The night I won Best Actress, an anti-fan leaked a video of me pregnant, visibly showing a baby bump. The entire auditorium erupted in whispers. Reporters swarmed me: "Miss Jensen, who is the father of the child?" I turned to look at the usually composed and indifferent Julian Sterling, whose face was now twisted in shock. For the first time ever, he lost his composure in public. I smiled at the reporters and denied it: "I don't have a child." The moment Julian abandoned me for his childhood sweetheart years ago, it was destined that there would be nothing left between us. 1 Before I stepped out of the limo onto the red carpet, my agent reminded me repeatedly: if I ran into Chloe Vance, I should pretend I didn't see her and avoid any conflict. After all, Julian Sterling was her backer. Half of the entertainment industry belonged to the Sterling family. There used to be a saying in the circle—if you want to be famous, sleep with Julian Sterling. Although crude, it was true that any woman linked to Julian had a smooth-sailing career in Hollywood. Except me. I was the only one who had a public relationship with him, yet I ended up nearly blacklisted. Because I offended his precious childhood friend, Chloe. For the next six years, no matter how hard I worked or how much the public recognized my acting, I never won an award. Nomination after nomination without a win wore down all my sharp edges. I started avoiding sharing the stage with Chloe. If she was eyeing a script, I would decline it citing schedule conflicts. Maybe my silent surrender finally got a response, or maybe because she and Julian were about to get married, she didn't want my bad luck rubbing off on her. So this time, they showed mercy and let an award slip through their fingers to me. When my agent heard the news, she nearly cried. She said, "Jane, the hard days are finally over." Julian was finally willing to let me go. Even though I was the one who initiated the breakup back then, I really couldn't win against Julian Sterling. I had admitted defeat a long time ago. 2 My agent had just warned me to avoid conflict, but moments later, Chloe deliberately invited me to walk the red carpet with her. The Sterling heir's new love and old flame standing together—the topic was already trending before we even took a step. I knew she wanted to humiliate me thoroughly. Not just because she was Julian's current girlfriend, but because we were wearing gowns from the same luxury brand tonight. Hers was the latest haute couture. Mine was last year's off-the-rack collection. I could already imagine the Twitter threads. Her fans and my haters would have a field day mocking me for being "shabby." But it didn't matter. I never intended to compete with her in fashion. And I certainly didn't hope for Julian to come back to me. If she wanted to be the red flower, I'd be the green leaf to accentuate her. But Chloe didn't seem satisfied. She lowered her voice and asked me, "Jane, do you know Julian is coming tonight?" I didn't know. Since the day we broke up, I had cut off all contact with Julian. But hearing his name still made my steps falter. Noticing this, Chloe smiled mockingly. "Don't overthink it. He's coming for me. It has nothing to do with you." "I know." Although the Sterling family owned half of Hollywood, Julian never attended any entertainment events before today. Even when we were most in love, he never attended an event for me. Chloe added, "Julian and I are getting married soon." I nodded, turned to her, and smiled sincerely. "I wish you happiness." Maybe my reaction was too weak today, so Chloe lost interest in teasing me. Or maybe she was in a hurry to find Julian. As soon as we finished the red carpet, she ditched me and disappeared. I posed for the photographers and answered a few questions. The reporters were taciturn; no one mentioned Julian. Although that romance was passionate, it ended in an incredibly embarrassing way. Julian, the party involved, only found out he was dumped when he saw the trending topic on Twitter. In that interview, everyone wanted gossip about my relationship progress with Julian. But facing the camera, I simply said three words calmly: "We broke up." No warning, no reason. 3 Julian called me once after that. He didn't explain, didn't apologize, didn't even ask why. He just confirmed with me: "Have you thought this through?" I gave a soft "Mhm." He was silent for a second, then hung up. Originally, I thought he would be angry. After all, growing up as the center of the universe, no one had ever defied him. Yet I dumped him, and he wasn't even the first to know. The hashtag #JulianSterlingDumped stayed at #1 for three days. Julian didn't have it taken down. My agency, afraid of offending the Sterlings, tried to remove it, but it would pop back up within a minute. That wasn't Julian losing face; that was his warning to me. Sure enough, after that, my career became rocky. Until six years passed, until Julian's anger subsided, until he and Chloe were about to marry. The past played before my eyes, making me zone out. The host called my name twice before I snapped back to reality. Everyone around me was happy for me. Amidst the thunderous applause, I glanced at the front row. Chloe was sitting there. The seat next to her was empty. Although there was no name tag, everyone knew that was Julian's seat. He hadn't arrived yet. That was good; it saved a lot of awkwardness. But when I stood on stage, looking up to give my acceptance speech, Julian was sitting there, straight and proper. I hadn't seen him in years. His temperament was even more steady and cold. The moment our eyes met, his gaze was like looking at a stranger, devoid of any emotion. I steadied myself and began my speech gracefully. 4 Just as I was halfway through my speech, a commotion started below the stage. "Whispering" would be an understatement. Everyone tried to keep it down, but the shock of the gossip made voices involuntarily rise. Turns out, an anti-fan had leaked a video of me pregnant with a visible baby bump. That was six years ago, shortly after I broke up with Julian. I had planned to numb myself with work, but before joining the cast, I suddenly found out I was pregnant. After that, I withdrew from the production and vanished from the public eye for a whole year. This video was taken by a surveillance camera in the complex where I lived back then. I forgot what I went out for that day. But because I wasn't wearing a mask, my face was captured clearly. When I walked off stage holding the trophy, my agent and assistant rushed over immediately, wanting to shield me as we left. But it was too late. Reporters swarmed us. Cameras and microphones were practically shoved in my face, everyone asking the same question— "Miss Jensen, who is the father of the child?" I was trapped in the crowd, unable to move an inch. Not far away, no one dared to approach Julian. If Julian and I were still together, maybe the reporters would be a bit more polite. I saw the shock on Julian's face. His fingers resting on the armrest were clenching it white-knuckled without him realizing. He knew who the father was. That was why the always composed Julian lost his cool in public for the first time. I didn't answer the reporters directly. instead, I smiled and denied: "I don't have a child."
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