Whispers of Destiny: His Belated Love

No one spoke further; both of them were breathing heavily, Rosemary out of sheer frustration.

Rosemary couldn’t see Maxwell’s expression and didn’t have the bandwidth to guess what he was feeling. It took a good half a minute before she managed to calm her turbulent emotions, “The contract has been signed; you can’t just back out now.”

The response came in his calm and collected voice, “A deal’s not done until the follow-up’s in place. Why don’t you check with Mr. Ferber, see if he’s still keen on working with the Templeton Group?”

Mr. Ferber would obviously agree; for him, the company’s future was more important than his face. But after what he’d done to Rosemary, how could she possibly go ask him!

Anger surged in Rosemary’s chest again, “Maxwell, have you no shame!”

Maxwell, likely unused to such direct insults, replied with a chilling voice, “Rosemary, where are your manners?”

The woman retorted sharply with a cold laugh, “Might as well have been eaten by you.”

Calling him a dog was an insult to the poor pups!

After a few seconds of silence, Maxwell’s voice seemed to be restraining something, “Send your account details to Christ. He’ll transfer you ten million hardship fees, and I’ll add an extra five million on the top of that as compensation.”

Rosemary clenched her teeth, knowing full well Maxwell wouldn’t budge on the three hundred million, “I don’t want the extra five million. First, go through the divorce proceedings with me. I’ll pay back the three hundred million in installments.”

“Do you really think you’re in any position to negotiate with me?”

Rosemary’s throat tightened, hit again by that same line—there was clearly no room for negotiation!

Since there was no room for negotiation, she didn’t want to waste another word on him and hung up the phone.

She closed her eyes, tallying up her current finances, growing more agitated with each thought, wishing she could drive over and punch Maxwell to death.

How could there be such an annoying and shameless man in the world?

All his money must have come from swindling and deceit!

Rosemary blocked all of Maxwell’s contact details and calmed herself in the restroom for over ten minutes. Only when her emotions had eased did she open the door and walk out.

She hadn’t gone far when she ran into Hans, who was hurting over, seemingly looking for someone. His gaze swept around until he saw Rosemary and let out a sigh of relief, “Rose, I’ve been looking everywhere for you. The filming at the program team is almost done. The spotlight is now on you and me.”

The artifact restoration show that Oswald had mentioned before - Rosemary had eventually agreed to participate, but on the condition that she wouldn’t show her face. Yet, it was too good of a publicity opportunity for the studio to miss, so they decided to have Hans join her in the restoration segment, letting him be the face of the studio.

“Sorry, I just went to the restroom. Let’s get going.”

They entered the restoration room, and Rosemary’s workstation was all set up with the artifact for this session - a vase with moderate damage. They planned to film over several sessions and later edited the footage together into a single video.

The director came over to brief them, “Just focus on the restoration work as you normally would. There’s no need to pose specifically for the camera.”

Rosemary nodded, “Sure, thanks, Director Madden.”

Director Madden’s gaze lingered on the woman’s face, unable to hide his regret, “Rose, are you sure you don’t want to show your face? This is a great opportunity. With your beauty, you might attract film and TV offers.”

He began to sell her the dream. A young and beautiful girl like her could be a ratings magnet. What a waste to just show her hands!

Rosemary smiled politely, “Sorry, but I’m an introvert by nature and don’t really fit in with other circles. Just filming my hands is fine. Participating in this show is merely to raise awareness about our industry. Whether or not I show my face doesn’t matter.”

Though Director Madden was disappointed, he didn’t push further. He nodded and returned to his camera, “Ready everyone. Let’s start!”

Filming a documentary is different from shooting a drama. There’s no need for acting or a script; Rosemary just has to do her thing, and how to shoot and edit was the director’s concern.

She and Hans were working on the same piece of porcelain but had different tasks. Since Rosemary didn’t want her face on camera, they were mostly filmed separately, rarely together in the same shot.

Midway through, she handed something to Hans, who was intently focused on his task. He accidentally grabbed her hand without looking.

He paused for a moment, then quickly let go, “Sorry.”

“It’s OK.” Since they were filming, Rosemary kept her voice very low.

The filming went smoothly, and after Director Madden recorded an interview with Oswald. After everything was over, Oswald saw the crew out and invited them for a meal, but Rosemary didn’t participate in any of these activities.

Hans glanced at Rosemary, who had seemed distracted since the shoot ended, and asked, “Rose, you seem down. Did something happen?”

Rosemary concealed the worries in her eyes; she and Hans weren’t close enough for personal chats, “No, just a bit tired.”

“Then don’t overwork yourself,” Hans advised. “We have so many artifacts in storage, we couldn’t finish restoring them all even if we had eight hands each. When you can slack off a bit, take the chance.”

Rosemary simply smiled but didn’t continue the conversation.

At that moment, Christ’s call came through. The mere sight of his name made Rosemary think of Maxwell, and she answered the phone with a trace of annoyance, “What is it?”

Christ, unaware of what had happened, was taken aback by her aggressive tone, and paused for a few seconds before speaking, “Ms. Chambers, could you send me your bank account? Mr. Templeton asked me to transfer your compensation for this engagement.”

So, it was about the money. Rosemary provided an account number. The three hundred million was a lost cause, but she was definitely going to take the compensation. She wasn’t about to let Maxwell get off that easy!

Over the next few days, Rosemary and Hans were all caught up in fixing that vase. The program team came twice more for additional shots. Unlike a drama series that requires complex post-

production, the documentary was broadcasted on an online platform within a week.

That day, Christ came out of the president’s office, heaving a big sigh.

He had been having a tough time lately because he hadn’t thoroughly investigated Rosemary’s position at Heritage Revive Studio and had reported incorrect information to Mr. Templeton. Recently, every time Mr. Templeton glanced his way, well, let’s just say he looked at him like he was a total screw-up.

No, he had to try hard to keep his job!

Heading to the break room, Christ happened to overhear two secretaries whispering and giggling with their phones out.

“I can't believe I'm fan-girling over a pair of hands!” Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

“But what if they belong to some ugly creature or a middle-aged auntie? You can’t ship a pair of hands without seeing the face!”

“No way, with the dude’s good looks, anyone who pairs up with him and has such gorgeous hands, the person definitely can't be ugly.”

They were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn’t notice Christ entering.

Christ’s gaze casually swept over the phone screen, and just as the camera zoomed in, he caught sight of a pair of slender hands.

He paused momentarily, feeling a sense of familiarity with those hands. He couldn’t help but ask, “What show is this?”