Matthew smiled at the look of seriousness on Clarissa’s face.
He bent over to bump his forehead gently against hers. “Have a little faith in yourself, Clare. I’m very touched by your gift. How else do you want me to express it?”
Matthew knew that she valued his opinion, but it was her artistic ideal that mattered the most to her.
This gift was three years in the making since she penned the first words of the novel all the way until the filming of its adaptation.
Matthew did not know how to repay such a meaningful gift from his wife.
His lovely Clarissa had endured all forms of degradation and bullying since she had been married to him. The greatest gift a woman can give to a man was to bear him a child. Clarissa had not only done that, but she had also worked so hard on the novel and the film which were a tribute to their love. Matthew could think of no better way for Clarissa to express her love for him than what she had already done.
Clarissa smiled as her hand lay softly against his cheek.
“Don’t express your gratitude now,” she teased. “Wait for the premiere.”
Matthew flicked at her forehead playfully. “I’ll be grateful starting from now. My gratitude will grow stronger when your movie comes out. I can only show my gratitude to you by offering you my body.”
Clarissa giggled. “You wish!” she chided, though she eyed him seductively.
Matthew merely smiled. She does not want to, but couldn’t I get it myself?
Matthew tapped on her head with a finger. “Let’s get home, shall we?”
Clarissa picked up her things as they prepared to leave. Standing intimately next to Matthew, they alternated between her clinging to his arm and him wrapping his arm around her waist. Their walk to the car had to be paused frequently as the couple couldn’t seem to keep their lips apart.
With a public display of affection as obvious as this, they attracted stares wherever they went.
Not only were they infatuated with one another, but they were also a handsome couple.
The cameras clicked incessantly from a distance as the paparazzi did not often get the opportunity to capture the Tysons out in public.
They had gotten word earlier that day that Clarissa would be having auditions for her movie in this particular studio, that was why they had camped outside the building since that morning for a chance to capture the elusive couple on camera.
Many actors had left before then but the paparazzi held on to a desperate hope that their efforts would pay off.
The shutters clicked madly at the couple holding hands as they exited the building.
From their kisses to their embraces, every gesture was deemed worthy to be photographed.
It was exciting for them as they did not want to miss even a single second of the couple’s actions. As they gazed at Matthew’s departing car, satisfied that their patience had paid off, a hand tapped on the shoulder of the paparazzi at the back of the group.
With a violent jump, he whipped around as his heart jumped to his throat.
Donnie smiled pleasantly. “Don’t worry, I’m not here to confiscate your camera. You can publish that.”
With a tremulous smile in return, he nodded without a word, not daring to speak.
“You can’t publish all of them, though,” Donnie continued. “Those that pertain to public knowledge, you can.”
“Do you mean…” the paparazzi stammered.
Donnie took his camera from him to examine the photographs. After that, he remained to chat with the paparazzi for a long while.
Matthew’s car was long gone by that moment. Clarissa was leaning on Matthew’s shoulder when a thought occurred to her.
“I saw Donnie earlier back at the studio. Isn’t he joining us?”
Matthew smiled. “He has business to attend to.”
Clarissa took no notice. Changing the subject, she spoke at length about the auditions she had seen that day, from the trivial to the humorous. Inevitably, she had arrived at the event that had been bothering her the entire day.
“I don’t understand her. Did she do it on purpose or not?” Clarissa pouted in displeasure and suspicion.
“No matter what her intentions were, she’s bad news. Keep an eye out,” Matthew said placidly.
Clarissa nodded. “I thought so too, but she’s changed so much. It is indeed possible that she had turned over a new leaf.”
Matthew did not offer his opinion. Whether or not that is true is anybody’s guess.
Only time will tell.
It’s best to just observe patiently for now.
Even Matthew had decided to be wary of Shermaine and her sudden appearance back into their lives.
Clarissa did not dwell on Shermaine, she just happened to mention the latter in passing. She was not an important character in their life to be obsessed about.
Soon after, they had arrived home. Damian’s enthusiastic greeting to his parents when they return home was always the highlight of their day after a long and dreary one at work.
At that moment, Shermaine was mulling over the fact that she had been rejected before she even auditioned.
She had already expected to be treated in this manner by Clarissa.
Shermaine was having a coffee with a friend. Without speaking ill of Clarissa, she explained to her friend that the reason why she was not offered the chance to audition was that her reputation was not doing too well.
“That’s too much of her,” her friend said reproachfully. “It has been a long time ago. Why wouldn’t she even let you audition? What a horribly embarrassing thing to do to kick you out before you even tried. As far as I’m concerned, your actions to turn over a new leaf had been nothing but sincere. They are simply too judgmental.”
Shermaine shook her head. “It’s the society that’s judgmental. It’s normal for people would feel threatened by me. Even if it was not Clarissa who had rebuffed me today, somebody else would do the same.”
