I was doing a live interview alongside the top-tier rapper Jax Wilder. The interviewer playfully asked if we had ever dated a rapper. I smiled and said, "I did. We dated for three days. He wrote three thousand diss tracks about me afterward. Like gum on the bottom of my shoe." Beside me, Jax looked over with his dark, quiet eyes and stated calmly: "It wasn't three days. It was two days, 23 hours, and 58 minutes." 01 Jax Wilder just dropped a new track. In three minutes, it topped the Spotify charts. In ten minutes, it was the number one trending topic on X. The hashtag #JaxWildersEx was hanging high at the top of the trending list, tagged with a massive red "VIRAL" icon. Sitting next to me in the makeup chair, my manager Valerie scrolled through her phone and sighed enviously. "Viral again. Jax could practically buy a mansion in Beverly Hills just with the ad revenue from his trending hashtags." She scrolled through the comments, clicking her tongue. "Another track dissing his ex. Seriously, how deep is this grudge? How many songs has he written to drag her?" I looked at myself in the mirror—my makeup was flawless, my expression utterly serene. I shook my head and said, "Who knows." "Which is exactly why you should never date a rapper." That was Valerie’s final takeaway. It wasn't until my hair and makeup were completely done that I checked my own phone and realized Vanessa Hale was also trending. She had "liked" Jax's new song and immediately un-liked it a second later, but eagle-eyed fans had already screenshotted it. Internet sleuths even dug up old photos of them attending the same events. "Look what I found! The ex Jax has been dissing for three years is actually Vanessa!" "I knew the vibe between them was weird! So this is their history!" "The simulation is glitching! But wait, why am I shipping this so hard?!" "Hold up! Aren't they both attending the Hollywood Music & Film Gala tonight? Waiting for the reunion!" "Praying for the ultimate lovers' reconciliation!" ... I had to admit, the internet's ability to fabricate drama out of thin air was getting impressive. They spoke with such conviction that even Valerie was eating it up. "Did they actually date?" However, her appetite for gossip vanished a second later. Because I was wearing the exact same gown as Vanessa. A fashion clash at a major gala like this meant one thing: someone was going to get obliterated by the public. I didn't even need to use my brain to know that Vanessa's agency was definitely going to buy eight hundred PR articles claiming she "outshined" me, and hire eight thousand bots to tear me to shreds online. Tsk. So annoying. The head of my styling team had red-rimmed eyes and kept apologizing to me. "Serena, I am so sorry. We had no idea Miss Hale would suddenly switch to this gown. I swear, her team's pre-approved options absolutely did not include this dress." She looked like she was about to cry. I glanced over at the distance, where Vanessa was shooting me a highly provocative smirk. I shook my head. "It's not your fault. We just weren't cautious enough." 02 I guessed Vanessa was pulling this stunt to get back at me for stealing her dream role as the female lead in an upcoming blockbuster. I couldn't help it. My acting was just undeniably better than hers. The director wasn't blind. Vanessa deliberately lingered near the red carpet entrance, waiting for me instead of walking ahead. When I approached, she put on a fake smile and whispered so the media couldn't hear: "Take a guess. Who do you think the internet is going to call ugly tonight?" "Have you heard the saying?" I waved gracefully to the cameras, replying to her under my breath. "Clashing outfits isn't scary. Whoever is ugly is the one who should be embarrassed." I slowly let my gaze trail up and down her body with a meaningful smirk. "What do you think?" She snapped her mouth shut, her face looking like she had just swallowed a lemon. Deep down, she probably knew it too. When it came to pure looks, everyone in this industry had to take a back seat to me. In other words, the reason I had so many haters was entirely because of this face. I had taken on way too many "evil, glamorous villain" roles. The audiences who couldn't separate the character from the actor flocked to my social media to hurl abuse. Since I had a notoriously bad temper, I frequently picked a few "lucky" haters to curse out in my replies. It was a vicious cycle, and my haters multiplied daily. I didn't care. Bad publicity was still publicity. As long as the paycheck cleared, I was fine. Vanessa and I walked up the steps side by side. As she looked at the broad back of the man signing the media wall ahead of us, her eyes completely softened. "Serena, you don't need to struggle tonight. The winner is definitely going to be me." "Oh?" I followed her gaze to the man ahead. He had already turned around. He wore an unbuttoned white tuxedo jacket, a loose black tie swaying in the breeze, drawing attention to his sharp jawline and the prominent, sexy jut of his Adam's apple. His gaze collided with mine in mid-air. The smile on my face didn't falter. Vanessa's smile, however, completely froze. One look and you could tell they had history. I stared at his expressionless face, my gaze dropping to his left hand. Under the flashing camera lights, a plain silver band on his index finger caught the glare. I pulled my gaze back and asked Vanessa, "Is this your trump card?" Vanessa shot me a side-eye, her tone dripping with pity. "Yes. Too bad your ex isn't an A-list, chart-topping rapper, right?" Hmm. Interesting. 