Chapter 3
My blood froze. My throat tightened.
I forced a smile, my voice hoarse. “Then I wish you and Mr. Caillet a lifetime of happiness.”
The words scraped my chest as I took her wedding invitation and candy.
The next second, Liam appeared. He snatched it from my hand and tossed it straight into the trash.
Without even glancing at me, he grabbed Sandra’s hand, interlacing their fingers.
“My wedding isn’t open to just anyone.”
His words landed like a hammer on my chest. The office went dead silent. Everyone exchanged awkward glances. Alicia tried to step in, but I pressed her hand down.
I watched as Liam, hand in hand with Sandra, disappeared through the door. One by one, the others scattered.
When the noise faded, only Alicia and I were left.
I bent down and slowly picked the candies out of the trash, one piece after another.
Chocolate, strawberry, milk…
But not a single apple.
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Chapter 3
That year, at the top of the Ferris wheel, after kissing me, he said, “From now on, I’ll only eat apple candy.”
He didn’t love me anymore. Not even a little.
A bitter smile tugged at my lips as tears fell, splattering on the candy.
I clenched the candy in my fist, pressing it against my chest, trying to hold back the pain ripping through me.
But it wouldn’t stop.
Alicia pulled me into her arms and brought me back to my rented place near the cancer hospital.
When she brought me boiled eggs, I was writing “Bet Agreement” on a piece of paper.
Alicia frowned. “Why are you writing this?”
I carefully folded the paper and smiled faintly. “Even though Liam kicked me out, I want to give it one last shot. I want him to see my worth. That I can make him money.”
Alicia stared at me in disbelief. “How?”
“By doing battles. I’ll top the gift rankings.”
I had prepared so many ways to convince Liam, yet none of them were needed.
After reading my bet agreement, he only said one thing, “If you don’t know how to give up, I don’t mind teaching you.”
His eyes were sharp enough to pierce through me. I could only smile bitterly.
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“What are you smiling at?” His voice was full of hate.
I just remembered the time he taught me how to ride a bike–his tone was exactly the same.
The memory stabbed my bones, but all I said was, “Thank you, Mr. Caillet, for giving me this chance.”
***
That night’s stream, I was ready to go all in.
No filters. Harsh lighting. Bare face. Full–on clickbait.
The moment I went live, I shot straight to the top of trending.
“Beauty Guru Gabriella Goes Filter–Free–AI–Level Queen Stuns the World!”
I thought Liam would pit me against some big influencer or A–list celeb.
I never expected it to be Sandra.
No time to be shocked. I snapped into host mode, greeting the hundreds of thousands flooding into my stream.
As I applied intricate designs on my face with my makeup tools, my ranking on the gift leaderboard soared–straight to an overwhelming first place!
Meanwhile, Sandra’s stream struggled–barely 10K viewers.
There was no doubt. I was going to win.
Even the chat was telling me to go easy on the rookie.
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Chapter 3
But then, in the final 30 seconds, Liam suddenly dropped into Sandra’s stream–blasting 999 rockets at once!
My hand shook, the eyeliner pen slipping–red ink staining the white of
my eye.
In a blink, Sandra shot past me on the leaderboard.
The results flipped instantly. I lost to her by a thousand points.
Sandra smiled, calm and smug.
Following the rules, she randomly picked a punishment from the comments. “Since you lost, Gabriella, your punishment is to kiss the control guy for three seconds!”
The poor tech intern–a fresh–faced guy–blushed as he was pushed in front of the camera. I could hear his heart pounding from a few meters
away.
He avoided my gaze; clearly flustered. I couldn’t help but tease, “Got a girlfriend?”
He froze, then shook his head fast. “No… never even dated.”
This would be his first kiss.
I looked at him, a little guilty. Part of me wanted to just give up.
What did it matter? I had already lost my job.
I didn’t want to drag an innocent kid into this.
I glanced up at him, apologetic. “Sorry, I-”
Before I could finish, the intern suddenly grabbed my waist, leaned in,
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Chapter 3
and kissed me–warm breath brushing against my lips.
The comments instantly exploded.
“OMG! Queen and young boy! This is so sweet!”
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“I’m jealous of the intern! I’d trade my whole life to kiss a queen like her!”
Then–BANG! The studio door flew open.
In the middle of the frenzy, Liam stormed in, face like a thundercloud. Without a word, he grabbed my wrist and dragged me out!
