made her more irresistible. Even her terrible manner was irresistible. Heavens, how can someone be so beautiful and so evil at the same time?!
Irina slowly touched her waist, and everything was in place; there wasn't any feeling of suffocation or anything like that. Also, watching the expressions of everyone around her, she was sure that outfit was perfect.
Irina didn't have any false modesty; she had a beautiful body and an even better face; there was nothing to think or be ashamed about. "I really am beautiful; we can't do anything about it, just admire," she thought.
Time taught her to perceive and understand when people were completely enchanted by her beauty, and the satisfaction in her heart grew more and more. Those people were used to dealing with beautiful people, so seeing that she drew attention even considering herself an ordinary person was a good sign.
She slightly stretched her arms to pick up her cell phone and stared at the display only to check the time, and it was almost time to go to the red carpet. The awards functioned like any other: Red carpet, awards ceremony, and closing party for guests.
But she so far was the only major representative of 'Unbreakable' confirmed for the ceremony, which was a little disappointing for those who admired the protagonists of the story. Emil was missing, and honestly, Irina at that moment avoided thinking about it so as not to have headaches. But Bella was also not a person who was often in the media, so she seemed to purposely disappear from the radar of any spotlight.
She didn't know what was going on, but her part she would do and it would end once and for all any pending she might have with 'Unbreakable.'
Irina wore a beautiful red dress and had her hair tied in a loose bun. A lazy, piercing beauty, completely mesmerizing. She was already a relatively tall woman, but her elegance exuded from every one of her pores. From her beauty in conjunction with her physique and that dress with those high heels, she seemed almost insurmountable and unattainable. She definitely was. A rare beauty that would never go unnoticed.
A man approached Irina and smiled, completely surrendered to the woman's charms. "Ms. Cerdic… You are simply fabulous! I really hope that you accept the proposal of partnership with our brand in being our model. I would really feel very honored to dress you..." Irina smiled at the man; he was not only the owner of that luxury brand but also the main creator. The red dress that delicately wrapped around the woman was one of his creations.
"We're going to follow today's repercussions and understand how the fans will react to the news. Don't worry, Mr. Moncha, if it's really profitable for both parties, there's nothing to prevent future cooperation. Let's take advantage of the day to celebrate and have fun without thinking too much about business."
The man nodded; it really seemed fair to think that way, mainly because the person who had sought the luxury brand Moncha was Irina herself, but she wanted to buy the dress and was not interested in a partnership.
But he wasn't an idiot; he couldn't just ignore that someone was interested in one of his pieces. Of course, he immediately gave her the dress and even proposed a contract in which she would be a model and one of the faces of the brand.
Despite Irina's attempts to calm his anxious heart, he still had a strong desire to have her face next to his brand.
"She looks so beautiful; I would 100% appreciate her style of clothing. I really want her to work with me!" he thought.
Irina felt honored, but she just wanted a dress, and that was it. Unable to deny all that insistence, all she did was ask him to officially send the proposal to the company that took care of these matters for her: her own company, Astralight Entertainment.
"Send it to them, and they will definitely know what to do. But yes, the contract would be really studied by your team seriously," she said.
And yes, she felt she had to take it seriously since she had won the dress; it wasn't simply a loan. With every second that passed and every step she took, a reality that was a little complicated to face became more obvious. It became very obvious that her life would never be the same again.
She had to change a lot of her rhythm of life after the end of 'Unbreakable.' She was now really a celebrity, and if before money hid her identity as the second generation of the wealthy, now it was impossible to buy some kind of privacy and secrecy.
Of course, it was possible to prevent problems and lessen damage from many situations, but avoiding them completely was almost impossible, even for her, who had a lot of money.
Astralight was born that way; it seemed necessary and urgent to assemble a team dedicated to taking care of marketing and public relations, but the proportion was so gigantic that the demand made creating a company viable. Well, in reality, the creation of that company was the only option because Irina was not interested in following as an agent or as a public person so easily. Instead of relating to others, she decided to create a company herself.
After 'Unbreakable,' she couldn't imagine being in another System Plot or acting in movies, series, or even reality shows. It wasn't really her style, but people believed she had a knack for it. All she wanted was to live her quiet millionaire life while sitting on the top floor of her family's company, which in many ways was her own company.
Her parents no longer wanted to intervene, especially when retirement was too good to consider bankruptcy even after many years without any kind of profit. They would live a quiet life with the fortune they amassed, and Irina could create her fortune with hard work. But yes, the company had been created for Irina and Emil. Even if Emil didn't enjoy the company, it existed for him too; he always refused to sign any contract even if it was with the company that belonged to his family.
"It doesn't matter; I don't want to be involved with anything like that anymore," he often said.
Yep, Emil really was a big headache these days.
Irina wasn't in a hurry anyway; she just wanted the dress. So if it wasn't really a problem, there wouldn't be any refusal on her part to sign a contract. She would have gladly signed a contract to sign a future and prosperous partnership, but right now, all she could think about was getting to the awards and having a good time with the fans and her peers.
When it was finally time to leave for the event, there she was in her beautiful dress and impeccable makeup, not objecting to posing for a photo shoot. It was a fun day. She went down the building's elevator towards the car that would take her to the event location, and she could see the rainy weather. She felt a little melancholy; an important day like this one drenched in rain.
But nothing should take away her shine or the shine of that occasion, right?!
She sighed a little thoughtfully about the recent events in her life. She never expected that one day she would be in one of those System Plots, and she never thought that she would be the great antagonist. Or the big star.
Was it still inconceivable in her mind that she really needed to pretend to hate a girl who was sweet and beautiful?!
So troublesome.
Only she could know how hard those days were when she needed to close her eyes and sleep, knowing she had just done something to harm Bella.
Well, if she had been obedient and strictly followed everything charged to her by the plot, she probably would have done much worse than she actually did... Honestly, just thinking about that possibility gave her chills.
ZDF987 was forced to console her and coax her to sleep. Many times he was more than just an Envoy; he actually kept her from going mad.
It was like living in a nightmare; she just hated the experience, although she realized that 'Unbreakable' had its beauty for being a story bordering an abyss of tragedy.
A happy ending was like a miracle.
The miracle happened.