"Contestant number five, contestant number two, contestant number seven and..." The director stopped, his gaze flickering to Beatrice momentarily.
Before the announcement of the results, Beatrice had hinted to him that everything on the live stream always strangely turned out in Elara’s favor, despite how things turned out.
Be it the song or the change in the script, for some reason, the stream finds out about it, portraying her as someone being bullied.
There was no doubt that Elara was either a good manipulator who had the intelligence to turn every situation in her favor, or, plainly put, she was the one orchestrating all of this.
After all, who in their right mind would give her the wrong script, and why? What personal beef did anybody have with her? It didn’t make any sense at all.
But he couldn’t ignore the fact that she was indeed the one bringing the most viewers. Not to mention how everyone was sympathizing with her at the moment.
The director thinned his lips before taking a deep breath.
"Contestant number three," he said.
Elara’s lips twitched, her gaze flickering to Carla, who glared back at her.
"But her script wasn’t even the one supposed to be for her," Carla interrupted.
Before anyone could chime in and ignite the fire, Producer Li stood.
"And it’s the fact that she was given something entirely different and still portrayed it so well, defines her versatility," he said.
Once the stream ended, the contestants were about to leave when Sean stood.
"I object. How can you have her in the same show as Beatrice? Don’t you know their history?" Sean asked.
Elara narrowed her brows.
She was really tempted to go and smack Sean’s head for saying something like that. Not because this threatened her role here, but because she didn’t want anyone to know about her marriage to Andrew, not when she was days away from finalizing the divorce.
"What kind of history?" The director, who just needed an excuse to sideline Elara and thought of using her vocals without giving her any credit if she still wanted to earn some fame, looked at Sean.
Sean smirked at Elara.
Since she called him a loyal dog before, who wagged its tail around Beatrice, she should experience the consequences of it.
"This girl is obsessed with your investors, Andrew, who had vouched for Beatrice as the female lead. It has been her old habit of competing with her because she is just so jealous of Beatrice’s beauty and talent. Everyone in high society knows of it," Sean feigned innocence and confusion before shaking his head.
"I can’t believe you guys are letting this happen. They call her a jealous freak. Do you really want your show to be abandoned by the high-class society and block all future investors by letting it happen?" Sean asked.
Elara blinked at the man in disbelief. What kind of joke was he pulling here? And how come everyone was letting it happen? Didn’t they know this was going to affect everything?
The director’s forehead creased as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He had thought it would just be something small, but this? How could he ignore this even if he personally favored Elara?
"Is it true, Miss Elara?" The director asked.
Before Elara could open her mouth to answer, Carla chimed in.
"Why are you asking her? Of course, it’s true. I can attest to it. Beatrice is my brother’s close friend, just like Sean, and I am his sister. Of course, I know," Carla said, barely containing her smirk.
This was a good opportunity to get rid of the girl.
"In that case, I can’t let this affect my show. If netizens hear about it, they will turn it into a scandal. Two female costars have links with an investor. They will think this contest was rigged, too. And paparazzi? They’ll turn my show into a joke." The director shook his head.
Elara looked at everyone present before her and let out a slow chuckle.
The director looked at her, offended.
Was she laughing at him? This made his decision to get her out of the show even more prominent.
An artist who had no regard for his reputation and position wasn’t invited to his set.
"Please don’t mind me. I just couldn’t control myself. Continue, Sean," Elara said with a provocative grin.
Sean bit back a snarky remark about her marriage to Andrew because he didn’t want anything to go in her favor, and since she claimed to be starting to hate the marriage, he was sure she wouldn’t mention it either.
"Contestant Elara, Mr. Sean is one of our esteemed guests. He is the heir to the Turner family. You can’t disrespect him and think you’ll be allowed to stay here," the director said.
Elara nodded. She then turned to Noah and Nate, who had arrived earlier after preparing for the tour of their artists, before sighing.
She really did try her best, but there was nothing she could do anymore. Staying in the show directed by a man like him, who was already biased against her, wasn’t going to be easy, even torturous, she would say.
But then, "giving up" wasn’t a phrase in her book, and she pressed her lips into a thin line.
She thought about everything she could do to make Sean shut up, and in her moment of desperation, she could only think of one name. Taking help from this man wouldn’t reveal her identity so easily.
With a sigh, she was about to call him when she heard the same commotion as earlier and looked up.
"It’s Mr. Mason," someone around her said, and she looked in the direction of the crowd with furrowed brows.
No. This couldn’t be.
As far as she knew him, there was no way...
The crowd made way for the man, and her gaze fell on him, her pupils dilating.
At the same time, Beatrice, who had used her connections to get the man here to act in the show, smiled.
This was going to increase her popularity and favoritism in the crew.
When she saw the man rushing towards the stage, she smiled wider and quickly stepped forward.
"Mason, you really —" Beatrice started with open hands, but to her utter surprise, the man walked past her and rushed straight to Elara.
Without thinking twice, he spread his arms and hugged Elara like she was some kind of teddy bear before lifting her from the ground and circling her, making the girl snap out of her daze and squeal in surprise.
"Mason, you twit!" Elara groaned, catching everyone off guard as everyone watched in surprise, unsure what was happening.
Andrew, who walked inside the hall after Jason updated him on William’s health, watched the scenes unfold before him and couldn’t help but feel a pang in his heart.
Who was this man? And why was he hugging his wife like this?
"What’s happening?" Andrew raised his voice, catching everyone off guard when he walked to the stage and nearly pulled Elara out of Mason’s hand before hiding her behind him.
The entire crew watched the drama unfold on the stage with wide, shocked eyes.
Didn’t Sean just say that Elara was the one persuading Andrew and trying to curry favor from their prime investor? Then why did it look like the opposite?