Ursula lifted a hand and brushed my cheek, her tone put-upon.

"Aaron twisted his ankle, and he's been crying so hard. I have to give him something."

"Relax. I'm just having you cool your heels inside for a few days, keep up appearances. Once I finish shooting the MV with Aaron, I'll get you out."

The night before Aaron's concert, Ursula had her assistant submit a letter of forgiveness and brought me out.

My hair was a mess and my face was pale as they walked me into a private suite at a club.

Aaron had an arm around Ursula's waist, sipping champagne, a few of his biggest fans seated beside him.

Every one of them had put real money into pushing him up the charts.

When she saw my pale face and the scratches on my neck, Ursula shot to her feet.

"How did you end up in such a state? Was someone bullying you in there?"

The moment she said it, Aaron snorted a laugh.

"Ms. Harding, did you find out ahead of time that Ursula was bringing you here to apologize to me, so you faked those wounds on purpose to weasel out of it?"

"No wonder a few of the tattoo-sticker props went missing when I was shooting the MV. Turns out you stole them."

At that, Ursula sat back down, the concern gone from her eyes.

"Thomas, I don't have time to play games with you."

"Tomorrow is Aaron's concert. But the photos of you throwing your drink on him leaked online, and now everyone's calling him a homewrecker. It's really gotten to him. He's botched the rehearsal several times."

"For the sake of Aaron's reputation and his future, you're going to apologize to him now, live, in front of the whole country, and we'll call it even."

I looked at her.

"So the moment I apologize, I won't owe you anything anymore?"

Ursula hesitated, then nodded anyway.

Expressionless, I turned toward the phone cameras those fans were holding up.

"I'm sorry. Aaron isn't a homewrecker."

Aaron gave a disdainful little laugh.

"Thomas, with an attitude like that, are you trying to fob off idiots?"

"Then what do you want?"

He pointed at the full bottle of hard liquor on the coffee table.

"I don't mind being wrongly accused. But I can't stand my fans getting called brain-dead by everyone else because of you."

"You threw a glass of liquor on me back then. Now I'm having you down a whole bottle. That's fair, isn't it?"

I looked at Ursula.

I remembered the night the doctor told her that during my post-surgery recovery I absolutely could not drink.

Because it would react with the medication I was taking and cause severe damage to my stomach lining.

But she only frowned, impatient.

"Thomas, no use looking at me. You made the mistake, you carry it."

"It's just one bottle. It won't kill you."

The corner of my mouth twitched. So she'd already forgotten.

Or rather, anything to do with me simply wasn't worth keeping in her mind.

And she certainly wouldn't care that for those few days I'd been deliberately locked up with Aaron's fans, 'taught a lesson' in a new way every day.

A whole bottle of hard liquor, poison going down, my stomach cramping in waves.

Right there, I coughed up blood.

Before Ursula could open her mouth, Aaron let out a mock gasp.

"Thomas, so you stole my blood pack too? Tsk. What a scheming piece of work."

"Fine. Since you tried so hard with the performance, we'll let it slide this time. But no more bullying me from now on, okay? Ursula, come back with me and get some beauty sleep. We've got an early start tomorrow to get ready."

Ursula took his hand and left. As she passed me, she dropped a handkerchief at my feet.

"Wipe yourself clean. Cut out these stunts from now on. They're childish."

Like she was dealing with a dog that had embarrassed her.

But what she didn't notice was that the few fans Aaron had brought hadn't left with them.

They pocketed their phones, locked the door dead shut, and came at me, cracking their knuckles.

"You think it's over? Not that easy."

"Aaron said we're supposed to teach you a real lesson. This is what you get for stealing another man's girl!"

A bottle shattered against my head, and my vision drowned in a smear of red.

Fists and feet rained down on me. In the chaos, I dialed my emergency contact.

Ursula's voice came through fast. "Now what?"

"Ursula, help me, it hurts so much, they—"

But before I could finish, she snapped, her patience gone.

"Thomas, would you stop with the act? Aaron has a show tomorrow. I'm busy getting him to sleep. I don't have time to play along with your little drama!"

The call cut off. The screen was crushed to pieces under someone's heel.

Through the curses and the jeering, someone's foot slammed into my chest.

I thought I heard a crisp snap deep inside my ribs.

Pain, sharp as if something had punctured me clean through, swallowed me whole in an instant, and I coughed up mouthful after mouthful of blood.

Before I lost consciousness completely, I thought I saw the door kicked open, someone rushing in...

...

To make sure nothing would disturb her while she enjoyed Aaron's concert in peace.

Ursula turned her phone off the moment she hung up.

Not until ten o'clock the next night, when Aaron finished his last song and stepped up to give his thank-you speech.

Did she finally turn it back on.

The concert had wrapped up beautifully, so it was time to make room for the wedding.

She was just about to text me, to set up going ring shopping together the next day.

But a flood of missed calls and messages poured in.

Every one of them from her assistant.

Up on stage, Aaron spoke with tender feeling.

"The reason I could go from a nobody, a housemaid's son, to holding my own concert, is because of one person who cared for me and stood by me year after year."

"Even the guitar pick I'm using tonight, she stayed up late making for me."

"Ursula, will you come up here and share this important moment with me? I have a surprise for you too."

The spotlight swung onto Ursula's face, but she didn't notice a thing.

Her eyes were locked on her phone, her face white as a ghost.

On the screen, you could feel the assistant's panic just from the words.

"Ms. Henson, please, could you pick up the phone?"

"Thomas was beaten by a mob. His titanium rib got kicked out of place and punctured his pleura, causing massive internal bleeding. He died on the way to the hospital..."