Olivia said, “I gave him endless chances. From last night till today, I gave him two chances to come clean, but did he? He was busy explaining that there was nothing between him and Azalea, while I was trying to squeeze the truth out of him. I never wanted to hide the relationship between Christoff and me.
If he had not lied to me, saying that he was assisting the investigation at the police station, I would have told him about Christoff. I thought he was too embarrassed and proud to tell me about his struggles, and I was such a fool for telling North to keep the secret for him. Now, I finally know the reason behind his cover-ups-he didn’t want me to learn about Azalea!”
Jewel responded, “Well, maybe Azalea is in love with Eugene, but don’t worry! He’s definitely not into her. You know, men do not like to create unnecessary trouble for themselves. He probably thought there was no need to tell you about Azalea because there was nothing between them anyway.”
Olivia gave her a side-eye. “Of course, you’d trust him because he’s like your brother. Stop putting in a good word for him.”
That shut Jewel up. Back at the filming set, Carter Rogers immediately noticed that Olivia was in a bad mood. He went up to her and asked, “Godmother, what happened to you?”
She replied, “It’s nothing. I didn’t sleep well last night.” He shot a quizzical look at North. North sighed wistfully like an old soul without revealing anything. He was baffled by the actions of both the mother and the son, but he didn’t press on because he assumed that they must have run into a complicated issue.
The two kids would stick around Olivia, telling her jokes and making faces. That cheered her up a lot, but she still lost her focus from time to time. There were a lot of outtakes during her scenes, but the director didn’t have a go at her because he knew that she was struggling with something. At noon, Christoff sneaked up to her. “What’s wrong?”
Olivia couldn’t be bothered to talk to him. “Nothing.” He asked, “Is it because of the article from the morning?” She looked at him, astonished. “From the morning?” He had an annoying smile on his face. “Why?” Haven’t you I read the post online?”
She frowned and searched for the post on her phone. As expected, she found a new post, titled “Eugene Nolan and Olivia Maxwell Suspected to Have Fought Over the 38-Minute: Secret Chat Incident”.
The attached photo was taken at the entrance of the hotel. It also captured the scene of her fight with Eugene at the door to the hotel room. She was the most angered at a gif image, which pictured her yelling at Eugene: “And you do not have the right to question my relationship with Christoff Stevenson!”
The comment section was a mess. Most people speculated that the couple had broken up. Someone remarked that Olivia had used Eugene to boost her popularity and was ready to go solo once her popularity started rising. Worse, someone added that Eugene had found out about her affair with Avery Mauve and was confronting her.
A sense of despair crept up on her. The 38- minute secret chat and the gossip about her breakup seemed to be part of a well-executed plan to defame her. Christoff chuckled. “I never thought you’d be this protective of me. I’m glad.”
She shot him a look. “Are you behind all these?” It was a question, but he knew she was suspecting him from the look in her eyes. He frowned at her. “Hey. Don’t blame it on me. I just found out about it.”
She questioned, “Who else can it be? No one else has the time to stalk me like you do.” He glanced at her. “Why would I spend my time doing that?”
Olivia accused him in rage, “You were the one who spoke to me for 38 minutes, and you’re the one who wishes to see me break up with Eugene! It can’t be anyone but you!”
