"Ya, she sure is calm. If I were her, I would definitely be hiding."
"Do you think Mr. Smith fell for her or she seduced him?"
"Isn't it obvious? It was definitely her who took the initiative. Besides, didn't you realize that producer Johnson was treating her quite good as well? She probably got the role by sleeping with the important people in the set."
"But how could Mr. Smith do this? The first time he has a scandal, and it's with her..."
"Hehe... are you jealous? You could also use supper as a way to care for him, then just offer yourself. If Mr. Smith is tempted, you might be on your way to stardom."
"Me? Jealous? What should I be jealous about? Isn't it just selling your body, that's what prostitutes do!"
As their words became meaner, Camila couldn't help coughing, alarming the group. The instance they saw Isabelle, their faces fell. But quickly, they calmed, stood up, and left, ignoring Isabelle's presence entirely.
First one, and then the rest of them. In less than half a minute, only Camila and Isabelle were left in the lounge.
Camila observed Isabelle. She looked so calm it was scary. After a while, Camila softly opened her mouth, wanting to comfort her friend, "Izzy..."
Isabelle blinked, coming back to her senses. She gave her phone to Camila, and in a calm voice, she instructed, "Go online and find out exactly what kind of news it is."
Finishing, Isabelle took large strides towards the elevator and pressed the button.
The minute she returned to her room, Camila passed her phone over. "Izzy, someone sent an anonymous message on Facebook, and it has gone viral... they said you entered Mr. Smith's room in the middle of the night without notice..."
Camila's voice softened at the end of the sentence.
Isabelle clenched her lips as she reached out for the phone, but Camila pulled it away. "Izzy, every artist has scandals, it'll be over after a while..."
"Give me my phone," Isabelle commanded as she stuck her hand out.
Camila held onto the phone, taking two steps back, shaking her head. "Izzy, you don't have to see this... It's just going to hurt you."
Isabelle who was always mild-tempered couldn't help shouting, "I said, give me my phone!"
"Izzy..."
Camila bit her lip, seeing the anger on Isabelle's face. In the end, she succumbed and passed the phone to Isabelle.
On Facebook, there were two photos. One was of her standing outside Alexander's room with half of his face exposed when he opened the door. The other photo was of her holding a packet of supper entering his room.
This photo was uploaded at 5 am in the morning. Since Isabelle had been filming the whole afternoon, she didn't bother logging onto Facebbok to check out the latest news.
It had been eight hours since the photo was uploaded and there were already a few thousand shares, and the post had even made it to the headlines.
The latest hit for Instagram, a comment, had over 10k likes: "The second female lead for this show was Annabelle, but at the last moment the role was snatched by Isabelle. Now, the truth has been revealed: SHE SOLD HER BODY!"
The comments after that were all from people scolding her.
"Shameless woman, get out of the entertainment industry!"
"Slut, how dare you seduce my husband!"
...
Isabelle scrolled, and the comments got increasingly more mean.
Her face darkened as she kept on reading. She gripped the phone in a choke hold, her breathing rapid, her chest puffing up.
Camila couldn't take it any longer and said, "Izzy, do you want me to contact Global Entertainment's PR team? They might be able to get Instagram to delete the comments."
"Delete?" Isabelle laughed coldly. "You think this will go away if the photos are deleted? It's only been eight hours, but it has already grown into a headliner. The person behind must have been prepared."
"You mean someone is against you? Why would they do that?"
"If 'Alluring Times' airs, who do you think will attract the attention of the public?" Isabelle asked. "Her motive must have been to spoil my reputation, convincing everyone that I got the role through underhanded means before I can get famous. No matter how good my acting is, everyone would doubt me!"
"Izzy, who would do that to you?"
"The staff and the crew have been made to sign a confidentiality contract, the waiters would definitely not take photos, and even if they did, they would not sell them to paparazzi, so it can't be them either."
