Chapter 9

The incident wasn't significant—it hadn't even made the trending topics. Hannah wouldn't have found out about it if not for her searching for the subject. Novastar Cosmetics' public relations team also handled the matter speedily, offering a timely apology and appropriate compensation, appeasing the netizens. As such, they didn't spread the word about the incident. That didn't mean the matter died down without a trace, though. The netizens took out their frustrations on Hannah instead. They didn't know who exactly Hannah was, but they'd managed to find out her username because Beatrice had tagged her in the past. Also, every year, Beatrice commented on automatically generated birthday tweets on Hannah's account. The netizens easily sniffed out the trail and followed it. This user, whose username was HannahBanana, was Beatrice's problematic partner! Beatrice had done well for herself over the years and had successfully portrayed herself as an inspiring role model. Her successful career made many netizens admire her. Her fans worked hard to blame Hannah for the bad product, leading those who only wanted to gossip to vent their frustrations in the form of nasty comments underneath her tweets. It was their way of ridding Beatrice of the blame. When the netizens saw Beatrice's comments on Hannah's birthday tweets, they believed the article insinuating Hannah was a troublemaker to be true. They left curses in her comments, saying she deserved to die young since she was so evil. After scrolling through her tweets and realizing there wasn't more gossip to be had, they left. One would think the matter ended there, but then came a plot twist. Most netizens who loved staying up to date on their favorite celebrities' updates had an app that told them when the celebrities were last online and whose tweets they'd liked or retweeted. A netizen was stunned to discover that Hannah's account indicated she had been and still was online! There came the question—did the account belong to Beatrice's dead partner? Who could've logged on to her account if she was dead? Based on the app's data, this was the only day someone had logged on to the account in the past 15 years. "Uh… has her soul shown itself because she feels wronged?" "If someone can log on to her account, this means whatever story Beatrice's fans have cooked up doesn't work out!" "You guys are too naive. This is all just a PR tactic. Whatever it is, the chairwoman is to blame for a problematic product. She shouldn't push the blame on someone else!" The dust, which had already settled, billowed again. Hannah was lost for words. She didn't expect such a turn of events and wondered about Beatrice's role in this incident. She smiled self-deprecatingly and told herself to get used to everything changing in her world. Establishing Novastar Cosmetics with Beatrice wasn't Hannah's main occupation. Back then, she'd been a popular comic artist. To this day, the Twitter account she'd set up for her artist persona still received comments from fans lamenting that she'd suddenly stopped updating. Her family wasn't the only thing ruined by her disappearance. The 15-year "gap" in her career had also made it go up in flames. As Hannah lamented this, her phone pinged. She'd received a direct message on Twitter. "Did you log on to Anna's account, Mr. Quill? Don't worry about the mess online—I'll deal with it. The PR manager pulled something like this without my knowledge, dragging Anna into the fray. It was already too late when I found out, and I apologize for that. "Novastar is a culmination of Anna's hard work; this incident is a result of my mismanagement. I'm the one who's done her wrong. It's because I've been up to my brows with negotiations with this agent abroad—Pierce Lautner is just too hard to handle. "That took up all my attention, so I couldn't keep up with things back home. I'm really sorry about this!" The more Hannah read, the more she realized something was wrong. Beatrice was using her to get benefits from Joseph, wasn't she? She mentioned that Novastar was a culmination of Hannah's hard work and brought up that she was facing trouble with something. She even mentioned who was causing the trouble… Hannah suspected Beatrice had instructed her public relations team to drag Hannah into this so she could use this to speak to Joseph! In her memory, Beatrice was somewhat silly and naive. It looked like that had changed now. She couldn't believe Beatrice had resorted to saying Novastar was her baby. Beatrice had always been the one who managed and worried about the company—Hannah merely provided the funds. It was a stretch to call Novastar a culmination of Hannah's hard work. Hannah had been at her wealthiest the year she'd graduated from college. She'd invested in too many companies to count—Novastar was only one of them. Her mother, Melinda Jensen, had been an international collector and had passed away of cancer when Hannah was in middle school. She'd left Hannah a sizeable fortune—the condition was that Hannah could only use the money after graduating from college. So, Novastar wasn't Hannah's baby at all. Beatrice was making things up! Hannah didn't reply to Beatrice's message. She threw her phone aside and lay spread-eagled on the bed. She stared dazedly at the ceiling. After a while, she sighed deeply. Life seemed terrible after 15 years—her family wasn't like a family, and her friends were no longer genuine. Fortunately, Joseph hadn't changed. Hannah flipped onto her front and grabbed her phone. She texted Joseph. "What are you doing?" The conference room at Quill Tower was filled with people. The atmosphere was severe, and the room was silent. The only sound in the room was of Joseph flipping through a folder. He shut the folder and flung it onto the desk, his gaze icy as it flitted toward a middle-aged man in a blue suit. The man sat to his left. "Is this your proposal to deal with the issue?" Cold sweat beaded on the man's forehead. He was about to explain himself but remembered Joseph didn't like excuses. He gulped and said, "Give me two hours, Mr. Quill. I'll submit a proposal that meets your expectations." "Don't bother. Simon, you take over." "Yes, sir," Simon Larson said. The man in the blue suit paled. Joseph started, "This incident—" Just then, a phone pinged with a message. Everyone in the conference room sucked in their breaths, deathly afraid that their phones were the ones who'd made the noise. How was this any different from poking a sleeping bear? Then, they watched as Joseph checked his phone. Now, how could they describe the look on his face? It was like the room was suddenly filled with a light spring breeze. Just a second ago, Joseph's expression had been cold and daunting. Now, it had softened and was tender. Was that slight curve of his lips… a smile? A newly promoted and rather bold manager sneaked a look at Joseph, catching the tiny smile playing on his lips. Joseph replied, "I'm in a meeting, but it's ending now. I'll be home soon. I miss you!" He was delighted. Hannah must've texted him because she missed him! "Meeting dismissed," he said while putting his phone away. They'd already discussed the important matters, and he didn't want to lecture anyone. Someone was waiting for him at home! The senior executives only started talking once they were sure Joseph had left the conference room and turned the corner. The man in the blue suit, Rory Hart, looked like he'd just survived death. He didn't know who had sent that text, but he thanked them with all his heart. He wished they would live a good, long life! He placed his hands together and sincerely prayed for that person. Joseph left the conference room and took the elevator to the basement parking lot. Then, he headed home. Hannah had only texted him to ask what he was doing, but now, he couldn't wait to get home. On his way back, his special assistant reported the situation online to him. During Hannah's 15-year disappearance, Joseph hadn't just searched the island for traces of her; he'd also scoured the Internet. He wouldn't let anything that had to do with her get past him. When he got home, he told Hannah about the incident, making a point to tell her about Beatrice.