The door was closed, and inside the private room, no one spoke for a long time.
They looked at each other, both wide-eyed, trapped in an awkward silence, utterly unsure of how to break it.
"Are we still going out tonight?"
After who knows how long, someone finally asked.
This question, like a switch turned on, startled everyone present, and the silence instantly became noisy.
"My wife is urging me to go back and take care of the kids, I really have to go back."
"I’m not going either, my mom’s called me twenty or thirty times already. If I don’t go back, my phone will run out of power."
"Sorry, but I also have something urgent to attend to. I’ve got to leave right away. Let’s meet again next time."
Initially, people were still finding reasons, but in the end, they didn’t even bother to make excuses.
They hurriedly got up, grabbed their coats, and headed out.
Among the noise, there were some whispers.
"No wonder she seemed clueless, turns out she wasn’t the main character at all."
"Really trying to make herself look good, claiming she asked the front desk, making it sound genuine."
"Creating such a big misunderstanding is utterly embarrassing."
"If the Virtue Retreat is truly as mysterious and powerful as they say, then based on their attitude towards Nora Scott... Will the way we treated Nora make her bear a grudge and retaliate against us?"
The sarcasm, blame, and complaints... were all voices adding insult to injury.
These voices sounded, then gradually faded away.
Finally, only Sophie, Lily, and Isabella were left at the table.
"Sophie, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have spoken out of turn back then," Isabella said, patting Sophie’s hand to comfort her, "Don’t worry too much about this, everyone knows it was a misunderstanding..."
At this point, Isabella glanced at Sophie’s face and couldn’t continue speaking. She quickly said, "Someone just urged me to handle something, sorry, I can’t stay with you. Keep your chin up, and contact me anytime if you need anything."
Without staying any longer, Isabella picked up her bag and hurriedly left.
Lily took Sophie’s hand, softly calling her.
Sophie, who was stiff all over, finally moved. She looked at Lily, her voice hoarse, "Lily..."
As soon as she spoke, tears fell down.
"It’s okay, it’s okay."
Lily reached out to hug her and gently patted her shoulder, "I can understand how you feel. Look at me, didn’t I also go through a tough time recently with all the negative stuff online? As time goes by, things will pass."
Sophie sniffled, her eyelashes trembled slightly, soaked with tears.
She pressed her lips tightly and said nothing.
Lily’s comfort, in the end, was just comfort, without any practical effect.
It was precisely because of the online negativity that Lily now struggled to maintain her little star status, with her popularity plummeting, no endorsements, no roles... Once she was the center of attention, now she was treated like a plague.
And the blunder tonight definitely won’t pass that easily. As long as someone mentions it, the comic artist circle will always remember her joke.
"How could it be Nora?"
After quite a while, Sophie choked out.
She couldn’t understand why it was Nora?
Why did it have to be Nora?
She was strictly educated by Alma Ferreira from a young age, meticulously controlling every move to perform excellently, occasionally receiving Ernesto Scott’s praise.
As soon as she was brought back, Ernesto Scott treated her like a queen, effortlessly receiving all the love.
In terms of education, quality, comic skill, she far surpassed Nora.
Nora’s acting is bad, her temper is bad, and she’s vain and stubborn—there’s nothing good about her apart from that face.
Why does she get special treatment from the Virtue Retreat?
"You might not know, but Nora often does some bodyguard work because of her martial arts skills, and sometimes it’s quite dangerous," Lily analyzed, "Maybe because of that, she knows the owner of the Virtue Retreat and helped out a bit, thus getting such privileges."
Sophie was stunned, "Bodyguard?"
Lily said, "Yeah. After all, she started as a stunt double, she has some skills."
This explanation made Sophie feel a little better.
However, the sudden reversal still left a lingering psychological shadow for Sophie.
Even the slightest recollection made her blood run cold uncontrollably. She trembled and found it hard to calm down for a long time. This content belongs to Novᴇl_Fire(.)net
Front desk on the first floor.
Just as the contract and food had arrived, Nora heard a lively voice call out—
She turned around and saw a familiar comic artist jogging over.