Becky had slept in and was woken up with the incessant pings from her cellphone. She was tagged on her twitter account, Instragram, and tiktok with the head line, "The real truth revealed. Nop cheated with ex-manager. Betrayal at the closest."
Rebecca gasped when she read it, and when she clicked to the link it brought her to an article with a three clear pictures of that night at the nightclub where Nop had Winnie on his lap. One was a closeup of Winnie and Nop kissing, one with Nop's face resting in between Winnie's breast while she straddled Nop's lap, and lastly was a wide shot of the nightclub but with the two sitting intimately together. Those pictures showed bright as day of Nop's infidelity and it blew up the entertainment tabloids.
"How can that be?! Those aren't my pictures!" Rebecca wondered to herself. Rebecca's phone was ringing as she looked closely at the pictures and answered it without looking too clearly who was calling.
"Hello?"
"You bitch! You stabbed me in the back! You said that you gave me the hardcopies of those pictures you took in exchange for the divorce! You went back on your word! Are you happy now?! You ruined my career!" Nop was screaming like a banshee over the phone that Rebecca had to bring it away from her ear.
"It wasn't me! It wasn't me!" Rebecca tried to tell Nop, but he wasn't listening and kept on screaming at Rebecca. After a few seconds, Rebecca hung up on him because she knew there was no getting through to him when he was in a full blown tantrum. She had arrived to work in a daze and feeling conflicted because she was glad that the truth came out but also ashamed to be shown as the woman who was duped/cheated by someone close to her. She kept thinking on who could have taken the pictures and why release it now? Months after it had happened. When Rebecca look closely at the third picture, she could vaguely see the back profile of herself taking a picture of Nop and Winnie. Her colleagues were wondering too, some asked her outright and offered their sympathies, others simply whispered behind her back.
Rebecca hated it and gritted her teeth while swallowing it down because she didn't want to create a commotion, but it was her worst nightmare coming true-- another scandal. She hated the looks and the whispers. She detested being talked about for things that are in her personal life. It was going to be another storm of hate, accusations, conspiracies, and explanations to the public.
"Hey BB, did you see the headlines? The truth is out there now! He won't be bothering you anymore. I took care of it." Freen grinned happily at Rebecca when she saw her around noon. Freen had arrived earlier to film her scenes while Rebecca was scheduled for later. Rebecca stopped what she was doing, she was stunned, "What do you mean you took care of it...what did you do?"
"I released the pictures. I had sent them anonymously to the press."
"WHAT?! WHY WOULD YOU!? How could you?! How did you get those pictures?" Rebecca shouted at Freen incredulously.
"I took them. I was there that night." Freen replied slowly as if it would calm Rebecca's temper. When Rebecca had raised her voice, the other cast members who were also in the break room suddenly became quiet. When Freen had given them all the death stare, they all slowly got up and simultaneously exited the room to give the couple some privacy to talk. Rebecca waited for the door to close before she blew up on Freen.
"Do you know what you did? How could you betray me like that? I had pictures of them myself! Did you even stop to think why I didn't reveal them? I didn't want to be talked about! I hate it when people gossip about me. What you have done is reveal the lies I told to cover up the reason for my divorce and why I left my old agency. You've created a mess that I now have to deal with! Do you know how shameful I feel right now?"
"I don't understand."
"Of course you don't! Why were you there?"
"I was there because of another artist. I received a call that the artist was passed out drunk and needed to be picked up. I initially took those pictures to show how that artist's boyfriend was cheating on her while she was passed out drunk. Your ex just happened to be seated next to him. I didn't realize it was Nop and your Ex manager in the picture until later." Freen explained.
"Why didn't you tell me you had those pictures."
"You didn't ask me."
"ARGHH!!! I HATE THAT PHRASE! I HATE IT WHEN YOU SAY THAT! YOU NEVER TELL ME ANYTHING UNLESS I HAD TO PRY IT OUT OF YOU. I CAN'T DEAL WITH YOU. GET OUT! I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU! I DON'T WANT TO LOOK AT YOU." Rebecca screamed at Freen. Everything was too much for Rebecca handle all in that moment. Freen's eyes glistened as she looked at Rebecca silently and walked out of the dressing room. She closed the door quietly but it echoed loudly in Rebecca's heart. After a few moments, Nam knocked on to their dressing room and entered. She saw Rebecca crying her eyes out in the corner of the room.
