The Ex-Wife They Begged To Keep - Chapter 173: Chapter 173

"What a sweet burden." Serena also noticed that their backend was about to explode. "We really can't handle too many orders right now. We need to be selective and turn some down, or our studio's reputation could really take a hit."
Lana understood this too. Taking on too much would only cause trouble. Even though it pained her to say goodbye to all that money, it was definitely necessary to filter out and reject some orders.
"I'll sort everything out in the next few days. You should really take a break. Because of this project, you haven't had any rest for two days straight," Lana said.
She gently pushed Serena into a chair. "Come on, this studio belongs to both of us. Trust me, nothing's going to go wrong. Just relax for a bit."
With that, Lana turned and walked out of the office. Before leaving, she poked her head back in and warned Serena, "No working while I'm gone!"
Serena couldn't help but laugh at her and nodded.
As soon as Lana left, Serena's phone rang. Seeing Keith's name on the screen, she knew he was calling about what had just happened.
"Seri, I'm really sorry." Keith's voice was tinged with apology as soon as the call connected. "I was in an important meeting, so I didn't see what was going on with you in time."
Serena had thought something serious was going on. Hearing his apology, she couldn't help but smile.
"I didn't blame you. Besides, everything here has already been sorted out, so don't overthink it. I'm really okay now," Serena reassured him.
After stepping out of the meeting room, Keith had already gotten the gist of what happened and knew Serena was fine. Still, he couldn't help but feel guilty for not being there when she needed him.
"I still owe you an apology. After all, when you needed me, I wasn't by your side," Keith said.
Serena felt her heart grow warm at his words.
"Alright, I'll accept your apology, and I forgive you," Serena replied.
Keith knew Serena wouldn't get upset over something like this, but he still said, "There's something off about what happened today. You don't really have any real rivals in this business. With your studio just getting started, it's unlikely anyone would go after you for no reason."
"I have a feeling there's someone behind all this," he added.
Serena had her suspicions too, but she didn't want to make any baseless accusations. All she could do was hand over the evidence she had to the police, hoping they would handle things fairly.
"I'll have my secretary look into it right away," Keith said.
He quickly hung up, and Serena already had a few people she suspected. The most suspicious were Daniel and Sarah.
Serena had been caught up in drama with them for a while now, and even though it was exhausting, Serena had to admit that she just couldn't shake them off.
Keith got to the bottom of it pretty quickly. As expected, after what happened before, Sarah just couldn't let it go and hired people to mess with Serena's studio.
As soon as Lana learned about this, she furiously complained, "Seriously, how many times is this going to happen? When is she going to let it go? It's not like we ever did anything to her.
"Did we forget to check our horoscopes before leaving the house or something? Why do we keep running into such troublemakers?"
She rolled up her sleeves and declared, "I'm going to settle the score with her today. Don't even try to stop me this time. She's gone way too far."
Seeing Lana all fired up, Serena just gave a wry smile and pulled her back.
"Forget it. All she can do is play these little tricks on us. If we just ignore her, she won't always stir up trouble," Serena said.
In Serena's opinion, Sarah kept coming after them just because she was still holding a grudge from before. But if they kept getting back at each other, it would just turn into an endless cycle of revenge.
"We've already taught her a lesson. Now that we've got the evidence, if Sarah tries anything again, we'll just report her to the police," Serena added.
Hearing Serena's words, Lana had to admit she made sense and nodded reluctantly.
"She better not show up to mess with us again, or I swear I'll make her pay," Lana said, still fuming.
With that, things finally settled down. Thanks to the buzz from the livestream, Studio Delune's reputation soared almost overnight, and Serena and Lana were run ragged for over a week before they finally got things back on track.
When Serena got home that evening, she saw Keith and Alyssa quietly reading under the soft glow of the lamp. Just looking at them made all the exhaustion of her day melt away.
Keith turned his head and met Serena's eyes. "Hey, you're back."
Serena had actually been even busier than Keith lately. Still, seeing her build something of her own made Keith genuinely proud and supportive.
"I got dinner for you," Keith said, giving Alyssa a gentle pat on the head before getting up and walking over to Serena.
"By the way, there's a pretty important party tomorrow night. I want you to come with me," he said.
'That's so sudden,' Serena thought to herself.
She was really not ready for this, especially since nobody else even knew about her relationship with Keith yet.
Back when she was still working at Brannon Creative Group, it would've made perfect sense for her to go as his employee. But now, things were totally different.
"I think I'd better not go. It just wouldn't look right for you to bring me along to a party," Serena said.
Keith knew Serena wasn't ready to show up as his girlfriend yet, so he said, "Aren't you still a consultant in name at Brannon Creative Group?
"It's no big deal for you to come with me. Besides, the party could really help raise your studio's profile."
Keith had already thought everything through, so he slid the invitation across the table toward her. "I won't make you do anything you don't want to. I just think this party could really do you some good."
Serena was willing to trust him—he always put her first. But deep down, she still hesitated; she just didn't have the courage yet.
"Plus, Craig Arellano will be at the party too. I have a feeling you might be interested in him," Keith added.
Hearing that name, Serena was stunned. She couldn't believe her ears.
Craig Arellano was one of the designers Serena looked up to the most for years. But he was always overseas, hardly ever showing up in the country. Just getting a glimpse of him was like winning the lottery.
'He actually came back?' Serena thought.
"I knew you'd be interested," Keith said, a playful grin spreading across his face as he caught the way Serena's eyes went wide. "So, what do you say? Ready to be my date now?"
Serena felt her cheeks flush a little at his words.
She forced a smile. "If I agree just because of another guy, doesn't that make me look kind of bad?"
Keith hadn't thought of it that way, but Serena's words made him realize it. Instinctively, he reached out and slipped his arm around her waist.