Then he sat up and held it properly, swiping through a few things before stretching it out toward Elara.

Elara wasn’t very interested, but she took it anyway.

It was a slow motion clip of Elara in the studio, then it cut into Lioren looking broody, probably taken from one of his movies. The person had edited it so well into something like those dramatic billionaire romance films. They even added floating hearts and a violin version of the song.

"So according to the edit and the title," Carris muttered, his lips twitching, "’From Background Extra To Mother Of His Children,’ you two have secretly been married for three years and own a villa in Veston."

A small laugh escaped Elara’s lips. People really had too much free time.

Carris picked up the drink again and took another gulp before turning back to her, his smile softening. "But honestly, let them ship whoever they want. Every time they make a post or video, our streaming numbers jump by at least ten percent."

"I’m thinking of something," Ziva suddenly said.

Carris turned toward her.

"Since this is what everyone is talking about now, why don’t we strike while the iron is hot?" She said staring from Carris to Elara, her eyes glistening. "We can’t just let that leaked studio video be the only visual they have."

"You mean we should do a music video?" Elara asked, staring at her with raised brows.

Ziva nodded gently. "Yeah. And if we do it right, I’m sure we’ll stay at number one for the rest of the year."

Carris’s eyes lit up immediately. "Yeah, that’s good."

"Of course not," Elara cut in, her lips pursed. "I haven’t even done that before. And if I slip up once, I’ll ruin everything."

Ziva rolled her eyes. "Stop being pessimistic." Then she turned to Carris. "Don’t listen to her words. We’re surely doing this."

"Trust me," Carris said immediately. "Before this week ends, we’ll..."

Ding dong.

Carris pursed his lips and turned his head toward the door.

"It’s Tonio," Ziva muttered, her tone filled with certainty. It was obvious she was already fed up with the young footballer.

Elara stood up and walked toward the door. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

It was really Tonio. He wasn’t holding anything this time, but there was an extremely large black box beside him.

Elara’s eyes moved from the box back to his face. "What’s this?" she asked.

Tonio suddenly raised both hands like he had just been accused of international fraud. "Frostiebun, I swear it’s not me. I saw it here too. I thought maybe you ordered something and the delivery person just dropped it off."

Elara shook her head. "You’re surely lying. If it’s not you, then who could it be?"

"It’s really not me," Tonio insisted.

Carris had already stood up from the couch and walked over. "What’s the trouble?" he asked glaring at Tonio.

The instant Tonio’s eyes met his, his expression turned cold. "And what are you doing here? You’re her project partner, not her emotional support husband. Give the girl some breathing space."

Before Carris could reply, Elara interrupted. "Really I didn’t make any order," she said, looking toward Carris. "Did you?"

Carris shook his head calmly in reply.

Tonio was still glaring daggers at him, his arms akimbo.

Elara stared at the box. It was really very large, enough to fit an entire person inside, and from the smooth glossy surface, it didn’t look like it contained anything ordinary.

"Or maybe the person made a mistake," Carris said already moving toward the box.

Elara nodded and walked forward too, picking up the small paper placed on top.

Miss Veyne.

Elara’s brows raised. It was really meant for her.

"What’s on the paper?" Carris asked while Elara turned it over. At the back was a simple word.

"It just says ’Impressive’," she replied, her brows furrowing in thought.

"Maybe it’s just some stupid secret admirer," Tonio muttered with a sneer. "Or a crazy fan with too much money."

Carris raised a hand, running his fingers over the surface of the box. "This box alone would surely cost more than most people’s cars," he muttered. "Elara be careful. This isn’t an ordinary person."

"At least let’s bring it inside first. Maybe we’ll figure something out," Tonio suggested.

"Bring what inside?" Ziva, who was now leaning against the doorframe, muttered while staring at Tonio from the corner of her eyes. "What if it’s a luxury designer bomb? Then all of us will explode into premium quality ashes."

Elara raised a hand and touched the box. It was cold and sleek beneath her fingers, ridiculously expensive looking.

"What are you doing, Elara?" Ziva exclaimed, already moving toward her. But before she could reach her, Elara had already lifted the lid off.

Tonio and Carris reached forward instantly, each grabbing one of Elara’s arms and dragging her backward making the cover fall on the floor. They had already moved several meters away before stopping.

It seemed they had truly been affected by Ziva’s nonsense.

Elara shook her head pitifully, though she didn’t pull away. "Guess the bomb lost its network connection," she muttered with a sigh.

Tonio cleared his throat and quickly let go of her arm. Carris, meanwhile, was still holding hers.

Elara’s eyes moved from his face to his hand, then back to his face again.

"Have you held enough?" Tonio muttered through gritted teeth.

Carris snorted but still didn’t release her immediately. Then he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Just making sure her career didn’t end in a cloud of smoke."

When he finally released her, Elara’s eyes moved toward the box. Ziva was no longer there.

"Where’s Ziva?" Tonio suddenly asked. They all turned around at once.

Ziva, who had been complaining about her deathbed level flu only a few hours ago, was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, a small muffled voice came from behind the large decorative flower pot at the end of the corridor.

"Is the air still breathable?" Ziva called out, her head slowly popping up like a cautious turtle. "I have a very weak immune system! I can’t be around explosions!"

"I’m sure you ran faster than a stolen motorcycle," Carris remarked, crossing his arms. "I thought you were dying."

"I was running for my life! Adrenaline is powerful medicine!" Ziva snapped finally standing up and adjusting the blanket on her shoulders. She then walked back toward them with slow weak steps.

"Well? Since we aren’t pieces of charcoal, what’s actually in there?"