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Tom trudged through his apartment door after another long day at the office, already mentally preparing for his usual evening routine of takeout and gaming. Instead, he was immediately ambushed by his mother, who came rushing toward him with her tablet clutched in both hands and the biggest grin he'd seen on her face in months.
"Son! Son! Look at this beautiful girl! Is she your colleague? Does she have a boyfriend? What's her family background?" His mother thrust the tablet screen practically into his face, eyes sparkling with the kind of matchmaking enthusiasm that made Tom's stomach drop.
"Mom, what are you talking about? I have no idea what you're showing me," Tom said, though he could already see the screenshot on her tablet - a close-up shot of Isabella from the Game Designer Weekly episode, looking absolutely radiant while petting one of the office cats.
"Where did you even get this photo?" Tom asked, already dreading the answer.
"From that interview show you told me to watch! The one about your company! Isn't this girl your coworker? She's so pretty I had to take a screenshot before the video disappeared. Good thing I did - when I tried to watch it again later, she wasn't in it anymore!" His mother was practically bouncing with excitement.
"But you still haven't answered my questions! Does she have a boyfriend? What do her parents do? Is her family well-off? What's her personality like?"
Tom ran his hands through his hair, feeling a migraine coming on. "Mom, you need to forget about this completely. That's Isabella Reeves - she's friends with our boss. Actually, she might end up being the boss's girlfriend or something. Plus she comes from serious money. Like, buy-a-small-country kind of money. I couldn't afford to take her to lunch, let alone anything else."
"Really? Rich AND beautiful? Then you definitely need to work harder, son! Maybe get a promotion!"
"Mom, that's not how any of this works—"
"I'm just teasing you!" she laughed, though Tom could tell she was only half-joking. "But forget about your boss's girlfriend for a minute. Look at this other one!" She swiped to another screenshot showing Emily Watson at her workstation. "She looks like a little porcelain doll! So cute and innocent-looking. I bet she'd be great with children. What's her name? Is she single? What's her family situation like?"
Tom stared at his mother in horror. This was exactly why he'd been dreading her watching the interview. He'd wanted her to see him on TV, maybe understand what he did for work, possibly even be proud of his career progress. Instead, she'd completely ignored everything about the actual company and turned it into a matchmaking opportunity.
"Mom, I have... uh... important work stuff to finish. Very urgent. Boss might call." Tom backed toward his bedroom like his life depended on it.
"But we haven't finished discussing your future wife options!"
"Goodnight, Mom!" Tom practically dove into his room and locked the door behind him, finally achieving some peace and quiet.
Even though Isabella's scenes had been scrubbed from the official Game Designer Weekly episode, her brief viral moment had taken on a life of its own across the internet. Screenshots of her few seconds on camera were spreading like wildfire through social media, completely beyond anyone's ability to control.
Thousands of viewers who'd seen the original broadcast were now going back to find their "mystery goddess," only to discover that she'd been completely edited out of the current version. This just made people more obsessed, turning Isabella into some kind of forbidden internet legend.
The trending topic "Why did they delete my girlfriend's footage?" kept climbing higher on social media platforms, with people sharing screenshots, creating memes, and developing increasingly elaborate conspiracy theories about why she'd been removed.
Some people were convinced it was corporate censorship. Others thought she must be related to someone powerful who'd demanded privacy. A few particularly creative internet detectives were trying to figure out her identity through background details visible in the screenshots.
The whole situation had spiraled way beyond what anyone could have predicted from a few seconds of innocent footage.
Alex was sitting at his desk the next morning, contemplating whether he should reach out to Danny about using Reeves family resources to further suppress the viral attention, when his phone buzzed with Isabella's name.
"Hey Alex! Sorry I accidentally stole your thunder yesterday!" Isabella's voice was bright and cheerful, completely untroubled by the internet chaos surrounding her.
"Isabella, I'm the one who should be apologizing. This whole situation is my fault for not thinking about privacy implications before filming. I was actually about to call Danny and see if your family could get this shut down more aggressively."
"Don't worry about it!" Isabella laughed. "I already talked to Dad about the whole thing. We decided to just let it run its course. People will get bored and move on to the next viral thing soon enough. Besides, I'm not the same scared high school kid I used to be - I can handle some internet attention."
Alex remembered the previous incident Isabella was referring to. A few years ago, some classmate had posted photos of her in her school uniform online, and within hours she'd become the subject of thousands of creepy comments and stalker-level attention. Her father had used every connection he had to get the content removed and the discussion shut down, worried about Isabella's safety and psychological wellbeing.
But Isabella had grown up since then. She was more mature, more confident, and better equipped to handle public scrutiny if it came to that.
"The way I see it," Isabella continued, "this was bound to happen eventually. I can't hide behind family influence forever just because some people think I'm pretty. Better to deal with it now when it's just random internet weirdos instead of waiting for something more serious."
