Chapter 27: Apology

“I wish to use this as an opportunity to publicly make an apology to Ian, his family as well as mine, and everyone else for all the trouble I’ve put everyone through.

My actions are unforgivable, I shouldn’t have put everyone through the futile trouble of attending the wedding only for me to flee halfway. I know the amount of pain I must have put Ian through…” Celine froze and stopped reading the script her manager Elise Jacobs had written for her.

Elise informed her that she had set up a press conference and Celine was to attend this very evening to make a public apology to Ian.

“I don’t know what you were thinking Celine, your actions could ruin your career. You very well known who Ian Rode is and he can destroy your career in the snap of a finger, how could you leave him jilted at the wedding altar?” Celine had quietly listened to Elise admonishing her without saying a word as she sat with a straight spine on a sofa inside the CEO’s office at Lightstar Entertainment Company, where she was officially signed as an artiste for five years now.

The CEO wasn’t in yet, so they had to wait for him to return, but Elise never stopped talking for a single moment going on and on about how everyone is sympathizing with Ian and he appeared everyday like a man nursing a broken heart.

Celine had spent three days in her penthouse, never talking to anyone, not going out to interact with anyone, she needed the seclusion, and for the first time in her whole life, she had felt free from the whole burden that had always been on her shoulders.

“Don’t go dumb on me now Celine, say something.” Elise urged, after she had been talking for what felt like hours, Celine hadn’t even breathed loudly not to mention saying a single word.

Slowly, she raised her head to look at the angry Elise. Throughout the five years of her acting career she and Elise had maintained an amiable relationship. They didn’t exactly become the best of friends, but there was friendliness when there needed to be and Elise employed strictness when she needed to.

“What did Ian say about me?” Celine asked with an unexpected calmness to her voice.

When she came into the company today, everyone had looked at her as if they’d seen a ghost. No one had been able to talk to her, some showed disdain, some showed the desire to gossip and some rising actresses seemed to gossip and laugh about her situation talking in hushed tones.

Celine didn’t care about her reactions, it was surprising to her because normally she would break at other people’s opinions, be self conscious of everyone that seemed to be speaking badly about her, be scared that their hatred might ruin her career which she had worked really hard for. But now all she felt was indifference.

“He told everyone in a press conference that he saw you in bed with another man the night before the wedding…” Elise informed after letting out a resigned sigh.

Celine felt genuinely shocked that Ian had actually said that. It was low even for him, the level of shamelessness required to accuse someone of something he did himself was astounding.

“He told the media that he loved you too much to let you go because of that, he said he couldn’t live without you so he ignored the fact that you cheated on him since you promised him it would never happen again.”

As Elise explained, she pulled up a video of the conference online and handed it directly to Celine so she could hear it for herself.

The first thing Celine saw was Ian crying so brokenly at a press conference, he looked like a man who had lost his whole life. He wore haggard looking clothes, his usually pristine face looking worn and exhausted with an unshaved stubble on his chin.

“Even I would believe you if I saw you like this.” Celine muttered to herself. She wasn’t surprised because she knew that Ian was a fantastic actor. He might work in the music field but in the past he had been an actor, a very popular one in fact however an incident at a movie set led him to withdraw from his acting career completely turning to music.

The man certainly hadn’t forgotten his acting skills.

“I still love her…” He sobbed to the cameras looking like his heart had been ripped out.

“I know Celine, you were scared, you didn’t think you deserved me anymore after what you did, that’s why you ran away from the wedding but… I’m willing to take you back. I’ll spend the rest of our lives loving you, and I’ll forget all the mistakes you made…” Celine scoffed and turned off the phone unable to bear to continue watching Ian’s charade.

She had to say that she had never met a man more vile, more despicable and more intolerably selfish as Ian. He had the whole world warped and twisted into believing his stupid story.

He was portraying the love struck man who couldn’t get over a woman even though she cheated on him, he made himself look pure, a man who loved with his whole heart while her, the vile worthless woman who didn’t deserve his love.

“That’s why you have to quickly release your public apology Celine, if you don’t people will start targeting you in other ways. We’re lucky that these past few days, people seem to have shifted their interest to the Grayson Corp president, but they’ll definitely not forget what you did. The minute Ian shows up in public looking so heartbroken again people will definitely start coming for you again.”

Celine glanced down at the speech Elise had written for her once more, reading it from where she stopped earlier.

“…I do not feel worthy of someone as remarkable as him, and I hope that with this, he’ll get the chance to find someone more worthy of him, someone who deserves him more. Once again, I apologize for everything.”

After reading the speech, Celine couldn’t help but feel a well of indignation in her heart.

“So you want me to go along with what Ian said. I should appear in public and accept the claims that I cheated on him? He cheated on me, Elise, I saw him with another woman that’s why I ran away.”

Elise didn’t look surprised by that revelation, “Even if you went out there to tell everyone he cheated, no one would believe you. Ian’s story has already been sold to the public and you know he has more fans all over the world than you, they will tear you apart if you accuse him of something like that.”

The fact that Elise didn’t look surprised that Ian had been cheating made Celine wonder if it had been obvious to other people around them before except her. And she was expected to accept a cheating man, marry him quietly because he was a man who had connections and she was a powerless woman who had nothing but a fame that could be flushed away if her cheating fiancee wanted that to happen.

“Listen Celine, I know it’s hard to take all the blame and be the cheater in the eyes of the public but that is the only way we can salvage whatever is left of your career. People will hate you for now, but the fact that you didn’t go ahead and marry Ian will make everyone think you at least know how to stand up to your mistake, they might not side with you at first but slowly there will be people who will see things from your perspective.

They will feel like you’ve realized you’re unworthy of such a remarkable man and choosing to give him the chance to find someone worthy of him would make you gain some bonus points. When the news begins to die down I’ll pick out a few low projects for you. Many directors might not be willing to work with you at first but we’ll start from rock bottom of we have to and you’ll slowly work your way up. We can still rise from there, so please, go ahead and give this apology.”

Listening to everything Elise said, Celine knew where she was coming from. She felt truly grateful that Elise looked out for her and immediately began to think of remedies so her career wouldn’t be completely tarnished. Being ruined in the entertainment world was to be expected when she had gone against someone like Ian, and standing up to the consequences of her own actions was something Celine was very good at.

Celine was quiet for a long moment, staring at the speech. The next minute, under Elise shocked gaze she ripped the paper in two.

“I won’t do it.” She said firmly.

“What?”

“I won’t make the apology Elise, I won’t do it!”

“But Celine, this Is the only way you can at least stay in the entertainment world.” Elise argued knowing there was a stubborn side to Celine that couldn’t be convinced when she had made a decision.

“Do you think this will make people see me in a better light or will they hate me even more?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep