The manager silently appraised Elisa’s appearance, but unfortunately, at this moment, she was wearing a mask, so he couldn’t see her entire face. However, her current state was quite different from what was seen online. Her unadorned skin was fair and translucent, and her hair, instead of being a messy color, was a lustrous black, loosely tied behind her head.
Perhaps feeling a bit warm, she raised her hand and deftly braided her loose hair into a single braid, which she let fall over her shoulder. Her fluffy hair framed the back of her head, accentuating the roundness of her ears, which seemed adorable, as if begging to be pinched. With her graceful brows and long, fluttering eyelashes, even from a distance, one could see her captivating features. Elisa’s eyes were the highlight of her entire visage, slightly upturned at the outer corners, which gave them a seductive allure when she gazed intently at someone.
The manager remarked, “I feel like she’s different from the Elisa we see online and the one I usually know.” To be honest, if he didn’t look closely, he wouldn’t recognize this as Elisa, and he had no idea how Louis, who usually had a bit of prosopagnosia when it came to women, could recognize her at first sight.
“She looks great now,” Louis said, earnestly gazing in her direction. The manager twitched his mouth. It was the first time he had heard Louis praise someone in such a manner. His usual three-piece compliment set was: “Not bad,” “okay,” and “alright.” Hearing him say “great” this time, the manager knew he was serious.
Louis liked women like her? Although Elisa’s appearance and demeanor seemed fine now, there were too many scandals surrounding her.
“Why do you like her? And why would you think she’s great?” the manager inquired.
“Do you know her?” Louis retracted his gaze, staring coldly at the manager.
The manager coughed and thought it imperative to dispel Louis’s unrealistic thoughts. He explained some of the scandals about Elisa that were circulating online: “Elisa sacrificed herself for a drama before, and there is still ongoing discussion about her involvement in a ‘grey area’ transaction. You can check it out if you don’t believe me. She even admitted and apologized for it on Twitter.”
Louis sneered, “Have you heard her confess in person? Have you seen her hold a press conference? Do you have any recordings or videos of her with someone in bed?”
“Well, no, not really.”
“To conclude that she did those things without any evidence, do you know what that’s called? It’s called malicious slander, and it’s illegal. The entertainment industry operates in the shadows, I know that. The right to tweet of some artists is controlled by the company. They can post whatever they want. I don’t believe Elisa slept with a director for a script.”
The manager was at a loss for words. After a moment, he continued, “But it’s a fact that she enjoys stirring up rumors with male celebrities. Nine out of ten of her search results are about her rumored relationships with male celebrities, and she even played both sides at one point.”
Louis chuckled, “Then why hasn’t she tried to seduce me? She hasn’t even looked at me more than once.”
“You’re wearing sunglasses. Perhaps she didn’t recognize you. Wait until she does…”
Before the manager could finish his sentence, Louis reached for his sunglasses and, with long, narrow eyes, continued to stare in Elisa’s direction. Seeing that Elisa didn’t turn to look at him, he intentionally coughed several times, trying to attract her attention.
Observing Louis’s “childish” actions, the manager was left speechless. Louis was stubborn and rebellious. The more the manager tried to keep him away from Elisa, the more he tried to get close to her.
With each loud cough, Elisa didn’t turn, but a flight attendant was drawn over.
“Sir, are you feeling unwell?”
“My throat is itchy. Could you please bring me a cup of warm water? Thank you.” Louis, without his sunglasses, had a strikingly handsome face, and his smile was particularly captivating, causing the flight attendant to go back and fetch him a cup of warm water.
“She still hasn’t looked at me. Jack, how do you explain that?” Louis sneered.
Jack, for a moment, couldn’t grasp Elisa’s thoughts. She hadn’t even turned around at such a commotion. It either meant she wasn’t interested in the outside world or she had recognized Louis and deliberately avoided looking at him. But did Elisa genuinely have such intentions? This might be a trick to lure him in.
Seeing Louis act like a peacock, Jack said, “You’lldefinitely meet on the variety show.”
“But we have to wait two more days,” and Elisa was rehearsing, so he didn’t have the status to visit the set.
This was becoming more and more tedious.
Feeling tired, Elisa adjusted her chair into a bed, lying comfortably with a thin blanket covering her. This made it easier for Louis to observe her. Suddenly, a blurry image flashed in his mind. It disappeared before he could grasp it – just a vague silhouette, yet it made his heart race. He imagined Elisa’s features within that blurry outline, and it felt perfectly fitting.
Before meeting Elisa, Louis never believed in love at first sight. Marriage, to him, was merely an accelerated grave for the dying. It would confine one’s freedom and he scoffed at the idea of topics like “I can give up my life for you.” Just thinking about it seemed utterly foolish.
