Summer took a cab and headed to the neighborhood where Adams lived in. Once she was at the neighborhood’s entrance, she called Adams on his phone. Her call was quickly picked up.
“Give me five minutes.” He was panting, probably just finishing his workout session.
Adams came out precisely five minutes later. Wearing a black workout outfit, his hair was a little damp, and he smiled like the guy next door. When he looked at Summer, his smile grew even brighter.
“Summer, come with me.” He waved at her. Feeling like it was not right, he said apologetically, “Since you called me’elder brother’ like Leonardo does, can I call you Summer?”
Summer almost choked on her saliva, nodding in embarrassment. “Why not?”
He brought her to his house and handed her a pair of disposal sandals, which he took out from the shoe cabinet.
“My place is a little messy. The lady who helps me clean the house has taken a week off, and I have no time for the chores,” Adams explained as they entered the house. The house was clean, just that things were not very organized. Summer smiled and said nothing. He led her to the sofa and handed her a glass of water.
“I was abroad for quite a while, so there’s nothing here in the house, just water. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it.”
Summer and Adams were not acquainted with each other yet. Sitting in his house made her feel a little awkward. She swallowed before she got down to business. “Have you agreed to become Jarrett Group’s brand ambassador?”
“Yeah, I’ve agreed to it, but I haven’t signed the agreement yet.” Adams sat across her with a gentle smile on his face. “Are you here to represent Jarrett Group?”
“Yeah.” Summer smiled, putting the glass of water down. “Are you sure you want to do this?”
“I’m not sure. That’s why they’ve sent you here,” Adams said absentmindedly. Summer froze for a second, surprised by how similar he and Leonardo looked. “But it sounds like you’re not in favor of me taking the role.” Beneath his smile was an observant mind.
Encouraged by his forthrightness, Summer decided to speak her mind. “It’s not that I’m not in favor. It’s just that, even though I’m from the Mu Family, I have to admit that if you take on the role, it’s going to affect your career negatively.”
Adams leaned back, squinting. He looked almost like Leonardo, but his tone of voice was not as low. Instead, it was very gentle.
“Are you always this candid with anyone you meet?”
Moo Summer was suddenly at a loss for words, and Adams’s smile faded. He now looked serious. “Don’t be so kind-hearted. Otherwise, Leonardo’s going to bully you.”
Summer found that he was more talkative today. Hearing him mention Leonardo stunned her for a while.
“Douglas fears him. Is he really a bully?” Summer became a little curious.
Adams thought for a while and said, “Not really. At least, not before the age of eleven. He was a good kid back then.”
A good kid? It was not really a good description of who Leonardo was now.
…
It was only after Summer left that she remembered the purpose of her visit. She was supposed to discuss the brand ambassador deal with Adams, but they had talked about everything and nothing at the same time, leaving business at the back of their minds.
Summer just could not even process it, but she did not show it on her face. There was more to the brand ambassador deal than met the eye, but what could she do? All that was left was to wait and see.
She did not go back to Jarrett Group in the afternoon. After all, there was nothing to do in the office. So, she decided to ask Jessica out for coffee. When she told Jessica about Adams’s brand ambassador deal, Jessica was just as shocked as she was.
“How is this possible? Really?” Jessica just could not believe what she had heard.
“I met Adams today. He didn’t deny it.” Summer paused, adding a cube of sugar to her coffee. “But he hasn’t signed on the dotted line yet.”
Jessica looked up from her phone screen, listening to what she said, then continued to surf Weibo. A Weibo hot topic suddenly popped up on the screen, and she read it aloud.
“An unscrupulous corporation forces a celebrity actor into becoming their brand ambassador…”
It sounded like the said unscrupulous corporation was Jarrett Group. Summer took the phone from Jessica’s hand. She knitted her brows as she scrolled through the comments, the first of which mentioned Adams and Jarrett Group.
“Do all of you still remember the Jarrett Group factory incident that happened not long ago? I suspect that the company this Weibo post is referring to is Jarrett Group.”
There were more comments down under.
“But who’s the celebrity?”
“With the ability to silence all the news online in such a short time, it shows that this company that makes household products has a strong backing. Tell me, if they want a celebrity to become their brand ambassador, the only person with the most influence and the biggest fan base would be…”
“Adams!”
“You betcha!”
“It’s definitely Adams!”
The first willful comment had influenced the sentiment, and most subsequent comments were all critical of Jarrett Group.
Summer returned the phone to Jessica, took out her own, and went to Jarrett Group’s official Weibo account. As soon as she clicked on it, she saw that Jarrett Group had uploaded a post, fresh from the oven about a minute ago. The post went, “Looking forward to working together with Adams.”
Due to previous experience, where netizens had nearly occupied its Weibo page, it learned its lesson and disabled the comment section. The Weibo post was forwarded a hundred times in under two minutes, and it was still on an upward trend. However, the majority of those who forwarded the post were critical of Jarrett Group.
“A celebrity like him is working with this dirty corporation? Ridiculous!”
“Adams has even declined to become the brand ambassador of a renowned international corporation previously. Why would he want to work with this sordid company now? What have all of you done to Adams? Are you retarded or what?”
“It should have closed down!”
Jessica had leaned over and seen the post. “Do you believe that this is just a coincidence?” she asked.
“Absolutely not.” Summer shook her head, and her face was grave. When news came from Adams that he was going to work with Jarrett Group, it could have been a set-up from the very beginning. Summer was starting to put two and two together. Someone was making use of the celebrity effect to push Jarrett Group closer to the edge of the abyss.
“Isn’t Jarrett Sr. there?” Leonardo’s words suddenly came to mind.