#THE_LAST_MINUTE_GROOM_S2
©Sir_Zach
EPISODE 59
When he returned, Fin was calmer than before. Even though he doesn’t love her, it doesn’t mean that he h@ťěs her. In fact, he likes her a lot and can do everything for her, but just can’t love her.
“Beverly, it’s late… you should go to sleep.”
“H– how can I? Y– you just said you’re… you’re breaking up with me.” She covered her face as she bawled her eyes out, trying to catch her breath.
Fin sighed. This was harder than he thought. He got into bed and pulled her into an embrace to calm her down. “Beverly, we’ve tried but it isn’t working. Neither of us is happy, so what’s the point?”
“I’m only sad because you’re sad, and also… because… because you seem to h@ťě me now,” her sobs got worse.
“Ok, that’s enough. I’m sorry,” he sighed and pulled her to sleep with his hand on her. They’ll finalize things when she’s mentally stable tomorrow. So he thought.
…
It was late into the night yet Valen couldn’t sleep, he was pacing back and forth in his room. It’s been almost a week since Jeslyn left the house and hasn’t returned.
‘That woman mustn’t tell me that she meant what she said.’ He thought, then shook his head. ‘She must be joking.’
“You left me to grow up for 6 years before you came and now, you’re leaving me for another 3 years, are you joking? Mom, that joke is too expensive and I’m not finding it funny.” He mumbled. He paused to think, then started pacing again.
“I can’t believe Dad allowed this. I thought he was useful!” He bit his lip and glared daggers at the door, the lock mechanism on the door that was beeping, an indication that someone was entering the lock mechanism through the other side.
He waited patiently for the door to be pushed open before he yelled: “Why are you here instead of going to bring my mom back?!”
Maverick ignored him and went to sit on the couch, then pointed to the other couch, telling him to go sit on it.
Valen did, looking like he just ate a fly.
“Your mom needs to work,” Maverick said. He was here because Jeslyn begged him to help her explain to Valen who wasn’t picking up her calls or responding to her texts.
“Are we poor?” Valen asked.
“No,”
“Are we declaring bankruptcy?”
Maverick shook his head.
“Then why does she need to work? Can’t you pay her to stay with me?” The child’s voice went a tad low.
“It’s her dream, help her fulfill it.”
Hearing his father say that, Valen reclined in his seat with sadness on his face. 3 years is too long. He suddenly thought of something and his eyes shot open.
“Dad, if Mom gets pregnant with a girl, will she come back?”
Maverick stared at his son speechlessly. Didn’t he just say it’s Jeslyn’s dream and should be allowed to fulfill it?
“Don’t blame me for being selfish. You both are not considerate, so give me a sibling and I won’t stop Mom from pursuing her dream, I promise.”
Maverick knew it was an emotional blackmail, still, he loved that idea a lot.
“You want a girl sibling? I thought you h@ťěd to have one?” Maverick raised a brow.
“Uncle Damien used this word: Desperate times calls for desperate measures, so dad, I’ve been lonely for 7 years, now, I need a sibling to keep me company. Then I won’t care if you and Mom go far away for years.” He smiled.
“As you wish… but you’ll have to tell your mom that yourself. But before then, you should go to bed.” He got up and walked out.
Valen got into bed with a victorious smile on his face. Who cares about a sibling? Once his mother gets pregnant, she’ll take a break to stay with him. “Hehe,” he chuckled after thinking of his plan.
…
Jeslyn would be making her debut a few days from now, yet there seems to not be any light coming from people or fans, still, the company went ahead to make preparations even though they might lose a chunk of money.
Naturally, in Fearless or other entertainment industries, an artist can only be allowed to debut when the company is sure that the artist has gotten enough fans whose ticket money would cover almost all the expenses that the company would incur to host the artist’s debut.
Nevertheless, no money-driven company would dive into something with the 100% certainty that they won’t make a dime from it.
So for Fearless to go ahead and host Jeslyn’s debut in the midst of all the bad dramas surrounding her, means that they saw potential for money.
Jeslyn’s debut day finally came. Unlike Christine’s, hers was the opposite. The only people who spared time to attend her debut were her friends, and some juniors or trainees from Fearless Entertainment.
Standing on the stage with less than 20 people, she sighed. Her first debut at Delly Entertainment had around 100–200 audience members.
The anti-fans, the uncertain fans, and her 500+ true fans were all watching her on different platforms with different thoughts.
After Jeslyn closed her formal ‘Chatme’ account, she thought her true fans would leave but instead, they followed her to her new account. She then had no choice but to believe that those were really her fans, worthy of her extra work, love, and happiness.
Some of her true fans were crying when they saw the empty seats. They wished they were in Country M or could afford transport fare but sadly, they couldn’t.
Some of those sitting on the fence didn’t know what to start feeling while some already made their decisions. How strong can one be to withstand such a public humiliation, yet didn’t burst out crying on stage?
Watching the girl wearing a long red gown standing under the spotlight and waiting for her music to begin with a happy smile on her face, made them realize that happiness wasn’t necessarily found in success but in contentment and knowing how to be grateful for everything, including what people might consider worthless.
At that moment, a few tens of fence sitters joined the list of Jeslyn diehard fans who would neither waiver nor sway no matter the strong tornado that would try to sweep them off their love for Jeslyn in the future.
As for the h@ťěrs, they couldn’t get enough of the joke happening on their screen. They were so happy that they started to tag their friends and foes just to watch Jeslyn’s flopped debut.
