Chapter 135
Eileen and Egbert didn’t chat for long before they got to the training room to start teaching the
contestants some dance moves.
In two days, it would be the third stage performance. Word on the street was that the show was
supposed to air right after the third performance.
After a whole morning of practice, it was time for an afternoon break. Eileen then got a call from
Lenwood.
On the phone, Lenwood sounded super sweet.
“Eileen, our show is a hit!”
Eileen was thrilled, “I saw it! The views is over 40 million!”
“More than that, including this morning, it’s already over a hundred million!”
“Wow!” Eileen was totally taken aback. She hadn’t checked her phone all morning.
Lenwood then brought up the interview.
Eileen was stumped, “What interview?”
Lenwood explained, “It’s just a casual interview. You and Bartley are invited. No need for on-site
interview, just a video call will do. It’s mainly about funny stories during filming. Just chit-chat to hype up
the show.”
Eileen immediately cheered up, “Huh, you said you didn’t want anyone to know I directed the show.”
Lenwood quickly comforted her, “No no, things are different now. Who knew you had such a huge
influence!”
Even Egbert was affected!
Lenwood then sweet-talked Eileen a bunch before settling on a time for the interview that night.
At 5:30 in the evening, Simon was already seated in his study, ready for the video interview.
However, when he looked up, the sofa opposite him was already filled with people.
Simon was speechless, “…Just watch, please stay quiet.”
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtSimon and Sawyer’s mother, Sonia was sitting there holding Isabel, feeding her ice cream.
Sonia looked up at Simon, sounding annoyed, “Don’t worry, we won’t make a sound
Isabel, sitting in Sonia’s lap, raised her hand and said, “I’ll be à good girl, I won’t disturb Simon!”
Simon gave his cousin Isabel a smile and complimented, “You’re the best.”
At that moment, Chad Lopez handed Isabel a slice of peeled apple.
Isabel reached out to take it, but Sonia stopped her.
Sonia gave Chad a displeased look and told Isabel, “I’ll peel the apple for you.”
Chad pulled back the apple seeing that Isabel didn’t want it, planning to eat it himself.
Suddenly, Sawyer came over, smiling, “Chad, I want one.”
“You wish!” Chad kicked Sawyer away, then turned his head to check the clock, asking Simon, “Why
hasn’t it started yet?”
Simon replied, feeling dejected, “Chad, the interview is scheduled to start at six.”
Chad started munching on the apple and stopped talking.
At that moment, Blake Lopez came in from outside.
Blake had just been out for a smoke, still smelling of tobacco. He put down his phone and said, “I’ve
told dad, the video will be streamed to him, he can watch it
from there.”
Sawyer was astonished, “Isn’t it still early morning over there?”
Blake just gave Sawyer a deadpan look.
Sawyer immediately shut up.
Well, it made sense. Eileen was about to have a video chat with Simon, whether it was early morning
or late night, Derek Lopez would be up to watch.
Finally, it was six o’clock.
Under the watchful eyes of his family, Simon successfully started the video chat.
It was a group video chat. There would be three video frames on the screen, one for the host, one for
Simon, and one for Eileen.
Once the video chat started, Simon only saw his own frame and a stranger who was the host.
Eileen’s frame was completely dark.
Simon was somewhat puzzled, “Eileen… hasn’t Ms. Lopez arrived yet?”
The host, looking at the notes in his hand, replied, “We’ve made a call, Ms. Lopez said she would be
here In a moment, oh…”
The host suddenly stopped speaking.
Simon was also frozen.
Instead of Eileen, a middle-aged man with a scar on his face and a cigarette in his mouth appeared in
the last lit video frame!
His face was so big that the host and Simon could even see the nose hairs under his nostrils!
Simon was at a loss for words.
So was the host.
The rest of the Lopez family and Derek, who was oversea, were all speechless.
“Alright, it’s working now!” A few seconds later, the middle-aged man in the video frame backed off. He
took a puff of his cigarette and said to the young girl in a mask behind him, “It’s fine now, this camera
works.”
The girl in the mask checked it and nodded, “Then it’s your equipment that had a problem. It held me
up for five minutes. The five minutes are on the house, okay?”
The middle-aged man was taken aback, “It was just five minutes…
The masked girl said, “Just let me delay for five minutes, okay? I still have to apologize to my friend.”
The middle-aged man seemed helpless and could only say, “Alright, you young people are crafty.”
After the middle-aged man left, Eileen took off her mask and sat in the computer chair. She looked at
the camera and said, “I’m sorry for keeping you waiting. There was an issue with the camera, the
network administrator helped me replace the device.”
The host in the video chat was dumbfounded. He stammered, “… Are you at an internet cafe?”
Eileen replied, “Yes.”
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmThe host was very surprised.
Simon was also confused, “Eileen… Ms. Lopez, why would you go to an internet cafe?”
Eileen looked at Simon who seemed to be at home in the camera and said, “I don’t have a computer.
My phone might overheat if I keep the video on too long, so I hired a private internet cafe booth. Let’s
start the interview, I only rented the booth for an hour. Once time’s up, I have to leave. I won’t pay for
an extension for this spot!”
Eileen was eager to get started.
Although the host still found the situation very strange, he had to start the interview and ask questions.
As Lenwood put it, the interview was all small potatoes.
Eileen had a way with words when answering questions.
Once the hour-long interview ended, Eileen left the video call right away.
When her camera went off, the host and Simon were left staring at each other, speechless.
Finally, the host cleared his throat and said, “Mr. Bartley, I’m gonna leave too, catch you later.”
After the host left, Simon breathed a sigh of relief and exited the video call.
Just as he exited, he saw Blake and Derek on the phone.
Blake sounded confused, “I’m as lost as you are… Why doesn’t she have a computer? Her phone
might be too old, video calls can cause it to overheat… Dad, chill out, I’ll figure out what’s up… Blaming
me won’t help, wasn’t Egbert supposed to take care of this? How would I know that Egbert didn’t get
Eileen a computer!”
Meanwhile, Chad was on the phone with his subordinate, “Any excuse will do, just get Eileen the best
computer out there, oh, and a phone, the latest model, it has to be the latest!”
When Eileen got back to her hotel from the Internet café, her phone suddenly blew up with a bunch of
text messages.
The texts said she’d won a grand prize and all she had to do was fill in her address to receive a
computer and a phone, delivered right to her doorstep.
“Pfft.”
Eileen rolled her eyes, hit delete, and blocked the number.
What era did they think this was, did these scammers really think they could still fool people with these
outdated tricks? Did she look like some easy mark?