I sneered. How could he have auditioned for it?

He’d just used the same trick, letting the casting director feel his shark muscles, abs and mermaid lines.

“Okay then,” I held out my hand and said lazily. “Since you’re sorry, give me the role back.”

His face flushed and he seemed frozen in time. He stared at Scarlett helplessly. She immediately exploded and stood in front of him, her petite body radiating boundless energy.

“Calvin, are you sick? You’re incompetent, yet you insist on forcing Zachary to his death? How did Zachary offend you?!”

A wry smile curled my lips.

Ignoring the lingering bitterness in my heart, I asked, “Oh? You didn’t know?”

Scarlett clearly knew. She loved to “cultivate.”

From my first audition, when she led me through line practice and character development, to now, when she coaxed her little puppy to sleep and posted on X app, the routine was exactly the same.

She loved watching a young man slowly blossom under her care, like a game of victory all her own.

She called it a sense of accomplishment.

I was willing to accommodate her preferences and pretended to be the way she wanted.

But ultimately, my pretense wasn’t convincing enough and she no longer liked it.

Now, she had found a new “replacement.”

That tone-deaf little puppy with a perpetually aggrieved expression. When she forced the song she’d originally written for my stage comeback onto her little puppy, I didn’t object.

She pressured me into a late-night variety show, euphemistically calling it “rekindling my popularity,” but it left me stranded in the studio for four straight nights, which caused a relapse of my old kidney injury and hospitalization.

I finally made it onto the trending search list for the first time in a long time, but she called me “squeamish” and didn’t come to see me.

She spent every night with her puppy and danced passionately at bikini parties.

Until that day, I had just been discharged from the hospital when a thick file was slammed in my face.

“Are you crazy?! You hired a group of trolls to discredit Zachary?!”

I flipped open the report, which was filled with revelations about Zachary’s misconduct on the set and it topped the trending search list.

But I had never seen this data before. Seeing that I didn’t respond, Scarlett raised her hand and slapped me.

“Calvin, why are you so petty? Did you know that Zachary had a depression episode and self-harmed?! I’m telling you, if Zachary doesn’t recover, I’ll never let you, a piece of shit, go!”

The slap mark on my face burned and I sneered.

“Let’s check the data source.”

I contacted the hacker and ten minutes later, the IP address was found.

“These were all trending searches Zachary bought himself to ruin his popularity.”

Scarlett didn’t believe it until I showed her the screenshots from backstage. Her face grew colder and colder.

“I’m sorry... I’m jealous. I’m just so scared.”

Zachary’s fingers and lips trembled as he nervously picked at the shallow scar on his wrist until it bled.

“I’m afraid of losing popularity, afraid of losing resources. I’m afraid of losing Scarlett.”

Rich in holes and contrived, Zachary’s acting was so fake, yet Scarlett believed it. Her eyes welled up with heartache and she rushed over to hug him tightly.

"Zachary, you’re so silly…”

She looked up at me.

“Brother Calvin… why don’t we just let this go?”

I froze for two seconds and suddenly remembered the last time she called me Brother Calvin. It was when we were kids.

She looked at me like that, tears welling in her eyes.

“Brother Calvin, I don’t have a mom and dad anymore. You’re all I have.”

At that time, I was willing.

Hearing it now, it felt like a knife ripping my heart out.

She completely shattered every little detail of our relationship and trampled it underfoot.

From then on, Scarlett no longer hid her preference for Zachary.

She knew I was allergic to seafood, but Zachary loved it, so from then on, the company lunchboxes consisted of only seafood.

Every Valentine’s Day, she spent it with Zachary and her WhatsApp status was filled with photos of them checking in at various couples’ spots.

Scarlett even got a matching tattoo on the spot where Zachary was injured and even managed to send Zachary a birthday greeting on X app: [We’ve been hurt together and we’ll never be apart.]

She even gave Zachary the wedding ring her parents had left her before they died as an earring.

The moment I saw it, my voice trembled.

“Scarlett, this is what your parents left us as a wedding ring.”

This was my final line.

Zachary’s face paled.

“Sorry, senior, I really didn’t know it was yours.”

With that, he dug his fingernail into the earring and pulled it off, immediately oozing blood!

Scarlett immediately became furious, looking at me with uncontrollable disgust.

“Why are you so petty? We’re going to get the marriage certificate anyway. You’re my legal husband, isn’t that enough?”

In Scarlett’s eyes, I was always that hopeless artist, that worthless commodity, the humble man who would always pursue her.

I owed my life to her; I couldn’t live without her.

She never questioned my sincerity. I looked at her familiar yet unfamiliar face and smiled softly.

“Scarlett, why are you so sure I’ll only marry you?”

The air suddenly became quiet.

She looked up, a sneer on her lips, her eyes slightly raised, a look of disdain on her face.

“Listen to what you’re saying. Are you crazy again?”

She glanced at me coldly, raised an eyebrow and asked softly, “If you don’t marry me, who else can you marry? You’re a has-been, a worthless person. Besides me, what other agent would dare to hire you? What other woman would dare to marry you? Without me, you’re nothing!”

I was about to tell her I’d decided to find another partner. But she interrupted me, her chin raised impatiently.

“Come on, stop messing around. After Zachary’s birthday party in a few days, I’ll go get the marriage certificate with you. Is that okay?”

Zachary sighed heavily, a look of dejection unconcealed on his face.

“I really envy Senior Calvin. If I could marry a woman as wonderful as Scarlett, I’d be unable to resist having you every night…”

Scarlett immediately covered Zachary’s mouth, her face flushing red.

