A Graduation Gift

Cassandra pored over social media posts and found that many of them were from major personalities who had overwhelming following in the internet. There was an endless string of comments after the posts.

Cassandra continued checking their tweets and posts. After a while, it was clear to her that these were all negative reports about Lyndsy.

"Lyndsy is hard to get along with. It is already a known fact in the entertainment industry. She will go through any length to maintain her popularity, even if the actions are questionable."

Comments of the same nature could be seen everywhere. It shocked Cassandra. She had no idea what to make of it.

"When a wall is about to collapse, everybody gives it a push," Lyndsy sighed. "I know who I am. I don't think about other people's feelings. I deserve it."

She leaned back on the chair as she spoke. Frustration was boiling inside her, but she held her lips tightly shut. Looking at her now, it would be impossible to think of her as a super star. Her hair was mussed, her skin pale, and her eyes had no trace of life in them. It seemed that she was now ruined, and there was nothing she could do to improve the situation. Cassandra felt sympathy for her even as she read the negative comments about Lyndsy.

She had started out as a child star. It was said that she came from poverty. Therefore, she worked a lot more and much harder than other actresses.

Her breakthrough came when she starred in an action movie. There were a lot of physical scenes, but she chose not to use a body double, saying that she wanted to make the fight scenes look more real and vivid. She went to action school and dedicated all her time in learning the stunts. During one of the scenes in the film, she once got a fracture and often came home bruised. Her passion translated into the big screen and everyone lauded her true-to-life performance.

Lyndsy reaped the fruits of her hard-earned position and her name was cemented in the industry when she was nominated in an international film festival for that film. Despite not bagging the award, she made a deep and lasting impression on domestic and international reporters alike. For days, her name poured out of the headlines, and the film that she starred in was a gigantic box office success.

After that, producers and directors flocked to her, offering her the lead parts. Everyone wanted her, and everything she appeared in was a guaranteed success. Soon enough, she became one of the top box office earners. Many well-known actors and directors mentioned her as someone they wanted to work with. All her hard work had paid off into such astonishing achievements.

Lyndsy had always be outspoken. People who truly knew her would praise her with the frank and direct way she had of handling things. However, success had a lot of pitfalls. Alongside praises, there were also plenty of criticisms about her, describing her as a mean gossipmonger.

Cassandra tried to comfort Lyndsy, "Don't worry. There are always news of this sort in the entertainment industry. I'm sure that the noise would die down soon enough. We can still fix this."

"Fix it? How?" she spat bitterly. "As things stand now, I have no other option but to leave the company. They wouldn't even let me stay until the end of my contract. Their value will plummet if they allow it; and even if they do, they would just use this chance to put me in a leash and control me. I won't have that,"

Lyndsy spoke, red-cheeked with rage. She had been in the industry long enough, and she knew those senior executives as well as she knew the back of her hand. They were the sort with tons of money who treated people ruthlessly, and all they cared about were filling their pockets. They would resort to the lowest, unspeakable means if it meant their bank accounts would fatten up.

It was more than likely that money was involved with the outpouring of the social media posts.

In normal circumstances, when such thing happened to celebrities, their companies and agents would waste no time and act quickly to try to quell the damage and rebuild their image with PR campaigns and strategies. Lyndsy was a top star. One would think that her company would be scrambling to pour water over the fire and stop further damage to her. After all, she was the cash cow, and her agency was one of the biggest. They had plenty of resources at their disposal.

However, instead of responding with damage control, they twisted the situation to their favor and threatened her. It would not be far-fetched to assume that they were the ones behind the very rumors themselves.

Cassandra furrowed her brows as she racked her brain, trying to come up with a solution. She was running out of ideas, and this was beyond her area of expertise and experience. She knew nothing about the entertainment industry, and it would take a while for her to figure these things out.

Suddenly, Cassandra's phone rang. It was Dylon, and for some reason, he sounded hesitant.

"Cassandra, I've been barraged with questions since this morning. They wanted to know if the man in the news was me. I don't know how to explain it but…"

Dylon was feeling both depressed and irritated. He just had an operation this morning. The moment he stepped out of the operating room, he was surrounded by a crowd of nurses.

are you really dating

two been together? You're such a

like what the

"Dr. Tong…"

this senseless questioning.

you? Can we talk? I'm just a normal person, and I have absolutely no interest in becoming a celebrity. There are always people in the hospital, and there would always be gossip. I can't put up with that. It would just get in the way of my work," he

those rumors reached Jenks he would be worried. He wasn't in very good condition these

and see us. We can discuss things together and think of how to solve this," Cassandra replied, trying to calm

were running out of options, and Dylon might have better ideas.

posts and the

what

first time she came face-to-face with a problem she could not solve.

if we make a public announcement that we're just

that it would

"It won't work. My company won't back me up and help me explain to

of sense. If things were that easy, she wouldn't

one hand over her mouth. Immediately, Lyndsy and Dylon's attention were on her. "People have started looking you up and

was surfing the net and checking the latest news about Lyndsy. Suddenly, she came across a post that had Dylon's background information.

was taken aback. He grabbed Cassandra's cell phone and scanned the

is a photographer on wild animals. He graduated from medical school and is the recipient

detailed. Cassandra saw horror and revulsion rise in

inwardly panicking. He had been living a simple and happy life in the past years, very far away from the limelight. All of a sudden, his private life

shock, a man of medium height came to their table and snapped a photo of them. They had been so fixated

at the man, shock and confusion in their faces. The man, however, just smiled. He

on a date dating with Mr. Tong? Sorry for interrupting. I'm leaving

his leave, but he had not taken three steps when

you delete the picture you just took?" he asked

He had never been treated

camera, and it's my photo. Why should

challenge, as if he didn't do anything wrong. Such jerks did exist in real life

know, you didn't. This is an invasion

up his frustrations further. He was

I just took the picture

unbelievable how he tried to wriggle out

the final straw. Dylon had completely lost his patience. He grabbed the man's camera, determined to delete

get his camera from him, but Dylon was much taller and he