Her friend shook her head resolutely. “I still think it’s too much of them. You’re a completely different person now.”
Shermaine smiled. “Let’s not talk about that anymore. When I was at the audition, I saw many young and beautiful actresses who were all new. I also met many veterans who were all vying to be part of this movie. It’s the talk of the town.”
“That’s true. How could it not be discussed? That is Mrs. Tyson’s movie. Many young girls have been waiting for years for this novel to be adapted into a movie. The fans are hysterical too. In times like this, it’s the ultimate fantasy to have a domineering boss as your husband. Though Mr. Tyson does not exactly fit that stereotype, his gentlemanliness is exactly what drives the girls wild.”
With her friends bursting into laughter, Shermaine joined in as well.
“They’re just little girls,” she scoffed. “A domineering boss? He’s just an ordinary man.”
Her friends suddenly recalled the period of time when Shermaine and Matthew had between them a relationship of which was difficult to deduce its nature.
Emboldened by Shermaine’s newfound serenity, one of her friends plucked up her courage to ask. “Shermaine, I’m pretty curious. What kind of a person is Mr. Tyson?”
Shermaine did not lose her temper as she once would. She took her time to search her memories, smiling as she did so.
Hmm, Matthew was…” she murmured.
Her friends paid close attention to her description of Matthew.
That night, the support fan meeting that Shermaine had reorganized was ablaze with gossip.
They had felt deeply insulted and indignant at how Clarissa had treated Shermaine earlier that day. To vent their anger, they had resorted to name-calling and defamation of Clarissa.
Outraged, they were determined to avenge Shermaine’s honor.
The moderator had attempted to placate the fans by cautioning them against acting rashly as it would only backfire onto Shermaine. However, he proposed that there was something that they could do.
Shermaine’s supporters were intrigued.
By the following day, an innocuous piece of gossip appeared on social media.
Aside from the usual praising of Shermaine’s talent for acting by breaking down her roles in her prior films, there was an additional item.
It spoke of Shermaine’s character transformation and how she had endured ridicule and how her friends had abandoned her, how nobody believed that she had changed. They had even picked on her past like how a certain someone had denied her a chance to audition for a role due to a personal vendetta.
These accusations were initiated by several unknowns whose identities were so trivial that they were practically anonymous. Soon, the whole nation was embroiled in an ethical debate on whether or not a person deserved a second chance after making a mistake.
The person who had created a poll on which the majority of Internet users voted was an influencer on Twitter. His comments had opened up to some enthusiastic debate.
Many had opted for the second chance being given as it took a great deal of humility to admit one’s wrongdoings. They attested to the sincere mistake of speaking rashly which had caused one to be outcast simply because the things they had spoken out of anger were unacceptable.
Another faction emerged who grew curious about the identity of the person who had so harshly rebuffed Shermaine. “Who was the casting director who had denied Shermaine an audition?” they wondered.
“I know who it was, but I’m afraid to say. If I do, I’ll get banned.”
“Banned? I think I know who it is. I thought they were decent people. I thought that their relationship is really adorable. I’m shocked to hear that she is this biased.”
“Who is it that you’re referring to? Why does it sound like a famous celebrity couple that I know?”
Clarissa had noticed the gossip around her.
She had encountered keyboard warriors all over the Internet since the early days of her fame. Since then, she had developed resiliency to their vicious comments.
The only thing Clarissa could do was watch helplessly as her personal life with Matthew make headlines again, fueled by the gossip indirectly caused by Shermaine and the photographs that were taken the day before of her departing the studio with Matthew.
It was a blurry photo that went viral anyway because they were kissing in it. Clarissa wanted to ask Matthew if news like that ought to be censored.
She had made the connection between the photograph and Donnie’s disappearance. He must have noticed that we were being photographed. That was where he went.
Even after discovering that they have been photographed in secret, he still allowed them to be published. How badly does Matthew want to show off our affection?
Clarissa shook her head in despair. Without hesitation, she dialed Matthew’s number.
He answered promptly. “Matthew,” she said at once. “Will there be a day that passes without you showing off our display of affection on the Internet?”
Matthew understood what she was referring to by the tone of her voice.
“No, Clare. I can’t.” The cheekiness in his voice was apparent even through the phone.
“Then what will you do? Now that we are more famous than ever before, this won’t do. I think we should just censor it.”
Clare felt that their happiness need not be outwardly displayed. It was enough as long as both of them knew it in their hearts.
If the goal was to show off their love, she would undoubtedly attract envious attention. If there was too much of it, Clarissa was afraid that her happiness would be short-lived.
That was why their popularity was only high at the start when they first got together. The longer they were together, the more they needed to remain in the shadows.
Clarissa pouted. “Please stop with all these high-profile headlines. The whole world knows about our lives.”
“Yes, that’s my goal. To tell the world about our love.”
