From Fan to Wife(8)

11

After leaving the audition hall, I had the fur coat sent home first, then took a taxi to the street near Splendor Corp. I chose a coffee shop that I usually patronized, ordered an iced black coffee, and sat by the window waiting for someone.

When I was in the car, I browsed through Twitter.

The person I was waiting for was about ten minutes away. I took out my phone and habitually turned on the top trending topic.

The first one that came to my sight was a topic with the hashtag "Yunus. My leg was just broken," and ended with a smile emoji.

I frowned and scrolled down further. The second one was with the hashtag "Yael releases a new song," and ended with a surprise emoji.

Then, the third one was with the hashtag "Yunus' high amputation," which ended with a candle emoji.

My lips twitched, and I immediately figured out my thoughts. It should be that the marketing accounts started to spread rumors to increase popularity when they heard some news, and then Yunus posted a Twitter update to clarify it.

When I clicked on the first topic, sure enough, it was Yunus' Twitter post to clarify the news.

There were two photos attached.

The first one showed Yunus' right leg was half-hanging and wrapped tightly in plaster. Yunus himself looked at the camera and showed a victory gesture expressionlessly.

And the other one...

I held my breath slightly, clicked it open, and zoomed the photo in with two fingers.

Under the light, Jaden sat by the bed and peeled an apple. His slender fingers pressed on the sharp knife while peeling the skin of the apple slowly.

His side profile was handsome and well-defined, and his eyelashes cast a faint shadow, which seemed to be secretly photographed by someone else.

Yunus posted on Twitter that Jaden had been taking care of him in the hospital since he had a car accident a week ago.

Suddenly, all kinds of emotions surged in my heart.

It turned out that Jaden did not mean to leave me for another woman that day. It was because of Yunus' accident.

Moreover, he did not contact me these past few days. He should be thinking about letting me concentrate on preparing for the audition.

My fingers carefully traced Jaden's outline in the photo, and the corner of my lips curled slightly upward, feeling an indescribable sweetness in my heart.

Nonetheless, the more I looked at the photo, I suddenly felt something was wrong.

I frowned and swapped back and forth between the two photos with my finger.

A few minutes later, enlightenment struck me. I finally realized what I had ignored.

The person who took the photo...

She actually turned on beautifying lenses and filters for Jaden!

On top of that, she deliberately picked the best angle for Jaden. Even the composition and the light were impeccable.

It was not supposed to be anything surprising.

However, the photo of Yunus was completely original without any touch-up at all.

The answer was apparent.

Xiana, who made a call to Jaden, was also in the ward.

I bit my lips, trying to relieve the discomfort in my heart, but it did not work.

I realized something.

No matter what Jaden thought in his heart, Xiana must be crazily in love with Jaden because of the double standard of photoshopping.

The earlier scene where the actress said that Xiana was Jaden's junior, and that the two had an unusual relationship, appeared in my mind unwittingly.

I was nervous for a moment. After trying so hard to restrain myself, I became slightly relaxed.

Just as I was about to exit the top trending topic interface and search for Xiana, I inadvertently saw the ninth top trending topic.

It came with the hashtag "Caleb's photo."

The photo was published by the marketing accounts. The boy in the photo seemed to have just participated in the activity. He reached out his hand to wipe the sweat.

The boy's fingers were fair, his eyebrows were delicate, and his hair was soaked in sweat. Wisps of hair hung on his forehead, and his red lips were slightly open. His look was captured at that moment.

Given how a photo could make its way to the ninth top trending topic, it seemed that Caleb was indeed very popular recently.

I clicked into the comment section and was inundated with comments such as: [A beautiful person married to an ugly person], [Hello, I'm the deputy director of the Eye Disease Treatment Center who was supposed to see Jaden last time], [Everyone looks down on Caleb, yet everyone wants to be Caleb.]

There were almost no positive comments.

"Natalie."

The beautiful voice of the boy rang out in her ears.

I looked up and saw Caleb sitting opposite me naturally, and a trace of apology flashed in his beautiful eyes. "Sorry to keep you waiting."

