Disclaimer: I don't own ½ Prince…

Oh, how I missed writing that *sobs* I'm so glad I'm back to meet up with the wonderful people who has stuck with me all this time, and forever thankful to the betas I have had in this story so far —I don't have one right now, but I'm thankfully all the same.

I have more ramble at the end of this chapter, but for now, I'll make a short recount since I have been away for so long. Also, this chapter is short, painfully so, and decidedly not my best chapter -a bit crappy in my opinion- plus is unbetaed. Anyway, given the long absence I'm putting a summary of the whole story so far. Please enjoy!

Published on 18/11/-13


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Summary:

Alice, the girl with the expressionless face started playing Second Life after her brother gave her a helmet on her birthday. She wasn't actually planning on playing it, but Darkness, her closest virtual friend, had threatened to break contact if she didn't play once he discovered she had the helmet. It was then that she would met Starlight, the queen of sadist manipulators, and they became friends. We would latter learn that the blue-eyed blond had a double life as Long Zhuo Xia, vice-president and heir of a huge company. When she wasn't tied down by her home environment she was stern and scary, though the company lawyer Xu Jiao and her husband Xu Fa knew better. The truth of the whole thing was that she was that Alice was actually the owner of the company and, despite she being actually a bit nuts, she had a brilliant mind, that she used to break the law and start making her way to a criminal path before Long Lien managed to change her ways enough to make her as law abiding as your average corrupt politician.

Life as Long Zhuo Xia was smooth and enjoyable, but Alice's life —which already sucked big time since she had a crazy mom, a neglecting father and an older brother who always tagged along with the sexiest demon in the nine hells— got horribly complicated when her family company's financial situation started going down the drain; because of this, Alice was kidnapped and would later learn her father had been the responsible of it, making it so her already unstable mind became even more so, and ended up blocking the memories of her life as Alice in an unconscious attempt to save whatever sanity was left in her.

Our weird heroine, no longer burdened by a sad past, started to become more cheerful as everyone who had contact with her became gloomier. Meng Liang Liwei though that she had been killed in front of his eyes, however Alice's ex-driver (who took part in recuing her and telling her the truth) told him his sister was still alive, which in turn made Liang try to find the truth about his sister making Long Lieng (new adoptive father of Long Zhuo Xia, who knows most of the turth) decided it would be bad for Alice to go back to her somewhat lifeless-self, thus rearranging things so she would move to the faraway P City.

Of course, even in the new faraway doesn't completely guarantee her life to become calm with her ex-brother and his sexy body ward Shen —who she is very "terrified" off— chasing after her trail and looking for the missing Meng patriarch that Alice in her unstable state erased from all register and caused to get locked in a jail somewhere. What our favorite weirdo doesn't realize is that, in the midst of the mess that is her life, she is the center of a love square, in which Darkness, the shy guy trapped on the friend zone; Pheromone Devil Shen, the bodyward who she hasn't have been crushing on for about 9 years now, and Cao-Cao, the devious musician she met in Second Life, who already somehow managed to marry Windy (Alice's Second Life avatar) and swiftly manipulated Starlight's brainwashed minions *cough* Prince's fangirls to keep the other 2 guys far away from "his woman".

Comparing her real life with her virtual games in more aspects than just the romantic one —since none of the 3 guys chasing after her skirt can do so in person given than 1) Shen doesn't know the Lotus Witch has been transferred, and 2) Neither the musician nor the long time friend have met her in person— there is also entrance of yet another character, one who has decidedly less romantic feelings towards Windy. The last guy mentioned is Zian, a good-looking guy, who just happens to be Gui's brother, and has, much to his dismay, been force by Yulian (the magician from Odd Squad) to teach archery to Windy —she sucks big time at that— because the calculative magician from the original novel want Starlight to join Infinite City's ranks.

End of the summary


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Chapter 42: It's just another day.

Awkward. That's the best way I could use to describe my second day as the head of the Lotus Company. After what seemed to be a very uneventful morning —in which the only thing I was unaccustomed to was to wake up in an empty apartment, given than my dad was still back in T City, handling the crazy amount of stuffs that needed to be done now that the Christmas sales had started— I simply headed to the new branch. My schedule was quite simple for the day; however, that didn't mean I had an easy day ahead of me: watching over the final details to the construction party hall in which we would be hosting a new year's party —we would need decorations when the time was due, but dad had the idea of paneling the whole place with mirrors—, then I would need to meet with Mr. Yu, one of our most hate-able but competent employees, and join the man to meet up the models (both male and female) that would be appearing in the line, that we would make sure to publicize in the party with a little fashion show we should organize right after my "take-over" speech.

