Winning My Ex-Crush

Fenella’s POV

‘She was such a mess!’

‘What was Mallory thinking when she approved an ad like that?’

‘I thought the ad was pretty funny and creative.’

‘She and her friends and her models should have died and gone to hell!’

I sighed as I read the comments on Mallory West’s official social media page. The internet was still buzzing with arguments about the ad that was released yesterday for the HIV/AIDS prevention campaign. Driven by intense curiosity, I finally opened my own social media page.

‘Why did you accept a job like that? The ad only ruins your reputation as an elegant model.’

‘I thought she was getting more famous, but it seems she’s running out of work.’

‘Isn’t it her agent who chooses the jobs?’

‘No excuses! She should have refused if she didn’t want to. This shows that she was okay with doing the ad.’This is property © of NôvelDrama.Org.

‘I don’t know. I thought the ad was pretty funny and creative.’

‘People are reacting as if it’s the first time they’ve seen something like this. You can see more scenes like that in Hollywood movies.’

‘She should have died and gone to hell!’

I groaned in frustration as I read the comments on my social media page. The posts about the product launch ad had been deleted, but people were still leaving comments on unrelated posts. On top of that, my follower count had dropped drastically since yesterday and continued to decline over time.

Honestly, it was a terrible idea to open social media. I put my phone back on the floor and laid it face down. I propped my chin up with both hands and laid my head down weakly.

I thought that by following Alan’s advice, my reputation as a professional would be maintained, as Mallory expected from me. In reality, completing the project only led to public outrage and my reputation being destroyed in an instant.

My body lay on the carpeted floor. Beside me, Jessy was asleep on the sofa after getting drunk and taking painkillers. After much persuasion, he finally set his phone to silent mode without vibration and was able to sleep.

This was also Jessy’s first time as an agent handling a controversy of this scale. He couldn’t manage his stress and lost his efficient and wise composure.

Furthermore, he kept receiving bad news that my early next-year projects were in danger of being canceled by other agents and product owners. Some had even already canceled my participation in next year’s fashion shows.

Don’t ask how often I cried. My eyes have been swollen and puffy since yesterday. My hair was messy, rotten half-fruit was just lying on the plate on the floor, a pizza box was open with leftover pizza inside, and empty beer cans were scattered all over the floor.

Suddenly, my phone rang with a distinctive tone, indicating it was Laird calling. I answered the phone in a weak voice.

“Hi,” I greeted.

“Fenella, I know you didn’t mean to lie to me about Alan. I know he pressured you into keeping quiet about that vulgar ad.” Laird’s voice was low, a sign that he was holding back anger behind his words.

“Did you watch the ad? Didn’t you promise not to watch it?”

“Yeah, I know I promised! It’s just that everyone at the office had seen it, and they showed it to me. They were wondering if I had broken up with you.”

“I’m sorry, Laird. I know you’ll be angry, but I hope you understand my situation, and you know I didn’t like the ad either.” I let out a long sigh.

After seeing the ad, all my fans were speculating more wildly that Alan and I were really dating. The ad only confirmed their suspicions, which were completely wrong. Overwhelmed by the ad issue and rumors about my relationship with Alan, I once again chose to distance myself from everything.

Laird was silent for a moment, then he sighed deeply. “Yeah, I understand. Let them say what they want; only we know the truth.”

“Thank you, Laird.” Tears welled up in my eyes again.

“By the way, my investigation succeeded. Now I know who Alan really is.”

Laird’s voice was breathless, and I could barely understand what he was saying. My brain didn’t seem to be functioning well enough to process his words.

“Uh, you mean about his relationship with Amy? Is that still important? Because honestly, I don’t care about him anymore,” I replied lazily.

“You need to care. You need to know why he did all this to you and us. Meet me at Alan’s office, and we’ll make him confess everything. If necessary, we’ll torture him until he admits it.”

“But, Laird-”

“I have to go now to drive my motorcycle. Meet me there, okay?”

“Okay.”

He hung up. I stared at Laird’s photo in his profile picture on my phone screen. Maybe I was truly lucky to have a boyfriend like Laird. He once again proved to me that he was serious about supporting and protecting me without too many sweet promises.

I started to feel that whatever Alan’s reason or his relationship with Amy, it no longer mattered. Yes, maybe he managed to mess up my career, but he couldn’t ruin my relationship with Laird. That’s what matters to me now.

That’s what I should convince myself of. So why was I still sad about my career failure? Laird didn’t care whether I was a famous celebrity model or just an ordinary girl, but somehow, I didn’t feel good enough without my career.

My phone vibrated again, indicating a new message from a number saved in my contacts. I saw that it was from Alan. My eyes rolled. For the past two days, he hasn’t said anything to me. He had only sent one message yesterday, asking me not to leave the apartment for a while.

Now, what nonsense did he want to tell me? I opened his message.

‘Help me. Laird is going to kill me.’

I frowned as I read the message. Then, a screenshot from Alan was also sent to my phone. I looked at it, and sure enough, it seemed Laird had indeed threatened Alan. I knew we were going to pressure Alan to stop all his madness, but I didn’t think Laird was serious about threats of murder and torture, right?

Right?

I bit my lower lip. Then, I finally stood up and woke up Jessy. I shook his body until he groaned and blinked his eyes.

“Wake up, Jessy! Laird already knows who Alan really is! He asked us to meet him at Alan’s office now!”

“What?!” Jessy scratched his neck with his face scrunched up in confusion.

“Can you drive? We have to get to Alan’s office quickly. Laird might lose his temper with him!”

Suddenly, everything changed quickly. I felt it was an emergency to get to the office, and right now, only Jessy could take me there quickly. I put on my jacket without bothering to change my clothes. I wore long jeans and quickly grabbed my bag. Jessy, who seemed to be waking up, washed his face at the sink and hurriedly took the car keys.

We crossed my apartment building and braved the cold wind to get into the car. Just as I sat in the car, another message came from Laird. A fairly large file was sent, taking a while to download.

I read it slowly and gasped in shock. My breath caught in my throat, and my mouth hung open. I clenched my phone and pressed it to my lap. My other hand covered my mouth as I cursed in a loud whisper.

“What’s wrong, Fenella?” Jessy asked in confusion as he kept glancing back and forth between me and the road to maintain the car’s speed.

“He’s my friend. Alan used to be my classmate.”

I felt short of breath and felt like I was going to faint.