Chapter 7: The Price of Scandal

I stayed in the hotel for three days. I was about to go out to buy something and take a walk, but Monica’s message made me give up.

The news about me hitting Courtney kept spreading for days, and now new scandals had broken out.

The director I stabbed came out to accuse me, claiming I tried to seduce him for opportunities, but after that clung to a new benefactor.

He didn’t dare say who the benefactor was, only that he’d been blacklisted for years, listing all sorts of evidence, half true and half false.

Monica was at her wit’s end; she couldn’t suppress the news alone.

"Aubrey, can’t you contact Ethan? Swallow your pride? He could fix this with a snap of his fingers."

I was silent, my nose suddenly stinging.

These kinds of baseless scandals had happened before, but they were always suppressed before they could spread. This time, it just kept getting worse.

I said quietly, "He won’t care about me anymore. He’s getting engaged. Breaking up was just what he wanted."

Monica sighed. "If this can’t be resolved, you probably won’t have work for a long time."

"It’s okay, Monica. I’ll post a clarification later. People can believe what they want. I don’t want to get stuck in a cycle of self-explanation."

"Thank you for these years. Sorry for dragging you down."

Monica comforted me a bit, saying she’d try, but I knew it would be tough.

Looking at the news, everyone was cursing me.

[Why isn’t this scandalous actress banned yet? So disgusting.]

[She clung to a sugar daddy. Otherwise, with her bad acting, how could she get to where she is?]

[Why isn’t her sugar daddy helping her now? Probably bored of her.]

[So curious, who is the sugar daddy? Must be blind to like her.]

[Isn’t there an old flame? Maybe she’s the third party.]

[I heard her dad is a crooked contractor. Like father, like daughter.]

Some people spoke up for me, but their voices were quickly drowned out by the wave of hate.

Every new notification made my stomach drop. It was like watching a car crash I couldn’t look away from.

I logged into Twitter and wrote a post.

"I’ve never been a third wheel, never a stand-in. We’re done. Thanks for reading."

I posted my statement, turned off my phone, and leaned against the bay window, feeling exhausted even though I had done nothing wrong.

As I watched the city lights flicker below, the room humming with the sound of distant traffic, I realized just how alone you can feel in a crowd of millions.