"Freen didn't deserve that. Yes, she should have told you but you're taking it all out on her when she only wanted to help you. Why are you so angry at her? Nop and Winnie are the main culprit and you didn't even blast them as much as you did to Freen."
-"I...I know. I couldn't help myself. I...I'm angry at myself and I took it out on her. I'm so sorry." Whimpered Becky as she rocked her self back and forth.
"Why are you angry? Besides Nop and Winnie, that's a given but it seems like you're angrier at something else."
"I'm angry at...this will sound silly, but I am angry at how I owe...her...again. She has done so so so much for me, selflessly giving again and again that I don't think I can ever repay her. I don't want to keep owing her. I just want for once in my life to be able to take care of my own problem without her assistance. I wanted to be the one that gave instead of take. I got angry at her for taking that chance away. I am angry because it seems like she doesn't need me.
I am angry because she never shares anything with me. I'm scared that our relationship isn't going anywhere. I'm scared that she wouldn't want to be with me because my life is so messy. My past is so messy."
"Oh sweetie, I'm glad you know how absurd you sound. Relationships aren't like that, you can't keep a tally of who did what. I'm sure that there are things you did for Freen that are equal to all the things she did for you, otherwise why would Freen stay with you and still be with you? Everybody has a past, why would you think that Freen would care about that?
You can say that Freen is very cold but she is actually very observant and has deep emotions. She may not express it but she understands. She's not a talker but if you ask her, she has never hesitated in not telling you nor has she ever lied to you. Just because you have to initiate doesn't mean she doesn't care. Talk to her! Don't shut her out because she doesn't know how to express herself." Nam defended Freen.
"You're right...is Freen outside? Could you please ask her to come in, I would like to apologize to her."
"She left already. She went straight to her car and drove off."
"Huh? Oh. I'll call her." Rebecca grabbed her phone and dialed Freen's number and she could hear the buzz in the dressing room. Freen left her phone in the dressing room. What Rebecca thought would be a brief break between her and Freen turned to hours. Freen went missing in action the entire day and the director was livid at Freen's lack of professionalism. Fortunately, there were other scenes that had to be filmed and they were able to accomplished that without Freen's part. Split between worrying about Freen and the proof of Nop's infidelity being released to the press, Rebecca had a difficult time concentrating on her acting. She spent the rest of the day thinking about Freen and worried that she had taken her words literally, but there was nothing she could do until she was done work.
After work, Rebecca quickly changed and made a mad dash to Freen's condo without taking any precaution against the possibility that the paparazzi might be following her to Freen's place. She hadn't even taken the time to wash the make up off her face before she jumped into the Grab vehicle and told the driver to drive as fast as she can. Freen's condo was in pitched dark when Rebecca unlock the front door with no trace of Freen had ever returned home. Rebecca made herself at home and waited all night hoping that Freen would return home so they could talk, but Freen never did.
Rebecca cried herself to sleep that night.
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Rebecca's thoughts: It's been twenty four hours... where did you go P'Freen? Come back to me, please! I didn't mean for you to get out of my life forever. I didn't mean to yell at you.
You can't just leave and never come back right? We have a drama series to film. You are my partner, my girlfriend, my heart, mine...
Come back.
On the third day, Rebecca still hadn't heard back from Freen nor had she seen her in person. She had went back to her parents house on the second day of Freen going radio silent because she hated the silence and sleeping alone in an empty house. Everything corner of Freen's condo was full of memories of their time together and it made her miss Freen even more. She had left her parent's place around 5am in the morning so that she could arrive at the offsite resort scheduled for her filming. She wasn't sure if there would even be any filming today since since all her scenes today had Freen in it, ironically the scenes she was scheduled to film was conflict between the character Mon and Khun Sam, where Sam is mad and disappointed in Mon for rejecting her proposal.
Rebecca's thoughts: Sigh... I don't even know what to say if she doesn't show up.
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A/N: Would you be mad? If you were Becky would you be grateful? Or would you be mad because she keeps on doing things without consulting with you, keeping things from you because you didn't ask.
This is the most I've written and published in such a short amount of time, I'm going to take a break for a bit. Please wait next week for another chapter of Freen & Becky.