In the venue, Jeslyn held the mike to her lips, ready to start singing. Just that moment, Brian walked into the venue languidly and sat in the front role.
Jeslyn suddenly felt excitement building up in her heart. Whenever she saw this guy, she felt like half of her was whole again.
She bowed slightly to him to welcome him. To her, her reaction was out of instinct, but to those watching with rapt attention, they saw manners in her, a contrast to what people and the media portrayed of her. That was a point for them.
The people, although surprised, didn’t feel it was phenomenal for Brian to be there. They felt that the company must have wanted to use Brian to $h00t Jeslyn up, but the anti-fans and Brian’s fans only felt more disgust and hatred for Jeslyn.
In no time, Celestine and her Assistant graced the venue.
Those watching gasped in amazement. Hold on, that was Celestine!!! The mother of the entertainment industry, the music icon!
They thought they’d seen it all but there was more shock to give them a nosebleed.
Soon, the nation’s husband, all lady’s man, walked into the hall with one hand in his pocket while his light blue hair sparked against the lights in the hall.
‘Woooo! Rex Lu!! What is he doing here?!’
‘Are my eyes deceiving me?! How can my husband be here?!’
‘Tell me this is not true!!’
‘Hold on guys, I think he’s there because Celestine is there. We shouldn’t forget that Rex is Celestine’s top fan.’
‘True, true, I almost got a heart attack thinking that my Rex was there for that stupid and heartless vixen!’
Nobody, Including Jeslyn’s fans, believed that Rex was there for Jeslyn. Most of the online commenters would rather die with the assumption that Rex was there for Celestine.
…
At Toria’s apartment…
She was lying on one of her expensive couches in her gorgeous sitting room when Phoebe barged into her house.
“Toria, Toria! Where are… oh, you’re here. Turn on your Tv!”
“What’s going on?” Toria answered drowsily and slowly pulled off the sleeping eye mask from her face. She looked exhausted and pale.
“This is not the time to be sleeping…
Look,” Phoebe took the remote from the center table and turned on Jeslyn’s live performance.
Toria sighed. She wasn’t interested in these things. She just returned from a tour abroad and needed all the sleep she could get. What is Phoebe doing?
“What is it, Phoebe?” She yawned. “I need to sleep, please.” Just then, she saw Jeslyn on stage and the sleep slowly disappeared. “It’s her debut today?”
“It is, but not just that, your boyfriend is there!” Phoebe pointed at the front role.
Toria’s eyes were focused on Rex as soon as she saw him. Although she was trying to convince herself otherwise but right now, it was hard for her to not believe that Rex and Jeslyn are having something strong between them. She took a deep breath and continued to watch the show in silence.
Phoebe stared incredulously at her friend, “Toria, aren’t you supposed to call him and demand an explanation?!”
“What for?” She shifted her gaze to the shocked Phoebe. “Rex had always been the ladies’ man, so? This is not his first time and neither will it be the last…”
“But he’s obviously treating Jeslyn with lots of bias. He has never attended your concerts before, nor honored any of your invitations, even though it meant the world to you!”
“Is Jeslyn more special than the lady in a mask? That lady had his exclusive black card, so what’s a debut he cannot attend with another side chick? After all, Jeslyn is way prettier than all the girls Rex has ever been with.”
“But she’s a plain Jane, so don’t compare her to others.” Phoebe rolled her eyes.
“At least, Rex sees her differently and that’s what matters. Please, don’t get involved with his matters anymore.” Just when Toria was about to pull the eye mask back on and sleep, she caught sight of something on the TV that got her spirit to fly out of her.
…
Jeslyn was supposed to have started but seeing that few more people were starting to walk in, she decided to extend the time for another 10 minutes.
During her period of waiting, she didn’t expect that these people would show up.
Walking in front was her little treasure, Valen, holding a bouquet of flowers. Behind him was Maverick, Fin, and a lady, then Matt. What shocked her more was Damien.
On the stage, Jeslyn couldn’t control herself at all. Her eyes widened on their own and her legs moved two steps forward before her senses cautioned her.
Her baby was too cute to be ignored. It’s been days now and her body was already itching for Valen’s hug. Oh, how she missed her family!
Jeslyn might understand why Fin and Matt were here with flowers but what about Damien? Why was he here? And with flowers too!
Everyone, both online and offline, was shocked beyond imagination.
‘What is going on?!’
‘I don’t know. How did Jeslyn get connected to those big shots? Why did none of them come at Christine’s debut?’
‘I’m literally flabbergasted right now!’
‘Am I sick? Why am I suddenly falling in love with Jeslyn? Somebody, please recommend a good hospital to me!!’
‘Me too!’
‘I second that!’
+10
+100
‘If the bigshots can flock together to attend a nobody’s debut, then she must be a force to reckon with. How did she even get Chaos Lu, his son, and friends to attend her worthless debut?’
‘I don’t care, I’ve changed my mind about hating Jeslyn. I want to be her fan!’
Comments both good and bad went off like they were ordering expensive things from classy stores that had been made free for everyone.
While this was happening, Christine, who thought that Jeslyn’s debut would be the biggest joke in the entertainment industry, couldn’t feel her jaw anymore from leaving her mouth ajar for too long.
“H– h– how is this possible?” She murmured to herself. She was with Young Master Wu in a hotel room. She was on the bed, under the white duvet, resting after the intense s3x a while ago when Assistant Miles called her to give her this ugly news.