CHAPTER 83: BEATRICE’S LOYAL DOG

"Miss Elara, your phone has been buzzing since you went to talk to Producer Li. It must be important." Antonio handed Elara her phone with both hands, as if it were a precious gem.

Elara chuckled at the guy’s cautiousness, remembering how she had smacked Xylon last time when he had dropped her phone.

She was about to unlock her screen when she heard a sudden wave of commotion, and her brows arched in curiosity.

She walked to the curtains and gently tugged them open to see what was happening in the main hall.

A crowd was gathered around the entrance of the auditorium, and she looked at the assistant, who was about to rush there.

"What’s happening?" She asked.

The assistant paused, looking at her with contained excitement.

"Didn’t you read the bulletin news on the group chat? The third male lead of the drama was swapped overnight. We are unsure what happened, but a very famous celebrity turned in and asked to play the role. He is probably here," the assistant said and rushed to the crowd.

Elara sighed and unlocked her phone. There were multiple missed calls from Justin, along with a message she couldn’t ignore.

"I have a surprise for you."

The message was from Daniel. The words immediately made her cheeks turn red, heat creeping up her neck when she remembered how she had found herself nuzzled in the man’s arms when she woke up in the morning before he left abruptly because of some important meeting.

Antonio, who was trying to sneak a peek at the famous actor, turned to look at her, and his face immediately turned concerned.

"Are you okay, Miss Elara? Why are your cheeks so red? Are you feeling feverish? Should I get some water for you?" he asked.

Elara touched her cheeks and cleared her throat.

"—I am fine. It’s nothing." She said, pressing her lips into a thin line to focus on the urgent matter at hand.

Justin wasn’t the kind of person who would disturb her until it was something important.

She walked to the side, into the corridors, to talk to Justin, and was about to dial his number when someone stopped her.

"So the rumors were true. You are fighting Beatrice here, too. Seriously, Elara, don’t you get tired of constantly comparing yourself to Beatrice? It’s so pathetic," Sean scoffed.

He was on a call but ended the call just to insult her, and Elara couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

"I didn’t expect to see Beatrice’s fancy dog here. I mean, it’s uncommon to see you unsupervised by her leash," she commented casually.

Sean’s face turned red in fury as soon as he heard her.

"You! How dare—"

"How dare I say such words?" Elara cut him off immediately.

"With my mouth. Pretty easy. You’ll ask, Have I forgotten who I am talking to? And my answer is, yes, I know. I am talking to Beatrice’s loyal dog, who doesn’t miss a chance to vouch for her. You can fool others, but not me. I know what kind of intentions you have for her," Elara said, catching Sean off guard.

"Y-What—have you really lost your mind?" Sean stuttered.

"Nope. But with how you have a habit of repeating the same script, maybe you have lost it. Wait. You never had it in the first place," Elara laughed lightly before she turned to leave in another direction.

However, her path was blocked by Andrew, who looked at her with a soft expression.

"Oh. You are here, too," Elara muttered, already feeling a headache coming.

She was about to leave the duo, unwilling to spoil her mood and waste her time over useless bantering since she had better things to do, but before she could move, Andrew held her hand to stop her.

With an angry sigh, she turned to berate him for still not learning his lesson from the last time when she used her lighter to force him to leave her hand.

But before she could speak a word, Andrew pulled her closer, doing something he had never done before.

He hugged her.

For a moment, Elara froze in her place, unsure what was happening.

She was used to Andrew’s coldness, negligence, or ignorance, or even his rudeness, but this...

The way Sean looked at them was shocked; it was clear she wasn’t hallucinating, and she narrowed her brows before pushing him away.

"What the hell are you doing?" She demanded, her eyes fierce.

Andrew exhaled sharply before shrugging.

"I don’t know. The pain in your acting felt too real, and I felt like comforting you. It’s a shame I never knew you had such a strong talent for acting, Elara. This also tells me what a failure I was as your husband," Andrew said.

The more he spoke, the stranger he felt to Elara.

Taking credibility for what he did, comforting her, showing her passion, or just treating her like a normal being, just like all others—this wasn’t something he did normally. Something was definitely off. Suspicious, honestly.

She looked at him for a few seconds before her lips lifted.

"What do you want from me?" She asked.

It was Andrew’s turn to look at her, confused.

"Hmm?" he asked.

Elara shook her head.

"Don’t pretend to be some kind of saint. You never showed me any compassion before, not until you wanted something from me. So what’s all this fake compassion for? You want me to do something for your family again? Visit your grandpa? Help you in some other way? What is it?" Elara asked.

Andrew didn’t say anything. His eyes, which had been soft earlier, held a strange pity today.

He just nodded at himself.

"I deserve all that for how I treated you last evening," he said.

Elara looked at him with scrunched brows before looking at Sean.

"Get him checked. He probably hit his head on something." She turned and left, dialing Justin’s number.

Sean looked at his friend as if he were seeing an alien, too.

"Bro, what the hell is wrong with you? Were you seriously softening for that bitch? Have you forgotten? It’s Elara. The same woman who compromised you billions of deals in jealousy and nearly bankrupted you if not for Beatrice, who handled everything," Sean reminded him.

At the same time, Beatrice, who witnessed everything, clenched her dress in her fists angrily.

What the hell was happening? Why was Andrew hugging that bitch? Has he gone soft? But why? What exactly changed? She wondered, her mind going haywire as she couldn’t compose her thoughts.

The more she thought about how Andrew hugged Elara, the more hatred she felt.

No. This wasn’t possible. This was a mistake. Maybe Elara threatened Andrew to do it. That has to be the case.

Beatrice nodded at herself, creating her own reality before she looked towards the crowd, her eyes shining with malice.

The superstar, who had arrived to perform as the third male lead, walked out of the auditorium when he received a call from his company, which gave the judges time to conclude the second-phase test.

The director called all the contestants onto the stage, lining them up in the exact order in which they performed their scenes. Since Beatrice was already the female lead, she didn’t have to stand in line.

The cameraman focused on each contestant in turn, recording their nervous reactions as they waited to see who would stay and who would leave.

Elara stood there, composed. She didn’t know how her acting was or whether she’d been able to portray the scene perfectly, but after the little stunt she pulled with the producer, she was sure they wouldn’t dare eliminate her so easily.

And thus, she had nothing to worry about. What she hated right now was standing on the stage like a clown for something that didn’t interest her.

"Everyone today who watched the stream probably has already guessed the results of the second phase. The voting has ended, and this envelope in my hand has the results," the director said.

He explained how he made Beatrice enact a scene to let the audience know they made no mistake in choosing the female lead.

He praised the acting of all the contestants and how he knew they tried their best as he built up the hype for the results.

"So, the contestants who are staying for the third round are..."

The director smiled at the crowd.