NOVEL NEXT Chapter 964 Logan's Counterattack Starts
"Little minx, did you miss me?" Rafael teased, though the dark circles under his eyes made him look more pitiful than smug.
Hera quickly set aside her things and opened her arms wide. "Come here…" she said warmly, ready to give him a big hug.
Rafael's smile stretched from ear to ear as he took a few eager strides, only to suddenly drop to his knees before her. Hera gasped in shock, but Rafael didn't even flinch at the impact.
All he wanted was to hold her. The moment his face pressed against her chest and her familiar, soothing scent filled his senses, his exhaustion overwhelmed him. Within seconds, Rafael was fast asleep in her arms, leaving Hera completely caught off guard.
She couldn't help but let out a helpless chuckle as she gently cradled his head. Clearly, he hadn't even felt the pain in his knees when he'd collapsed earlier; his exhaustion had drowned it out completely. Still, she couldn't just let him sleep like this; his legs would surely go numb.
But the moment she tried to ease him away, Rafael clung tighter, wrapping around her waist like a stubborn koala refusing to let go. She made several attempts to pry him off, only to tire herself out in the process. In the end, she sighed in defeat, resigned to letting him stay just as he was.
"What's wrong with him?" Leo asked with a frown as he pushed himself up from the bed. The sight of Rafael clinging so tightly to Hera stirred a mix of displeasure and helplessness within him.
But as he heard Rafael's hoarse, exhausted voice and took in his worn-out state, Leo couldn't bring himself to drive him away, or act petty just to keep him from Hera's side.
For a fleeting moment, he understood. He could almost feel the comfort Rafael must have found in her, the warmth, the safety, the sense of home. So instead of speaking further, Leo held his silence, watching them intently, his sharp gaze fixed on the two of them like an eagle.
Feeling the weight of Leo's burning gaze, Hera found herself caught between a rock and a hard place. In the end, she simply accepted it, gently running her fingers through Rafael's hair.
It was slightly oily, a clear sign he hadn't showered yet, though at least he didn't carry any unpleasant odor. What lingered instead was the faint, sharp scent of cigarettes. Hera wrinkled her nose in displeasure; she had never liked that smell.
This was also the first time she realized Rafael smoked. None of them did, so the discovery surprised her. But the more she thought about it, the more she suspected it was stress that had driven him to it.
Perhaps the weight of the past few days had pushed him to such habits just to calm his nerves. That thought softened her heart, and she couldn't help but feel even more pity for him.
Now that Rafael had returned like this, Hera could only assume he was finally finished with his arrangements. For the past several days, he had been working closely with UE's Music Director to devise a solid contingency plan for the plagiarism scandal, one airtight enough to back up their claims while keeping Lucas in the dark.
Just as Rafael predicted, Lucas ignored his company's warning to stay quiet. He managed only a single day of silence before he began stirring up noise again.
After completing his new composition, he wasted no time turning the scandal into a stepping stone, drawing more followers and views while loudly paving the way for his so-called rise to fame.
He even went as far as recording himself during the process of his composition, hyping it up as proof of his "talent," and scheduled the official reveal of his song. That forced Rafael and UE's Music Director to work overtime, pushing themselves to ensure their counterattack would strike at the same time as Lucas's big reveal, giving them the best possible chance to turn the tide.
Thinking of this, Hera finally answered Leo's earlier question.
"Have you forgotten? Rafael's been handling that plagiarism incident these past few days. He only just finished making all the arrangements before releasing his statement and taking his stand publicly."
"After all, the accuser came from his company, while the accused was from mine. No matter how it played out, it was bound to affect either him or me, and Rafael refused to let that happen. He wanted to make sure neither his company nor I would have to bear the consequences of this mess."
Her voice softened as she spoke, and a warm smile touched her lips. Lowering her gaze, she looked down at the man resting against her arm, Rafael's sleeping face greeting her with quiet vulnerability.
"You seem awfully close with him, huh!" Leo snorted, rolling his eyes with exaggerated disdain before flopping back onto the bed and turning his back on Hera.
The sudden movement tugged at his injury, sending a flash of pain through him, but he forced himself to remain still, pretending not to feel it, anything to avoid looking weak in front of her.
On Hera's side, she couldn't help but smile brightly. "Why do I smell sour lemon and vinegar in the air? Could it be that someone's jealous?" she teased, her voice low but just loud enough for Leo to hear.
His ears twitched, turning faintly red, though he stubbornly pretended not to notice and continued sulking. That only made Hera happier.
Despite his amnesia and his grumpy tsundere attitude, the fact that he still liked her, even unknowingly, made her heart swell with warmth.
Although him losing his memory was something straight out of a common trope CEO novel where the male lead loses his memory to fuel misunderstandings and drama with the female lead, but unlike those stories, Hera was simply glad. Even without his memories, Leo's heart wasn't lost; it was still true to her.
That thought alone was enough to make Hera smile as she resolved to keep helping Leo regain his memories little by little. And even if he never fully remembered, she wasn't worried; they could always recreate those memories together, after all, they still had a lifetime ahead of them.
Her eyes curved into crescents as she gazed at Leo's sulking back, happiness bubbling inside her. Soon enough, the medication took its toll, and Leo drifted off to sleep mid-pout. Hera, who was also a patient but far less injured than him, quietly pulled out her phone and began scrolling through dramas online to pass the time.
And sure enough, the moment she unlocked her phone, the internet was already exploding with trending topics, one after another flooding the feed. At first, Lucas's newly composed song dominated the charts, instantly shooting to the number one spot.
#Trending Topic No. 1: Talented Young Singer-Songwriter Lucas's New Composition Revealed!!!
#Trending Topic No. 2: Young, Handsome, and Talented—Lucas!!!
#Trending Topic No. 3: The Rise of the New Soul King of the Music Industry!!!
Without needing to dig deeper, Hera could already tell that these trending topics were orchestrated by Lucas himself, boosted by his own paid marketing rather than Star Ocean Entertainment's efforts.
Alongside the buzz about his new song, the plagiarism scandal was still being pushed to the top of the feed, ensuring no one would forget about Logan. By forcing their names to appear side by side, Lucas made the comparison inevitable: one was rising rapidly toward fame, while the other was sinking into the mud without ever having the chance to taste success.
Even now, Logan remained silent, and that silence only fueled speculation. Many assumed he was hiding out of guilt, while rumors swirled that his company had already terminated his contract in secret.
Seeing all this, Hera could only smile wickedly, waiting for Logan's counterattack, and sure enough, he didn't disappoint. Universal Entertainment released his debut album, not just a single song like Lucas, but a full compilation of songs he had written since joining the company.
His growth was undeniable; under the guidance of the Music Director, his songwriting had advanced by leaps and bounds.
Logan was, after all, a self-taught prodigy. He had no formal training; his family never believed that he even had the talent to enroll him in music classes, unlike Lucas. Instead, he relied on YouTube tutorials and sheer instinct.
Yet even so, his music had always carried a raw brilliance. That rawness was exactly what excited the Music Director: Logan was an unpolished gem waiting to be cut to perfection.
Through days of intense training, practice, and refinement, Logan produced track after track. Astonishingly, each recording was done in a single take, flawless without the need for autotune or heavy editing. To prove this authenticity, the Music Director had every step documented on film, from composing to rehearsing to recording, before the final album release.
The only overlap between their works was a single song, the very one Lucas had released. Logan chose not to remove it from his album for two reasons.