Susan had her own plans. She wanted to take this opportunity to rest and strengthen her relationship with Hayden. Her calculations seemed sound, but reality didn’t play out as she had imagined. On their wedding day, Hayden chose to get drunk at a bar rather than come home.
He was willing to shield Aurora with his hand from a knife and even used that as an excuse to keep Aurora by his side to care for him.
Susan had long given up hope on Hayden. She thought marriage might change a person, but now it seemed she was nothing more than a tool to him from the very beginning.
He had no feelings for her, and now that she had no value left, he didn’t even bother to pretend to care. Susan tried to fulfill her duties as a wife, but in his eyes, she was no different from a caretaker.
Lately, things had gotten worse. Mary had even come to the villa to take care of Hayden, treating Susan like a servant.
Susan realized staying in that house wasn’t going to work. She needed to get out and work; otherwise, in just a few months, she’d become a washed-up housewife.
When she heard that Aurora had started another company, Susan was both envious and furious. Aurora’s life was on an upward trajectory, while hers seemed to be falling apart.
She couldn’t keep going like this. She had to change her situation. Coincidentally, she recently learned that Marcos had returned to the country.
Marcos had been her neighbor when they were kids. Susan loved playing with him back then. Later, he went abroad for his studies, and the distance between them grew.
But despite the distance, their relationship hadn’t grown cold. Every year on her birthday, she would receive a custom-made perfume from Marcos as a gift.
Marcos still didn’t have a girlfriend, and Susan knew she had always been the one he liked. When he went abroad, she was just starting high school.
He hadn’t had the chance to confess his feelings before leaving, and later, she had told him in a text message that she had someone she liked.
Marcos buried his feelings after that. Over the years, he occasionally kept up with news about her. When he learned of her engagement and saw her smiling in photos, he felt both heartache and helplessness.
Susan could sense Marcos’s feelings for her. Using this connection, she decided to approach Marcos to secure a perfume endorsement deal.
NE, the brand Marcos had established, was already internationally renowned. Now that no other company was willing to work with her, this was her chance.
If she could land the endorsement, it would bring her back into the public eye and help repair her reputation, making people forget about her past scandals.
Fortunately, Marcos still had feelings for her. Susan was confident she could use this chance to get closer to him and achieve her goal.
Yesterday, she had already arranged to meet Marcos for coffee. She deliberately brought up their childhood memories, trying to rekindle the innocence of those times in his heart.
When she mentioned wanting to be the brand’s spokesperson, Marcos agreed almost immediately. But Susan only learned today that the person she had to negotiate with was Aurora.
She was surprised to run into Aurora here of all places-her most hated rival.
Still, as long as she succeeded in her comeback, it didn’t matter who the company’s representative was. This was her first step back into the entertainment industry, and she would see it through.
Susan had her calculations, but Aurora had hers too. This was about the company’s operations, and Aurora couldn’t afford to take risks.
“Miss Simmons, you said the situation isn’t that serious and that the media exaggerated. But why have all your endorsements and television projects been canceled recently?” Aurora asked calmly.
“I recently got married and wanted to spend more time with my husband, so I turned down those opportunities,” Susan shot back quickly.
“In that case, Miss Simmons, why are you so concerned about this endorsement? You just got married; shouldn’t you be at home building your relationship with your husband?” Aurora countered matter-of-factly.
Susan glared at Aurora, clearly annoyed. Her current predicament was all Aurora’s fault, and yet she had the audacity to say these things to her face.
“Ordinary opportunities don’t interest me, but this endorsement is different. Given my relationship with Marcos, I really want to represent his brand,” Susan said with a hint of ambiguity.
Aurora knew Susan was deliberately steering the conversation toward personal matters. Compared to Susan, Aurora’s standing with NE was on a completely different level. Saying more would only make her seem petty, so she let the facts speak for themselves.
She handed Marcos a folder containing reports of Susan’s scandals. “I think we may have different standards of judgment and different bottom lines.
Perhaps what I see as serious, Miss Simmons considers trivial. I won’t comment on how the media portrays things.
What I care about is whether the spokesperson for our product can project a positive and inspiring image that brings additional appeal to the brand.
If our product becomes a hit, it can elevate the spokesperson to new heights, creating a win-win situation.
That’s the kind of positive influence we’re looking for. Anything else would be detrimental. Take a look at these reports and decide for yourself.”
Aurora was clever. She didn’t make an outright accusation but left little room for Marcos to maneuver. She was curious to see whether NE would prioritize interests or personal feelings.
Would emotions outweigh profits in this situation? Aurora was eager to find out, as this had become a test of human nature at its rawest.
Marcos looked at the news articles Aurora handed him. They were full of reports about Susan’s manipulative tactics, with the most damning one being about her pushing Aurora into the sea.
There were also stories about her making things difficult for Aurora at the wedding. Although the two had attended the same high school, it seemed their relationship was riddled with drama.
It was no wonder they didn’t seem like old friends. If anything, they looked more like strangers meeting for the first time.
Given the animosity between them, Marcos could have assumed Aurora’s comments were biased. But when he saw the public’s overwhelmingly negative reactions to Susan, he hesitated.
The comments were brutal, with people calling for Susan to leave the entertainment industry entirely. These weren’t fake reviews Aurora could have bought.
Faced with such a one-sided situation, Marcos began to waver.
This wasn’t a small matter. He genuinely wanted to help Susan, given their history.
But this was the culmination of years of his work. If the campaign failed because of Susan, it wouldn’t just damage his brand-it could also harm Aurora’s company.
Aurora’s words weren’t baseless. She had approached the issue from an objective standpoint, devoid of personal emotions.
Marcos found himself at a crossroads, torn between his feelings for Susan and the best interests of his business.
**