After She She Stopped Loving Him

He kissed her, pouring all the longing and love in his heart into each confession.

Joelle tilted her head back in pride, her eyes flashing with unmistakable smugness.

Here in Beloris, I've got men who'd do anything for me. How could someone as stiff and uptight as Yolanda ever

hope to compete?’ Joelle scoffed inwardly.

“Quentin, letgo! Otherwise, don’t even think about seeingnext time,” Joelle warned, her voice icy.

Quentin instantly went meek. “Okay, | get it. | won't touch you,” he said, backing off.

Joelle’s eyes filled with tears. “What kind of woman do you think | am? All those years overseas, countless people

tried to use me, tried to buyoff, but | never let them. | had to put up with obsessive fans stalkingand the

pressure from the big players in the industry-yet | never compromised, not once did | sell out. | refuse to let

myself beccheap. When | fall for someone, | love with everything | have. Right now, | only have feelings for

Charles. Unless he showshe doesn’t care aboutat all, | won't give up on him!”

“Joelle, you silly girl,” Quentin said softly, shaking his head.

Meanwhile, Yolanda’s nwas still trending on WhatsApp, and no one had been able to dig up any photos of

her. Sophie's livestreams never stopped-as she broadcast day and night, her profits soared.

At first, Sophie felt a pang of guilt; a little voice in her head whispered that Yolanda wasn’t really that terrible.

But the constant flow of money was just too hard to resist. It kept pushing her to spit out even nastier remarks,

until the whole chat was overflowing with hate for Yolanda. When that happened, Sophie would tear up on cue,

and the gifts and donations kept rolling in-sometimes adding up to hundreds of thousands with just a few tears.

Sophie was flexing hard in her girl group chat, showing off her latest haul with wild excitement.

[I've never seen this much money in my life! Just a couple of days, and eight million RMB is already in my

account!] she typed, all fired up.

[Sophie, your streams are insane right now! You're getting way more attention than most C-list celebs. When you

make it big, don’t forget about us!] one of the girls messaged back.

Pride lit up Sophie's eyes, and a self-satisfied grin curled on her lips.

10:38 Fr. Oct 17

Chespins 18E

The group was just five girls all pretty much the sage. Most of the time, they took whatever street

photography or tandem commercial gigs they could get, sometimes posing for those low-tier magazines-

honestly they were hardly making ends meet.

Bust now seeing Sophie suddenly stacking serious cash, a bunch of them couldn't help but feel jealous just days

ago, everyone was whining about being broke, and now she'd turned into a millionaire overnight. If her streams

kept blowing up like this, her incwas about to break the ten-million mark in no time.

She'd cover Starlight’s penalty fees easily, and still rake in a massive profit. Who wouldn't wish it was them?

Sophie instantly fired up the group chat, and the other four were quick to join in.

Sophie was obviously in charge now, and she immediately started giving out her advice.

“Guy's, clout disappears in a blink! If you want to cash in, just do what | say. Start your own streams ASAP and

joinin trash-talking Yolanda. Seriously, you're missing the boat-plenty of people are already trying it, but

they just don’t have enough viewers. If | give you a shoutout during my live, your numbers will explode. You

might not make as much as | do, but raking in a million? That's totally doable.”

The rest of the girls were super hyped, practically worshipping Sophie with every

word.

“Sophie, your timing is just perfect! Yolanda hasn't dared to say a single thing yet. She must really be hiding

something sketchy, and whoever’s backing her clearly isn’t important-otherwise, why would this trending topic

stick around for so long?” one of them said.

“Sophie’s only helping us out because we've all been at Starlight together for ages. Once we're done chatting,

let's all jump in and start our own live streams,” someone else suggested.

“Rainie, why are you so quiet?” someone asked.

The only girl who hadn’t chimed in was Rainie Warren, just twenty-one years old.

Rainie hadn't expected to be put on the spot, and her voice cout hoarse and hesitant. “I heard Ms. Hall got

attacked by scrazy intehaters and was sent to the hospital. I'm really worried about her. She's always

treated us well-stepped in to shield us from unwelcdrinks at company gatherings and all that. | was thinking

maybe | should go visit her...”

Rainie sounded shy and nervous, but her concern for Ms. Hall was genuinely heartfelt.

The chatroom went totally quiet, with Sophie jumping in first to break the silence.

“Ms. Hall's totally siding with Yolanda now, she’s not really with us anymore. That day she even snapped at me

and questioned everything | said. Who knows what kind of stuff Yolanda’s been feeding her. If she ended up

getting attacked, it’s all Yolanda’s fault anyway. Yolanda’s the one ruining everything.”

Rainie opened her mouth, but the words just wouldn't come; she had no idea how to push back.

‘If Sophie hadn't started all this mess, Ms. Hall never would've gotten hurt... If you really think about it, Yolanda

hasn't actually done anything wrong at all, Rainie thought, frustration simmering inside.

Then, one by one, the others started jumping in.

10:38 Fri, Oct 17

Chapter 184

ZE 55 you hare

“Rainie, are you still hoping Yolanda will cthrough for you? You wanna stab us in the bark, after all we've

been through) Sophie's over here making bank and still looking out for us. Did Yolanda ever do anything for you?

Seriously, girl, you need to get real, one of the girls said.

For real If | were Sophie, I'd be so bummed out, another chimed in.

Sophie, don’t take it to heart. We totally get where you're coming from. You're fighting for all of us-if Starlight

finally starts treating the talent right because of this, we all seriously owe you,” someone else added.

Sophie couldn't help feeling irritated. Truth be told, she'd never really liked Rainie-she was just way too meek

and always kept to herself, so quiet it was almost boring. On top of that, she was always bringing homemade

pickles and cured meats as gifts for Mary, as if Mary would ever want that kind of stuff. ‘Honestly, does she even

realize how out of place she is?’ Sophie thought, her annoyance bubbling just beneath the

surface.

The other three girls kept trying to comfort Sophie, but she forced herself to keep it together-even though she

was barely holding back her impatience.

“Rainic, | only tried to help because | counted you as a friend. But if you don’t value that, | won't shout you out in

my stream later. Suit yourself,” Sophie said coolly.

Rainie tried to say something, but before she could even type a word, she got booted from the group chat in a

flash.

She sat there in the Starlight dance studio, eyes rimmed with red. The other three girls were in the room too, but

not a single one bothered to speak to her-they just launched their live streams right away, acting like she didn’t

even exist.

Sophie went live again, sas always, laying into Yolanda and calling her out. She also said her close

girlfriends-who’d been through the sstruggles-were willing to go on record to back her up. Then she hyped

up all three of her friends’ streams, sending her fans their way with glowing recommendations.

At first, those girls figured maybe a few thousand viewers would show up, but to everyone's shock, their

numbers exploded-shooting up to a hundred thousand people watching almost instantly.

“Oh my god! Rolling with Sophie really is the gravy train!” one of them shouted.

“Sophie, you're our ultimate sister from now on!” another chimed in.

Rainie watched the excitement on their faces, but didn’t say a word. She just quietly grabbed her things, left

Starlight, and went back to her rented apartment.

Rainie was a skilled cook, and she carefully simmered a pot of soup all afternoon. By six o'clock, carrying it with

her, she made her way to Mary Hall's hospital room.

Rainie never expected to bump into Yolanda here.

She'd never actually spoken to Yolanda before, so she jumped and took a step back, totally startled. Her hands

fumbled, dropping the thermos-it slipped right across the floor and landed at Yolanda’s feet.

Yolanda heard the noisy clatter, glanced down, and picked up the thermos.

10:38 FMI, UCT 17

Chapter 183

Chapter 185

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