31 The Cafeteria!

Isabel hung around in the office and chatted with Mason a bit more before she decided to head downstairs.

"I'll send you a video of her reaction later." Isabel giggled while waving at Mason as the elevator doors closed.

When the doors re-opened on the ground floor Isabel stepped out, but she didn't turn to head in the direction of the dorm, instead, she turned and headed towards the cafeteria.

She remembered that Davina had only had a mild soup to eat at the hospital earlier and she would definitely be hungry by now and craving her coffee. Isabel scrunched her nose at the thought of coffee, it wasn't exactly her favorite drink and she couldn't stand it unless it was mixed with milk and sugar. She didn't know how Kim and Davina could drink that ungodly concoction like it was water. Yuck!

But, all the same, it was what her friend liked so she would be a dear and get it for her.

Isabel didn't plan to take long, really, but it was just after two in the afternoon, it was the time when most of the artistes where either just coming in or going out, shifting gears from morning to evening and the place they liked to gather because it had the most space, second to the recreation lounge with its home theater and gaming station was the cafeteria.

The moment Isabel entered through the doors she was swarmed: one, because it had been a long time since she showed her face at the company.

The day that she was reborn, Isabel had just returned from shooting 'My Lord, My Lady Season 5' in D City and she had been gone for almost three months so her family missed her.

Two, some of them had heard about Kelvin's incident and they were concerned so came to inquire and offer support if she needed it. Once they heard that he was fine and had even been discharged, everyone was relieved, even joking around that it probably had something to do with genes since Isabel was so tenacious that she never even caught a cold in her life. Isabel had chased that person for a long time and given him a good beating for indirectly calling her an idiot. The atmosphere was very lively.

Three, Tom's message had finally gotten around and a lot more people had heard about the history behind her and Brycen's relationship, Brycen's cheating and their impending divorce.

Although the older members of Sunshine from back when Isabel had just joined knew the full story about Brycen and Isabel, the newer members hadn't known so it came as a shock and they were outraged.

How could that man treat their Izzy this way? Who did he think he was? He wasn't even that handsome. If their President were to take a shave and walk out he would be a thousand times more handsome than that Brytch,[1] plus he was taller too!

Did Brycen really think he was worthy of Izzy? Why didn't he take a piss and see himself before getting too proud?

Hearing them cursing Brycen to high heaven, Isabel laughed until her stomach hurt, but her eyes weren't smiling, not really. These people, more than half of them would turn on her for benefits, but at the same time she couldn't be angry at them, it was human nature to lean to the side that granted one the most benefits.

Seeking benefits and assurance for one's own success, seeking one's own interest—at times even brothers of blood could fight to the death over an inheritance, so what were complete strangers to abandon another in the face of self-preservation? It was common sense, she was the one who had been too naïve.

"Hey Izzy, what do you have there?" Suddenly somebody inquired about the folder she was holding. "Is it the itinerary for next weekend?"

Hearing the words 'next weekend', the eyes of every person present lit up and they locked onto the folder in Isabel's hands as though they were hungry wolves and it was a fresh piece of meat.

Isabel reflexively hugged the folder to her chest and curved her body to hide it from them as she asked. "What's happening next weekend?"

Suddenly, the place got so quiet that you could almost hear crickets chirping. It made Isabel feel awkward as she was stared at by everyone as though she was some kind of never before seen species.

Since everyone was looking at her like seeing an alien, Isabel knew that whatever it was that she forgot had to be important so she started wracking her brains hard to remember. Around this time, what important thing was happening in the company?

Isabel didn't have to think long before she recalled it.

"The Lock-In! The Lock-In is next weekend!" As she recalled that particular event that the company held twice a year, Isabel beamed in joy.

"Oh, good! I thought that you had forgotten."

Forget? How could she forget? She was the one who created the idea.

The first time that it happened it had been a childish prank on her part. Because she had to sleep at the company due to how much work she had doing, she colluded with the twins, Miguel and Nigel, the two members of 'LegionZ' and managed to steal the keys from the security guards and locked the whole building while everyone that was there for the day were still inside.

Everyone was locked in, they were stuck with no way to go home; they were pretty bummed and a little frantic but in the time that it took for the people from the lock company that Sophie called to show up a few hour later, they had managed to get a party going and were having a really good time. Afterwards, even though the doors were unlocked and they were free to leave, nobody wanted to go, it turned into something similar to a sleepover.