03 Jax didn't wait for us. Vanessa gestured for me to walk ahead. As she followed behind, she deliberately stepped heavily onto the trailing hem of my gown. I pitched forward, squeezing my eyes shut, bracing myself for the absolute humiliation of face-planting in front of hundreds of cameras. Instead, I crashed into a rock-hard chest. The faint, crisp scent of cedarwood drifted into my nose. I remembered he used to hate perfumes. Every time I sprayed anything, he would wave his hands to clear the air, wrinkling his nose and complaining, "Smells terrible. Like rotting wood." Then, he would grab my waist, bite down hard on my neck, and admire the teeth marks he left behind, laughing as he pulled me close. "It's only fair. I need to leave my mark too." "Are you a dog?" Even though I said that, I never once pushed him away. The warmth enveloping me suddenly vanished as he stepped back. I opened my eyes to see Jax's tightly clenched jawline. There wasn't a trace of a smile on his face. His eyes were freezing cold, lacking even basic polite warmth. So cool. Once I was standing steady, he turned and kept walking without waiting for me, as if catching me had just been a glitch in the matrix. I glanced back and saw Vanessa looking pale and flustered. She truly looked like a deeply devoted woman whose heart had just been shattered by her ex. If she could bring this level of acting to a movie set, the director wouldn't have replaced her with me. The three of us walked up to the interview stage. During the signing portion, Vanessa deliberately signed her name right next to Jax's. The cameras immediately zoomed in for a tight shot of their names side by side. I imagined X was probably crashing right now. She got her viral moment for the night. The ultimate tragedy of two ex-lovers meeting at the pinnacle of their careers but refusing to acknowledge each other. Isn't that exactly the kind of angst the audience loves to eat up? She really understood marketing. The red-carpet host noticed the dynamic too. Always eager for drama to boost ratings, the host made a bit of small talk before surprisingly asking the three of us if we had ever dated a rapper. Vanessa stole a glance at Jax, her eyes instantly turning red. A second later, a tear was ready to fall. She choked up and whispered, "Yes." "What kind of relationship was it?" Lost in "memory," Vanessa offered a bitter, nostalgic smile. She looked at Jax and said, "He... didn't talk much, but he treated me very well. He once told me he was going to write me into his songs. Later..." She paused, flashing a fragile, heartbreaking smile. "He really did it. But between us... we can never go back." The fans behind the barricades started screaming hysterically. Written into his songs. That was practically a neon sign screaming that she was Jax's ex. Even the host was stunned. She clearly hadn't expected Vanessa to be so bold. She wanted to dig for more, but Vanessa refused to say another word, simply staring at Jax with eyes full of sorrowful longing. "What about you, Serena? Have you ever dated a rapper?" Asking me was purely a polite formality. I glanced at the two people beside me. One was an expressionless block of ice; the other was a weeping willow. How boring. I offered a shallow smile. Originally, I wasn't going to say anything. If Vanessa hadn't intentionally clashed outfits with me and stepped on my dress, I would have gladly let her keep her fake hype. But since she drew first blood, I was going to scorch the earth. Besides, I had been tolerating her for far too long. "I did. We dated for three days. He wrote three thousand diss tracks about me afterward. Like gum on the bottom of my shoe." My tone wasn't sorrowful like Vanessa's. It was a cold scoff, laced with heavy provocation. After all, the guy in question was standing right next to me. He deserved to be insulted. The host froze. She clearly didn't expect me to claim I had dated a rapper too. She probably thought I was just desperately trying to steal the spotlight, which explained the slight glint of disdain in her eyes. She opened her mouth to give a polite, dismissive reply. But her words never came out. Jax lifted his microphone. His dark, quiet eyes looked straight at me, and he stated calmly: "It wasn't three days. It was two days, 23 hours, and 58 minutes." After one second of absolute, dead silence... The entire venue exploded. 