The events of the day seemed to go wrong in a way I wouldn't expect; making things develop into the current situation: sitting on a large conference room along a bunch of weird-looking musicians, their manager, the newly hired fashion designer, and Mr. Yu, the atmosphere in the room so thick that it could be cut with a butcher's knife. We had been on our butts, around the oval-shaped table by about five minutes and nobody yet had uttered a word.

"Miss—President Long," A long-haired blond began, his Adam's apple going up and down as he swallowed nervously; However, a follow-up didn't come as I directed my very angry glare at him, making him shut up with a small "Eep".

To be quite truthfully I wasn't particularly mad at this man, nor was I with the poor worker that came to bring us some water a minute ago and almost peed his pants when I gave him a murderous glance, making him retreat without so much as delivering the rinks he had tried to bring in the room. Who was I mad at? Well, let's see the options first. There was the pink-haired poodle-peacock hybrid: this French fashion designer mistook me from one of the models and gave me a very big rant about watching after my weight, made some rude remarks about the size of my butt and started to insult me in French after he noticed that my arms were somewhat muscular. The option number two, the manager of the band that foolishly tried to break the silence; he had been staring at me with a drooling infatuated look, and let his eyes stop in very inappropriate places while he tried to apologize for one of the musician's rudeness. Which musician? You might ask; well, that would be possible culprit 3 of my bad mood: as soon as the man had come into the conference room he had blurted that "No wonder that important business people sleep with their secretaries!", which was highly offensive and implied that I slept with Mr. Yu and suggested I was his secretary. You would think three options were enough; however, there is still one more out of the tree remaining men in the room, a so-tall-that's-annoying guy sat in his chair, displaying such a towering high that he had to bend his knees to enter the room. This particular annoyance was a very familiar one, my Second Life husband Cao-Cao, whom I couldn't possible let recognize me.

The whole bunch in the room, even the two men not listed at the moment, had failed to see I was the company's president —which was annoying—, however, the most pressing issue were not the insults, the lack of recognition about my authority or the threat to my image that presented the gargantuan singer (AKA Cao-Cao). No, the reason I was borderline fuming, was that all the men in the room, except Mr. Yu, had been late. The lack of punctuality to an appointment of such importance was completely unacceptable, and I felt like I was in all the right to murder them at the spot.

"I'm surprised, I never imagined that someone so young and beautiful would be the president of Lotus," My "hubby" began with an even, quiet voice, but his words gaining strength as he went. "I actually thought all the important business people we fat, old men who had lived a thousand years," he ended with a bit of a jovial laugh, trying to ease the mood.

Feeling very moody at the moment I stared blandly at the man, previously introduced as Xiu, but then I monotoned a "My father is the president of the original branch of this company, and I assure you he doesn't fit your personal stereotype either," I declared, and dearly wished I had a cup of coffee in my hand to stall each and all further replies on my part.

The room went back to an absolute quiet for a moment, until my silenced phone vibrated on top of the table, making the males in the room glad that I wasn't looking intently into them. I took a moment to wonder how my father would react to the report Mr. Yu would give him latter about how I spent the meeting making it extremely difficult for all parties involved because of my horrible temper. Once I was over with y thoughts about the future punishment my adoptive dad would make me go through, I glance down to the black device and noticed I had a new message in my mailbox, and that the one who had sent it was none other than Darkness. However, deciding it would be rude to have interrupt the meeting with the exchange of continuous PMs over something that had nothing to do with m job I simply closed the device, and proceeded to advance with the meeting, focusing only in those aspects that were truly relevant. Needless to say, that the tension eased greatly after I had began explaining the whole project for next year and other such stuff, especially since all through my little speech I hadn't been butchering anyone with my eyes.

"Does anyone have a question?" I asked after I had gone through half of the presentation.

"Miss Long," A man with long hair with red highlights on top of black asked, his unevenly cut bangs swaying slightly as his hand moved up, brushing his thick framed glasses on the way up. As my brain failed to supply the musician's name, he added "I have a question, though it's not about the presentation," he waited for me to nod then continued, "About the commercials, the guys in the band and I talked, and we were wondering if it would be possible for us to sing on the commercials. I believe it would be good publicity to the band's music and would prove beneficial to Lotus as well."

