Standing Right Next To You - Chapter 381

While Talia Zheng was in her shower, washing away the day’s worth of exhaustion, the other sister was laying flat on her large bed.

She had reached earlier than her elder sister and had completed washing up and eating only after which he had returned to her room.

She had worked just as hard as her sister and even had to spend the day in a horrible environment which was now cajoling her into the realm of dreams she desperately desired to visit.

However, just as she was about to fall asleep she was disturbed by the sound of her phone ringing.

Without even opening her eyes, Valerie swiped her finger across the screen and then brought the smartphone close to her ear.

“Hello?” She let out an annoyed greeting without worrying about who might be on the other side as she had her own doubts about the identity of the caller.

There was only one person who might have called her at this time, therefore there wasn’t much surprise when she heard the person’s voice coming through the speakers of her phone.

“Where have you been, Val!?” A screech was heard, making Valerie move the phone away from her ear.

The woman laid on the bed now had her eyes wide open and her eyebrows were scrunched up when she heard this loud and annoying voice right in her ear.

“Speak like a human! If you want to bark like a dog then go disturb someone else!” She snarled into the phone with a glint of viciousness appearing in her eyes.

The person on the other side of the phone went silent after being yelled at and after a brief moment of a pause, there was an awkward chuckle coming through.

Valerie smirked when she observed this behavior as she understood that this person knew how to behave according to the situation.

‘No wonder I kept her by my side even after all these years.’ She praised the woman on the other side of the phone.

“Val, I was worried when you did not answer my call. I just called to find out where you had disappeared to.” The woman revealed in a coaxing tone as she attempted to soothe Valerie’s anger.

This woman was Valerie’s high school bench mate and long-time lackey, Emma Qin who was now her agent in the entertainment industry.

Since she was so good at brown-nosing Valerie all through high school and then all the years that followed, this Zheng family daughter was suggested by her sister to hire Emma as an agent to look after her progress in the industry.

It could be said that Emma was just as competent at being an agent as she was at currying favor with everyone around her.

The Zheng sisters had seen potential in her ability to find profit for herself in every turn and this became the leading cause for her to become Valerie’s agent.

Their predictions were right as once she was appointed as Valerie’s agent, she first got her out of the idol group where she had a dead-end career and brought her into the modeling business.

Now, the name of Valerie Zheng, the model, was much more famous than Valerie Zheng, the idol ever was.

For this reason, the sisters continued to keep her around as she was of much use for the improvement of Valerie’s career.

“Val?” Emma called out when she heard nothing but silence from the star under her care.

This made Valerie snap out of her thoughts as she glanced at the phone in her hand and then decided to answer her agent before she began interrogating her.

“I went… shopping.” She answered the agent’s earlier query.

The pause made Emma wonder whether she was hiding something from her.

“You know that you are gaining popularity now and cannot afford to be seen in the public eye as often as you used to before.” She explained the sad part about being famous.

Her freedom would soon be restricted and she might even have a hard time moving about with her friends and hang out with them.

Valerie knew that this lady was speaking for her betterment and decided to alleviate her worries.

“I was well covered and no one recognized me so you do not have to be so bothered about it.” She disclosed, proving that her agent was right in thinking that she had lied to her.

‘After all, I had a hood, sunglasses, and even a mask over my face.’ She smirked when thinking of the ‘shopping’ that she had done today.

“Okay but remember to be careful and stay vigilant of paparazzi who might be following you around to get some dirt on you.” Emma nagged like a grandma who was trying to get her grandchild to eat more food at dinner.

Though Valerie was being tolerant of her friend and agent, she was now getting annoyed after listening to her repeated warnings.

“I know how to deal with paparazzi and can also sneak away without anyone catching me.” She rubbed her forehead as she added these words in her favor.

Emma understood that she was beginning to piss off her star, her meal ticket, therefore she decided to end this call here.

“I heard that there will be some major companies who will be releasing Winter collections so be prepared to walk on their runways.” She reminded her and hung up after adding a couple more words of advice.

This good news brought a smile to Valerie’s face as she tossed her phone onto the bed and snuggled under the covers.

“What does she know about what I did today?” She scoffed and covered herself completely with the blankets.

Thinking of the events that took place today, there was a proud smile on her face that she had accomplished such a great task all by her lonesome.

The shopping that she had spoken about was not clothes or jewelry from a mall but a valuable item from an abandoned building.

The person who retrieved the USB flash drive for her sister was Valerie.

It was also Valerie who had gone to the abandoned warehouse dressed from the top to bottom in thick black attire.

Her face and every other part of her body were concealed, making it difficult for the other person to recognize the gender of the one wearing them.

The sisters had hired someone to gather information about Lina Yang and this was what was present inside that drive.

The duty of fetching that information from the man they had hired fell upon Valerie who was more than willing to accept this responsibility.

With the help of her elder sister and younger cousin, they had the perfect spot for the meeting, the abandoned building.

All that was left was for her to dress the part and to keep up her side of the deal with the man.

Since she could not expose her identity, the two parties contacted each other through burner phones to limit the risk of getting caught if things went south.

When the meeting date was selected, Valerie covered herself well and even used a voice modulator to deepen her voice which made her sound like a man in his thirties.

With all of these preparations, no one would ever suspect that the one who had come to the drop off point to complete the deal was Valerie Zheng, the heiress and budding model who was slowly rising to fame.