Chapter 128 Don't Worry, Everything is Solved
Yvette could hardly be blamed for thinking that way.
In the two years since Ryan had debuted, he had never once attended any offline event outside of his performances. Even for movies or TV shows he was involved in, he rarely appeared for promotional tours. Seeing his name tied to the Prestige High School anniversary was shocking enough. There could only be two explanations: either Rachel had personally invited him, or he was coming for her.
But if it had been Rachel who invited him, there was no way she would have kept it completely to herself. Rachel had asked Yvette to attend the anniversary to help draw attention to her team's booth. If she had the power to bring Ryan in, why would she need Yvette at all? Why worry about foot traffic when the country's biggest star was standing behind your counter?
That left only one possibility — Ryan was coming because of her.
No, no… this changed everything.
Yvette had originally planned to show up just long enough to be polite, treating Rachel's invitation as a way to return the favor for inviting her to the Martinez mansion. But now Ryan was coming. They would be together all day. That meant she had to look perfect.
From now until next Wednesday, she would hit the spa every single day. Tomorrow she would go shopping for new makeup. She would make sure that when Ryan saw her, she would be the most beautiful version of herself.
While Yvette was buzzing with excitement, Rachel was practically breathless with shock.
She had never imagined Ryan would come to Prestige High School for the anniversary, work as a server in her shop, and perform a song during the event. After the piano competition, Ryan's attitude toward her had been distant, almost cold. She had barely dared to speak to him since. But now… this proved he was just cool on the outside. He still cared for her.
Her smile faltered when she remembered something from his Instagram post. He had mentioned "my sister." And Rachel was no longer his only sister.
Could he have meant Amelia? And could "the shop" he mentioned be Amelia's booth instead of hers?
Rachel's stomach knotted. She needed to be sure. She didn't want to celebrate only to find out she had been wrong.
She hurried upstairs to the third floor, stopped in front of Ryan's door, took a deep breath, and knocked.
A few seconds later, Ryan opened it. When he saw her standing there, his brow creased almost imperceptibly.
"Rachel. Something you need?"
"Ryan…" Her voice was softer than she intended. He was rarely home, and she rarely had the chance to be this close to him. Now, with only a breath of space between them, she could smell the faint lemon scent clinging to him. Her cheeks warmed.
"I saw your post on Instagram," she said. "You're coming to our school's anniversary next Wednesday?"
Ryan's tone was neutral. "Yeah. What about it?"
"You said you'd be working at your sister's shop for the day. The shop you mean is…"
Before she could finish, Ryan's gaze lifted. "Amelia's. The one she and her team are setting up."
Rachel's smile froze. Disbelief flickered in her eyes.
He was going to Amelia's shop. Not her café.
She had completely misread the situation. She had been fooling herself.
Her throat tightened and her eyes stung. Why… why was it always like this? Amelia had taken the things she wanted before. And now even Ryan was choosing her.
Rachel's voice wavered. "Ryan, Amelia is your sister, but so am I. Why go to her shop instead of mine?"
Ryan looked faintly puzzled. "You didn't invite me to yours, did you? Besides, you already asked Yvette to join you."
"With Yvette there, your shop will have plenty of attention. Amelia doesn't have anyone but me."
His tone softened instinctively when he said Amelia's name.
Rachel's jealousy flared hot. Yvette's popularity was decent, but compared to Ryan? There was no comparison. Yvette was just a rising star. Ryan had been at the top since the moment he debuted.
And Ryan never did offline events. How was she supposed to know he would agree to something like this? If she had known, she would have asked him herself instead of Yvette.
Her thoughts churned with bitterness. If Ryan went to Amelia's booth, his fans alone could flood the entire Prestige High School grounds. How could she hope to take first place in the popularity contest after that? The only thing she could hope for now was that Yvette's male fans would outnumber Ryan's female fans.
Rachel returned to her room feeling wronged and humiliated. She opened Instagram again, only to find her own post had blown up. Ryan's fans had swarmed in, liking, sharing, and commenting.
They all knew Rachel was Ryan's sister. Very few knew about Amelia, the newly acknowledged illegitimate daughter of the Martinez family. And Ryan's post had come just minutes after hers. Naturally, his fans assumed he was coming to Rachel's café.
[Imagine having a superstar like Ryan as your brother!]
[Rachel is so low-key. Ryan's coming to her event and she didn't even say!]
[So next Wednesday at Prestige High School, Ryan will be working with Yvette in the café? This is amazing!]
Reading those comments made Rachel's face burn with shame and anger. She wanted to delete them all, but Ryan's fanbase was too massive. The comments multiplied every second. She couldn't keep up.
She hated it. She hated Amelia. And she hated Ryan.
If Ryan went to Amelia's booth on the day of the anniversary, she would be humiliated in front of everyone. And it would be Ryan's fault.
While Ryan's Instagram post was setting off a storm online, Amelia was logging into her team's group chat for the anniversary event.
The most recent message was from Dorian, sent two hours earlier.
[Damn it, Rachel stole our idea. How can someone be this shameless!]
[Her post is almost identical to the application I submitted, and she posted it before us. I'm furious!]
No one had replied. Asher and Tobias were probably off gossiping somewhere. Zander and Leroy had their notifications muted and hadn't even seen the messages.
Amelia typed back: [Don't worry. Everything's handled.]
Dorian stared at the screen in confusion.
Handled? How? Their booth theme had been copied. All the supplies they'd prepared were useless now. Even the custom uniforms for their servers couldn't be worn. And they still had no plan to draw in customers. The whole situation was a disaster.
Had Amelia somehow come up with a way to fix all of it?