waking

Chapter 19 

When Zoey came out, Naomi and she exchanged contact info. Naomi told Zoey to call her anytime if she needed anything. 

“Just focus on taking care of your brother for now. I have arranged everything at the orphanage, so don’t worry. I need to leave for a bit. Can you hand things on your own here?” Naomi asked. 

Zoey nodded, “Yes, I can, Ms. Edwards. I know some friends with rare RH–negative blood types. I’ll call them and make sure they don’t donate blood to Rosalind.” 

Naomi raised an eyebrow and then smiled, “Thanks a lot. I gotta go. Bye.” 

“Bye, Ms. Edwards.” Zoey waved goodbye. 

Naomi left the hospital and drove to the website’s office. Her comic was serialized on Sky Animation, which was located in the Bensin District of Atopan. It was near the city center, easy to find on the eighth floor of a landmark commercial building. 

Naomi took the elevator to the eighth floor. When the doors opened with a ding, there stood Freddy and Rosalind. 

Naomi narrowed her eyes. Rosalind was definitely losing patience, so he came directly to Sky Animation! 

She stayed silent as the two entered an office. Only then did she send a message to Kelly: [Kelly, Rosalind and Freddy just entered your office, probably to discuss the comic. Call me and keep your phone in a drawer.] 

Inside the office, Kelly looked at her phone after reading Naomi’s message. The contract on the desk had two phone numbers. One was Kelly’s, and the other was Rosalind’s. 

Kelly had previously chatted with Naomi to confirm her number in case of emergencies. 

Rosalind had also chatted with her but always avoided questions about the storyline, quickly changing the subject. 

It was only a few days ago that Naomi told Kelly that it had always been her sister chatting with her. 

Having seen friendships break down over money before, Kelly didn’t agree with Naomi letting someone else manage her account. 

As an editor with strong copyright awareness, Kelly treated her work like h 

own child. She couldn’t trust others to care for it as she would. 

Caring for Naomi, Kelly hinted at her concerns that day. However, Naomi straightforward and told Kelly they had a falling out because 

Rosalind was getting cozy with her boyfriend. 

Having read many stories about sisters fighting over a boyfriend, Kelly felt bad for Naomi when it happened in real life. 

Following Naomi’s instruction, Kelly called her and placed her phone face down in the drawer, leaving it slightly open. She then looked toward Rosalind and Freddy as they knocked and entered. 

“Hey, Kelly, I’m Elf. Remember we chatted before?” Rosalind greeted Kelly with a sweet and gentle smile as soon as she walked in. 

She continued, “Kelly, you have no idea! My account password got hacked, and I haven’t been able to log in lately. Luckily, I scheduled some drafts in advance, so there haven’t been any updates missed.” 

“Take a seat, please.” Kelly invited them to sit down and poured them some water. “And who is this?” 

“Oh, this is my boyfriend, Freddy. I’ve mentioned him before!” Rosalind smiled sweetly. “He actually inspired me to create Elf in the Evening!” 

Kelly smiled and greeted Freddy. Then she handed Rosalind a sketchpad. “It’s okay. You can draw now! Later, I’ll update it from the editor’s account and contact the tech team to reset your password to the original one.” 

Rosalind couldn’t draw at all, nor did she know the storyline, so she said with a fixed smile, “I hurt my hand recently. I actually came to discuss the publishing and signing event you mentioned last time.” 

She suggested, “Why don’t you tell the readers that updates will resume once my hand is better?” 

Kelly frowned, “What happened to your hand? Let me see.” 

Rosalind pulled her hand back. “It’s nothing, just a minor injury.” 

“Can’t you let the tech team retrieve the password now?” Freddy jumped in. “Elf isn’t feeling well and needs to go to the hospital for a check–up, She’s been really stressed because she hasn’t been able to log into the author’s account.” 

Kelly looked troubled. “The tech team is super busy.” 

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“We’ve got money. Just tell them to get it back now, and I’ll treat everyone to a meal,” Freddy insisted. 

“Kelly, Mr. Pratt wants to see you. Elf in the Evening is in his office right now!” A colleague knocked and said, “Elf in the Evening is so beautiful! Kelly, you should go see her! I’m so jealous you signed such a talented and pretty comic book artist.” 

Rosalind’s and Freddy’s faces suddenly fell. 

Kelly was shocked, looking at the two of them. “Aren’t you Elf in the Evening?” 

The colleague was shocked, too. “What? But Mr. Pratt himself welcomed Elf! He’s super excited.” 

Kelly’s face grew serious as she picked up her phone and saw that the call was still connected. “Both of you, come with me! I need to know who the real Elf in the Evening is.” 

In Warren Pratt’s office, Naomi logged into her account and started sketching several chapters on the spot. Watching her work, Warren couldn’t hide his joy. 

“Yes, exactly! Elf in the Evening is innocent yet clever in the beginning. And the elf king, he’s secretly caring for her, right?” He continued with excitement, “Their flirtations from time to time are driving me crazy. 

Naomi laughed out loud. She found Warren very interesting, laid–back, and humorous, quite the opposite of what she initially expected. 

She said, “Mr. Pratt, if you have any ideas in the future, just let me know anytime. I’ll make sure to capture it perfectly.” 

“Of course! I’m one of your loyal fans. So, do I get VIP access to the whole series?” Warren chuckled warmly. “My daughter’s also a huge fan of your work. I usually don’t follow this stuff, but she’s obsessed with your comic! Every night at dinner, she goes on and on about it, always asking for your autograph. I had no choice but to get Kelly to contact you and bring you in.” 

Naomi immediately took out her sketchbook and quickly drew a portrait of herself, signing it at the bottom. 

She said, “Here’s a sketch and autograph from me. Since your daughter’s such a big fan, Mr. Pratt, I hope you don’t mind taking this home to her.” 

Warren carefully took the sketch, beaming. “Mind? Not at all! My daughter will be over the moon!” 

ཤཱ ཏུ་ཚེ་ༀ་ 

Naomi couldn’t help but smile genuinely. She had never experienced fatherly love from Javier, so she felt a twinge of envy. 

“Naomi, are you here pretending to be me?!” A trembling voice rang out. Naomi looked up to see Rosalind’s fake smile and eyes filled with hatred. 

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