I was in a trance for a moment.

The young man in front of me was as delicate as usual. He was wearing a costly outfit. His behavior and manners exuded pride and confidence.

One could not believe that in the past, he was just a boy whose mother died early, while his father was paralyzed. Because of this, he needed to work as an assistant while studying.

I looked into his eyes and remembered the "truth" Suzette told me just now.

On the 20th of May, Caleb and she were showing off their affection, but Caleb accidentally logged in to Jaden's Twitter account, which caused a big misunderstanding, but they immediately clarified it.

Thinking of that, I lowered my eyes and said calmly, "It's okay. I just arrived."

Caleb raised his eyebrows slightly and said, "Natalie, you asked to see me today. I think it's not something as simple as drinking coffee, right?"

I smiled, stirring the coffee in my hand, and did not answer his question. "Does Suzette treat you well?"

At the mention of that name, Caleb was suddenly stunned. There were some complicated emotions deep in his eyes. After a while, he lowered his head and said, "Quite good."

I asked again, "Do you really like her?"

Caleb clenched his fingers and tried to keep a smile on his face. "Natalie, just say it if you have something to say."

I stared at his face for a few seconds and said slowly, "You did it on purpose that day, didn't you?"

The atmosphere seemed to be completely still.

The waiter brought up the coffee ordered by Caleb. I looked at him through the hot steam.

The smile on Caleb's face slowly faded. "Natalie, what do you mean?"

My gaze remained fixated on him and analyzed according to my own thoughts. "You want to be famous. No, to be more accurate, you want to be famous overnight."

Caleb's expression changed suddenly.

"You're Jaden's assistant, and you've been managing his Twitter account. That day, you deliberately logged in to his Twitter account while Jaden was filming on the confined set, and sent a picture of Suzette with his account to fake a public announcement. After the whole incident continued to ferment for three hours, Jaden happened to finish filming. When he learned that he was forced to make a public announcement, you finally posted a Twitter update to clarify the whole incident."

I continued, saying, "Unfortunately, Suzette's identity was exposed at that time, and another wave of popularity was created. By the way, was that also secretly revealed by you?"

Caleb froze suddenly. He held back his emotion and glared at me coldly. His eyes gradually became more and more frigid.

I looked straight at him, and my eyes darkened several degrees.

"Jaden's assistant, the boyfriend of Splendor Corp's best scriptwriter, was a sugar baby of a rich woman. You became the center of attention with so many mind-blowing gimmicks. With the help of the post on Jaden's Twitter, everyone learned about you in no time."

I did not have any extra emotions in my eyes, except for the obvious sarcasm.

Every word that came out of my mouth was clear and sharp.

"You, Caleb Xenos, have become completely popular."

Caleb lowered his eyes slightly without saying anything or retorting.

Nonetheless, the veins on the back of his hand were protruding from holding the coffee cup too hard.

"But I don't understand." I glanced at his hand, paused, and sighed suddenly.

"You are Suzette's boyfriend. She has money and resources. If you want to become a celebrity, why didn't you seek her help instead of taking such extreme means? This would not be good for your future development."

"What's wrong with this?" he asked quickly and sneered, "I'm popular anyway, regardless of whether it is negative popularity."

My face darkened slightly. I did not agree with his opinion, and I really did not want to argue with him about that.

"I talked to Suzette today. She likes you very much. If—"

"Tsk."

Caleb sneered. He looked up at me and said sarcastically, "She just treats me as a dispensable toy who isn't allowed to show up in public."

Hearing Caleb's words, I immediately remembered the scene where Suzette's face turned red, and her eyes lit up at the mention of Caleb. I frowned immediately.

Caleb saw that I did not believe it. His eyes darkened, and his hands hanging beside him suddenly clenched into fists.

After a long silence, he said slowly, "We met each other through the League of Legends."

My heart skipped a beat at his words.

He pursed his lips and said, "She is petite, tender, and sweet in the photo, and she has two little canine teeth when she smiles, which is completely my ideal type."

