Laila's reputation as a workaholic was legendary across Hollywood. When she wasn't filming, she was at the company every day like clockwork. So now, with no projects in production and her sudden disappearance for several days, it was obvious something was going on.
And what could it be?
Of course—it had to be the wedding!
Sure enough, that very evening, entertainment sites began publishing headlines like:
"Laila's Wedding Imminent—Currently Preparing at Home!"
With the mighty Morland patriarch backing her, the media didn't dare fabricate gossip. Instead, they simply reported the facts: her own admission in an interview that the wedding would happen in October, and the fact that she—famously dedicated to her work—had been absent from the office for several days.
A workaholic like her disappearing during October? The reason couldn't be clearer.
Once it was revealed that Roy had taken on the entire responsibility of planning the wedding, of course, the paparazzi started following him around, hoping to dig up some juicy details.
Unfortunately, after days of tailing him, they still had nothing.
Roy's driving skills—honed during years of filming action scenes—left most paparazzi eating dust.
And on the rare occasions they managed to keep up, all they saw was Roy meeting friends. Some were famous, some had no ties to the entertainment industry whatsoever.
There were no clues, no leads—nothing to suggest any real wedding planning was happening.
Helpless but still hungry for a scoop, the paps continued trailing him in exchange for fat paychecks—breathing in car exhaust for hours.
Compared to that, Laila's side was a bit quieter. Janet had taken her to only the most exclusive, ultra-private luxury venues, so although Laila was out and about, no one ever caught a glimpse of her.
When the news broke, fans were thrilled.
Was it finally happening? After all this time, was the wedding real?
But their excitement quickly turned into frustration.
"Why are the reporters so useless?"
"Other celebs get stalked so hard you get nude leaks. With Laila, you can't even get a blurry shot?"
In response, the reporters wanted to scream: You think we don't want to?!
But it wasn't that easy.
Forget getting past the Morland family's security detail—even if someone did manage to sneak a scandalous photo, who would dare publish it?
Unless they were suicidal… or planning to take the money and flee overseas forever.
Even then, they'd better hope the Morlands didn't get too angry.
Because once there's a price on your head—well, can anyone guarantee your "friends" wouldn't sell you out for the reward?
Still, under this intense lockdown, some resourceful and imaginative journalists managed to dig up clues.
Specifically, a few sharp-eyed reporters noticed something interesting—several big-name celebrities had suddenly returned to Hollywood over the past two days.
Now, celebrities coming back to Hollywood wasn't exactly unusual.
Just Beverly Hills alone was home to plenty of stars.
With so many celebs constantly flying in and out, nobody batted an eye.
But these particular returns were unusual.
For starters, they were all A-listers.
And more importantly, they each had prior commitments abroad or in other cities—there was no reason they should be back in town at this time.
When the reporters cross-checked their filmographies, they discovered that many of them had appeared in Laila's films—some had even made it big because of her.
Considering the timing, the location, and the connections, how could it just be a coincidence?
So, after pooling all the intel, the reporters made a bold deduction:
These stars had returned to attend Laila's wedding!
Soon, the next day's headlines blared across major entertainment outlets:
"Laila's Wedding to Be Held Soon—Location Narrowed Down to Hollywood!"
"A-List Celebrities Flock In to Attend the Century's Most Anticipated Wedding!"
That got the public even more fired up.
Now that they knew the general area, surely they could track down the exact venue, right?
Hollywood and L.A. weren't that big.
Between the tireless fans, relentless paparazzi, and reporters eager for a scoop, if they still couldn't find the wedding location, then Roy might as well start a side business planning ultra-private weddings for celebrities and billionaires.
And yet… that's exactly how it played out.
No matter how hard they searched, how deep they dug, how widely they scoped—the wedding location remained a total mystery.
Logically speaking, a wedding hosting so many guests had to have a venue. Right?
But there was no unusual activity at Laila's home—no catering deliveries, no floral arrangements, no construction or setup crews. It clearly wasn't happening there.
As for luxury hotels?
Journalists combed through every single high-end venue in L.A. and Hollywood—but found nothing.
All they ended up doing was accidentally uncovering a few minor celebrity cheating scandals and love triangles, which made for two days of spicy tabloid content… though it was unclear whether those stars were lucky or just really, really unlucky.
Unaware of all the chaos happening in the outside world, Laila was, at that very moment, on a plane—headed to a destination she didn't even know herself.
The media had guessed correctly: the celebs had returned to attend the wedding.
But the location?
Not Hollywood. Not even America.
And that suited Laila just fine.
She didn't want a circus of flashing cameras ruining the most important day of her life.
Getting married abroad meant no press ambushes, no public frenzy.
Even the best international reporters wouldn't follow her unless they knew a wedding was happening.
And by the time they caught on?
The ceremony would already be over.
Several media companies had offered Laila massive sums of money for exclusive wedding coverage.
Some numbers were so jaw-dropping that they made her speechless.
Even Anthony had tried reaching out multiple times, hoping to convince her in person.
She shut him down with a cold, "Not seeing anyone."
He could camp outside her office all he wanted—she was not going public with this wedding.
On the plane with her were Janet, her grandfather, her grandmother, and the rest of the family.
Little Eli was taken away by Roy earlier—most likely because he had some special role to play in the ceremony.
This made Laila even more curious.
Even Eli has a part to play… What kind of wedding is this going to be?
The flight wasn't long, but it definitely wasn't short enough to confirm for Laila that the wedding definitely wasn't in the U.S.
She glanced out the cabin window and saw nothing but a vast blue ocean, dotted with pearl-like islands scattered across the waves.
Those island shapes looked familiar…
Suddenly, realization dawned.
She knew where they were going.