I paused a moment to think, it clearly sounded like something good, especially since I knew how fans would react when it came to the purchase of merchandise when musicians were involved, and given how none of the four musicians in the room were all that handsome I knew they had been chosen based on their popularity if anything; however, I couldn't let them do as they suggested with how much would needed to be done with planning a whole new commercial with every resource we had already invested to something our publicist had thought of, then writing songs (assuming they didn't plan to use something they already have) plus the whole edition of the material recorded that needed to be done one way or another. Sure, all those things could get done in the two-months-or-so we had until releasing the product, but we planned to air things at least one month prior to the launch to feed the expectative for the product, and then anything shorter than two months would only allow us to produce a mediocre commercial. I didn't do mediocre.

I noticed the musicians shifting uncomfortably in their seats with feeling that I knew wasn't fear, but I still didn't know which was exactly. It took me a couple of minutes to get a satisfactory answer. "I can't let you do such things. At least not for the first commercial. I would ask you to follow whatever script is handed to you," seeing that the men were about to protest I raised a hand, gesturing for them to let me finish, "however, the contract we would be signing today with you would be over a year, and we could have something rearranged between you and our publicists, so the next commercial would air your music as much as the length of the commercial allows it. You can hand in suggestions to them directly. Convince them it's worth the investment and I would gladly give you green light for it."

Smiles appeared amongst the four musicians and cheers of victory were released on the spur of the moment. Not knowing what else to say, I simply tapped my nails on the smooth table waing for their celebrations to be over. "Wow, that's great news!" One of them exclaimed, shaking the shoulder of their blond manager. In the mean time I let my eyes analyze the bunch once more, my 2.1 meters tall husband had the same damaged fashion sense in real life that he did in game: his hair had been styled unnaturally in a way the back was spiky and the front forced down in an almost-emo bang, that had obviously dyed purple tips in each hair, complementing his odd looks with five silver earrings on his left ear. The man next to him in height had short black hair with red highlights, wore thick glasses with black edges that almost blocked the view of a prefectly round beauty mark to the right of his right eye, and half an inch under it —This guy had been the one to make the suggestion of using his music, but other than that he hadn't say anything else.

Keeping in my inspection from the tallest to the shortest I looked over the drummer Xiaobo, who had said I surely slept with my father employee. This guy wasn't fond of dye —if the lack of such in his own hair was any indication— but he seemed to be a devoted fan of chains, given that he hand a dozen of them hanging on his neck, them some that came out of his pants' pocket and connected with his combat boots. Then it was the manager of the band, who was sporting an ash-colored formal suit, with a bright red tie that was as neatly straightened as his long blond hair.

The tallest of the remaining two was the fashion designer, previously described, who had been included in the meeting as an especial request on his part, since he honestly had nothing to do with the meeting at all —I strongly suspected he was either a fan of the band, or tried to earn himself some redemption by showing interest in the new line of clothings. Then, lastly, there was a guy dressed wholly in black: black pants, black shirt, black shoes and black gloves, that perfectly matched his black hair and eyes. This obscure fellow had been quiet as a mute all along, and didn't have any outstanding characteristics in his appearance, which made him look out of place among the scandalous-looking people.

After what felt like forever, the serious mood returned to the room. Encouraged by the positive response to his suggestion, glasses guy spoke once more, "President Long, do you have any idea on what kind of music would fit the line?"

"No," I replied dryly.

Not seeming to give up the man kept on asking questions to which I kept giving one-word answers. Eventually, the man had dropped the "President Long" address and started calling me "Miss Long" instead, and the lack of a disapproving retorts on my part made the whole room start an animated chat even Mr. Yu ended. Not having anything to do after the meeting I let things extend, even after what's-his-name-the-fashion-designer left under the pretext of having to go back with the female models I thankfully needn't meet with since they had long since signed a contract with Lotus. Things were going unexpectedly well: the mood was light, my virtual husband hadn't noticed that I was Windy, the pinkette had left, and the musicians seemed eager to sign the contract.

The picture moment was shattered when Xiu —glasses guy's name, as I eventually learned— aked me the seemingly harmless question of, "which is your favorite band?"

I didn't know the names of many bands, and all the ones I knew I failed to remember at the moment; all except one. "Thick eyebrows?" I asked more than stated, not having ever listened to that band's music, but not wanting to publicize my complete ignorance of music matters.

The reaction of the men in the room could be divided in two. Confusion coming from the normal sized people, and an absolute surprise and a "Ah!" sound coming from the giant who turned to look at me with an impressive speed, recognition flashing in his eyes. "Wi-" he began right after, and I instinctvely knew what he was about to say. Moving out of instinct, I grabbed the first thing I found —a thick marker— and threw it to his forehead in out of impulse. The happy mood in the room burst like a soap bubble and I jumped to my feet right away.

