Chapter 446 - Not In My League

Although Iris’ expression didn’t change that much and remained pleasant, the female idols still instinctively shrank away from her. They sensed some sort of danger coming from her at that moment.

"Alright! Time to go, Junior Iris," Jin Chonglin announced after being warned by Lin Dong that some people were heading their way.

He grabbed the phone out of Iris’ tight grip and returned it to the owner. After thanking the female idols and dazing them once again with his killer smile, he dragged Iris away. Their managers and bodyguards followed, forming a protective circle around the two of them.

When they left, the female idols finally regained their senses from Jin Chonglin’s killer smile. Fortunately, these girls weren’t too smart to think deeply about what just happened, nor try to decipher Iris’ weird reactions. They already concluded that Iris only had a scary resting bitch face but was actually quite a nice and kind person.

In addition, they also figured that Iris Long and Jin Chonglin were close friends. Though some of them still believed that the two had something more. The two were so close that Iris Long gained the privilege of knowing some of the most personal details about Jin Chonglin’s family. They heard that even the Jin family relatives still didn’t know who CEO Jin Liwei’s fiancée was, but it seemed that Iris Long knew because she was close to Jin Chonglin.

"If Iris Long and Prince Lin Lin are really NOT engaged, then it’s such a waste," one of them commented. "They look so perfect together, and yet she chose another man? Why wouldn’t she want to marry a member of the Jin family? She’ll be set for life."

"Maybe she likes businessmen. Didn’t she say before that her fiancé is a businessman? Prince Lin Lin already announced before that he has no interest in working for Jin Corporation."

"Well, CEO Jin Liwei is a businessman...but he’s already engaged to another woman, whoever she may be. Prince Lin Lin just said that it’s not Rose Young. I also doubt that CEO Jin wants to marry a singer like Iris Long who’s clearly below his level. Powerful people of his status only see showbiz celebrities like Iris Long and us as mere showgirls. Even Prince Lin Lin didn’t have an easy time with his family when he decided to pursue a showbiz career all those years ago."

"Yeah. What’s more, Iris Long is too young for CEO Jin. I’m sure that someone like him would want a mature wife who he could talk to about...uh, serious adult thingies or whatever. Although she’s been acting like a mature woman ever since her image change after her comeback, she’s actually only a bit older than us."

These female idols continued to gossip about Iris Long, Jin Chonglin, Jin Liwei and his mysterious fiancée.

Back to Iris and Jin Chonglin, they all headed to her dressing room.

Lin Dong didn’t stop Jin Chonglin from following Iris to her dressing room this time. He even followed them himself. He didn’t worry about any scandals this time because he could always say that he accompanied Jin Chonglin with his capacity as a manager.

As soon as the group opened the door to the dressing room, they immediately heard Dom in the middle of an angry rant about some homewrecking ho stealing his boss’ man. He paced back and forth in front of the hairstylist and makeup artist, gesturing wildly with his hands. His mouth shot insults to the "homewrecking ho" like a machine gun.

"How dare that ho touch sir boss with her dirty paws?! What if sir boss got infected with some yucky disease?! Did you look at her chest? No? Of course, you didn’t! Because there’s nothing to look at! Her boobies are flatter than mine—and I’m male! Yet she dares to try rub her imaginary boobies against sir boss?! Oh puh-leaze! As if he’ll want other boobies when boss has more than enough to last him AND their future babies a lifetime!

"Whazzername again? Rose Young, is it? What "rose"? As if sir boss will ever want another flower. He already has the most beautiful flower by his side, Iris! That ho is not a rose! She should be named Rafflesia instead. Because she stinks like the corpse flower, Rafflesia Arnoldii! And what "young"? Hello? Compared to boss, she’s OLD!!! Pweh!!!

"And so what if she’s a business executive?! Isn’t she still a mere employee of sir boss’ company?! But MY boss has her own company—oh, excuse me. My boss has SEVERAL companies of her own. That’s plural, as in more than one! How about that ho? Does she own anything? No! Not even her own boobies!

"All those stupid people who think that she’s a perfect match for sir boss are all blind and have holes in their brains! Hah! The only one who’s the most perfect match for sir boss is of course MY BOSS!!! They’re all stupid morons for not knowing that MY boss is in a completely different league than that ho! MY boss is the best in the world...no, in the whole universe! Nobody will ever come close to comparing to her! Sir boss will NEVER replace her with that Rose...I mean, Rafflesia No-boobie ArnOLDdii!!! Argh! I’m so mad!!! I want to fight her!!!"

Iris stopped at the door and watched her assistant raging for her sake. Her own fury gradually simmered down, as she listened to Dom’s words. The seething green-eyed monster inside her gave a last growl before settling down. Calmness washed over her entire being, giving her a refreshed feeling. It was as if her own cold fury was all expressed by Dom and therefore removed completely from her system.

