Etan’s eyes swept over Jean’s full, pink lips. “You seem to be very confident in yourself. But not everyone is into you,” he said with a poker face.The more impassive he was, the more Jean wanted to expose his hypocrisy.She kicked off the slippers she had just put on, walked barefoot toward Etan, and then stopped about ten centimeters from him.Her pink lips turned up. “Really? Like someone said last night that you would not be interested even if I stripped naked in front of you?”Her smile had a natural charm that was bewitching yet innocent. It aroused his itching desire. “Are you seducing me?” he said with a straight face.“Seducing you? Do you know what real seduction looks like?” She giggled.She suddenly tumbled forward.He reached to catch her as she plunged straight into his arms.His heart skipped a beat as he smelled the same subtly pleasing scent on her body.She furrowed her brows as she leaned in his arms as if the bones in her body had gone missing. She put h
Jean did not know that the worst had yet to come.An online stream of a certain platform suddenly flooded with tens of millions of viewers.A man was sitting in front of the camera. He was chubby, haggard, and stubbled. He had a pair of bloodshot eyes. His hair was so greasy that it almost dripped with oil. There was an ashtray on the table that was full of cigarette butts.“Hi, everyone. My name is John Page. I was the manager of the late actress Elaina Lee two-and-a-half years ago. I have never had a good night’s sleep after her death. The sight of her tragic death has been haunting me, and she kept asking me why I didn’t tell the truth whenever I closed my eyes,” the man said.“Just like someone said two days ago, Elaina’s death was not an accident. It was Jean Mitchell. She stole Elaina’s boyfriend and hired a group of men to assault her sexually—all that for a role in a movie. Elaina could not stand the humiliation and killed herself by jumping off a building.”The man cried
“Anne, have you read the news? I was right when I said that a woman like Jean could never settle down and that she was pretentious. It turns out that everything is true.” Tara Banks, Anne’s manager, came in with excitement.“Please don’t say that. Jean is my best friend. She might be frisky, but I don’t believe that she is that kind of person. She is a good woman.” Anne shook her head repeatedly, the gloom on her face disappearing. She had an innocent look on her face now.Tara patted Anne on the head. “You are too naïve. I tell you what, stay away from Jean. She is no angel. But her scandal seems to benefit you, though. Do you know how many media outlets want to interview you? And we are in talks to work on several TV series already. It is your time to shine now.”“No, I can’t do this, Tara. Jean is my friend—”“How can Jean deserve to be your friend? You must not befriend a dirty thing like her. This is an opportunity that God has endowed upon you. You had better clean up quickly
Inside the cubicle of a bar.Etan sat with his legs crossed as he gently swirled a glass of wine in his hand. His face lacked emotion as he watched on his phone the video of Jean insulted by onlookers.Jason was swapping his finger across the phone screen with light bouncing off his face.He dialed a number and told others, “Be quiet. I am making a call.”“Who is it?” The husky voice of a woman responded.Etan looked over.Jason crossed and shook his leg. “You must be very desperate now, Jean. Beg me, and maybe I can help you.”There was a two-second silence on the other end before the reply came. “I will think about it if you want to be my son.”Etan smirked.Jason felt insulted. “D*mn you! Don’t you know how deep the sh*t you are in now? No one can help you except me. Your reputation is gone. Yet you still—”The line went dead before Jason could finish speaking.That enraged him even more. He tried to call again but found that she had blocked his number.“This woman doesn
“Why should I leave?”Robert lost his patience. “Don’t you know what situation you are in right now? How am I going to face the public if people know you are my daughter?”“All you care about is your reputation. You don’t give a damn if those accusations are false.”“What is the point of talking about it now? If it wasn’t for you to run away from home and to want to become an actress, this thing would not have happened. Just leave now.”“I am not going to leave!”She never had the habit of running away before the fight even began.She would not go anywhere until she found out who the perpetrator was.“Don’t you have any shame? Just look at what people say about you online. How can you still live your life here?” Robert roared.She clenched his fists. “I learned all that from you. When my mom was sick, you hooked up with that woman. If you two have any shame, you two wouldn’t have come to her bed and agitated her on purpose.”“Alana just wanted to apologize to her. She was in g
The paparazzi camped outside her house for a day and a night. The police had come several times, but those paparazzi returned as soon as the police left.Her agency, Galax Star Productions, had announced its termination of her contract. Willie Castillo, the owner of Galax Star Production, demanded her to pay a sky-high $550 million compensation.Jean was driven into a desperate situation.Later, she received a call from Wallingden Hospital. Her hand trembled as she repeated herself. “What did you say, doctor? What happened to my grandma?”Her grandma was the only person who cared about her.She lost her daughter in her later years and suffered severe physical and mental trauma. In recent years, she had become even weaker. The oxygen tube fell off from her nostrils, and when she was found, she was in a coma. Now she was still in the emergency room.Jean was not afraid when she was framed for things she did not do. But now, she was trembling.If anything happened to grandma, she d
She swore she would throw back that word in the face of those people one day.Jean wiped her face, spun around, and left.She did not dare to take the elevator. So she walked down thirteen floors to the parking lot on the minus second floor.A black car quickly pulled up beside her.“Get in.”“Bobby? Why did you come in person? Aren’t you afraid of being implicated?” Jean asked.He was wearing a mask and a hat, leaving his pair of warm eyes exposed. “I don’t believe that a little girl who would rather drink until she got gastrorrhagia and dare to assault the producer would sell her body for fame.”“Thank you.” Jean suddenly had a lump in her throat.“Don’t mention that.” Bobby looked at her with a pampering look in his eyes. As the car drove out of the apartment and stopped at an empty roadside, the two got out of the car.“Take the car. The gas tank is full.”“Thank you.” She did not know what else to say.Bobby was the only one who would trust and help her unconditionall
Hospital.The doctor told Jean that her grandma had cerebral hypoxia for too long. She was unlikely going to wake up and would be in a vegetative state. Even if she did, she might be paralyzed.After staying by her grandma’s side for two days and a night, her grandma finally opened her eyes.“It must be hard for you, Jean.” This was the first thing her grandma said.She had apparently learned about what happened to Jean.Jean could no longer control herself. Her suppressed river of emotions for the last few days burst its bank in front of her grandma.Her grandma was the only one who loved and trusted her unconditionally in this world.She might have come out of her coma and was out of danger, but she would probably be wheelchair-bound for the rest of her life.The doctor told Jean that she needed to stay healthy and must not be subjected to any psychological shocks again.Jean became suspicious. She had clearly instructed all the medical personnel not to tell her grandma abou