Friday.

A motorcade of shiny, black cars escorted two large executive vans. The vehicles moved slowly because the road was packed with excited and screaming people. Security personnel tried controlling the huge crowd while the motorcade passed by the TV station's front gates.

Moments later, people from several blocks away heard a thunderous noise of human voices screaming, shouting, yelling, and shrieking. It was so loud that the air seemed to vibrate. They thought that a tragic accident occurred before realizing that the noise sounded excited rather than frightened.

Back at the road in front of the TV station, Iris Long and Jin Chonglin waved at their fans outside the windows of their respective vans. They were the ones being escorted by the impressive motorcade and the objects of adoration of the huge crowd.

Based on past experiences, the management of the TV program MusicFest Tonight requested for Iris Long and Jin Chonglin to arrive together instead of separately because they had no confidence that their staff would be able to handle two separate instances of a huge crowd of fans going wild. In addition, the two celebrities were also told not enter though the front like usual because the management already anticipated that the crowd this time would be much larger than the previous times the two performed on the show. It wouldn't be safe for either Iris Long and Jin Chonglin's teams or for their fans. Not only them. It also wouldn't be safe for any of the TV station's staff or for the other arriving celebrities.

Although both Iris Long and Jin Chonglin liked taking the time to interact with their fans in person, they had to comply this time because Bright Summit Entertainment Company wasn't taking any chances and tightened security protocols around them in response to what happened to them during the bomb incident. The two of them were currently this year's top best-selling musicians under the talent management company, so it was only expected that Bright Summit would prioritize their safety after such a horrifying attack.

The back entrance of the TV station was already secured just for them. No other artists performing at the music program tonight were given this kind of special treatment.

Treating Jin Chonglin as a VIP was already expected—he was a superstar—so nobody complained.

What about Iris Long? She was no superstar.

However, she had already gained enough prestige through winning multiple awards this year, two of them history-makers—first, the special technical award for creating new musical techniques, and second, the Soleil d'Or Award for Best Soundtrack in the Sommet International Film Festival.

As a result, many serious artists in the country's music industry now admired and respected her. There was a notable shift in the kind of music the new, young artists who just debuted were releasing. Instead of the typical, simplistic, catchy pop music designed to appeal to most of the general population, there was a rise in newly debuted artists who were releasing lyrical and emotional ballads, purely instrumental music, experimental fusion of genres, and also attempting to successfully sing sustained high notes or even whistle notes.

JJ had been recorded on tape bragging that this was all because of Iris Long's influence. His friend, the notable music critic DJ Song, had called this trend the "Iris Effect". Soon after, other critics and industry experts followed suit and began using the term to describe this new phenomenon in the country's music scene.

This kind of shift was considered unprecedented because record labels usually wouldn't take a gamble of veering away from tried and true methods that they had been using throughout the years, especially when it came to new artists who were just debuting.

But Iris Long and JJ changed all of that. JJ had given Iris Long an unimaginable degree of creative freedom, even going so far as allowing her to experiment with almost each of her music releases since her showbiz comeback. Many called JJ insane, yet look who was laughing now and basking in the success of his protégé.

Their partnership had now reached a near legendary status in the music industry to the point that many new artists were choosing JJ's record label as their first choice. Unfortunately, Iris Long's blinding success story made them forget about JJ's notoriety in the music industry. Not everyone had Iris Long's guts in butting heads directly with the temperamental music producer. There had been quite a few disillusioned new artists who ran away in tears after experiencing JJ's bad temper and his honest but vicious criticisms.

Given how respected Iris Long had become in the country's music industry after her comeback, even directly influencing the latest new artists' musical styles, nobody dared to protest against her receiving the same VIP treatment as Jin Chonglin who was a superstar. Besides, she was currently in a music collaboration with him, not to mention that almost everyone in the country knew that they were eventually going to become siblings-in-law.

The two VIPs and their teams were personally welcomed by Director He and other staff of MusicFest Tonight and escorted them to the two best dressing rooms.

Along the way, Iris noticed that her female bodyguard would always hold her arm and steady her whenever there were stairs even though she was perfectly balanced. This wasn't the only thing that she observed.

She wasn't allowed to carry a single thing. Whenever she picked up something and intended to carry it, Dom and her bodyguards would freak out and snatch the guilty item from her hands as if it weighed five hundred kilos.

Whenever she asked for a drink, a wide variety of non-alcoholic beverage choices would arrive within two seconds including some healthy fruits and snacks that she didn't ask for.

Another bizarre thing was that one of her bodyguards now carried a foldable chair.

"What's that for?" she asked.

"This is for the mistress to sit down when you feel tired standing up," he replied.

"Oh. Okay. Thanks."

She didn't think too much about it but after noticing more of these things, they began adding up and confusing her. It felt like Dom and her bodyguards had become extra protective of her yet at the same time gentle to her as if she was fragile.

"Why are you all acting like this?" Iris asked Dom in a whisper.

"Sir boss instructed us to make sure that you don't strain or tire yourself," he whispered.

"Huh? Why would he do that? I'm fine. You know that the doctor already pronounced me healthy—" Her eyes widened as realization set in. "Oh."

"Ehehehe." Dom grinned but his eyes quickly became moist. He looked like he was about to cry. "Boss, are you really—"

"Shush your mouth! Not here," she immediately stopped him before looking around to make sure that nobody heard their conversation. "We'll talk later, okay?"

Dom nodded.

"What are you two whispering about over there?" Tang Yiyi suddenly asked.

Iris smiled at her manager. "Nothing."

Tang Yiyi looked at her for two seconds before instructing the makeup artist and hairstylist to start working on Iris. Fortunately, the manager was too busy communicating with the show's staff and coordinating with Jin Chonglin's team to ask Iris more questions.

Iris sighed in relief, her hand subconsciously touching her flat stomach.

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[This novel is a contracted work with W e b n o v e l . c o m (remove spaces). If you're not reading this chapter on W e b n o v e l, it has been stolen. It's very discouraging to see thieves profitting from my hard work. Please read this novel on W e b n o v e l. Thank you! -Arria]

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