“You rascal, what nonsense are you talking about?”

Watching Zachary kiss her palm, Scarlett’s eyes melted.

“You don’t know, the only reason I agreed to marry this loser was to fulfill my parents’ last wish. But I’ve already said it: my heart is with you. I’m even happy for our son to take your last name.”

Zachary’s eyes instantly reddened. He lowered his head to hug her and pecked her on the lips.

Scarlett didn’t even try to dodge.

And so, right in front of me, they kissed. My grip tightened gradually and watching this scene, I felt like I was sinking into an ice cellar.

“Scarlett, don’t go too far.”

She turned back, anger in her eyes and sneered.

“I’m going too far.”

As she spoke, she raised her arm to wrap around Zachary’s neck and kissed him fiercely on the lips, even sticking out her tongue and digging in.

I clenched my teeth, resisting the urge to rush forward and spoke each word with clarity.

“Get out of here!”

Without looking back, she took Zachary’s arm and walked away.

“Do you really think of the company as your home? That’s hilarious.”

She put Zachary’s earrings back on, her movements so gentle that they seemed uncharacteristic of her.

I leaned against the wall, took out a cigarette and a chill settled within me.

Stanley handed me his lighter and carefully lit it for me.

“Mr. Nicholson, is it worth it?”

I lowered my head and exhaled, then, amidst the mist, touched my chest.

For Scarlett, despite being the heir to a wealthy financial family, I devoted myself to becoming an entertainer, just so she could have a place to begin her dreams.

When she was in the early stages of uremia, I anonymously matched myself with her and donated a kidney, even going into surgery without leaving my name.

The scars of that surgery were hidden beneath the layers of scars from the fire.

But she would rather embrace and kiss a man who only flirted with her than even glance back at me.

I chuckled softly.

“Let’s arrange a debut ceremony for the new artist.”

“Yes.” Stanley nodded.

That afternoon, the opening audio of “Zachary’s Birthday Special” came through.

Hearing the familiar melody, my face completely changed.

That song was the love song I wrote for Scarlett when we were young. It had never been released publicly and there was no record of it being uploaded.

But on the program’s audio tape, the song had been remixed, the credits removed and the lyrics altered.

It had become Zachary’s original track.

I thought I’d be angry, but I felt strangely calm.

I called Stanley, explained the situation and then blocked Scarlett on my phone.

This time, I’d let everyone know who truly rules this circle.

But I didn’t expect the blocked Scarlett to come to me, clutching a thermos.

“Don’t you love this ginger and jujube soup? I made it especially for you.”

There was a time when I coughed and she’d get so anxious she’d insist on going into the kitchen to make soup, leaving a mess.

Back then, I believed every word she said. But now, looking at the thermos with the takeout label still attached, I felt a sense of unfamiliarity.

Seeing that I didn’t answer for a long time, her expression visibly stiffened.

“Calvin, why are you giving me such a hard time just because of one of your songs? I advise you not to be so shameless.”

I smiled, not bothering to respond.

Night fell and Zachary’s birthday party arrived.

The LED skylight was ablaze with fireworks and a series of light and shadow cameras captured the scene in real time.

The industry’s top MCN team was busy collecting materials and the marketing copy was ready, just waiting for the trending searches to go live.

And Scarlett, dressed in a silver off-shoulder dress, holding Zachary’s arm, looked as beautiful as if she were attending her own wedding.

A reporter approached with a smile.

“Ms. Townsend, I heard you’re getting married soon?”

She was slightly startled, her eyes darkening for a moment, as if marrying me were some kind of humiliation. But upon seeing Zachary, she smiled again.

“No rush. Today is Zachary’s night.”

The atmosphere gradually heated up and Zachary deliberately walked up to me and raised his glass.

“Senior Calvin,” his eyes gleamed with uncontrollable defiance, “thank you so much for your generosity. You gave me a new song.”

Seeing that I didn’t even raise my eyes, his smile grew even more smug. As he walked away, he accidentally tipped over his glass, spilling his drink.

I reacted quickly and took a step back.

He lost his balance and slammed into the sound control!

The camera whipped around, its flashbulbs exploding like an explosion.

Zachary fell to the ground, his nose bleeding profusely and his sound control equipment completely destroyed.

The whole audience was in an uproar. “Calvin, are you crazy?! What if Zachary’s face is ruined?”

I chuckled softly.

“You should ask him if he considered the consequences of hurting someone.”

Scarlett trembled with anger.

“Apologize.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“Say it again?”

She stepped forward, her eyes full of warning. She raised her glass and slowly poured it down on me.

“I asked you to apologize!”

The strong alcohol poured down on me and extinguished the last vestiges of warmth in my heart.

I stood there, closed my eyes for two seconds and when I opened them, my vision was completely clear.

Under Scarlett’s stunned gaze, I walked onto the stage. My voice was soft, yet piercing the entire room.

“Tonight, I have a few announcements. First, today isn’t Zachary’s birthday party. It’s our company’s newest member’s debut ceremony.”

The large screens on either side of the stage immediately projected photos of newcomer Hazel. “Secondly, Vivid Entertainment artist, Zachary, plagiarized someone else’s original song and is officially banned. His agent, Scarlett, has also been fired.”

The audience began to commotion.

“Third…” I glanced somewhere below and landed on Scarlett’s stunned and embarrassed face. A sneer curled my lips.

“My engagement with Scarlett is off.”