Vivian pulled the skin by her temples back, smoothing out her forehead. She frowned. She let the skin bounce back. She inspected her eyes, moving her expression between frowning and smiling. Minimal crows’ feet. Not bad.

Next, she observed her mouth. Over the last few weeks, she had noticed a disconcerting new collection of wrinkles forming on her upper lip. She pulled her cheeks taut to eliminate these, then let go. As careful as she was about smiling too much, she had clearly neglected to consider her resting face. She half-smiled, pulling her top lip over her top row of teeth, then let the expression go. She allowed her face to rest in its usual position.

“Photo, please,” she commanded. A flash went off. She glanced over at a panel near the bathroom door where the photo came up. “Again. Zoom in to 12, please,” the flash went off again. This picture was better. “Cut photo one, move photo two to today’s documentation please.” 

She looked in the mirror again and pulled her hair back. She ran her fingers along the hairline. She had been blessed with a fantastic head of hair, honey-coloured and thick. Luscious was not an understatement. Her hairline revealed that all of her honey colour was still intact. She ran her hands through her hair, checking for thickness and consistency. Inevitably, she pulled out a couple of hairs, and inspected these just as closely. 

“Sample collection, please,” she said. A small tray came out of the wall beneath the panel. Vivian put the hairs on the tray and the tray retracted. “Add the data to today’s document.” 

In part 2 of Luminous Rose, we follow Vivian Caine, the stunning and charismatic biologist on the precipice of becoming a businesswoman. Her longevity serum—a serum taken internally to promote not just longer life but eternal life—has just completed its clinical trials and she can now take it to market.

Vivian is obsessed with defeating nature and has dedicated her life to longevity. Nothing will stop her now. She is focused, confident, and strong. She glows with youth and vitality as she approaches 40, thanks to her serum. 

Beneath Vivian’s beauty and vitality, however, is a lifetime of sadness and pain. Orphaned at a young age, she was adopted by a colleague of her father’s, Dr. Caine, and his wife, Elsa. While the Caines raised Vivian as best they could, she never felt fully seen and understood by them. 

She pursued her scientific interests single-mindedly and had only one love in her life, when she was 18, a love she never forgot.

Now, as she is about to launch ViVi Longevity Solutions and transition from biologist to businesswoman, Vivian is faced with a string of obstacles emanating from the men around her, both living and dead, until she is driven towards a radical act of defiance…

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