Love or Die: CEO’ s Daily Dose of Swoon (Cordelia)

Chapter 82

When the assistant director called cut, Cordelia’s fingers froze mid–melody, and the music stopped abruptly.

In the extras‘ seating area, Hayley was utterly perplexed by Cordelia’s sudden halt, but considering the distance and the piano’s orientation away from her, she hadn’t seen Cordelia’s hand movements. Unable to contain herself, Hayley snickered, “That’s hilarious. Are they even dubbing piano music now? Does that mean Cordelia hasn’t touched a key? How are they going to shoot the close–ups?”

The others around her couldn’t help but chuckle, too. It wasn’t out of malice. They just found the situation amusing.

Hayley continued to poke fun. “Juliana, doesn’t your family have a piano? Has she never pretended to play? It is like some funny pantomime act, right? Hilarious!”

Juliana turned even paler, her mouth agape with no words coming out. She just wanted to escape this place before she became the butt of everyone’s jokes.

Finding Hayley’s comments distasteful, Merry retorted with a pout. “So, what if Lia doesn’t play piano? No one can be perfect, right? She’s got to leave some room for the rest of us, don’t we?”

Hanley frowned and turned to Hayley, exhaling deeply. “We’re classmates here. We should help each other out. Why do you have to be so prickly all the time?”

Hayley wanted to argue, but looking at Hanley’s face, she was at a loss for words.

After a moment, Hanley turned to Juliana., “Why don’t you go up and give her a few pointers to make it look good? It should be simple enough.”

Juliana’s lips quivered, and she finally uttered, “She can play the piano.”

Unfortunately, her voice was so soft that neither Hanley nor Hayley could hear her. “What was that?” they asked.

Embarrassment and anger flushed Juliana’s cheeks. But before she could speak again, a crew member called out loudly, ‘Director, the music isn’t playing!”

Everyone was stunned. No music?

The assistant director was baffled. “No music? Then what was that just now…”

Mid–sentence, realization struck him, and he turned to Cordelia in disbelief. “God, you can play the piano?” The class looked at her incredulously, including the shocked Hayley and the bewildered Hanley.

Cordelia’s misty eyes looked ahead, and just as she was about to speak, a crew member’s voice echoed from the doorway. “Director, Stanton’s student, has arrived!”

Upon hearing this, a slender figure in a white dress, Joy, stood timidly at the door, followed by a translator hired by her family.

Joy disliked having a translator with her when mingling in high society, as it made her feel out of place. She preferred the quiet sanctuary of her home. But with its high status, the Collins family ensured she had the appropriate entourage when she ventured out.

The translator inquired, “Assistant director, who needs Miss Collins‘ guidance?”

The assistant director was still dazed, pointing to Cordelia before realizing, maybe, just maybe, they didn’t need her help after all.

Following his gesture, Joy looked at the figure behind the piano, and her eyes lit up. She started to gesture with her hands.

Unaware that Cordelia knew sign language, the translator translated after a moment’s confusion, “Lia, it’s you? But why would you need piano guidance? Mr. Stanton wouldn’t dare to teach you, so what right do I have? Lia.

Mr. Stanton mentioned he composed a new piece and would like you to review it when you’re free.”

After the translator finished, the room fell into silence, Even the assistant director was stunned.

Had the translator made a mistake?

Did the renowned Stanton, Joy’s teacher, need plano guidance from Cordelia?

From the crowd, Hayley couldn’t help but exclaim, “There must be some mistake in the translation, right?”

The translator replied with a serious face, “I’m professional, and I’ve been serving Miss Joy for years. How could I make any mistakes? As the student of Mr. Stanton, Miss Joy would certainly never tarnish her teacher’s reputation!”

Hayley blurted out reflexively. “How could she not? I heard when Stanton was choosing a student, Juliana stepped aside for Joy to have the opportunity to study under him. What’s so great about that?”

After her outburst, the well–informed translator countered, “Nonsense! When Mr. Stanton visited the Delaney family to select a student, there were four candidates. Miss Cordelia’s piano skills were so advanced that Mr. Stanton didn’t dare take her as a student. As for Miss Juliana and another girl,

Mr. Stanton has dismissed them, and it was only on Miss Cordelia’s recommendation that Miss Joy was taken as a student!”

The classroom fell silent.

After a moment, Merry exclaimed in awe. “Damn, Lia! You don’t leave any room for the rest of us!”

What?

Hayley and Hanley were dumbfounded. They turned to Juliana. “You didn’t tell us that!”

Juliana had complicated looks. Finally, in a flushed state, she stammered, “1… L…”

Unable to continue, her eyes welled up with tears as she stood up and ran out of the room.

Hanley watched her leave, speechless. He had thought Juliana was at least better at piano than Cordelia, but

now…

How could he have ever thought that making Juliana his fiancee was a good idea?

At Midnight Scent, since the scandal on social media, Calvert has been constantly monitoring the Greenmeadow International School forum. Sure enough, he stumbled upon an explosive post. [OMG, I’m freaking out! The scenes with our beloved school genius Cordelia and pop idol Landie together are too gorgeous!]

Calvert eagerly showed the post to Everard, silently marveling at how many ships‘ Cordelia seemed to have.

Hayley’s repeated interruptions during filming got her expelled from the set by the director.

After a brief exchange with Cordelia, Joy left.

Cordelia performed a piano piece from start to finish in one breath. The director demanded silence on set and recorded the music live. They completed the piano scene in one take, and with that, Cordelia had accomplished her task.

Even under the best circumstances, the whole ordeal had taken two hours.

After the shoot, Cordelia changed her clothes, and Merry accompanied her to the ladies‘ room.

It was a school building with no private restrooms in the classrooms. The public bathrooms were at the very end of the hallway. As they approached, they noticed that Bland was also there.

Merry’s eyes instantly lit up, but the sight of her celebrity crush turned her brain into mush.

06:15 Property of Nô)(velDr(a)ma.Org.

Bland was there, hoping to catch a moment alone with Cordelia. After all, Lia had cast him in a play, and he needed to smooth things over with the boss in their group.

He wanted Cordelia to put in a good word for him, to avoid the jealousy that might get him into trouble.

Stepping forward, Bland fixed his gaze on Cordelia, his eyes coyly lifting in a foxy grin, oozing charm. “Hey, Lia, Merry, how are you guys doing?”

Cordelia was a bit slow on the uptake, offering a slight nod in response.

On the other hand, Merry was so nervous that her hands started to shake, and she blurted out, “Honey, did you come to the restroom personally?”