On the day Eli Burton won the Movie King, he did not keep his promise to acknowledge me publicly.

On the same day, the novel I wrote based on us was exposed.

He stood on the high podium, while his fervent fans cornered me and ruined my hand.

After that, I could no longer pick up a pen, and I gave up on continuing our story.

In response to his pleas, I simply closed my eyes and pulled off the hearing aid.

'Oh, the big star, you no longer belong to me.'

——

The day Eli won the Movie King, I accompanied him to the venue.

"The main reason I won the Movie King is thanks to..."

I sat in the audience, silently praying that Eli would keep his promise.

I didn't know why I had this bad premonition, after all, we had agreed on this when we first got together.

My palms were sweating due to nervousness, and I anxiously watched Eli on stage giving his acceptance speech.

"My leading lady, who is also my girlfriend, Mya Gordon."

The moment his words fell, the camera focused on Mya's face, just a few meters away from me, and the venue erupted in applause.

The cheers almost drowned out the out-of-place me.

Mya shyly waved her hand, their interaction was very intimate.

It seemed they were aiming for the hot search tonight.

My heart tightened in an instant, I looked up incredulously, and before I could react, hot tears slid down my face.

The thing I feared most had happened, catching me off guard.

I quickly turned my head, released my clenched hand from my dress, wiped away the tears on my face, and swallowed the sour taste in my throat.

But how could I swallow this?

I just stared blankly at him on stage.

My hand unconsciously clenched into a fist, the knuckles turning slightly white from the force.

But I didn't feel any pain.

Because I was still completely immersed in the shock I had just received, and couldn't recover for a long time.

'Oh, big star, you really shine bright.'

After eight years, Eli finally became what he wanted to be on this day.

I thought we would both be happy on this day.

My nose was sour, and my chest was swollen. For a moment, I forgot whether I should be excited or sad.

"Little girl, why are you crying? Are you his fan?"

A senior actor next to me handed me a tissue.

I trembled as I took it, thanking him softly.

"Are you a family member brought by someone?" The senior actor asked me kindly, probably because he saw me crying so sadly, he spoke to me in a very soft voice. "I don't think I've ever seen you before."

A family member?

I clenched the object in my hand, my nails digging into my soft palm.

I subconsciously looked at Eli, who was not far away. He had already received his award and stepped down.

The organizer arranged for him to sit next to Mya.

The two of them were whispering intimately.

Tomorrow, a few pictures will top the hot search. I'm used to this.

But I never thought that he would publicly acknowledge Mya as his girlfriend for the sake of popularity.

Even when I was present.

Has it been too long? Long enough to change a person.

I closed my eyes, not wanting to look any longer.

Many years ago, I promised Eli that I would accompany him until the day he won the Movie King.

But now I realize that we can only make it to this day.

I never thought that today, which we had fantasized about countless times, would turn out like this.

On my 25th birthday, Eli asked me what wish I had made.

I asked him to guess.

As it turns out, he guessed it right away.

I wished for his dreams to come true, to become the Movie King before he turned 30, to have a place in the show biz.

He insisted that on this day, all his fans should wish us well.

Now, my wish has come true. But he broke his promise.

The blessings weren't for me, but for him and someone else.

How ironic.

I looked up at the ceiling, tears the size of beans falling one by one.

I tried hard to compose myself.

But when I hold back my tears, my whole body feels uncomfortable.

"I'm not a family member, not anyone's family member."

My eyes were red, my voice was as soft as a mosquito's.

At this time, I should have been able to proudly tell this senior.

Look, the man receiving the award is my boyfriend.

But I looked so disheveled, so embarrassing.

He didn't keep his promise to go public with me, and I didn't get the chance to say it either.

I opened my phone and looked at the trending topics that had exploded.

Eight of them were about Eli and Mya.

I silently scrolled through the comments of the fans shipping them.

[They match so well.]

[Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!]

[I knew it, all those hints weren't for nothing.]

[Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, who understands the feeling of him going public with her on the day he wins the Movie King?]

