Overprotected By My Tsundere CEO-Chapter 480 - 285: Nora Scott and Flora Loughton, First Encounter [Part 2]

Chapter 480: Chapter 285: Nora Scott and Flora Loughton, First Encounter [Part 2]
Pedro Langley returned to the living room with a stern face just as Flora Loughton hung up the phone with Rosa Sullivan.
"Did you explain everything?" Flora asked.
"Yes."
Flora had just sighed with relief when Pedro said, "But I wasn’t forgiven."
"Huh?"
Flora blinked.
Her future daughter-in-law seemed to be a reasonable, carefree, good girl...
"Your future daughter-in-law is hard to appease," Pedro said casually, "From now on, when there are outsiders, just call the driver."
"My son’s privilege of chauffeuring me has to be selectively used?"
Pedro declared, "Unless your next prized pupil is male."
"..." Flora snorted, scrutinizing him, "As if you’ve never been rumored to be involved with a man."
Pedro: "..."
Flora waved her hand, urging him, "Hurry back and soothe your fiancée, so you don’t get in my way."
"About that Sullivan..."
Pedro spoke leisurely.
"What?" Flora asked.
Pedro, while prominently displaying the notion of "avoiding suspicion," didn’t forget to become a stumbling block on the path of someone’s career, "I don’t like her, so hold back on promoting her."
Thankfully, this person is Flora’s prized pupil, and overall handled the matter quite nicely, otherwise with Pedro’s vengeful nature, anyone who displeased his girlfriend, regardless of their innocence, would not have this matter end easily.
"I know what I’m doing."
Pedro gently reminded, "You’ve misjudged people more than just once or twice."
Flora: "..."
Professor Loughton’s life had been smooth sailing, cherished by her family before marriage, favored by her husband after marriage, and working at the school without battling through the social world, occasionally being deceived by high-level individuals and thus misjudging them.
*
Film Academy.
In these days, "Reversing Life" was casting at the school for several key female supporting roles.
The auditions were scheduled to start at two in the afternoon, with Rosa Sullivan as Director Lawrence’s favored candidate set at one. The campus beauty arrived on time, had fifteen minutes of preparation, three minutes of performance, and then received the message to "await notification."
As soon as she left, the director and screenwriters, who had been cool, serious, and expressionless, suddenly relaxed and began chatting animatedly.
"I think this girl is good."
"Her looks and temperament are quite fitting, but her acting... Director Lawrence, neither the lead nor second lead has acting experience, can you handle this?"
"No problem."
"Just worried she’s too young, mentally unstable, and might cause trouble entering the industry as a lead."
"Right. The Luna Durant you wanted earlier is both good in image and acting, but her temperament is bad, prone to causing trouble."
"From the performance just now, she seems to be a quite stable girl. Looking at the resume, she’s Julian Linfield’s apprentice, such an honor is unique!"
"Add all these into the contract: no tied-in hype, cooperate with promotion, and avoid early exposure."
...
During the discussion, the assistant director came over with a phone, whispered a few words in Director Lawrence’s ear.
Director Lawrence’s expression changed subtly, but restored his composure in an instant, "It’s her."
"What happened?"
Producer Elijah sensed something was off.
Immediately, the few who were enthusiastically discussing turned their curious gaze towards this side.
The assistant director chuckled and succinctly told them about this morning’s rumor between Pedro Langley and Rosa Sullivan, which was swiftly refuted by Rosa.
"Wow, this young lady has quite the integrity."
"Pretty proud and tough."
"These days, rare to find someone who doesn’t ride the fame wave."
"Her character definitely checks out. I choose her."
...
Amid unanimous approval, the choice for the lead actress was thus settled.
*
Rosa Sullivan hadn’t even stepped out of the Film Academy gate when she received the assistant director’s call for signing the contract.
She wasn’t surprised.
Upon hearing the assistant director’s voice, Rosa Sullivan’s lips curved up slightly, reaching a certain point, then quietly dropped.
In the span of one afternoon, the contract was finalized, and Rosa Sullivan secured the lead role in "Reversing Life".
As soon as she got into the car, she received a call from Diana Johnson.
"Bella, how did your audition go this afternoon?" Diana’s tone carried undisguised excitement.
"Passed."
Rosa Sullivan’s tone was calm and steady.
"Really?" Diana was thrilled, "That’s great! I looked at the script for ’Reversing Life’, and my first impression was that the lead role suits you perfectly!"
Rosa Sullivan smiled lightly, "Did you also get a role in ’Reversing Life’?"
