What kind of pain does someone have to go through… to be able to talk about it like it was nothing?
"From now on, if anyone ever hurts you, sis, I won't let them get away with it," he said, like he was making some kind of serious vow.
She reached out and ruffled his dark hair. "You, stop saying stuff like that. Just eat your food."
As she spoke, she buried her head and continued eating from the plate in front of her.
His eyes flickered like he was thinking about something quietly.
---
Things really had gotten out of control, but Celeste never expected that her company wouldn't be able to get the trending topic taken down.
The whole internet was exploding with talk about her losing a ring and making sanitation workers help her dig through piles of trash to find it.
What really set people off were the photos, her standing there all dolled up next to a literal mountain of garbage, while a bunch of sanitation workers were bent over, digging through trash like it was their job to clean up her mess.
The contrast was way too much, and people instantly lost it online. Everyone was calling her out for being heartless and fake.
Some people even commented stuff like,
"She lost the ring herself and made sanitation workers go look for it? They've been working all day already. Why didn't she get in there and look herself?"
"Just because she's a celebrity, does she think she's better than everyone else?"
"City workers are paid by taxpayer money, not her. Why should a whole group of people waste time digging through trash for her stupid ring?"
Even though Celeste's fans were trying super hard to protect her, there were too many people dragging her.
Especially since tons of random bystanders had posted videos online of the whole thing, and some of them were already going viral.
"How is it possible that we can't even get the trending topic taken down?!" Celeste shouted, totally losing it as the hate comments just kept flooding in.
"There's nothing we can do… The influencers just won't delete their posts," her manager said, clearly holding something back. After a pause, he added, "Celeste, did you maybe offend someone?"
"Offend who?" Celeste said out loud, confused.
In Shen City, with the Howard Family backing her and being the future daughter-in-law of the Patel Family, she should be the one people are scared of offending.
Except…
Her whole body tensed.
Could it… be Mr Jeffrey?
In Shen City, there were only a few people who had that much influence.
Someone who could force major media outlets to keep up the trending posts even if it meant offending both the Patel and Howard Families.
And Jeffrey was definitely one of those people.
Could he really be holding a grudge against the Patel Family because of his sister's death?
But these past few years, the Gray Family Group hadn't done anything hostile toward the Patels.
Business between them and the Howard Family had seemed normal.
Jeffrey even accepted the wedding invitation from the Howard and Patel Families.
But then she remembered how the big projection advertisement had gotten pulled without warning not long ago.
Celeste wasn't so sure anymore.
---
Just a day later, the police released the results of their investigation.
Based on surveillance footage, they confirmed that Celeste hadn't actually dropped any ring that day.
The video showed her leaving the house wearing only a pinky ring, no other rings on her fingers.
And even when she stood there telling everyone she'd lost a ring and needed the sanitation workers to help her search, the pinky ring was still on her hand.
Boom. Instant downfall.
Celeste's name got completely destroyed online.
Her fans, who had been yelling in her defense just a day ago, were now completely silent.
What could they even say? The police had literally dropped a whole detailed report. It was over.
Tons of people who used to support her posted online saying they were done.
Some even said they were "anti-fans now" and would boycott her forever.
Even her most loyal fans couldn't believe it.
Some tried to say maybe there had been a mistake… but no one was buying it anymore.
Celeste herself was in shock. The police had released the report, and she found out about it at the same time as everyone else.
Celeste trembled.
How could this be happening?
Was her carefully built image and everything she worked for about to be ruined?
But the worst wasn't even over yet.
Jeffrey's personal secretary, Finn, called both the Howard and Patel Families to let them know that the Gray Family Group wouldn't be attending the engagement party.
That instantly reminded everyone of Celeste's current scandal.
Rachel was honestly surprised when she saw the police investigation report.
She didn't expect it to come out so fast, and what shocked her more was that the Howard and Patel Families didn't try to cover it up.
In fact, it looked like the news was spreading even faster.
"That Celeste is seriously unbelievable. She made all of us go look for her stupid ring, but it turns out there wasn't even a ring!"
In the sanitation department, everyone was gossiping about it.
"No wonder people online are cursing her so hard."
"But still, it's weird. Why would a big celebrity like her lie about losing a ring and make us go digging through the trash?" someone asked.
"She probably had nothing better to do and just wanted to mess with people."
Sister Rivera pulled Rachel aside and asked, "Rachel, I saw you talking to Celeste for a while that day. Do you know her?"
Gemma, who just happened to be walking past, overheard and jumped in mockingly, "Sister Rivera, are you being serious? Rachel might know of Celeste, but no way Celeste knows her. She's a celebrity, not some random nobody."
"But I really did see Celeste talking to Rachel that day," Sister Rivera said.
"Maybe Rachel offended her," Gemma said, like she'd just figured out a big secret. "And that's why she made up the ring thing, just to punish Rachel. So basically, this whole thing is your fault, Rachel. We had to dig through trash because of you."
Gemma always had it out for Rachel, just because Griffin liked her. Sister Rivera clearly didn't expect her to just blame Rachel like that.
Rachel gave her a super calm look. "So, when someone lies, you're not blaming the liar, but blaming someone else for making them lie? Your sense of logic is really something else."
Gemma's face turned bright red. She had no comeback. She just glared at Rachel before storming off.
---
In the Gray Family mansion, Celeste and her father, Darian, were standing nervously in the hall, waiting for Jeffrey.
"How did you get yourself into this mess, Celeste? Rachel's just a street cleaner now. She's completely beneath you. Why waste your time on her?" Darian scolded his daughter.
"She killed my sister! If it weren't for her, Jeffrey wouldn't be so pissed at the Patel Family. Even Ralph had to take down all the projection ads," Celeste said, her voice full of anger.
A strange, complicated look flashed across Darian's face.
He opened his mouth like he was going to say something, but in the end, he said nothing.