Despite the soft voice of Thalia Mirabel and the fact that she had not raised her voice, everybody heard her words as they were. The studio became deadly silent once again for the briefest of seconds, and then it erupted in an avalanche of chats all around them. It was almost chaotic, but the main snippets of those exchanges were:
"Husband?" Had the young woman just said that she was Jorge Trimshaw's wife? How could that be? This was the conversation going all around as people tried to make sense of the statement they had just heard.
In the monitoring room of Reveal, the producer and other technical assistants were all smiling as if they had already predicted this scenario. The good thing for them was that they could visualize their viewer rating climbing steadily. They were equally excited but not for the drama unfolding on the live stage. It was undoubtedly for their ratings! This was one of the reasons that they always filmed live. "One can never capture this much drama and emotions on a recorded stage!" one of them chipped in as they all nodded their heads.
"Isabella, good job! Continue driving the momentum just like what you are doing,"
On the stage, Isabella nodded to acknowledge that she understood her instructions. Her slight smile remained in place as she looked at the two women. Thalia Mirabel looked passive, her face devoid of any emotion even after the 'bombshell' she had dropped on them.
The 'Jorge Trimshaw' that the viewers knew was the one described by Ashley. He was the notorious playboy who changed ladies like he did his underwear, and for the neat freak he was, that was a hell lot of a time. It was so often that it appeared that Jorge did not bother to remember their names but rather addressed all 'his ladies by numbers'.
This was why Ashley had stated that she was number 'sixty-seven'. The thing was that, even though the ladies knew that Jorge was a player, they always gravitated towards him. Jorge did not have to chase the women as they came to him themselves.
It was because of his money and assets, obviously. No one knew the extent of these, but they were all in the known that he had immense wealth. Each of these women had the fantasy thought of being the one that captured his heart and remained by his side. This was why they kept throwing themselves at him despite being tossed aside after, at most, a couple of dates.
Because of this, the audience was inclined to believe Ashley's statement more than that of the new girl, Thalia Mirabel, whom they did not know.
A heated argument continued to ensue in the audience. On the stage, Thalia Mirabel looked around with a still passive but bored look as she waited for the answer from the Ashley lady. When Thalia Mirabel was invited to the show, she knew they had been up to no good.
"Huh?" the one-syllable sound escaped the surprised Ashley. She felt her emotions start to get out of hand as the snippets of conversations gravitated around her.
"Are you sure you know Jorge Trimshaw?" the aggrieved and now panicked-looking Ashley asked Thalia Mirabel. In as much as Ashly did not want to believe the statement from this nobody, the nobody's straight face made her words sound believable.
"I am sure that I would know my husband's name when I hear it, and as far as I know, he is the only Jorge Trimshaw in Milas, Hiddenburg, who fits the description you just made-" Thalia Mirabel stated factually. She kept her eyes trained on Ashley and inclined her head to the side in a slight mocking stance.
Ashley lost her composure then, "He's married?! That cannot be true! WHY??!!!!"
Even though she tried to make it seem sweet, Ashley's voice sounded like a raspy feminine thunder in her frantic state. Ashley was absolutely obsessed with Jorge Trimshaw, and her seemingly feeble mind could not grasp the situation presented before her. But it was a live show, and her manager and assistant, who watched from backstage, knew that they could not stop it but only hoped that she got through the show with her image intact.
Thalia Mirabel smiled at her own private joke as she watched the influencer make a fool of herself on the live stage.
"Why?" Thalia Mirabel asked … "What a ridiculous question that is…. Do not think that I am close enough to you to explain why I got married?" she paused and raked her eyes on the audience, who could not mask their curiosity.
"- But you can ask Jorge Trimshaw about it since you seem close enough to him to get a 'number'…. Don't you think so? Hahahahaha ..." Thalia Mirabel's rich laughter could be heard from all parts of the room. For once, she was enjoying this. At this time, she had changed her mind and was glad that she had accepted the invitation. Where else would she hear such a ridiculous joke?
Isabella felt that she had observed long enough from the sidelines, and then she began, "So, Miss Thalia Mirabel-"
Her voice was laced with so much excitement for a host of such a popular TV show that Ashley felt that she was being mocked. It was obvious that Isabella could not contain her excitement in conducting the said show.
"- can you tell us how you met? I mean, for a popular person like Mr Jorge Trimshaw, his reputation precedes him, and this is the last sort of news we expected. We also expected a news release from his office to inform us of any such explosive news. So, pardon my intrusive questions -" Isabella sounded out of breath from all the excitement, and it looked apparent that she was enjoying the scandalous probe. At that, all eyes were trained on them with the expectancy of the answer.
"No – eeermmm, can you tell us how and when you fell in love with each other? Was it love at first sight?"
"Love marriage? … we find that hard to believe, though…." Ashley stated factually on the side.
Thalia Mirabel turned her attention to the host, Isabella, when she was addressed,
"What love ridiculousness are you spouting? Our marriage is a contract marriage!"
When Isabella looked at her weirdly, Thalia Mirabel asked, "I'm guessing you didn't do your homework before dragging me here today?"