Dom continued ranting when the hairstylist and makeup artist finally noticed Iris and the others standing by the door.

"Miss Iris!"

Dom’s machine gun mouth immediately stopped. He turned to Iris and exclaimed:

"Boss!!! I’ve been waiting for you!!! You won’t believe what just happened!!! Please calm down and let me explain clearly and slowly!!! Some ho—I mean, some insignificant woman just—"

Iris’ phone started ringing. She left it with Dom during her performance.

"Oh! That must be sir boss! He has been calling nonstop but you weren’t here yet, boss," Dom informed her.

When Iris didn’t make a move, he picked up the phone and answered it himself. A few moments later, he handed it to her.

"Hm. Hi, Mr. Jin," Iris answered, as she finally walked inside the room.

Tang Yiyi, Jin Chonglin and Lin Dong all followed her. The door closed behind them.

"..." Jin Liwei didn’t speak for a few seconds before saying, "Based on your tone, it seems like you already know."

"Hmm..." Iris gestured to Dom to get her tablet in Chinese Sign Language.

Both of them learned it from Professor Hisakawa. The two of them also learned the American Sign Language. And for her, the Russian Sign Language as well. She had never learned any sign languages in her past life, so she was very interested in them. However, she and Dom only learned the basics because the sign languages weren’t their main priority. They were nice to learn, though, for some additional language skills. Besides, sign languages were helpful to a singer like Iris. She could converse with Dom without actually speaking whenever she needed to rest her vocal cords.

Dom immediately understood and began rummaging through her handbag. He found her tablet and handed it to her.

Iris sat down on one of the couches and began using her tablet. Jin Chonglin sat on the arm of the couch beside her. He watched what she was doing. Their managers, Tang Yiyi and Lin Dong, were whispering to each other at a corner.

"Love, I can explain everything," Jin Liwei said on the phone. "Remember when I told you last night that I have a business lunch today, so you don’t have to send lunch to me at the company? Well, the business lunch was at a hotel restaurant. Several of my fellow executives attended it with me, including Rose Young because she is our new CMO. The photos posted online cropped out the others, only showing Rose Young and me. But I assure you, love, we were with the others including Xu Tian."

"Hmm..." Iris didn’t answer.

She was busy checking the reports Ketchup sent her. Iris instructed Ketchup not to speak out loud whenever there were other people around not belonging directly to her and Jin Liwei’s households. Ketchup was too much of an advanced and sophisticated AI technology that Iris and Jin Liwei were careful not to let strangers know about her. Ketchup might attract unwanted and even dangerous attention. That was why when they were in a public place, Ketchup communicated to them via written messages instead.

Ketchup faithfully obeyed her mommy’s instructions. Rose Young was on their watch list, so Ketchup had been monitoring the woman. Ketchup automatically sent Iris various specific cuts from the hotel’s video surveillance system capturing the exact moment shown in the photos uploaded online. Each of the videos showed different angles and Iris played all of them at the same time.

They showed Jin Liwei and Rose Young walking out of the hotel restaurant to the lobby. And indeed, Jin Liwei was telling the truth. Xu Tian and the other executives were with them. In fact, Rose Young was walking at the back of the group but she quickly caught up and walked beside Jin Liwei instead.

Then when they reached some steps and began to climb down, Rose Young "tripped" and fell towards Jin Liwei’s direction. She grabbed his arm. That was the moment captured in the photos posted online.

Iris narrowed her eyes, and she replayed the scene again. She concentrated on Rose Young’s feet. The woman was wearing high heels but they weren’t too high. Her feet looked stable enough, but she suddenly tripped?

Who was she kidding? She obviously did it on purpose.

Iris curled her lip and softly snorted.

Jin Liwei was a gentleman so he quickly helped stabilize the woman before firmly removing her hands from his arm. Then he stepped far away from her and even dusted off his suit as if removing dirt from where she touched him.

Iris couldn’t help but smile at his actions.

"Love? Why are you so quiet? Talk to me, please," Jin Liwei said. His voice sounded calm but Iris detected a hint of anxiety in it. "Rose Young doesn’t mean anything to me. You’re the only one I love. Don’t be jealous anymore, okay?"

She suddenly remembered Dom’s rant earlier. Raising an eyebrow, she replied to Jin Liwei with a faint smile on her lips.

"Darling, in order for me to feel jealous of that woman, she has to be in MY league first. Is she on my level, hm?"Also called "corpse lily". It’s the largest individual flower on Earth. It produces a very strong and unpleasant smelly odour of decaying flesh, hence it’s called "corpse flower". It is also one of the Indonesia’s three national flowers.