04 Vanessa practically dragged her gown as she fled the stage. I bet her legs had turned to jelly. Understandable. After spending weeks building the hype, believing she held the ultimate trump card, she just realized she had handed the royal flush directly to her enemy. The most awkward part? Our assigned seats inside the gala were right next to each other. She collapsed into her chair, staring at Jax's back a few rows ahead. Ignoring the fans trying to sneak photos of her, she snapped at me: "Are you happy now, Serena?" I smoothed out the skirt of my gown, dusting off the invisible dirt. She had stepped on my dress earlier, and even though there was no footprint, I still felt it was filthy. "What does this have to do with me?" I played dumb. She turned to glare at me, her eyes bloodshot. "You're Jax's real ex-girlfriend! Why didn't you say anything?! Do you get a sick thrill out of watching me make a fool of myself?!" Yeah, actually. It was hilarious. But I didn't dare say that out loud. There were cameras everywhere. If a lip-reading fan caught that, I'd be roasted alive. I put on my best innocent face. "You never asked me." "You...!" "Don't be mad." I smiled, patting her hand in mock comfort. I leaned close to her ear, keeping my face angled away from the cameras, and enunciated every word slowly and clearly. "Who told you that your dream guy is my ultimate simp?" Vanessa's ears turned bright red. She glared at me furiously but didn't dare push me away in front of the crowd. I grabbed her hand. She was wearing a plain silver band on her left ring finger. It was unbranded and completely clashed with her luxury gown tonight. I knew she wore it specifically to match the silver ring on Jax's right hand. He had worn that plain silver band for years. He never took it off. "Vanessa, do you know something?" I held her ring finger, playing with the silver band, sliding it halfway off before pushing it back on. I could feel her fingertips trembling. I imagined that right now, in her eyes, I probably looked like a literal demon. I smiled at her—cold, unfeeling—and delivered the brutal truth she desperately didn't want to hear. "That ring on Jax's hand? I gave it to him." That's why he couldn't bear to take it off. Idiot. 05 For the rest of the night. Vanessa didn't say a single word to me. She was shivering the entire time. Maybe the AC was just too high. She didn't dare open her phone. I understood. Her PR team was probably working overtime doing crisis management, but it was useless. Aside from her most delusional fans, no one was going to believe her anymore. Everyone could see she was just trying to leech off Jax's fame. Even setting aside the general public, Jax's rabid fangirls were going to eat her alive. She didn't dare look at her phone. But I did. Wow. As expected of an A-list superstar. In just a couple of hours, I had gained over 700,000 followers. Every time I refreshed the page, the number jumped. It was still climbing. My DMs were exploding so fast my app was lagging. I had never seen a notification list move with such terrifying speed. I skimmed through a few messages: "OMGGG SIS IS JAX GOOD IN BED?!" "HE IS SO OBSESSED WITH HER! HE IS SO OBSESSED!" "Jax is honestly punching above his weight with this one! She is gorgeous!" "SISTER! Tell us exactly what those three hours were like! Spare no details!" "I KNEW there was a reason he lunged to catch you on the red carpet! Muscle memory!" "Ugly bitch, how did you trick Jax into dating you? Did you save his family from a burning building or something?" "Hahahahaha I'm laughing so hard! No wonder Jax can't get over her, if I dated a baddie like that I wouldn't get over her either!" "Omg sis I'm so sorry I used to leave hate comments on your page! I apologize! From now on you are our one and only true Queen!" "Why YOU?! Vanessa is ten thousand times better!" ... Surprisingly. Aside from a few delusional fangirls, hardly anyone was sending me hate. Even the people who used to hate on me were being attacked by his fans. "Keyboard warriors who can't tell the difference between a TV character and a real person need to shut up and stop embarrassing yourselves!" "You act so tough online but you're a loser in real life. Shut your mouth and stop spewing garbage before we end you." "We will protect the Queen's comment section at all costs!" "Where is Jax?! Is he just going to sit there while people insult his wife?!" "Is that all this stupid man is good for? Sis dumping him was the best decision she ever made!" "RT! Jax, channel that energy you had when you were writing diss tracks! At least keep your wife's comment section clean!" ... Of course, there were a few comments saying: "Why her?! She's so basic! What does Jax even see in her?!" But someone immediately fired back: "Are you blind? Look at the photos!" "We're all girls here, why are you tearing another woman down just because you're jealous?" "If he didn't date her, do you think he'd date you? Who even are you? You listened to his music so much it fried your brain?" That hate comment was deleted by the user a minute later. Wow. For the first time ever, I saw Jax in a new light. As expected of a rapper's fandom. Their trash-talking skills were even better than mine. Of course, the most lethal one of all was the man himself. Jax won the award for Song of the Year. As he delivered his acceptance speech, I could feel the cameras zooming in on my face. My smile was polite and elegant, and I clapped calmly along with the rest of the crowd. On stage, Jax looked equally unfazed. He stared directly into the audience, right at my section, gripping the trophy tightly. "Finally, I want to thank my ex-girlfriend. If it weren't for her, I wouldn't be who I am today." True. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have had the material to write three thousand diss tracks. You're very welcome. A wave of teasing boos and cheers erupted from the audience. Jax's expression remained perfectly calm. His voice was smooth as he added one final sentence: "I also just want to ask her—" "When you dumped me all those years ago... do you regret it?" 06 "Not a single bit of regret." The gala had just ended, and I responded directly on X. The tweet had barely been live for a minute before Valerie called me. "Who told you to post that?! And why didn't you ever tell me you were Jax Wilder's ex?!" "Why would I?" I was soaking in a bubble bath, a sheet mask on my face, letting out a satisfied sigh. "It's ancient history. There was nothing to talk about." Valerie was silent for three seconds before tentatively asking, "So... when you rejected Mason Cole last month, was that because of Jax?" "What are you talking about?" I opened my eyes, peeled off the sheet mask, and splashed some hot water on my shoulders. "I just genuinely think Mason is ugly." "Are you insane? He has tens of millions of fans who worship his face, and you're calling him ugly?!" Valerie panicked, warning me: "You can say that to me, but do NOT say that in public. If anyone hears you say that, your career is over." "I know, I know." I wasn't brave enough to provoke a massive A-list movie star. But even if I didn't provoke him, he insisted on provoking me. I was a regular cast member on a popular reality TV show. Mason was the special guest for this episode. The director told us Mason had specifically requested to join at the last minute. To balance the teams, they had to invite a second guest star. When the director said that, he shot a wicked, knowing smirk in my direction. My heart skipped a beat. Seriously, director? You're gossiping too? It turns out everyone in the entertainment industry lives for the drama. When Jax jogged onto the set wearing a sleek black tracksuit, I couldn't stop myself from rolling my eyes so hard I almost saw my own brain. And of course, the director wanted to maximize the chaos by making us split into teams. Everyone quickly paired up, leaving me and a young pop-star girl staring at each other awkwardly. The director said, "The two guest stars can choose who they want to team up with." "I choose her." "Serena." At the exact same millisecond, both Mason and Jax pointed their fingers directly at me. So dramatic. I looked at the pop-star girl. Her face was flushed with irrepressible excitement. Makes sense—getting a front-row seat to this love triangle without having to buy a ticket? I'd be excited too. The director loved watching the world burn. "Since that's the case, let's settle this like men!" Arm wrestling. I gave up hope. Mason was massive and lived in the gym. There was no way Jax could beat him. The director told them to talk some trash before the match. Mason looked at me, then at Jax. "If you lose, she's on my team today." I almost broke out in hives. Jax shot me a chilling glance, then said flatly, "Then come and try to take her." To my absolute shock. Jax won. Mason's face turned beet red, the veins in his biceps popping, while Jax looked completely effortless. It looked like he barely broke a sweat pinning Mason's wrist to the table. But I saw it. I saw Jax's left hand, hidden under the table, clenched so tightly his knuckles were white. He was just pretending it was easy. As expected of a rapper. Image is everything. He didn't use to be like this. Back then, he was like an obedient, sweet puppy. Only in very specific, private moments did he ever show his teeth. Jax won. He politely said to Mason, "Good match." Mason rarely lost face like this, and he looked visibly pissed. With his A-list status, he was usually treated like royalty wherever he went. The pop-star girl quickly stepped in to smooth things over. "What does that mean? Are you upset you have to team up with me? I'm gonna complain!" Mason's expression finally softened a bit. "A bet's a bet." The pop-star flashed a bright smile, cheering Mason on. "Don't be sad, Mason! A true champion doesn't care about the first few rounds. Just watch us make a massive comeback later!" Jax ignored them and walked straight toward me. I looked at his cold, unbothered face and asked, "Didn't you use to hate going to the gym?" He didn't even look at me. He grabbed a towel, wiped the sweat off his face, tossed it aside, and finally turned his head. His dark eyes hid emotions I couldn't decipher. He spoke only four words: "Someone said they liked it."
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