The person who had once felt satisfied with getting 10 likes for a photo, now knew how to handle the code of popularity well.

But this version of him, I find very unfamiliar.

I avoided Eli's repeated glances in search of me.

He tried to get up anxiously, but was held back by Mya, who said something.

And he sat back down with difficulty.

I had a feeling that I couldn't describe. I felt I couldn't stay here any longer.

Watching the thing I had been longing for so long end up in someone else's hands, I felt a little suffocated.

I opened the chat with Eli, my vision blurred by tears again.

Actually, I had run into Mya just before the ceremony started.

I was a bit restrained, touching up my lipstick in front of the mirror.

But she barged into me.

Then she mocked. "You don't have a chance to go on stage anyway, why bother dressing up?"

She laughed unabashedly, I wanted to argue with her, but then I thought about the complex interpersonal relationships in the show biz.

And today happens to be the good day Eli won the Movie King.

I didn't bother to argue with her, I just replied with this.

"It's none of your business, and whether I go up or not, you'll see."

Mya scoffed, gave me a triumphant up-and-down look, and then turned and left.

It was a contemptuous challenge.

At that time, I was thinking about standing on the stage later, to slap her face with my actions.

Now I understand, that's what she meant by her words.

Eli probably had to maintain the heat of the shipped couple due to some unavoidable arrangements, considerations for future development, and pressure from the company.

So he had no choice but to give up on going public with me today.

But I never thought I would hear another person's name on this day,

I don't know if Eli thought about how cruel this would be for me when he read his acceptance speech.

"Little girl, wipe your tears." Another tissue was handed to me.

The senior didn't ask any more questions this time.

Hearing the voice of the old senior, I suddenly snapped back to reality, realizing that I had been crying all along.

I hurriedly wiped my tears, today was indeed a day of losing composure.

I felt like all the tears that I hadn't shed in such a long time were all flowing out today.

"The world of fame and fortune, sometimes it's like this, some people really get lost in it," he said.

I followed his gaze to see Eli and Mya, who were being interviewed.

They were laughing and chatting during the interview. At times, Mya would shyly cover her mouth and laugh, then hit Eli playfully.

Seeing this, I couldn't help but fall into memories.

When Eli first entered show biz, the company didn't allow him to publicly disclose his girlfriend due to his rising career.

Eli had a big argument with his agent about this and even threatened to quit.

At that time, he was not famous and didn't have much say.

We agreed that when he became the Movie King, he would reveal me at the award ceremony.

By then, he wouldn't have to worry about the company's opinion. Plus, it would be the most important day of his life.

It would be meaningful.

After Eli gained some fame in show biz, he started to get busier, coming home later and later. Our time together drastically reduced, we were no longer together every day, no longer had endless conversations, sometimes we wouldn't see each other for a long time.

But he visibly matured and became more capable.

More and more people started to like him and became his fans.

I dutifully kept our little home, taking care of him when he came home drunk time and time again.

I believed that the hardship was only temporary, Eli was so talented, we would definitely make it through.

Even if we were no longer as sweet as before, it was okay.

Because people have their own principles and bottom lines.

Once, I was Eli's principle and bottom line.

I trusted him unconditionally.

But now I've found that I was wrong, people's principles and bottom lines can change.

That's why he made concessions on this matter.

I just don't understand, I really can't figure it out, we made it through such hard times before.

How did it become like this?

"Actually, you should be glad that you've seen things clearly," he said.

So this old senior had figured it out, he was comforting me in a roundabout way.

I forced a smile and said lightly, "Yes, I should see it clearly. After all, I was never a part he was willing to give up."

The old senior looked at me deeply, sighed, and then looked at the two people who were still being teased by the reporters in front, he couldn't think of any comforting words.

He just shook his head at Eli and said, "You naughty boy, naughty boy."

We were really in love before.

In the corners I hadn't noticed, many things had changed.

I lowered my eyes and weakly typed three words on my phone.

After hesitating for a long time, I still pressed the send button.

After saying goodbye to the old senior, I quietly turned around and left.

What I didn't know was that on this day, the novel I wrote based on Eli and me was exposed.

