Queen without a care

Sofia & Peach noticed Rose's frozen form.

"What's wrong?", Sofia asked worriedly.

"Huh?"

"Something happened?", Peach confirmed.

"Someone's blackmailing me", Rose had a blank face, drained of color.

"What? It's a scammer, dummy!"

"No, it isn't. How would he know that I schemed against Alice?"

"What?!", Jenny yelled furiously. 😡

"I'm sorry, Jenny. I don't know how...", Rose immediately cried. 😭

"Okay, okay! Stop crying! How much money?"

"8 million", Rose sobbed.

"What?",Jenny slammed her hands on the table.

Rose cried harder while Peach comforted her, "It's okay. We'll pay the price."

"Yes."

"Call him", Jenny ordered.

But before Rose could call back, her phone buzzed. It was a message saying, "Leave the money at the old cemetery gate at night within three days."

Rose showed the message with a sigh. Jenny finally said, "Okay, I'll arrange the money."

---

Alice finally plopped down on her bed after checking the recent progress of comments on Facebook. Her plans were going in the right direction. She stretched & pulled her blanket when her phone rang. She furrowed her brows.

"Hello."

"Hey, Alice! How're you doing?", Rose spoke in a melodious voice.

"Not bad", Alice answered with a straight face.

"Are you online these days?", Rose asked cautiously. Alice understood the psychology behind her question.

"Nope. Why?"

"It's okay. I'll call you later. Bye!"

"Bye."

Alice's mood turned sour after the call. But her long lost sleep won the battle against her mood & she gently fell asleep.

---

3 hours later

Alice rubbed her eyes before she got down from her bed. Oh my! She nearly slept for 3 hours. It's already 8 PM. Nothing much to do, she ventured into the kitchen & hunted her cupboards. Soon she found some cupcake mix. She poured some into a cup & added some cold milk. Then she put it inside the oven & set the timer. She sat down on the sofa & looked at the magazines spread out on the side table. She picked up one & started flipping through it. Soon her timer chimed & she brought out her cupcake. Yummy! It smelled delicious. She gnashed a spoon in its heart & started enjoying it. Soon her phone rang.

She answered, "Hello?"

"It's me."

"Ah, Max! What's up?"

"Your work's done."

"Eh? So soon?"

"Yeah, what's next?"

"Okay, bring the money with you to the office tomorrow. Don't forget to bring along little Alex. Rest, you know what to do, right?"

"Mm...meet you tomorrow."

"Mm...bye!"

"Bye!"

The night fell silent after the end of the conversation.

---

The next morning, Blue Villa

Daniel was busy arranging his library shelves when out of one of the books, flew out an old photo. He picked it up & a warm smile spread on his face. In the photo was a memory from 7 years back. A smiling girl whose long hair was flowing into the dark night was clutching at a young boy's hand. They were happily staring at each other. Daniel's memory rushed back to the day. It was their 3rd anniversary together & a fair landed behind their school grounds.

"Dan!!! Let's ride the giant wheel!", the girl shouted excitedly as she pulled him through the crowd. He let himself to be pulled by the amused girl. After their ride, a photographer came by.

"Sir, may I take a picture of you two?"

"No, it's okay", Daniel rejected.

"Dan, please", the girl pleaded with big puppy eyes.

The boy looked at the girl & then he nodded a 'yes'. That's when the picture was taken.

The old butler who was helping nearby was pleasantly surprised to see the sudden warm rays of sunshine on the cold winter morning!

---

Alice had put on a messy makeup on before heading out to her 'agency'. Outside the gate, she met with Max & little Alex, & reconfirmed their plan. After a while, Alice's face was streaming with tears as she ran in. When she ran in, the agency was in a commotion. Did their best lyricist have a nervous breakdown again? Oh no! Jenny will overflow with her crocodile tears.

Alice bumped into Jenny's office door where BLISS were having their meeting. All the four were shocked seeing her condition.

"What's wrong?", Rose asked, worrying that she'll have to face Jenny's wrath if Alice broke down again. That's why she confirmed it last night.

"Someone's blackmailing me", Alice sobbed.

"What blackmailing?", worrywart Jenny asked.

"They say...they..they...say...if I don't breach our contract...they'll destroy BLISS...they..they..they'll destroy you all", Alice stammered with anguish. Waah! She was quite pleased with her acting.

"What's going wrong?", Jenny was on the verge of tears. 😢

Just then, Rose's phone rang. She picked it up when she saw the familiar number.

"What do you want? Isn't your work done?", Rose spoke rudely while Alice raised her puppy ears to listen!

"We're sending you the money. Let Alice girl breach her contract officially."

"What?!!?"

"What? Do you want to back off now?"

"No, no. I'll do it...I'll do it."

"Good."

Rose informed this to Jenny & the others. Then with a commanding gesture, Jenny spoke, "Alice, we'll breach the contract for now. We can still sign it later. Your Dad's dreams are the foremost, right?"

Alice nodded with childish innocence. Just then, a young boy entered the scene with a large briefcase in his hands, "Here's the money. Don't ask who sent it! I don't know it myself." Alice just wanted to squish little Alex's cheeks but for now, she resisted.

The other four were a bit dumbfounded when they took their money back.

"We officially end our contract, Alice. But you can stay in the provided apartment for now, because we'll sign the contract again." Alice nodded a solemn yes. Huh! Like she would fall for their trap again.

She walked out of the building like a Queen without care. Very soon, she hailed a taxi & left. Unbeknownst to her, someone watching over her was quite, quite dumbfounded with her sarcastic & savage move.