Defying Fate: The Unstoppable Eileen novel Chapter 32

The moment Eileen got home, she whipped out a pyramid clock worth 300 bucks. She plonked it on her bedside table.

Staring at the clock in awe, she snapped a photo and fired it off to Ophelia in the wee hours of the morning.

Ophelia was in deep sleep when the sound of a Whatsapp notification jolted her awake. It was a common trait among agents – they were hyper-sensitive to the sound of phone calls, texts, and social media notifications. No matter how sleepy, they instantly woke up to those sounds.

Just as Ophelia was thinking there might be an issue with one of her artists, she realized the flurry of messages were all from Eileen.

Ophelia snapped awake. She might not freak out over anyone else's messages, but if it was Eileen's.

Ophelia felt a jolt of anxiety, cautiously opened up Whatsapp, and a minute later, she was staring at seventeen clock photos and the final message from Eileen saying, [Pretty, isn't it? My whole room lights up with this clock!] Ophelia was left in deep thought.

After a full three minutes of silence, Ophelia tentatively replied with a question mark, followed by, [Did you send it to the wrong person?]

The reply came quickly, [No, Ophelia, it's for you. Do you like it?]

Ophelia glanced at the time in the top right corner of her phone screen, 3:30 am.

Confused, Ophelia asked, [Do you know what time it is?]

Eileen replied, [Of course, it's half-past three in the morning. But I just landed, I'm not adjusted to the timezone, not sleepy.]

Ophelia protested, [But I'm sleepy!]

Eileen changed the subject, [Ophelia, you haven't answered my question. Do you like it?]

Inhaling deeply, Ophelia didn't reply, she simply blocked Eileen and went back to sleep. With no reply from Ophelia, Eileen sent another message, [Ophelia, are you there?]

After sending it, she waited for quite a while, but there was no response.

Eileen sighed deeply, put down her phone, looked at the beautiful new clock on her bedside table, and murmured, "Sweetie, it's not your fault they can't appreciate your beauty. It's okay, as long as I get it. I love you."

Eileen had a thing for clocks, an interest not of her own, but a legacy of her childhood. Back then, her father was still around. So were her grandparents.

Before she came to live with the Lopez family at the age of ten after Sarah remarried, she once had a happy childhood.

"Each clock has a unique sound. Listen carefully to them, Eileen. Which one do you like?" Her father asked.

"Dad, if I like it, can I take it? Won't you miss it?" Eileen asked.

"No, you're my daughter. How could I ever miss it?" Her father said.

"Dad, I like that clock." Eileen said.

The handsome man in her memory looked at the largest owl clock on the shelf, a smile of admiration showing on his face, and said, "You have good taste. I like that one too, so I can't give it to you."

"Dad, didn't you say you'd be willing to give it to me?" Eileen asked.

Gazing at the pyramid clock in front of her, Eileen wiped away her tears and buried those memories deep inside her heart. She had to stop thinking about those who would make her sad and weak.

The following day, Eileen was off to the office bright and early.

As Ophelia walked into the office, she heard her assistant lamenting, "I queued for twenty minutes for this breakfast, you said you'd only have a bite! I was gone for a minute and you've almost finished it!"

"You queued for twenty minutes? Worth it." Eileen said.

"Stop eating!" The assistant complained.

"Last bite, I promise." Eileen said.

With that familiar voice, who else could it be but Eileen!

Ophelia walked over with a stern face. Seeing the boss arriving, the assistant cried out in tears, "Ophelia!"

Eileen, who was about to devour the assistant's entire breakfast, stopped at the sight of Ophelia's angry face and greeted politely, "Ophelia."

"Get in my office!" Ophelia said angrily.

Eileen followed Ophelia into the office. As soon as Ophelia sat down on her office chair, she pulled out a packet of herbal soup, stuck a straw in it, and started drinking.

The taste of the soup was unbearably bitter. Ophelia had been having it for four days and she was about to lose her mind.

"It's all expensive ingredients." Eileen sniffed the aromatic scent of the soup in the air. Without looking at the prescription, she knew what was in it.

Ophelia glanced at her, "I don't believe you know anything about it."

Eileen didn't bother to explain. She flopped onto the couch, clutching a pillow, and said, "Ophelia, I'm broke again."

Annoyed, Ophelia yelled, "Am I an ATM? You run out of money and come to me!"

Eileen gave a pitiful response, "I'm out of money and I'm joining the crew the day after tomorrow. I'm starving and the other actors will look down on me."

Ophelia was getting a headache, she took a big gulp of the medicine, not caring about the bitter taste in her mouth anymore, and said seriously, "I'll give you some more money, but stop embarrassing yourself!"

Eileen happily took the money and said earnestly, "Got it!" She then headed out.

Ophelia asked loudly, "Where are you going?"

Eileen replied nonchalantly, "I got the money, no need to stay here anymore. Bye, Ophelia."

And just like that, she vanished.

She really did treat her like an ATM! Ophelia shook her head in resignation, "She's going to drive me crazy one of these days!"

After leaving Ophelia, Eileen headed to a nearby internet cafe. She stayed there all day, masked up, and it wasn't until the evening that she sent a file to Phyllis's email and then lazily left.

The next two days were a whirlwind in the entertainment industry. People working in media were run off their feet, and netizens were just as busy. If they weren't keeping tabs on old news, they were digging up new ones. It was a total madhouse.

However, all these shenanigans had nothing to do with Eileen. She had been engrossed in her script for the past two days, totally offline.

Two days later, Eileen officially joined the crew of Fancy Island.

The first day was the opening ceremony, and boy, it was as basic as it got. It was downright bare-bones!

The crew found a corner, set up a table, and slapped on some cheap snacks they could find - bread, oranges, grapes and whatnot.

Eileen casually glanced over and spotted her half-drunk cola. She had no idea who put it there. She just knew someone had nicked her cola! She hadn't even finished it yet!