Chapter 26

“I was just as surprised as you,” Kevin knew what kind of reaction she had and continued driving. “I cannot even imagine that he would commit such crimes… and he would have jumped off the building after that.”

“It was quick, to be honest,” Bethany responded and browsed through news sites on her phone. When she found it, she realized that the related articles of him and she that put their company under fire were now gone. Everything was wiped.

“The news that also had our backs targeted by everyone last week is all gone,” Bethany commented and looked at Kevin. “That is also strange, don’t you think?”

Kevin became silent, then continued driving. “Yes, it really was strange when I woke up.”

“Surely that you did not order to kill him, right?”

“What? Why would I do that?” Kevin became suddenly defensive, taken by surprise by the question.

“Well, because your girlfriend was already taken by Stewart before he died, anyway. On top of his crimes before that.”

“I could have done that if I wanted to, but it won’t change anything, I think,” Kevin became calm and tried to explain everything without giving away that it was Lee who pushed Stewart to die. “Besides, I and Gwen already had a falling out before all of this happened, so…”

“It was fate that made him do such a thing, then.”

“What? Surely, you won’t say that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t believe in fate, so better bug off,” Kevin mocked in a girly, high-pitched voice and grinned as he tried to tease Bethany. “That’s what you would say whenever you are getting your suitors to say their pieces to you. You are the last person to say the words of fate to me.”

“I said those words?” Bethany asked with a gaped mouth in surprise, could not believe that she used to say it during her teenage years.

“Yes, you did! You even managed to drive away every guy that was attracted to you. And you did not even regret on shooting down every one of them.”

He managed to drive away the topic, putting a lid on Lee’s secret and his involvement in knowing his aristocratic move that made their company clear of the rumors and mud. Deep inside him, Kevin wanted to let her in but was afraid of the dark path that he had witnessed with Lee’s father and that would put Bethany in danger.

He cannot afford to do that. Not for his secretary.

Juggling his mind into thinking about their conversation last night, his feelings got surprisingly light from the cackle that Bethany let out.

“You know me,” Bethany started to respond to him with a smug attitude. “I never really regret anything.”

“You might have wanted someone to confess to you in that place.”

“What do you mean?”

“The Tulip Avenue. I heard that that place is a lucky place for couples confessing their feelings.”

Bethany fell into silence, thinking deeply, imagining what would happen if Kevin was the one who was there and not some other guys. She took one long, hard look at the man and unconsciously smiled at the thought as if they were back in high school again. She played the scenario in her mind and liked it.

It would have been better if that was the case.

“Yeah,” she confirmed what Kevin asked for her. “I would have liked it if it was some other man. A specific one, you know.”

“Who would the lucky man be?” Kevin shot her an interrogating glance, but Bethany evaded the question and simply looked away, smirking.

“I’m not telling.”

With a light laugh, Kevin continued driving until they got to the parking lot of their company, where a familiar face was waiting by the cluster of cars. He squinted his eyes and there was James, with his blue eyes shining in the headlights shining on him. Involuntarily, Bethany started to look in every direction, seeing if there were any of his fans nearby watching them. Both of them went outside and approached the man looking tired.

“James?” Kevin got closer to him and tapped his shoulder. “Are you alone?”

“Yes,” the man nodded and looked at them with his tired eyes. He looked from Kevin to Bethany, looking sorry. “Can I talk to the two of you?”

Bethany looked at the surroundings left and right, thinking that there might be some people who followed him here, and going to take pictures of James again, just like before. She has been working in the entertainment industry backstage for so many years now in her book, and one thing she learned is that some fans could not resist following their idols’ lives even if they needed some downtime for themselves.

James looked at her and comforted her worries. “Don’t worry. I made sure that no one came with me.”

“You never know,” she replied to him, still wary of the place. “They might even send a piece of it on some of those idol news sites, spread some more lies.”

“Sorry about that one,” he apologized to her. She knew that he was not at fault for being the center of attention of the media and that the news articles made about them were all lies by the fans and were just trying to garner some attention. Bethany wanted to tell him that it was all right and it was going to be all right, but she could never bring herself to say anything, only stared at him.

“Still, you have to be careful, James,” Kevin butted in their conversation, smirking at his friend. “You never know that soon, you will have an obsessed fan tailing you.”

“You don’t have to worry about those anymore, the two of you,” James told them and both of them raised an eyebrow at him, curious about what he was going to say next.

“What is going on? You look… a little different right now,” Kevin noticed the paleness in his skin despite knowing that his skin is already as pale as before. James’ eyes also had noticeable reddish marks underneath them, a sign that he had cried before meeting them. His voice was also weak and was just trying to drag the day.

“Am I a little different?” James asked Kevin jokingly, but the smile faded soon when he realized that his friend was not joking with him. “I might be a little… down compared before.”

“What happened to your agency?” Kevin asked seriously, finally stepped forward and tapped his shoulder. Bethany, on the other hand, only watched and observed him biting his lower lip and his breathing fastened and shortened at the same time.

With a low voice trying not to crack, both of them finally managed to crack James.

“I… quit Silver Age today.”

A few minutes of silence then followed, until Kevin finally spoke in disbelief, confused by what happened that made his friend quit the profession he worked so hard to finally claim stardom.

“Why?” He asked softly. Bethany turned to him and had a feeling that this revelation of James had reached him in a negative light.

“I quit being an idol,” he reasoned out, not saying anything while standing there, frozen, and could not look at Kevin in the eye.