What the fuck have I done? I may not have cheated but I gave the ammunition for this to come to life.
“It’s all over social media, Levi,” Taewon says raggedly. “This is nothing less than an irreversible, reputational hit on Cece.”
I stagger back a few steps, almost forgetting that I was half sitting on the bar stool—letting it unceremoniously fall to the floor with a massive crash. “W-What do I do?” I stammer.
“Fix this, Levi.” He yanks the iPad out of my limp, numb hands. “This has your parents written all over it. Take care of this. Call that Blackthorn guy—I don’t care. But fucking fix this.”
I stare blankly at his face, now twisting with disgust. Atme.
Fucking hell.
“Call her. I knowNoonais at her office today. Go to her. And I’ll take care of… Ms. Desmond.”
He almost spits Iris’s name out but I ignore it. All I can think of is whether Cece has seen this. She probably has.
And that thought has me drowning in the guilt that’s been building for weeks. I can’t imagine what she’s thinking. The thought of her breaking because of this, has me shaking in fear and finality.
I can’t lose her, dammit.
Even if the fucking world banks on it.
SIXTEEN
Taewon
??? ???? ??? ?? ?? ??? (Is she fucking crazy? How could she do this?)
The moment I saw the footage after the article hit the news, my mind raged with so much fury. For a moment—maybe even a good few minutes—I had calmed my heart, thinking that this was a mistake, a bad angle that was purposely made to look intimate.
Iris, partially hidden behind Levi, her hands resting gently on his shoulders.
Fuck. I didn’t know what to think.
So I did the next best thing—accessed the security logs and grabbed the video footage. My heart sank when I saw that it was indeed her who had approached Levi. Getting into his personal space. I also watched the shock on her face turn into reluctant understanding for what I think was a rejection from Levi.
God!
?? ? ?? ???. (She seriously crossed the line.)
And that ten-second mistake is now being blasted out to the public at the cost of Cece’s image.
After leaving his place where I walked out on a stunned, devastated Levi, I made my way back to my own apartment. I didn’t want to face a crowded office where I’ll be forced into the gossip mill.
I let Floki out of the kennel for a while, my mind still racing with what I saw—and what it means.
Even the persistent nudges and whining from my husky-boy can’t distract me from my iPad right now. I scour through the awful comments berating my Noona.
‘Well… that’s what you get when you want to marry for money.’
‘What a disgusting arrangement. He deserves better than to saddle himself with a high society robot.’
‘Dang! These people really don’t care about love, do they?’
‘Haha! That’s how you get a wife who fucks the pool boy, a cheating husband, and a mistress with a collection of Louboutins.’
‘Placeholder fiancée energy.’
Fucking hell.
