What an ironic news title, she thought to herself.
The photo attached to the news article showed Elspeth alone confronting Callum and Emma in an apparent standoff. In fact, it was pretty well taken; Emma looked all submissive and aggrieved in it as if Elspeth had really bullied her.
At this moment, Yelena came over for a short break while having a drink. Noticing that Elspeth looked kind of surly, she leaned over to read the news article as well. “What’s the matter?” she asked. Then, seeing the article’s headline, she instantly let loose a torrent of abuse. “This has got to be that Emma woman’s idea with the purpose of undermining you! How dare it say that you provoked Emma? It was that woman who came up asking for trouble in the first place!”
Elspeth tugged at her sleeve. “It’s okay, just let them say whatever they want. What the article says isn’t true, anyway.”
“You’re so big-hearted. I’d never put up with that if I were you,” Yelena said before pointing at Callum in the photo with visible disgust in her eyes. “Callum was snubbing you on purpose by defending Emma in front of so many people, no? What the hell was he doing?!”
She was ready to explode when she saw Callum like this, but it pained and exasperated her to see Elspeth looking like she didn’t mind this at all. “What about we post a statement first, saying that you and Callum have broken up? That’s better than being mocked by netizens asking whether you’ve been dumped.” How unmanly of Callum to avoid taking on responsibility for this!
Elspeth shook her head. “That’s not necessary.”
Yelena asked, “Then how are you gonna handle this? Surely you can’t let everyone get the wrong idea that you provoked Emma on purpose?” She was boiling with rage at the thought that Emma must be gloating over this from a safe distance at this moment.
Elspeth’s eyes narrowed. “I already have an idea.” There’s no surveillance camera on the set of filming, so it’s certainly impractical to look for surveillance footage. Suddenly, she seemed to recall something, and a smile spread on her lips. “Yelena, do you still remember the few people who were standing beside you at the time?”
Yelena thought about it for a moment. “I think I do. There was one next to me who looked super ugly with very heavy makeup on. The instant she saw you act, she got awestruck and even took out her phone to take pictures…” she replied before suddenly realizing what Elspeth was up to. She exclaimed with a smile of surprise, “You’re so smart, Elspeth!”
Elspeth stood up and stretched. “Alright, don’t worry about this. Just focus on your acting. I’m going out and will be back in about half an hour if nothing crops up.”
Confident in her friend’s resourcefulness, Yelena immediately nodded before going back with a spring in her step.
No one other than Yelena knew where Elspeth had gone. In the afternoon, however, a video was uploaded to the internet, showing Elspeth in that particular scene in ultra-high definition.
No sooner had the video been uploaded than it caused a huge stir in the entire entertainment industry. It was watched by an endless stream of netizens, many of whom left their comments.
A netizen commented, ‘How can such great acting by Elspeth be called provocation? It should be called outshining, no?’
Another commented, ‘I’ve watched Emma Walker’s performance before, and her acting was mediocre. So what if Elspeth was provoking her?!’
The third commented, ‘I’m one of the crew members on set. Elspeth is not only pretty but also a skilled actor; even the lead actor had difficulty keeping up with her.’
Some even revealed Elspeth’s identity right away. One commented, ‘You know what? Elspeth is Professor Payton Schwartz’s only protégé. No wonder she’s so skilled in acting!’
Another commented, ‘Payton Schwartz is a rare bigwig in the industry, and his protégé has to be at least a master at acting. There should be nothing wrong with Elspeth advising on Emma’s acting, no?’
A third netizen commented, ‘How affected of Emma Walker to look all hurt like a phony goody-two-shoes at being criticized.’
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