They had confirmed that the male lead in my novel was modeled after Eli.

And many timelines matched Eli's activities.

Things escalated, and I was exposed for frequently appearing at Eli's locations, stalking him.

The comment section of my novel was bombed by Eli's fans.

I was also labeled as a stalker fans.

The speed of the internet is truly astonishing.

Almost at the same time I found out about the news, I was dragged by my hair into an alley.

I was almost home, just a few hundred meters away.

The cold air in the alley made me shiver.

But I realized that what was more terrifying was the person in front of me.

My scalp was being pulled so hard that I felt a small bump forming at the root of my hair.

I gasped in pain.

I struggled to resist, pulling at my own hair.

But to them, this seemed like a silent provocation, triggering their desire to win.

"Ah!" The person pulling me suddenly exerted force and threw me off, I screamed.

I fell into the undried, smelly water.

The smell of mildew mixed with the stench of the stagnant water.

But I couldn't think about that now, I was desperately trying to get up.

But my hand was firmly stepped on by someone. He ground his teeth and asked me, "Erika, it's you, right?"

The newcomers were several burly men, exuding a strong societal vibe.

I tried to stay calm, staring at the man in front of me and counter-questioning, "What do you want?"

I looked around in fear and noticed that the instigators were two women next to them.

Finally, my gaze settled on the iron rods in their hands, and I was so scared that my back teeth chattered.

And these two women, I knew them.

They were Eli's real fans, both of them were quite extreme fan leaders.

They had even been jailed for a few days for doing some excessive things.

One of the women looked at me with disgust and then stepped on my other hand.

I didn't have the strength to scream anymore, I struggled to pull my hand out.

But the more I struggled, the harder she stepped.

The friction between my skin and the ground was burning, but she didn't let go even when bloodstains appeared on the ground.

Instead, she squatted down and pulled my hair. I was forced to look up at her, shaking badly.

Tears of pain fell from my cheeks.

"Now you know fear, stalking him, doing those petty thefts, weren't you scared then?" The square-faced woman slapped me twice.

She was strong, the pain spread from my face, I felt a ringing in my ears. Everything was dark, but I was forced to listen to her.

"I know you went to his house. Did you sneak into his bed, his bathtub, sniff his clothes? I've never been there, and you dare to?" She gritted her teeth fiercely and slapped me again. I shook my head frantically, struggling to bite her hand.

Her slaps kept landing on my head.

While resisting, I kept crying and explaining, "I'm not a fan, I'm his girlfriend."

But it was no use, another woman, who looked quite literary in her glasses, swore angrily.

"You're his girlfriend, and I'm his girlfriend too? You did what we couldn't do. You're really asking for it." She picked up an iron rod from the side and swung it at my face.

At the same time, the two feet on my hand were released. But I didn't have time to block it and took the hit.

A sticky liquid flowed down from my forehead, the taste of blood filled my mouth.

The pain made me stiffen.

But it seemed like I had lost sensation, I shook my head several times forcing myself to stay awake.

Then I tried to find my phone in my pocket, "I can prove that I'm his girlfriend, I'm not a fan, I have pictures."

But as soon as I touched it, before I could unlock it.

It was snatched by the square-faced woman and shattered into pieces.

"You're even more stubborn than us." She kicked me hard in the stomach.

The pain made me break out in a cold sweat instantly, I curled up clutching my stomach.

I didn't even have the strength to cry out anymore.

Perhaps it didn't matter whether I proved I was a fan or not.

Because they were simply crazy!!

"You love to write, don't you?" The woman in glasses looked at me sinisterly, then she and the square-faced woman exchanged a look.

They signaled to the burly men.

They dragged me up and forcefully pressed my right arm to the ground.

One of them picked up an iron rod from the ground and held it over my hand.

The woman in glasses laughed wildly, she asked me, "You love to write stories about Eli, what will you do if we ruin your hand?"

When I heard her words, the tension in my brain snapped, I completely broke down.

I screamed in despair, desperately twisting my body.

But how could it help?