I tried to take a step and I almost fell on the ground. Fortunately, I was still holding the balustrade, but it was obvious that the alcohol absolutely weakened my legs.
“Are you all right?” Samil walked to the balcony, concerned over my state.
“I… am… fine…” I struggled not to sound drunk.
“You don't seem fine to me,” he glanced inquisitively.
“I… only need some fresh air. Please… leave me alone,” I knew that if I got rid of him, I would sober up in seconds.
“Your boyfriend left you alone like that?” he sneered.
I gazed at him, making an awkward grimace, and completely failing at showing my anger. He chuckled, which annoyed me even more.
“Go… look for your fiancé,” I grunted and clicked my tongue.
“I gave her enough of my attention for one night,” he claimed nonchalantly.
“Why&hellip
I couldn't sleep. The image of Samil standing at the hotel entrance and looking at his seal kept appearing in front of my eyes. I wondered if he believed in supernatural forces, if he truly saw the mark on his hand, and if he believed… in me. In my mind, I repeated the whole scene between Samil and me the entire night. I still couldn't believe that I told him I was a witch. I nearly confessed my feelings for him, although he, once again, chose to ignore my words… Perhaps, my Grandma judged him well. He had no heart, which means I had no part of him to appeal to with my emotions. At the end of the day, instead of being relieved after telling Samil the truth about me, I felt frustrated that my words might not change anything at all. I felt like I was hitting a concrete wall with my bare fists. I got up in the morning being torn and upset. I knew I should stop having any kind of expectations long ago, but I was still counting on some break through. Then I started thinking that
I had already learnt more than few times that there were a lot of vicious people working at TVM, yet until now, none of them targeted me directly. I kept wondering who would hate me enough to do something like that, but no name popped up in my head. The girls working in the open space might have been jealous of Jason, but they weren't clever enough to put a post like that together. Besides, it must have been someone who watched me for a long time, longer than I met Jason. There was one person whom I could think of that wanted me out of this company, but it wasn't one of the workers, it was Camilla Artois. She obviously had the means to hire someone to be her spy at TVM. She might have also paid off the internet trolls to write as many comments badmouthing me as she wanted to. Even if it was an inner, company chat group, getting signed as a member wasn't that complicated, and the security couldn't be easier to bypass. All you needed to do was to get an invitation from somebod
I walked back to my office and tried to do my work, but it turned out to be harder than I thought. It turned out that the post became viral among all the employees of TVM. The problem grew and more rumors were added along the way. Soon I heard that I even threatened the CEO's fiancé and that she might have a miscarriage because of me! Well… she would have to be pregnant in the first place, but nobody cared enough to check if the words that were passed by were true or not. It was all for the sake of stirring up the thrill that the TVM station had a new scandal… Suddenly, some people on the set started to create problems with the settings we previously discussed. One of them even made a vicious remark that maybe I should go and seduce their producer, only then they would have no choice but to fulfill my wishes. It was unfair, and the unfair treatment didn't stop at badmouthing me! When Grace called, she also got scolded for no reason, only because she and I worked together!
Two gossip girls walked out of the social room with their minds blank. They passed Jason and me by and silently went back to their workplace. Jason watched them go with a deep shock painted all over his face. When they were gone, he began staring at me, forcing me to give him some answers. “Well…” I laughed hysterically, “Why don't we go to my office first… please…” Jason didn't say a word, but made a gesture that I should go first, as if he suddenly didn't trust me enough to let me walk behind him. I smiled nervously and started walking towards my office. He followed. He didn't open his mouth until we were finally inside alone, and I closed the door. “Do you mind explaining to me what I just saw?!” he growled. “It… it would be easier, if you t-told me what you saw, then… I can explain it to you clearly…” I muttered, panicking. “I heard some girls saying nasty things about me and you. Then I heard how they attacked you, and… how you used somet
I had to spend the entire week outside the office to avoid increasing the conflict that I didn't cause. I felt like I was under house arrest. Of course, I could leave my home, but I was prohibited from getting even near the station and the production sets. All the ungrateful work was now on Jason's shoulders. Grace was also helping me a lot. I couldn't tell what I would do without them…During my exile there seemed to be two more people from work that actually worried about me. I had frequent phone calls from Elijah and Chris. Certainly, Samil didn't call me even once. Elijah, as a lawyer, mentioned that he was preparing to take legal action for my sake. Chris was more mysterious about what he was about to do. He only said something that he would get me justice. It sounded slightly scary considering that Chris was an “eye for an eye” type of person, or rather “both eyes and cut off hands for one eye”, in his case…No matter how bot
Grace wanted to post the recording right away, but I hesitated. I wanted to do it all properly. I called Elijah since he told me that he was preparing for some legal action. When I told him we got the evidence, he came right away. “How did you manage to get someone to confess?!” he called agitated as soon as he opened the door to my office. “Nice to see you too, Elijah,” I smirked sarcastically, “Answering your question, we got lucky,” I grinned. Elijah cleared his throat and nodded his head, greeting us both, but it looked like my reply only raised more of his suspicious. “You asked her, and she confessed?!” he called doubtfully. “Sit down, we will show you what we have…” I chuckled. I gave him my computer so that he could watch the recording of Dianne's confession. He paid attention to every single detail, and even rewound our video a few times. “What do you think?” I asked impatiently, after he had seen it for the fifth time
We stood like that for a while. Jason stroked the back of my head gently and whispered in my ear that it was going to be ok, even without knowing what made me cry. My tears stopped flowing. I was slowly regaining my composure, listening to Jason's heartbeat and feeling the warmth of his body. It was soothing.“Can you tell me what happened now?” Jason asked seeing that I became calmer.“Grace and I found the evidence… I could finally clear my name…” I muttered, still glued to his chest, “We found out that the real culprit was Camilla, but then I showed the video that we'd recorded to Samil… He forbade me from publishing it anywhere… He even told me, he would fire me if I did…”Jason looked straight into my eyes. I wished I could smile at him, but the pain that surfaced in my expression was far too visible. Jason's gaze was filled with anger. I knew it wasn't directed at me, yet I flinched. I
When I woke up, Jason was hugging me from behind. My whole body was covered in Jason's scent. I wasn't exactly sure whether I was comfortable with it or not. It was as if I was sinking in guilty pleasure. My heart didn't pound frantically. It felt nothing like lying next to the person I loved. Perhaps, I felt like this since my mind became poisoned by those rumors about me, that I was using Jason. Even though I was honest with him, and basically he was the one who led to this situation, something about this morning felt awkward. I even started to wonder if I should sneak out of his apartment, like a secret mistress escaping when the dawn comes. Of course, as soon as I pictured this thought in my mind, I realized how absolutely immature that idea was… I became slightly stiff lying awake in Jason's arms. I tried not to move for a few more minutes, figuring my way out of his embrace. I could feel his steady and strong heartbeat resonating through my back. His breath delicately