"There's no point looking; he's gone.""You're in for it now. Do you have any idea how much the company had to spend to persuade all those journalists to show up?"Eugene was so furious that spit was flying from the corners of his mouth. His shy and obsequious demeanor was now nowhere to be seen."He's already gone, where's the point in arguing now?"I didn't even look at him. I just picked up my bag and sauntered out.I could almost hear him grinding his teeth behind me. "Don't think you'll get away with this."..."Exposé: Female game designer caught sleeping with company director.""Female game designer is a literal groupie."Despite my best efforts, the next day, Brook's face was in the news.A paid marketing account was the first to break the "news". According to them, I'd been caught red-handed having an affair with some high-level company director.In combination with the rumors of plagiarism, which no amount of proof could quell completely, I was suddenly the talk of the indust
After Brook and his cat had entered my living room, I took a quick glance outside, half expecting his girlfriend to come running up red-faced, preparing to chew me out.Surely, she wouldn't have left him over the rumors that me and him were having an affair, would she?He'd come over here—bringing his emotional support cat—without even stopping to dry his hair. He was probably desperate for me to give him an explanation."What are you doing in the doorway?"I turned around to find them sitting on my sofa, having obviously made themselves at home.His cat was staring at me, as though to say, "You'd better bring my Mommy home.""Don't worry, I'll find a way to clear this all up. How about I pay a visit to your girlfriend and explain things myself? I'm sure she'll understand."Brook looked confused. His hand, which had been combing through his hair, stopped still. He appeared to be mulling something over.Did he think I wasn't being sincere?"Or you could give her a call and I can explain
...I went back inside to find Clint's cat gracefully tearing holes in my new curtains.There wasn't much I could do to stop it; it wasn't my cat.I checked my phone. As expected, no one was paying any attention to the statement I'd made about the rumors.All I could see was a never-ending stream of verbal abuse.Sending out cease and desist letters was unlikely to do much good.I had to find a way to stop this at the source. If those behind this weren't playing fair, then why should I?They were claiming I'd used connections to get where I was. Well, maybe it was about time I did.I knew Steven wouldn't rest until all this was sorted out.So I racked my brain, trying to think how I could best knock Trevor down a peg or two.I left Clint's cat in the living room, locking the door behind me as I took a cab to the studio.As expected, Eugene was there.I secretly turned on sound recording on my phone and then made straight for Trevor, pretending to be hysterical.He took a sip of his cof
There was a slight hint of amusement in my mom's tone. "I keep telling you to come home and take over the business. Steven's been wanting to hand it over for a while. How come you're suddenly open to 'using your connections'?""Because someone has been using their connections to make trouble for me. I've decided to fight fire with fire."Anyway, if the company's already in my name, then I have work to do. Goodbye, Mommy."I ended the call, turned around, and headed back into the studio.Those inside were still having a good old chuckle. Well, I'd give them something to laugh about.When they saw me return, Eugene was the first to start gloating, "What are you doing back here? I thought you'd quit.""I thought I'd come back to let you know you're fired. This is my company, after all.""Did you hit your head when you fell just now?""Why don't you take a look for yourselves? I'm sure you can use your phones to check whose name this company is under."They took out their phones, still lau
I knew well enough that this wasn't someone I could cut my ties with easily. Heaven knows what I was thinking, getting involved with him in the first place.I hung up the phone and decided to ignore him.I surmised that he must be the real mastermind behind Trevor and Eugene's plans to destroy my reputation.He was playing his trump card but he didn't have me beaten yet.My mom and Steven must already have found out.The videos online appeared to have already been taken down.But there were still people in the comments sections claiming to have copies.I personally couldn't understand why anyone would want to watch it.I did want to know, however, how Clint—the man Steven so firmly believed could persuade me that decent men still exist—would react to all this.There was a soft scratching sound coming from outside my door. I opened it to find a snow-white fluffball with a note tied to its collar and a box of chocolate at its feet.I picked up the cat and carefully removed the note.It w
The rumors about me didn't stop doing the rounds on the internet.But with the people behind them now locked behind bars, I felt a lot better.Quentin was given the death penalty and asked to see me once more before his sentence was carried out.I went, accompanied by Clint. Quentin looked at me through the glass."Death won't keep me away from you. I was so good to you, but now I'm going to die by your hand. It's a sick joke. What did I do to deserve this?""Quentin, being good is more than just serving yourself. You were paranoid and extreme. As soon as you locked me up like a bird in a gilded cage, I knew there was no real love between us, only your obsession with control. You wouldn't recognize what good is if it slapped you in the face."...My company's new game was finally released.In part, thanks to the earlier controversies, there was a far bigger buzz around this game than we'd originally expected.The police also publicly commended me and my company.Shortly after release,
"Sweetie, how's the house Mommy found for you? Do you like it?"After graduating from university, my mom had bought me a house to live in.The living room was split into two levels, which I really liked, but the wall was paper thin.I could hear my neighbor's nighttime activities as clearly as if they were coming from my own TV.I frequently worked late into the night trying to keep up with my busy job. By the time I got home, I was already exhausted. The last thing I needed was more disturbance.Noise was something I couldn't bear."Open up. I'm here to check the meter."I knocked on his door while using a voice modifier app on my phone to sound like a middle-aged man.Hearing him come to answer, I fled.There was a brief moment of quiet, but it didn't last long until the noises began once more.Perhaps he was a satyriasis...Noise pollution was a bugbear of mine. After a hard day at work, home was supposed to be my sanctuary from stress—my quiet place."Gasman, open up."I tried his
No matter how I thought about it, it was awkward.Though, that's not to say it wasn't possible.The next day, I watched the note stuck to the ornamental flowers next to the door of my building. It read, "Suppress Your Desires."I smiled.The decorators my mother had hired turned up later that day. Luckily, I just so happened to be going away on business.I begged them to work through the night. I told them it was urgent and paid them extra to do it.After all the trouble Mr. Satyriasis had caused me, it was the least I could do in return....I stared in shock.Why was Mr. Satyriasis sitting at the head of the meeting room table?It turned out that he was the voice actor my animation studio was hoping to work with.This all seemed like way too much of a coincidence.Fortunately, having hidden the second I heard him come to the door the night before, he had no way to recognize me. Otherwise, we would probably have had to find someone else."Hello, I'm Brook Sierra."It was clear he was