Sarah thought her singing wasn’t that bad. As for being off-key, well, people who are off-key usually can’t tell, so Sarah figured she wasn’t.
The next day, she hummed “Nonsense” as she strolled to the dining room for breakfast.
Butler Ted glanced at Sarah a few times, hesitating to say something.
Sarah asked, “Butler Ted, is my singing bad?”
“Oh, no, not at all.” Butler Ted replied sincerely, “I just think, Lady, you’d be better off singing something that matches your persona.”
Sarah, “Hmm?”
Butler Ted pulled up his playlist, and right at the top was “The God of Wealth Has Arrived.”
Sarah looked around but didn’t spot her “god of wealth.”
Butler Ted instantly got it, “Plane, meetings, overseas.”
Sarah sighed, “Your Young Master really works hard. It’s still Christmas, and he’s already gone on another business trip.”
Butler Ted nodded with admiration. “How else could he be our god of wealth? He’s the one holding up this massive empire. But it’s a short trip this time-he’ll be back the day after tomorrow. By the way, his assistant’s supposed to drop off some clothes and jewelry for you in the next couple of days. Should I put them in your room?”
Sarah remembered Holden mentioning the movie costumes last night. When it came to Holden, whatever he said, he followed through on. He mentioned it just last night, and today his assistant was already handling it.
During the release of Heart Throb, Crystal and Edward kept promoting it non-stop, but Sarah only participated in online promotions. She hadn’t signed a contract for the offline events, so she didn’t join them on the tour.
Crystal finally had a day off and immediately invited Sarah over to her place to play video games.
Crystal, being at the top of her game in the entertainment industry, had made a fortune over the years. Even though she had countless opportunities, she only picked the best of the best. Lately, she’d been taking it slow to enjoy life more.
Crystal never got married. When she met a cute guy, she’d date him for a few days, then they’d part ways on good terms, and she’d go back to enjoying her life.
Sarah had a lot of respect for such a successful senior like Crystal in the industry.
But-
Three minutes later, Sarah shouted, “Master, stick close to me! Wow, you’re so bad. Come on, come on, grab this-no, you missed it again!”
Crystal, despite being in the industry for so many years, hadn’t had anyone in her circle play such childish games with her. Her younger juniors played, sure, but no matter how badly Crystal played, they’d always shower her with compliments like, “Crystal, you’re amazing!” or “Your skills are awesome!”
Getting called bad at the game was surprisingly refreshing for Crystal.
But only Sarah could get away with calling her bad. If anyone else dared say that Crystal was “rocking the best gear with the worst skills,” Sarah would wipe the floor with them.
Crystal had the best gaming experience ever.
After the gaming session, she didn’t want to let Sarah leave, so she made her stay over for the night. The two of them sipped red wine and put on face masks together.
Crystal took a quick selfie of the two of them and posted it on Twitter. She usually left her Twitter account for her manager to handle, but today she logged in herself, immediately followed Sarah, and asked Sarah to follow her back.
As soon as she posted the picture, the likes, comments, and shares started skyrocketing.
Crystal had long been known as a diva in the entertainment industry. Early on, many media outlets painted her as having a bad temper and a difficult personality. Given her family background and natural disposition, Crystal always carried herself with confidence-if she liked something, she’d say so, and if she didn’t, she’d be just as upfront about it. Her fans knew how blunt she could be.
With Heart Throb blowing up recently, some gossip accounts tried to stir the pot, claiming that Sarah had stolen the spotlight from Crystal, even though Crystal was the lead. This ruffled the feathers of Crystal’s fanbase.
So when Crystal posted a selfie with Sarah, captioned “Brought the princess home tonight,” her fans were buzzing with excitement.
“Girl, do you even remember the last time you posted a selfie?”
“When I watched the movie, I was hoping to see you two in a scene together, but there wasn’t a single shot. This finally makes up for it!”
“Sarah looks kinda cute standing next to our queen Crystal.”
Crystal had been a big star for over twenty years. If she’d married early, her kid could be Sarah’s age by now. As a result, her fanbase was more mature, and many of them grew to like Sarah as well, becoming her fans by association.
But within half an hour, everyone got to watch a bit of unexpected drama unfold.
Elisa had a live appearance on a variety show to promote her new drama that evening. While on air, she had no idea Crystal had just posted on Twitter.
After discussing her new show, the host shifted gears.
Since Heart Throb had been such a huge success, it wasn’t just the lead cast who benefitted-everyone involved got some attention. Even Sarah, a newbie, had quickly become recognized as one of the freshest faces in the industry.
For the sake of ratings, the host steered the conversation toward Heart Throb.
“Elisa, we heard you were also part of the Heart Throb cast, but your scenes got cut. Can you tell us why?”
Elisa, with a more natural makeup look and the same shoulder-length hair as Sarah’s Twitter profile picture. At certain angles, she even resembled Sarah a bit.
“There were a lot of reasons,” Elisa said. “Mainly, some other newcomers in the cast didn’t like me.”
The host pounced on the juicy detail, “Was it Sarah?”
Elisa didn’t say yes, but she didn’t say no either. “I don’t really dwell on that stuff. I’m just happy the movie is doing so well.”
The host smiled and pressed on. “Some people are saying that Sarah stole the spotlight from Crystal and outshone her in the film. What do you think?”
Without hesitation, Elisa replied, “In my eyes, Crystal is the most beautiful. She’s such a great senior to me. I remember there were times on set when some people would purposely have the makeup artist make them look better and throw little tantrums. Crystal really hated that kind of thing and even said that girl was fake and overly dramatic.”
With Heart Throb still making waves and Sarah’s beauty being the talk of the town, Elisa didn’t believe for a second that Crystal wasn’t bothered by being outshone. In her mind, Crystal was probably itching to knock Sarah down a peg, reclaiming her spotlight.
The host checked his phone and said, “Well, Crystal just tweeted that she’s drinking with Sarah tonight. She even replied to a fan saying Sarah has a really cool personality. What do you think about that?”
It felt like a wire snapped in Elisa’s brain.
Stammering, she muttered, “Uh, is that so…?”
The host showed Elisa the fan comments from just three minutes ago, along with Crystal’s replies.
[Fan A: Is Crystal really helping out a newbie? Sarah seems kind of spoiled. She doesn’t seem like someone Crystal would take a liking to.]
[Crystal: Spend some time with her, and you’ll see-this girl has a really cute personality. She’s super chill with her friends, totally different from how she seems in the movie.]
[Fan B: Are all the new actresses this pretty? She stunned me the second she appeared on screen!]
[Crystal: She’s Director Beck’s top pick after going through tons of options. He said the role needed someone genuinely beautiful. Funny enough, she doesn’t even look as good on camera-she’s even more stunning in person.]
Elisa stared at the screen, her mind going blank. “Uh… can we cut that part out?”
The host gave her a sympathetic smile. “This is live.”