Alex had to admit her logic made sense. In today's social media landscape, anyone could become famous overnight for any reason. Isabella had the kind of natural beauty that was always going to attract attention eventually - better to control the circumstances than be caught off guard later.
"Plus," Isabella added with obvious amusement, "it's actually kind of flattering. I've never been called 'girlfriend material' by thousands of strangers before. Some of the comments are pretty creative!"
"I really hope you're not reading the comment sections," Alex said with genuine concern.
"Just the funny ones! Most people are actually pretty sweet, in a weird internet way."
Since Isabella and her father were comfortable letting the situation play out naturally, Alex decided not to interfere. The attention would probably fade within a week anyway, replaced by whatever the next viral obsession turned out to be.
Around ten o'clock the next morning, Alex was reviewing Fast and Furious development reports when he heard a commotion in the main office area. Through his window, he could see employees abandoning their workstations and gathering near the front entrance, all staring at something in the courtyard with expressions of complete amazement.
Curious about what could cause such a distraction, Alex stepped outside his office and immediately understood the situation.
A group of about twenty-five young women had assembled in Stormwind Studios' courtyard, all dressed in colorful, anime-inspired outfits that screamed "idol group in training." They looked like they'd stepped out of a Japanese pop culture magazine - bright colors, playful accessories, carefully coordinated styling that somehow managed to look both professional and approachably cute.
The effect on the male employees was immediate and catastrophic. Alex watched grown men literally stop mid-conversation, mouths hanging open, as their brains apparently short-circuited from the unexpected visual overload.
Beautiful women were always attention-grabbing, but when you put twenty-five of them together in matching outfits, all smiling and radiating youthful energy, the impact was like a tactical weapon designed specifically to destroy male cognitive function.
"Holy shit, what's happening?"
"Am I dreaming? Where did all these gorgeous girls come from?"
"This has to be some kind of hallucination..."
The office had descended into barely controlled chaos. The male employees were trying to look casual while obviously staring, their productivity completely obliterated by the unexpected arrival of what looked like a real-life anime convention.
"Alex! Alex!" Danny's voice cut through the commotion as he emerged from the group of girls, practically bouncing with excitement and obvious pride.
"Danny, what the hell is going on?" Alex asked as his friend strutted into the office like he'd just conquered a small country.
"I'm here to capitalize on Isabella's viral moment!" Danny announced, hopping onto Alex's desk with characteristic lack of regard for professional boundaries. "Did you see the social media team I brought with me? We're going to break the entire internet today!"
Alex couldn't help but laugh at Danny's shameless opportunism. He was clearly planning to leverage his sister's viral fame to generate attention for his idol group project - turning one trending topic into promotional fuel for his own venture.
"Aren't you worried about your dad's reaction when he sees this stunt?"
"I'm helping Isabella, okay? I've got twenty-five absolutely gorgeous girls here. Sure, none of them can compete with my sister individually, but quantity has its own quality! Look at this collection of cuteness - they're going to instantly captivate every lonely guy on the internet. All that attention focused on Isabella will get redirected to my girls instead!"
Danny was practically glowing with self-satisfaction.
"Once this works perfectly, I'll be able to prove to Dad that his son is actually a marketing genius! Isn't my plan absolutely brilliant?"
"Alright, alright, don't get too cocky," Alex said, though he was genuinely impressed by Danny's strategic thinking. Not wasting any viral opportunity was exactly the kind of awareness successful entertainment industry executives needed.
"These girls have been preparing a special debut performance for weeks," Danny continued enthusiastically. "Today's their first public appearance! Plus they brought homemade desserts and bubble tea for your entire staff. This level of fan service is usually reserved for paying customers only!"
"You really went all out with this. Thanks on behalf of everyone here - they're clearly having the time of their lives."
"You're welcome!" Danny said with exaggerated graciousness, then jumped off the desk and headed for the door. "Come on, let's make some introductions!"
He stepped outside and called to the assembled group: "Alright everyone, let's show them what we've been working on!"
The twenty-five young women immediately arranged themselves in perfect formation in the main office area, moving with the kind of synchronized precision that only came from serious rehearsal time. Each girl had a bright smile, sparkling eyes, and radiated the energetic enthusiasm that made idol groups so appealing to their target audiences.
The male employees gathered around like they were witnessing some kind of miracle, clearly struggling to believe this was actually happening at their workplace.
"One, two, three..." the girls called out in unison, their voices perfectly coordinated.
"We are... JND48!"
The synchronized introduction echoed through the villa, marking the official debut of Danny's ambitious idol group project and turning an ordinary Wednesday morning at Stormwind Studios into something that would probably be remembered as the best workday in company history.
PLZ THROW POWERSTONES.