Isabelle's gaze turned cold when she said, "This person spent so much effort just to stop me from getting famous, overshadowing her. Take a look at the comments, see who gains the most out of it."
Camila took the phone back and scanned the comments. "Annabelle! Many of the comments are complaining that you stole her role... " Camila seemed to have understood something. She looked up and exclaimed, "It's definitely her! The main reason she was able to climb so high in this industry was because of acting innocent and framing others!!"
"Yes, it's her. But I won't let her make use of me like that!"
"Izzy, have you found a solution?"
~*~
Early in the morning, when Alexander's assistant came to find him, he found Alexander in a foul mood and acted with extreme caution.
In the afternoon, the assistant carried over a stack of documents to the office. When he got Alexander to sign them, he stood at the side, not daring to make a sound, afraid that he might accidentally offend Alexander.
A pressuring atmosphere settled in the room. In just a few minutes, the assistant broke into a sweat, and by the time Alexander had finished signing the documents , he was prepared to leave the room, but then he suddenly remembered the news regarding Alexander and Isabelle.
The assistant hesitated for a while before finally reporting the news, "Mr Smith, there are news regarding you trending now."
News about him trending on Facebook was a common occurrence for Alexander, so he didn't react to it, focusing his attention on the cigarette in his hand.
His assistant continued hesitantly, "The news is a scandal, about you and Miss Davis."
Miss Davis... Alexander paused momentarily, then lifted the cigarette to his lips and took a deep breath. Looking straight ahead, he swept a glance over his assistant, signaling for him to continue.
"When Miss Davis entered your room yesterday, someone took a photo and posted it. Now everyone is bashing her..." The assistant suddenly shut his mouth when he saw Alexander's face grow darker with each word.
Alexander tossed the cigarette that he had barely smoked into the ash tray before clicking his keyboard. His long fingers flew across it, and after a few seconds, he entered Facebook.
Just as his assistant had said, the scandal with Isabelle was a top hit.
Alexander didn't hesitate, clicking on the link. He scanned the photos before scrolling to the comments section. Every page was filled with complains about Isabelle, and the next moment, he threw the mouse to the floor.
The assistant was startled by Alexander reaction and shuddered in fear. "Bang!" a sudden thump sounded. Turning his head, the assistant saw a mouse bounce off the wall, then shatter to pieces on the ground.
He turned back carefully, looking at Alexander. The man had a frosty expression as he sat on his seat, focused on the screen. Even though he was silent, deep in his eyes, there was a flame burning.
The assistant knew that this was a sign that Alexander was furious, even though he couldn't read Alexander most of the time, but he still knew to placate him when necessary. Taking a deep breath, he spoke in a low voice, "Mr. Smith, do you need me to get someone to talk to the officials? They could delete the post."
Alexander continued to stare at the screen, unwavering, for a long while before looking up. With suppressed anger he said, "You can leave first, I will handle this."
The assistant hurriedly nodded and said "Yes". He then picked up the documents and hurriedly left the room, careful to not infuriate Alexander further.
Once his assistant left, Alexander lifted his hands and touched his laptop's touchpad. There was an influx of messages in just those few minutes, all of them scolding Isabelle.
Alexander reached out and slammed his laptop shut.
What if she saw the messages...
His calm facade suddenly faded. Frustrated, he stood up and took large strides, pacing about the room. In the end, he settled back on the desk and reached for his phone, dialing Isabelle's number.
~*~
"Izzy, have you thought of a solution?"
Isabelle shook her head slowly, and just as she was about to say "Not yet", her phone rang.
Camila climbed off the bed and walked to Isabelle's bag to find her phone. The moment she saw the caller, she hurriedly passed it over to Isabelle. "Alexander is calling."
Isabelle had been focusing all her attention on the culprit. neglecting the fact that Alexander was also part of the scandal. When they had married, she had promised him never to expose their relationship to the public, but now everyone knew. Was he calling to scold her?