As he was speaking, Caleb tilted his head and looked at me briefly. "After a year of online relationship, we finally decided to meet up."

I looked at him with complicated emotions in my eyes, as if I could predict what would happen next.

"The moment I knew the truth, I almost broke down. I didn't expect her photoshopping skills to be so good."

I opened my mouth and did not know what to say. I could only sigh silently.

"But," Caleb clenched his fists tightly, and the emotions in his eyes changed. "The moment I rushed out of the place, she grabbed me."

"She..." I remembered Suzette's strong physique and squeezed out a sentence with difficulty. "Did she force herself on you?"

Caleb shook his head with deep and obscure emotions in his eyes.

A moment later, he raised his head and looked at me with gleaming eyes. A sentence came out from his thin lips. "She gave me a fur coat."

I was confused upon hearing that.

He added, "She also told me that that is the only fur coat in the world that has accompanied her for many years."

I was rendered speechless.

Caleb's clear voice was slightly hoarse at that moment. "Who can refuse the temptation of a fur coat?"

I was stunned.

"Later, I learned that she didn't lie to me. It was really her in that photo. But... it was her in the past."

Caleb suddenly pursed his thin lips and breathed heavily.

"She was ill and took a lot of hormonal drugs, and the side effects caused her obesity. She was only 28 years old, but she looked like a person in her 40s or 50s."

I widened my eyes.

Suzette was only 28 years old!

"She was very nice to me after we got together. That time, my dad was attacked by sudden asthma, and I was not at home. If she hadn't come in time and sent my dad to the hospital, I would have lost my only family in the world."

Caleb closed his eyes and said, "I thought we would stay like this forever until I saw it with my own eyes later."

My heart skipped a beat. I wondered if Suzette cheated on him.

Caleb's face was as sullen as calm water, and his eyes were red. He said in a hoarse voice, "She actually gifted a fur coat to another man."

I was dumbfounded.

My head was buzzing, and I felt that the whole world became unreal.

Suddenly, my brain connected everything quickly. I had a sense of speculation and asked with trembling teeth, "Is that man Jaden?"

Caleb was stunned. His jawline seemed to have gradually tightened, and his breathing also paused occasionally.

After a long time, he nodded in sorrow.

"A year ago, during the audition of the leading actor for 'Bewitching Concubine,' she looked at Jaden with a burning desire. Her desire was so strong that I was afraid she would leave me in the next second and throw herself into the arms of Jaden, who was more outstanding than me in every aspect."

I thought he had overthought.

He lowered his head and said in a low voice, "Fortunately, Jaden didn't accept her fur coat at that time."

I lowered my head silently, too.

Fortunately, I did not bring the fur coat over.

"I didn't know until then that everything about her was a lie. I'm not the only one she loves, just like she doesn't only have one fur coat."

He continued, "You know what?"

Caleb's thin lips were pursed as thin as a thread, and a trace of tiredness crept onto his eyes. "She opened a fur coat factory."

I was absolutely stunned after listening to his words.

"To her, I'm afraid there's no difference between me and those fur coats in her factory."

I held the coffee spoon in a daze, opened my mouth slightly, and did not close it for a long time.

He actually compared himself to a fur coat.

Caleb's lips trembled slightly, and his voice was extremely hoarse.

"So I began to plan for myself and schemed this public announcement. If I were abandoned one day, I wouldn't have to go back to those days when I had nothing."

As soon as he finished speaking, a suppressed silence pervaded the air around us.

I did not know how long had passed. Looking at the gloomy and sad look on Caleb's face, I said slowly, "I'm not a very smart person."

Caleb was stunned and looked at me for a moment. "What?"

"Suzette might have thought of the things I can think of."

He was apparently stunned by the way he gazed at me.

I sighed, took my bag, and got up slowly. After taking a few steps, I turned around.

"She knew it was you who used her with this public announcement, but she didn't expose it. Think about the meaning behind it yourself."

With that said, I turned around.

When I arrived at the door, Caleb's voice came from behind.

"Natalie, don't you want to know why Jaden has been so cold to you throughout the year?"