Chapter 4. Try to Hurt Me Again, and I Swear You’ll Regret It!

It took a while for her manager to answer the call, likely busy with another Kdrama. 

Since they stopped accepting projects, they only watched their favorite Oppa shows. 

“Yobosseo?” She couldn’t help but laugh softly at hearing them speak in Korean.

“Cut it out, Chel. I’m in a bad mood,” she joked. “Do I even need to ask why you’re upset?” they asked her sharply. She shook her head. 

“Listen, I want you to do something for me.” 

“Ugh! If you’ll make me attend your practice wedding to witness your foolishness, no way! I’d rather stay here and watch.” 

She took a deep breath, her gaze fixed on the road. 

“I caught my fiancé cheating,” she said. 

Fortunately, her cell phone was connected to the car’s Bluetooth, or else she would have gone deaf from the loudness of the response.

“How shameless of that man!” they angrily exclaimed.

“Calm down. He doesn’t know that I caught him and his woman,” she said, gripping the steering wheel tighter as she remembered the debauchery of Xander and Matty the night before. 

“Bri, are you okay?” they asked.

“I’m okay, don’t worry. I won’t be a fool and cry over their iniquity,” she said, wiping away the tears welling up in her eyes.

“Do you know who the woman is that ruined your relationship?” Chelsy immediately asked.

She exhaled sharply before answering. “Matty,” she said curtly. 

“You mean Matty, your best friend?” they asked for confirmation. 

“The one and only,” she replied sarcastically. 

“Mos-sseuge mandeulda!” she exclaimed. Though she didn’t understand, she took cues from her manager’s reaction. “Those bastards! How dare they! After all, you’ve done for them, this is how they repay you?” she added, furious. 

“I told you to calm down. You might not be able to control yourself and confront them,” she said gently. 

“Where are you?” she asked.

“I’m on my way to Tri Hotel to substitute for Matty. Xander said he’s in the hospital because he pinched a nerve in his foot,” she replied. She became even angrier, but she let her vent. 

More than anyone, she had the right to be angry as she had been with her since she started modeling. She wasn’t her manager then, but since she had none, she hired her to earn extra from low-end commercials where she filled in for Matty.

Since she started dating Xander three years ago, she neglected her career. She was at the peak of her fame when Xander suggested she quit modeling and help him establish his own business. She believed his sweet words and even cut off her parents and siblings for him. What would they think now that she had chosen the wrong person to be with?

A bitter smile crossed her lips, especially when she remembered how disappointed her father looked. Even without him saying a word, she knew what he was thinking. She was the typical black sheep of their family. 

“What do you want me to do?” Chelsy asked seriously. 

“Do you trust me?” she asked.

“Of course! Would I have stayed by your side if I didn’t trust you?” she answered. She nodded. 

“Good, then I want you to do something for me,” she said with a strange smile. 

Nothing could stop her now that she was determined to bring down the two traitors. “Anything,” she agreed.

“Find out which hospital Xander took Matty to and gather evidence that they were both there and Matty wasn’t at the event,” she instructed. 

“Okay,” she responded, her excitement becoming evident. “But are you okay going to Tri Hotel alone?” 

“Don’t worry about me. Matty’s assistant will be there to help,” she replied. 

She heard them sigh but didn’t argue further. “I will take back everything I lost and rise to crush them,” she declared. “Are you going back to modeling?” they asked, incredulous. 

“Yes, because that’s the only way I see to get revenge on them. They wanted fame and fortune. Well, that’s what I’ll take from them,” she said. 

“I feel like thanking Xander now,” she said, laughing loudly. “If not for what he did, you wouldn’t have considered returning to modeling. Don’t worry, I’ll help you find big projects,” they promised cheerfully.

“For now, focus on what I asked you to do. We need to gather as much evidence against them so when the time comes to take them down, they won’t have any escape,” she told them. 

“Alright, take care. I’ll call you when I find out where they are.” After bidding her goodbye, the car fell silent. She focused on driving and put aside other thoughts.

***

She needed to focus on the upcoming event, where Matty should have been attending and facing the people. Come to think of it, she was the one who had been there for half of Matty’s modeling journey, facing the people while Matty was deceiving her boyfriend and sampling a different dish. 

She gritted her teeth and pressed the accelerator, her car speeding along EDSA. Fortunately, there wasn’t much traffic, so she could drive that fast. 

“Why are you only now arriving?” Jobert, Matilda’s PA, asked her impatiently. 

“Traffic and I were on opposite ends of the earth, that’s why,” she replied and entered her dressing room.

She began to prepare and didn’t wait for Jobert’s assistance. She knew he was fiercely loyal to Matilda and didn’t care about the other models, especially her. She knew she’d go crazy if she waited for him to assist her.

“Do you know what you’re supposed to do?” He asked her, eyebrows raised. 

“I had just woken up when Xander called me and informed me that your boss had an accident, and I didn’t understand what he was saying,” she lied. 

She could see a surprise on Matilda’s PA’s face. Perhaps he hadn’t expected her to respond like that. When she said earlier that she would bring down those who had betrayed and messed with her, Matty’s annoying PA was included. 

He took a deep breath and glared at her before speaking, “You’ll go on stage three times, and on the last one, you’ll wear the necklace they’re endorsing. The director forced you to wear a mask to hide your ugly face.” 

She slammed down the brush she was holding and looked at him directly. “You’re asking me for a favor here, so don’t act like I want to be doing this. I can easily leave you here and let the bigwigs grill you. Let’s see if your tongue is still as sharp then,” she bravely responded. 

She picked up the first outfit she would wear and turned her back to him to change. The first outfit was sportswear, black and red, which she paired with a pair of Airmax shoes. She also wore a bracelet and a smartwatch on the other wrist. When she left the dressing room, she returned to the mirror and tied her hair up, which Matty had never done in her modeling career. 

“What are you doing?! You know Matty never ties her hair up,” he scolded her, eyebrows furrowed. 

She looked at him, “What do you want? To let my hair down and wear this mask? Where’s the fashion etiquette in that? I’m endorsing this bracelet and earrings, right?” The man nodded. “How will the earrings be seen if my hair is down? Think, do you want your boss’s reputation to get ruined because of your incompetence?” She asked him, eyebrows raised. 

He paused momentarily, still unconvinced by what she said but didn’t have any chance to object when someone knocked on the door. 

He immediately opened the door after making sure she was wearing the mask. “Miss Matty will be next. Please tell her to head backstage,” a staff member told Jobert. “Okay, we’ll be there soon,” he said. “Just make sure no one recognizes you. Let’s go.” 

He grabbed her by the elbow and unceremoniously pulled her out of the room. She tried to free her hand from his grip, feeling like he was intentionally holding on to her too tightly because of her defiance. 

“Do you want me to get a bruise because of your tight grip?” She whispered to him as they approached backstage.

“Don’t worry, and makeup can cover that up.” He said with a smirk. 

She held back her anger and yanked her hand from his, which made the staff ahead of them turn around. They continued walking when they turned to look at her, and she smiled at them. 

“Try to hurt me again, and I swear you’ll regret it.”