Untitled Episode 2
512 Words
“Forget it.” She waved a hand. “It’s also those reporters. They just wanted traffic.”
Ethan’s career had been smooth from the time he was nineteen.
One successful role after another, climbing step by step until he became a household name.
But every time the public talked about his love life, somehow I got dragged back into it.
Because he’d worked well with every actress he’d ever starred opposite. Everything had been friendly, professional, peaceful.
Except with me.
I had been the female lead in his first drama at nineteen, and I was also the one he’d torn things up with so publicly and so badly that neither of us had left any room for old feelings or dignity.
As the years passed, even the hatred faded.
In the end, we became two complete strangers, with no contact and no emotional reaction left between us.
Until recently, when Ethan and Nina’s movie came out.
Onscreen, the two of them clashed brilliantly. They weren’t playing lovers, but somehow they felt even more compelling than lovers.
The film drew in a huge new wave of fans.
To promote their new show, they signed on to a light entertainment series.
And, by sheer coincidence, that same show invited me too.
Inside the sprawling villa, I sat quietly in a corner.
Not until Ethan Kane and Nina Cole made their grand, last-to-arrive entrance did the room finally stir.
Everyone stood to greet them.
I stood too, but said nothing.
Then Nina walked straight over to me and held out her hand first.
“You’re Maya Moore, right? I’ve heard so much about you.”
The mood in the room turned strange for a beat.
I smiled at her. “Nice to meet you.”
Ethan glanced over this way as if he couldn’t care less, then took a seat across the room on the diagonal.
He wasn’t going to greet me, and I wasn’t going to greet him.
Nina gave a small nod, then turned and sat beside Ethan.
I kept Andrea’s warning firmly in mind.
Do not look at Ethan any more than necessary.
And if needed, when he and Nina had their little moments, I was even supposed to help sell the atmosphere so the audience wouldn’t accuse me of being bitter or unable to stand seeing them together.
One of the actresses, who was clearly close to Nina, smiled at me and asked, “By the way, Maya, what would you say is your signature work?”
My signature work?
I had just wrapped a new series not long ago, but it hadn’t aired yet.
Other than that—
There was the breakout web drama Ethan and I had done seven years ago, the one that exploded overnight and racked up insane numbers.
Even though I hadn’t acted at all during the seven years I spent overseas, plenty of people still knew my name.
“None,” I said calmly.
The second the word left my mouth, the room went silent.
I could feel a heavy gaze land on me.
- Writer