"Yeah. I went for the audition the day before yesterday and just signed the contract this afternoon. But it’s just a small supporting role."
"Congratulations!"
"I should be congratulating you." Diana Johnson giggled, "By the way, I just heard some news, not sure if it’s true. The second female lead role in ’Reversing Life’ has been settled. Do you know who it is?"
"Who?"
"Nora Scott! That celebrated comic artist Zero from a while ago!"
Nora Scott?
Rosa Sullivan might not know if it’s just a comic artist. However, the news of Zero revealing their identity in a live stream caused quite a stir recently, and Rosa had heard a bit about it.
Even though she hadn’t interacted personally, Rosa found it hard to like someone just from seeing that haughty livestream.
"I know."
"Do you remember that classmate we bumped into at the mall?" Diana chirped.
"Yeah."
"He’s Nora Scott’s brother, said to be a half-sibling."
Rosa Sullivan smiled blandly, "From your tone, it seems you have quite a liking for that impolite teenager—"
"Oh, no, I’m just really curious about what it’s like to collaborate with Nora Scott."
Rosa Sullivan wasn’t interested, after exchanging a few sentences, she shifted the topic, "Has the male lead been decided?"
"I don’t know, haven’t found out." Diana said, "The production crew of ’Reversing Life’ has particularly tight lips, catching a bit of information is quite difficult."
"Oh."
Rosa Sullivan’s eyes slightly darkened, paused, and turned to look out the window.
*
In the evening.
Having been home all day, Nora Scott took advantage of a trip to the supermarket to bring Henry Chapman along.
With Henry’s homebody nature, given enough food and drinks, he could stay indoors with Rose for a month without stepping out.
"All the snacks and toys you bought are for Rose, aren’t they?"
"Yep."
Carrying a bag of pet supplies, Henry found nothing odd about this behavior.
Nora Scott grinned, "Good thing Rose isn’t a kid, or you’d spoil her into a societal problem sooner or later."
Henry: "..."
The two walked into Cloudwater Haven, Henry slightly lifted his baseball cap, no longer blocking his view.
About to enter summer, he couldn’t wear overly tight and covered clothing anymore, so Henry resorted to using props like baseball caps and sunglasses to moderately conceal his appearance, preventing recognition when outside.
However, generally speaking, without official tasks or special circumstances, Henry would rather stay indoors the entire summer than go outside.
Cloudwater Haven has excellent security measures, the residents are either rich or have high status, celebrities, influential figures, and famous people are plentiful, Henry and Nora Scott walking normally in the neighborhood won’t attract attention, at most they’d get a second glance if recognized.
Henry was calculating Rose’s recent food intake, getting absorbed, and realized after taking a few steps that Nora Scott had stopped behind, not following.
He halted, turned back: "What’s up?"
"There’s flute music."
Nora slightly furrowed her brows, listening attentively.
Henry listened carefully, indeed hearing some flute notes, scattered, with a slow tempo and beautiful melody.
"I’ve heard you tirelessly make noise with the flute every morning?" Henry asked.
Instantly, Nora cast a cold glance, "Was it Marcus Shaw who said that?"
"..."
Henry didn’t have the habit of selling out teammates.
Though Nora guessed correctly, he still exercised his right to remain silent.
"Can’t help it, the teacher isn’t very competent."
Without a hint of guilt, Nora solidly pinned the responsibility on Julian Linfield’s head, who had just told her this morning she was destined never to master the bamboo flute.
"..." Henry looked at her and slowly said, "You used the same excuse when learning photography and acting."
"..."
Nora gritted her teeth.
The heavens hadn’t given her talent points in these areas, what could she do?
Complaining inwardly, Nora felt helpless as well, didn’t wish to argue with Henry, so she turned around and stepped onto the path.
Pausing slightly, Henry naturally followed, questioning inexplicably: "Where are you going?"
"Joining the fun."
Hooking a finger around the shopping bag handle, Nora tucked her hand into her pocket, casually tossing out three words.
Instinctively, Henry tugged at the brim of his hat.
The environment at Cloudwater Haven is superb, boasting a miniature ecological garden, with a vast area, nearly half covered in landscaped gardens and recreational facilities. This neighborhood feels secluded from the world, fewer people, beautiful scenery, strolling outside after dinner amidst greenery, lakes, pavilions, pebble paths, bridges with flowing streams, everything seems to detach from city clamor and brings natural peace.
Due to the few residents and large area, Nora rarely saw crowded scenes except near recreational facilities and kindergartens.
But this time—
She and Henry walked along the winding path to the end and suddenly witnessed such a scene by the lake.