He had always been rational and believed that love was merely a surge of dopamine. However, at this moment, everything he thought he knew about his beliefs in love and emotions changed drastically upon encountering “Elisa.” This unfamiliar feeling of affection made him afraid. What scared him even more was the possibility that everything between him and Elisa would end before they even had the chance to know each other.
Upon arriving at Bankshire, the flight attendants conducted their routine safety checks, reminding passengers to prepare for disembarkation.
Elisa leisurely transformed, her eyes glistening as she massaged her shoulders, patiently waiting for the plane to land.
During the descent, there was a brief period of weightlessness, lasting for about ten seconds. Elisa watched the scenery outside the plane; Bankshire remained the same after three long years.
Once the plane was safely on the ground, Elisa stood up and made her way to the dedicated walkway for disembarkation, her movements deliberate. She held her bag and turned around.
Seeing Elisa approach, Louis, who was sitting by the aisle, abruptly stood up, towering in front of her like a mountain. Elisa, who reached up to his shoulders, took a step back, maintaining a distance from Louis. Their eyes met, locking into an intense gaze.
Louis’ earlier enthusiasm was directly shattered by a single look from Elisa. His whole body tensed up, and he slightly averted his eyes, focusing on Elisa’s ears.
Her ears were small, with fleshy earlobes tinged with delicate pink, seemingly begging to be pinched.
“Are you… Elisa?” Louis stammered.
Elisa nodded, saying little and instead focusing intently on Louis’ face.
“Can I add you on Facebook?” Louis, feeling even more nervous as Elisa remained silent, almost regretted his impulsive request. He knew he had to show her respect.
“I’m sorry, I was too abrupt. Let me introduce myself. I’m Louis. I’ve read about you on Twitter and I know you’re going to be on the Weekend Show. Coincidentally, I’m also part of it. We can get to know each other first, cooperate more…”
“I know you.” Do you really know the real me?
A surge of emotions filled Louis, his smile widening to reveal his prominent canine teeth. When Louis looked at people, he was like a wolf, just like he used to be with Autumn. When she was in a good mood, he would buy her candied haws, and when she wasn’t, he would give her all the snacks and cookies he had stored. Perhaps it was this unabashed favoritism that made her unforgettable to him all these years.
Louis took out his phone. “Should I scan yours, or you scan mine? Or should you just give me your Facebook and I’ll add you?”
Jack, at the side, glanced around involuntarily. Thankfully, no one was paying attention to them. He was trying to remain composed, but seeing Louis act like a peacock in love made him want to cover his face and pretend not to know him.
Elisa didn’t take out her phone; instead, she rattled off a string of numbers. Louis, with a keen memory, quickly entered them into the search bar and found her profile.
Elisa’s Facebook was very simple, set to be visible for only three days in the social circle, with a blank profile picture, a nickname simply “Elisa,” and no personal signature. It was monotonous, unlike her in person, but quite in line with what he had imagined.
“Is this it?” Louis asked.
Elisa nodded, “Yes.”
Louis quickly sent a friend request and then eagerly watched Elisa, wanting to see her agree to be his friend before he could relax.
Elisa took out her phone from her bag, unlocked it, opened Facebook, and accepted the friend request.
In the verification message Louis sent, his name was there, but with an additional “A” in front of it. By doing this, his name would be the first in Elisa’s friends list. He had it all planned out, and his eyes lit up as he watched Elisa type the verification message into her notes.
“Is the string of numbers you just said your phone number?” Louis asked.
Elisa nodded, “Yes, it’s my phone number.”
“I’ve memorized it,” said Louis, silently repeating it once more, not missing a single digit. He thought Elisa would be pleased, but instead of happiness, he saw a hint of disappointment in her eyes after he finished reciting it smoothly.
He felt a pang in his heart. In front of someone he liked, he always involuntarily sought out his own faults, wanting to know where he had upset the other person.
Elisa’s disappointment was fleeting, almost impossible to grasp.
At this moment, her subconscious suddenly reminded her: Louis was not Autumn.
He was a talented actor, a prodigy among prodigies. He was very clever, able to instantly remember the phone number she recited quickly and not forget it.
Just these facts alone were enough to prove that he was not Autumn.
Autumn had been mentally impaired for over ten years. The orphanage director and Micah had told her at the time that the likelihood of his recovering his intelligence was low.
But how to explain their similar looks?
She knew too little about Autumn, only that he had the same surname as Hamish and had lived with the Hamish family.
It was because she hadn’t asked for Autumn’s full name at the time that she had made such a big mistake over the past decade.
Before she could find the exact answer, she was already beginning to have doubts, afraid of mistaking the person and making the same mistake as in the past for the rest of her life.
But then, upon careful consideration, there were too many unrealistic things in this world. She could die and be reborn, so what was impossible?
She looked at the left side of Louis’s chest and suddenly wanted to open his shirt to see if there was a scar there.