She pressed her lips together. Reaching for the phone, she walked to the window and took a deep breath before answering.
"Hello?"
The moment Alexander heard Isabelle's voice, he came back to his senses. In his fury, he had actually lost control of his senses and called her....
He was about to ask her if she was alright.
Ever in the last five years ago, he had lost the right to show care for her. Because he couldn't love her, he decided not to show even an ounce of his love for her.
All these years, he had wanted to reach out to her multiple times, but every single time, he had forced himself away. He was afraid that he would lose control of himself. After they had married, he seldom went home, afraid that the more time they spent together, the harder it would become to keep up his facade. Even so, the moment he learned that she would be upset, he lost control.
Alexander clenched the phone, and after a moment of silence, he managed to calm himself down. Speaking in a low voice, he tried to sound calm and nonchalant. " I saw the news..."
Indeed, he had called because of the scandal... Isabelle lowered her lashes, staying silent for a time before replying. "Yesterday, I didn't notice that I was being photographed. I'm sorry for dragging you into this."
He didn't call to blame her about the news. Besides, he didn't mind the scandal one bit, in fact, he was quite fond of it... Alexander opened his mouth but didn't know how to respond. He lifted his head and brushed his hair in frustration before changing the topic, "Yesterday night, you wanted..."
The moment he said those four words, he realized how bad he was at changing a topic. Increasingly more frustrated, he loosened his tie before taking two deep breaths. Without saying another word, he hung up.
Hearing the line go dead, Isabelle blinked slowly, pondering over Alexander's words, "Yesterday night, you wanted..." He was about to ask what she wanted for last night?
Her face sunk as she looked out the window. Taking a deep breath, she looked towards Camila and asked, "Recently, are there any advertisements better than the ones Annabelle has?"
Camila thought for a while before replying, "I heard there's a popular variety show that seems to be inviting her."
Isabelle nodded, not saying a word. After a while, she lifted her phone and typed a message to Alexander.
Alexander had been clenching his phone ever since he had hung up. In a daze, he felt his phone vibrate. He looked down and saw a message from Isabelle with a short line, "I want to be Lotus variety show's guest next week."
Alexander stared at the message, growing more frustrated by each passing second. Infuriated, he tossed the phone onto the table. Some time later, he came back, picked it up, and replied with one word: "Ok"
Instantly, Isabelle replied with thank you.
Alexander tossed the phone to the corner once again. Exhausted, he laid down on the bed and shut his eyes closed.
Before, when he was still poor, when he was not good enough for her, even though he didn't confess, but when she was hurt, he had brought her to the nurse's office and stayed with her the entire afternoon. Before, when he knew that she lost her wallet, he traveled a long way to fetch her before letting her spend the night in his place. But now, when he was rich and was able to provide her with the life she wanted, he had lost the right to love her.
From the simple attention in the beginning to the deep love later, his one true love became a woman he could never love. How could that have happened?
Now, he could only use their deal as a way to stay with the girl that he had vowed to protect for all time, the girl he wanted to protect with his entire being.
Moisture collected in the corners of his eyes. He shielded them, and after a long while, he sat up. Grabbing his jacket, he left for the filming set.
When he arrived at the set, Helen had already finished filming, removed her makeup, and was preparing to enter her car.
Alexander quickly walked over and reached out to block her path to the car door.
Helen took one glance at him before turning to her manager and assistant. "Wait for me outside."
They nodded before leaving the immediate surroundings.
Helen then looked up at Alexander. He placed his hand down, allowing her to enter the car. He then followed closely behind, shutting the door after himself.
"Mr. Smith, why are you here?" Helen asked as she opened a bottle of mineral water. She realized she couldn't open it so she passed it over to Alexander. "Help me open it."
Alexander ignored her, continuing to stare at her. He moved his lips several times before forcing out, "Help me with something and I'll agree to your one request."
Helen used her teeth to force the bottle open before smiling at Alexander. "Anything? What about sleeping with me?"