"A moment," I asked to nobody in particular as I stomped towards Cao-Cao's dumbfounded, real persona and started pulling him towards the door so abruptly he couldn't react in time to avoid colliding with the door's frame. "Mr. Yu, you are in charge until we get back," I ordered as the musician rubbed his forehead.

Taking advantage of the momentary confusion and general astonishment I simply moved forwards rapidly, choosing a path that was not a straight line to avoid any eavesdropping. I promptly chose a door and dragged him inside —he ducked the door's frame this time— and then locked us both inside.

Slowly, I turned towards the man who was looking at me with a blank expression. "Windy?" he eventually asked. I shrugged somehow affirmatively and waited for his mind to process that he had married a rich company tycoon who clearly behaved nothing like she did in the game. It probably took him longer than it should have, but something then clicked for him and he found his voice again. "You… are a babe?" He dumbly questioned.

I couldn't help but rolling my eyes. "That's what's bothering you?" I asked upset, "I mean, I'm like the youngest company president in the country, and all you seem to care is my looks?"

"But, you are gorgeous!" He remarked unnecessarily, and I felt like punching him.

"Look, I have a reputation to keep, so, please, can you keep it that I play games a secret? In fact, if you pretended we don't know each other it would be all the more convenient."

"Oh! Sure… but, more importantly, are your breasts naturally that huge?"

"Argh! Forget about my breasts, or butt—"

"I never said anything about your butt, it looks nice though—"

"The point it," I cut I his stupid comment, "That I don't want my private life to mix with my job and—"

"Wait a minute, how old are you? You said you were nineteen before; that was a lie, wasn't it?"

"No, it wasn't. Keep that to yourself too, or I will have you using a pink tutu on the next advertisement." I threatened.

"First the rainbow colored afro and the bright orange Hawaiian shirt, now a pink tutu, seriously babe, you have the worst taste in clothes."

Feeling outraged that he had suggested I had bad taste in clothes I huffed indignantly. "I seem to remember that you were the one at fault of that fight—"

"Not true, you were the one who wanted to go for a costume try!"

"And I had a valid reason! You just took advantage of the whole situation to make fun of me," I protested.

The escalating argument took a pause much longer that I would have expected, all the while he looked blankly at me once more. "It really is you," he marveled out-loud.

"Well… yeah. Anyway, I'm free after the meeting. If you promise to behave once we are back we could hang after it," bartered.

"Sure, babe," he agreed amusedly, then offered his arm so I could wrap mine around. I instantly slapped it away and he laughed.

Rubbing my temple in annoyance, I lead the way back. Knowing for a fact that I would be having a very hard time explaining my actions to the bunch of people we had left behind in the meeting room. So focused was I that I simply forgot PM Darkness had sent me still unread on my cellphone…

To be continued.


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AN: Hi there people. It's been a while… about a year if I'm not mistaken. First of all I have to say sorry for the absence, then I apologize for the short length and mediocre quality of it —I had rewritten this one so many times that now it came out all crappy. Next chapter will be a lot better and longer than this one, I promise. Having said that, I'm warning I won't be able to do a chapter a week like I used to, but I shall try to make an effort to release at least one chapter per month.

Anyway, about the all-male band:

1)There is the manager (who will only be doing cameos and one line dialogs, so don't mind him).

2) The virtual husband "Huan Dayfid Huan", too tall to be human even in RL. Role in the band: Singer and song writer.

3) Xiu: 1.9meters, black hair with red highlights, is the one keeping the band toguether. Role in the band: Basist.

4) Xiaobo: Blunt 1.85 meters tall, desperately wants a girlfriend —wants that girlfriend to be very hot— and has a love for chains. His hair is black and messed up on purpose, though it just looks like bedhair to yone other than himself (he has as much understanding of women as Loverboy does). Role in the band: Drummer.

5) Hai: Asocial, has a penchant for black, talks very little, is only 1.7 meters (meaning he is as high as Zhuo Xia if neither are wearing shoes). Role in the band: Guitarist.

The guys from the band were already introduced in "ch37: This is the way I love her", but I figured none of you remembered them, and I never quite put much of a physical description about any of them. The only new OCs here would be Mr. Yu (who I didn't describe much, but will do so next time I put him on a chapter) and the fashion designer, who is not relevant enough to have a name.

I hope the summary I put was of help. Once again, thanks for sticking with me. Until next chapter, Chicaalterego out.