The second time that they had one was on Christmas Eve of the same year. They were initially just having a regular company End of Year party but in the end they were having so much fun that no one wanted to leave and they just slept in. It was then that Isabel had the idea to just make it a normal thing.

Twice a year, for one whole night, every Sunshine member able to attend would hold up in the company for the entire night and they would drink, feast and mess around without a care of public image or needing to act their age. They were locked in and the world was locked out so they could just let go. That was the idea behind the Sunshine Lock-In.

However, Isabel knew that this year's Lock-In would be different; someone would leak a video.

To be more accurate, it would be a live stream of 'The Revelry Taking Place Behind The Closed Doors Of Sunshine Entertainment', she remembered that title.

In the last life, because she was angry about the status of her and Brycen's relationship, Isabel had pretty much turned the Lock-In into her own rally to express dissatisfaction against Susan and since everyone was drunk they took things too far with their degrading words, moving on from not just insulting Brycen and Susan but also the other member of Jaeger entertainment; the executive members, their budding talents and even the big celebrities. It was after the celebrities were mentioned that things truly took a turn for the worst.

Once the name of one celebrity was mentioned another would follow until they weren't even talking about Jaeger Corp anymore and just randomly cursing people; from nobodies to somebodies and everybody they shouldn't ever be heard talking bad about if they wanted to survive in the entertainment circle and it was all streamed live on the internet.

Before that night, besides the members of Sunshine and their families, nobody knew that they kept something like a 'Lock-In', but after that night, no one could forget it.

The careers of many members took drastic dives and were even ruined, after all, after hearing how much someone thinks that you're arrogant or bossy, self-entitled or rude and spread it on social media, would you still bother to even feign courtesy and get along to work with them?

Almost no one wanted to work with the members of Sunshine and not just Metropolis, but all of A Country was cursing them for being black hearted. If it wasn't for the fact that Mason had cultivated true talents and not just pretty faces with little ability, Sunshine would have fallen much sooner.

Her eyes glistening with a faint, chilly light, Isabel smiled. "Don' worry guys, I haven't forgotten about the Lock-In. I've long started preparing and I promise that this year is going to be the best one yet, guaranteed."

Nobody doubted or questioned her guarantee and they all shouted a cheer.

"Hey Izzy, we're heading to the rec. room, you coming?"

It was only then that Isabel recalled her reason for coming to the cafeteria in the first place.

"Ah, drat! You brats distracted me; no I can't come. I came to get some food for Davi."

Whining slightly like that while waving them off, Isabel turned around and ran to the counter where she bought Davina some donuts and an alternative of garlic bread and jam with a steaming cup of coffee. Urk!

Holding the tray of food, Isabel then headed towards the west block where all the dorm rooms were located and as she was rounded the corner toward the bland hallway that was reminiscent of those creepy hospital halls in scary movies that were perfectly uniformed, every door the same, she was surprised to bump into Sophie.

"Whoa, there!"

Dancing along with the tray in her hands as the cup of coffee teetered and tottered, Isabel finally managed to stabilize it and amazingly not a drop had been spilt. Pretty impressive.

Smiling, she looked up at Sophie, "What are you doing down here?" It was rare to see the witch on the ground.

Returning Isabel's smile with a 'lip tug' that couldn't even be called a smile, her eyes still and dead, Sophie replied: "Putting a bad dog on a leash."

"Dog?" Isabel titled her head. "You're keeping a pet at the company?"

"Something like that." Sophie squinted her eyes slightly and Isabel's heart jumped as her eyes widened and she couldn't help but stare because she swore that for a second she had seen a true sliver of emotion other than annoyance flash through Sophie's eyes.

"What?"

Sophie arched one of her slender brows at Isabel's staring and Isabel shook her head quickly as she snapped out of her daze.

"No, nothing. It's nothing. See ya!"

With quick steps, Isabel walked almost like running away and didn't stop until she was inside her room. Closing the door she breathed a sigh of relief.

Aye! After rebirth there were a lot of things she wasn't afraid of, but Sophie's dead eyes could always spook her just a little. Jeez, how creepy, even though she was so pretty. It was such a waste.

Finally sizing up the room around her, Isabel noticed that something was off, the room had a slight sense of incongruence and... Isabel crinkled her nose. There was an odd smell in the air.

Was it because the place hadn't been aired in a while? Thinking that, she walked over and opened the metal louvers of the small window but she still thought something odd.

Turning around, her eyes caught the tray of food she had put down on the desk near the door and Isabel wanted to slap herself as she realized what it was that she was 'missing'.

"Where's Davi?"