The Faceless Billionaire Celebrity Wife-Chapter 334: Who is She?

Ethan flashed her a quick smile, one that seemed to bear a hint of sadness.

"I guess it just shows how good a mother you’ll be," he said, "For that, I only have to prove I’m worth standing by you as your husband and a father."

Shikera tried to argue against it, "You don’t have to prove that now. With this... problem. This situation is far more complex—"

"Write a bucket list," he cut her off, "I’ll help you fulfill them all."

"What?" The words dropped from Shikera’s mouth, astonishment evident in her voice.

"A bucket list," Ethan repeated, even though he was sure she heard him well the first time.

"I have one."

A glimmer of disbelief flashed across Ethan’s face, to be replaced by a slightly hurt look,

"No, you don’t. You had one already and I had no idea? You were planning to do all that without my knowledge?" he questioned.

"Not exactly. The thing is...we already did it all even though you had no idea it was an item on my bucket list. By we, I mean you and I. There’s basically just one left and you already agreed to helping me with that."

"And what is that?"

"Taking off your mask," Shikera deadpanned. She was done wearing her shoes and was now standing straight, her hands playing with the strap of her bag that was still lying on the bed.

Noah had dropped it off earlier. And though it ended up useful for her, she wondered what kind of brother bought a designer bag for his hospitalized sister.

"Pray tell, what were the other things on the list that we fulfilled?"

"I’ll tell you in 3 weeks."

"What?" His brows furrowed in confusion, "In three weeks, that would be..." he trailed off, a genuine smile spreading on his face. Her surgery was in a week. Saying she would tell him in three weeks equaled saying she believed she’d be okay, well and alive when that time came.

Shikera believed in him.

★★★

"I’ll be waiting for you."

"You don’t have to. I can just call Noah to pick me up when I’m done. Or Rian! We can return to the hospital together."

"I’ll be staying for 30 minutes. If you aren’t back by then, I will leave."

"There’s no way I’m staying in there for less than an hour. I have a lot to take care of."

Ethan had shrugged, "If you say so. I’ll still wait for the thirty minutes anyway."

As Shikera walked across the grounds to get to the entrance to Preston Media House, her conversation with Ethan earlier replayed in her mind. Why did it seems like he firmly believed she would go back within thirty minutes?

"Shikera!" a loud gasp came from behind her, and she turned to see Skyler leaning against the staff bus and panting, "Why...what are you doing here?"

"Coming to work, of course," Shikera replied, and added without a pause, "And before you say anything. Yeah, I won’t be here for long. Just here for a quick rehearsal of the show tomorrow. There’s a high chance it’ll be my last considering how much the show has suffered with my inconsistency, so I want it to be memorable."

Skyler’s mouth hung open, disbelief written all over her face.

"Well..." she whispered, when she finally managed to regain her voice, "How are you doing? Can you handle it?"

"I can," Shikera replied, coupling her response with a small wink to reassure Skyler, "I’m sorry my call was sudden. You must have been busy."

"Not at all. You were off so I was automatically off too. I just wasn’t expecting to have to prepare so early."

Waiting until Skyler had gotten close to her, Shikera continued on her way to the entrance and was just a few steps away when Maxwell stepped out.

"Hi!" he also seemed to be out of breath, like he had raced down here.

"Hey Maxwell, I’m guessing Cyprian told you about the accident too. I’m alright and I’ll just be here for a few hours so don’t worry about me," she fired off, before he could say anything else.

Maxwell nodded, his head going a little too low, just enough to rouse Shikera’s suspicions. She turned to see if anyone was behind her—maybe a senior colleague or anything on that line—but there was no one. Apart from the lone staff bus that she guessed just dropped off a few reporters, the grounds were completely empty, void of both humans and objects alike.

"Is everything okay, Maxwell?" she asked.

"Of course, Miss Ander—sorry, Kera," he cussed beneath his breath, breaking into a smile when he saw the confusion in Shikera’s eyes already increased, "I hope you understand. The news was so sudden and till now, I still can’t wrap my head around it."

"What news are we talking about here?" Shikera asked him. Turning to Skyler, she rephrased, "Did something big happen while I was gone. Breaking News that shook the whole country."

Skyler brows raise, like she couldn’t believe Shikera was asking that question when she was supposed to know the answer.

"You—"

Maxwell interjected before she could say anything, "Hell! This is so hard. Kera, we have to leave here." He glanced over his shoulders, through the glass doors at the entrance and whatever he saw there, made him forget his reservations and grab both Shikera and Skyler by their hands, leading them towards the entrance of the building directly opposite.

Preston TV.

"Leave? Why?" Shikera asked as they walked, without attempting to pull away from him. The urgency she could sense in his tone, stopped her from doing that.

"Let’s have the meeting in one of the conference rooms here, instead. I’ll send a message to the rest of the team to meet us here," Maxwell replied, though he didn’t answer her exact question, "There’s a formal working atmosphere here, unlike ours. I don’t think you would be able to handle a crowd that want to suck up to you, especially not when they are anchors and entertainers skilled in the art of manipulation."

By this time, they were already in the lobby so Shikera stopped and pulled her hand out.

"I can barely understand what you’re saying, Max. Will someone explain what’s going on to me?" She turned to Skyler, "Sky, not you too?"

Skyler blinked, "Wait, Kera, you weren’t expecting that our co-workers are civilized humans who would keep to themselves even after finding out who you are, right?"

"Who I am?" Shikera echoed, "Who am I?" The question sounded stupid even to her own ears, but she waited eagerly for Skyler to reply her.