Loving A STRANGER

To her surprise, just as she was leaving the studio, she received a phone call from Laurence. He ordered her to return to the company site immediately.

When Kylie returned to the site, even the employees at Garcia Entertainment looked at her with some disdain. It had been proven that the video on Instagram was telling the truth.

She chose to ignore everyone else and went directly to Laurence"s office. He chose to meet her at his company office instead of at home. She could already a.s.sume the significance of their meeting.

"President, you asked for me?"

"Sit down." Laurence looked up from the file in front of him and tried to conceal his anger.

Kylie carelessly flopped down on the sofa. She placed her feet on the coffee table and loudly chewed her gum.

"Kylie, the person in the video is you, right?" Laurence closed the file, then continued, in an angry tone: "I can recognize your back."

"Are you so sure?" Without looking at him, Kylie bowed her head and glanced at her cellphone.

Her careless att.i.tude disgusted Laurence.

"How could director Julian add a part for you, considering your terrible acting skills? You must have played tricks on him."

Faced with Laurence"s doubts, Kylie remembered the numerous occasions in which he had protected Khloe... At first, Kylie had thought that Laurence only defended Khloe because she had just started her acting career. For that reason, Kylie had once been willing to endure the unequal treatment of his daughters.

But now she realized that Khloe was the only one he would ever want to protect.

"I was in Connell that day, but I didn"t make out with William in the car." Kylie pretended to be calm, but her eyes were intently watching every expression on Laurence"s face. "And that day, Khloe was also in Connell."

"You...you mean, the black girl is Khloe?! What nonsense!" Lauren violently threw the doc.u.ments to the ground and stared cruelly at the person on the sofa.

"I asked Khloe, and she said that she saw you with William at that time..." Laurence continued.

"What did we do together? Embrace? Or have an intimate moment... Are you saying that she took that video?"

"You are really unreasonable!" Laurence paced around his office. He looked at Kylie and said: "She saw someone recording a video, then she paid that person not to publish it. She wanted to help you, but she hadn"t thought that person had a second copy! Khloe does everything for you, but you defame every chance you get.

"You are an actress at Garcia Entertainment. Your behavior has brought shame to this company... Whether you are willing or not, you must stand up and explain everything to the public, and admit that the person in the video is you. Remember to include that everything has only to do with you and nothing to do with the company."

Kylie finally looked up and looked into Laurence"s angry and disdainful eyes. She nodded. "I will do as you wish. But I have a request: I want an a.s.sistant, and I want to choose her for myself."

"Behave yourself." Laurence eased up a bit, but he continued to watch her coldly.

No matter how rebellious, as long as Kylie was still an entertainer for Garcia Entertainment, Laurence was in control of her. But in the last few years, he had not been doing very well.

"The press conference is at eight tonight. There will be a meeting later to prepare a script for you."

"Ok." Kylie spat out her gum into the crystal ashtray on the coffee table. She adopted an expression of indifference as soon as she"d left Laurence"s office.

Kylie would not give Laurence another chance to manipulate her life.

It was also time to pay Khloe back, for all the bad things she had done to Kylie.

Kylie stood at the end of the corridor and called Faith. "Laurence wants me to tell the media that the video is all my fault."

"Kylie, just tell me what to do." On her first day as Kylie"s a.s.sistant, Faith felt full of energy.

"The press conference is at eight tonight. I must acknowledge that the person in the video is me, and then... I want you to upload the things I anonymously send you..."

"Great, it"s a Jedi task! I must give it a bright headline: "The Flower Is Actually A b.i.t.c.h."

Kylie was amused. She said: "Faith, I"m warning you; you might get involved in a negative way..."

"Kylie, as long as you decide to fight, I will always stand by your side and help you get back what"s yours. You will be the next Oscar winner, I know it."

An Oscar winner... Kylie had never thought about it before. She had just been so focused on winning this battle.

First, Laurence and Khloe had to pay the price...

***

After half an hour, Aiden arrived at the company site to pick up Khloe. He heard all about the upcoming press conference and was worried about Kylie.

Kylie was sitting in a restaurant, waiting for Ethan, when Aiden, who had just walked in, invited her to have dinner with him, in an effort to comfort her.

"I ordered your favorite caviar..."

Kylie was stunned and didn"t know what to say. She had been with Aiden for five years, and still, he didn"t even know what her favorite food was.

"What"s wrong? No appet.i.te?"

When Kylie was about to speak, she saw a chef in a black suit coming over, carrying a silver plate. He arrived at the table, lifted the lid from the silver dish, and smiled at her. "Madame, we specially prepared foie gras for you. We wish you a good victory."

The expression on Aiden"s face was one of embarra.s.sment, but he couldn"t express his feelings to Kylie. He picked up a bit of caviar, and asked: "Since when do you like foie gras?"

"Thank you," Kylie said to the chef. "I will not let you down." Kylie did not look at Aiden.

The chef politely nodded and walked away.

"Kylie... Sorry, I know that I wasn"t very good before..." Aiden whispered, blaming himself.

"It doesn"t matter, and you just need to learn about Khloe," Kylie thought but did not say. Instead, she calmly took up her spoon.