A nurse and a medical aide knocked and entered the room while Iris and Long Tengfei were still chatting. It was time for Iris' medical tests scheduled in the morning while she hadn't eaten or drank anything yet.
They brought a wheelchair for her. Iris wanted to walk by herself, and she did until suddenly feeling lightheaded after walking just a few metres in the hallway. In the end, she still had to use the wheelchair. Dom went with his boss.
Cao Guang returned to the room to accompany Long Tengfei, waiting for Iris to return from her tests. Jin Liwei was fast asleep at the nearby waiting room, guarded by one of his subordinates while the other one followed Iris and Dom from a distance.
###
A fifteen-year old teenage girl was walking around inside the hospital. Her mother just gave birth earlier that morning to her baby brother. Everyone was gushing about the new baby. At first, she was also very excited about her new sibling, but when everyone kept on talking about how wonderful it was to finally have a son, she couldn't help but feel sour inside.
So they weren't happy with her, a daughter? Now that they had a son, they loved her less?
She sneaked away from the room and started walking aimlessly in the hospital. She felt even worse because it seemed that nobody noticed that she was gone. If they did, they would surely call her phone which she always carried with her to ask where she was. But no, they were too busy with her baby brother to bother with her.
Wearing earphones, she listened to music on her phone. "Rebirth" by Iris Long played and she hummed quietly along with the song. She gradually felt better as she listened to the music.
She felt like a little bird. As a teen and a student, she held no power of her own. Her own newborn baby brother could easily push aside her status in the family. But one day, she swore that she would rise like a phoenix and become an amazing person who would make her family proud, make them glad that she was their daughter.
The song ended, but she put it on repeat. After watching Iris Long's comeback performance on "MusicFest Tonight", she instantly became a fan. She became an even bigger fan when she watched Iris perform on DJ Song's radio show. She immediately joined the Black Stars fan club when she heard about it. And when Iris' launch party was announced, she wanted to attend but it was a school day so her parents didn't allow her, especially since the venue was so far away. Also, her mother could give birth at any time.
Iris Long was so beautiful and talented. She wanted to be cool like Boss Iris when she grew up. She heard that Boss Iris was a horrible person, but she didn't believe those rumours. She bet that those rumours were all untrue and that they were made up by jealous haters like those despicable Alarm Girls who attacked her.
The teenage girl continued to wander through the hallways while listening to the entire "Rebirth" album. She had no idea where she was heading, but she didn't care. As long as she was still inside the hospital, she would be able to find her way back.
These particular hallways looked emptier compared to the ones where she came from. But since nobody was stopping her, she continued to walk.
"Hai. I don't understand! Boss, you're already anemic and bleeding buckets from your period and yet these people are still collecting so much of your blood. Do they want to suck you dry? This is ridiculous! I object to their methods!"
"Dom, they know what they're doing. I trust Dr. Ching."
"Hmph! This is all the fault of those hateful Alarm Girls! You can deny it all you want, boss, but I still believe that it's those b*tches' fault that you're here in the hospital right now. They stressed you out and forced you to fight against them, overexerting your body! I'm so angry! I want to have a go with them! My Momsy told me not to hit girls, but I don't see those b*tches as girls. They're monsters!"
The teenage girl's eyes widened as she peeked from behind the wall. Was that Boss Iris Long? OMG! It must be her! She heard the young man call her boss and even mentioned the Alarm Girls, so the woman on the wheelchair must be Boss Iris!
She snapped several photos using her phone, trying not to be too obvious. Her hands were trembling with excitement. She wanted to run forward to ask for an autograph but was too shy. No matter. She was already happy seeing Boss Iris in person. Satisfied, she pocketed her phone.
"What are you doing here?"
"I-I…I got l-lost," she could only mumble, nervous.
"This is the private wing. Are you visiting someone here?"
"N-no. My m-mom just gave birth."
"The maternity wing is at the other end of the hospital. Go that way and follow the arrows back to the main lobby and then ask from there. I suggest you leave immediately if you have no business here."
She nodded and then ran away.
The man watched the girl until she disappeared from view. He just returned from the washroom to quickly relieve himself. When he came out, he saw the teen snooping from behind the wall. But the girl was just watching the mistress from afar. He didn't see anything wrong with that. Besides, the girl was just a kid so what harm could she do? (He didn't see the teen taking photos of Iris with her phone.)
Shrugging, he tossed the matter out of his mind and focused on following the mistress from a distance, making sure that she was safe, or else the master would kill him if something happened to her under his watch.
###
The teenage girl found her way back to her mother's room. It was too crowded inside, so she sat at a nearby bench along the hallway. She was looking at her phone, giggling at the photos she had just taken of Boss Iris.
How blind were these people? It was clearly those Alarm Girls who were the violent ones! Boss Iris was just defending herself!
She immediately logged in to her account and created a new post. She uploaded the photos of Boss Iris she had taken earlier.
"Stop the nonsense," she wrote. "Look what those evil Alarm Girls did to Boss Iris! The boss is at the hospital right now sitting on a wheelchair, but do you see her whining about it? You haters, shut up!"
Little did she know that this simple post of hers would cause another bigger media storm.