Just want to be a supporting role

The Fourth Step

His lurking paid off when he successfully spotted William entering Verna's room, with the door opened by Verna's assistant!

William, who was supposed to be engaged to Tina at this time, had instead run to the hotel to meet Verna! How exciting!

Upon receiving the message from Jack, Abel excitedly slapped his thigh, confident that he now had solid evidence!

Meanwhile, what Tina said on the podium at the engagement ceremony was posted online and quickly trended on f*******:.

Under the trending hashtag #William and Tina's Engagement#, many fans who had been scolding Tina were speechless after seeing the new hashtags #William Runs Away from Engagement to Meet Verna# and #Verna is Tina's Sister#.

This must be fake! Tina is deliberately saying this to grab attention and defame William and Verna! Fans tried to save face, but soon Abel posted a short video on his f*******:—William, who was supposed to be at the engagement ceremony, entered Verna's room, with the door opened by Verna's assistant!

The fans' forced words like "Photoshopped" and "synthesized" seemed so pale and powerless in the face of such solid evidence.

Netizens, without the fans' filters, thought of the word "mistress" first upon seeing such news.

"After reading through everything, Tina is too pitiful!"

"I never expected that Verna would be Tina's sister. Is the sister sleeping with her brother-in-law?"

"I'm so confused. If William likes Verna, why did he get engaged to Tina and run away from the engagement on the same day? He's such a jerk! Why didn't he make it clear earlier?"

"I used to dislike Tina... But from what she said, I can see that this girl really likes William. She's clearly suffering, but she still speaks up for that couple! I hate people who two-time and have affairs the most!"

"My values are shattered."

"Tina is really pitiful. Case closed."

...

The intense online criticism by netizens had just begun when these trending hashtags suddenly disappeared as if they had never existed.

Then someone noticed that Abel had deleted the short video he posted and instead reposted a f*******: with a meaningful meme: "One who eats someone else's food loses the ability to speak ill of them; one who accepts someone else's bribes loses the ability to act impartially.jpg"

Passersby concluded, "The main characters bought Abel off with money. Alright, solid evidence."

...

The Brown family was efficient. The guests and media at the scene had already left when William returned with Verna, who was almost being supported by William, looking pale as if she could be blown away by the wind.

On the way back, the two agents' teams worked together to spend a high price to remove the trending hashtags and get Abel to delete the short video.

Upon seeing Tina's mother and the others, Verna burst into tears before she could even speak. She pushed William away and stumbled over to the group. Her legs buckled, and she was about to kneel down. "Dad, Mom, Uncle Brown, Aunt Brown, I'm sorry. It's all my fault..."

"My darling!" Tina's mother hurriedly embraced Verna, her heart aching. "Why do you look so pale? Are you feeling unwell? Don't scare Mom."

"I'm fine, just a bit feverish," Verna shook her head and said in a hoarse voice, "Where's Tina? I want to apologize to her..."

"Apologize to her?" As if hearing something unbelievable, Tina's mother's voice suddenly rose. "If it weren't for her, would things have turned out like this? She did it deliberately! Over such a small matter, she pushed you and William into the spotlight without any regard. She has no respect for us elders. I haven't even punished her yet!"

"No, it's me, it's me who ruined Tina and William's engagement. I was burning with fever and didn't know my assistant had told William. I made William worry and caused Tina to misunderstand..." Verna looked pained and guilty.

Before she could finish, a loud "slap" was heard, coming from Uncle Brown's raised right hand. William, standing opposite him, slightly turned his head, and a bright red fingerprint appeared on his cheek.

"As an adult man, you act without considering the consequences. I think you've wasted these twenty-plus years," Uncle Brown shook his head, looking at William with disappointment. Then he pointed at Verna and said, "Today was your engagement with Tina. Even if you were worried about Verna and wanted to find her, you should have arranged everything before leaving. At least, you should have comforted Tina first."

William's eyebrows twitched, as if he wanted to say something but swallowed it back.

He had expected Tina's personality and didn't think she would do anything drastic. He hadn't expected this time to be different. Tina's actions had surprised him.

"Uncle Brown..." Verna moaned sadly.

Uncle Brown looked at her, his expression softening as he comforted her, "Verna, this isn't your fault. You're not wrong. It's William who didn't handle it well. He's caused trouble for both you and Tina."

"Neither of these children is wrong! They've always liked each other. If it weren't for..." Tina's mother became more and more angry as she listened. She touched Verna's pale face, feeling so heartbroken that she wished she could suffer in her place. "Since she's made such a mess of things, let's just cancel her engagement with William."

Turning to Tina's father, she said, "Cancel her admission to Q University and let her go to C University. She's been back for so long, and we've given her everything she wanted. But she's still not satisfied. Since that's the case, let her understand the consequences of her mistakes, so she doesn't think she can do whatever she wants just because she feels we owe her."

Upon hearing this, Tina's father, who had a dark expression, nodded in agreement. He had been happy when his lost daughter, whom he had been searching for for over ten years, returned. But he found that not only was her personality completely different from his, but she also had many bad habits. She was simply not presentable.

How could he face other people?!

He turned to Jason, who had been spectating the whole time, and said, "Call her down!"

Jason, who was thirteen years old and had just entered puberty, impatiently replied, "Okay." Boys at this age often claimed to be "adults" and believed they should be fair.

Before going upstairs, he expressed his opinion.

"I don't think Tina is wrong," he said, lifting his head as if he were about to roll his eyes. "It's her engagement day, but William left her to go find my sister. Put yourself in her shoes, wouldn't you be angry?"

"Mom, you always say that William was promised to my sister by you and Aunt Brown. But the arranged marriage you made when you were young was supposed to be between Tina and William."

After speaking, knowing he would be scolded by his mother, Jason quickly darted upstairs.

Although he didn't like Tina—which was evident from how he addressed her—he had to admit that, speaking objectively, it was William's fault today.

Recalling Tina's appearance on the podium, Jason realized... Perhaps his parents were a bit biased.

It was all Tina's fault for being unlikable and always having a gloomy face. If she were as gentle and kind as his sister, no one would dislike her.

When he reached Tina's room and knocked for a long time, there was no response.

Impatient, Jason simply turned the doorknob—

But the room was empty, with no sign of Tina.

Where was she?!

"Are you looking for me?" At that moment, a low whisper suddenly echoed behind him. In an instant, the hairs on the back of Jason's neck stood up visibly. He let out a sharp, piercing scream that reverberated through the ceiling and then, like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, quickly jumped away.

Seeing that it was Tina who had scared him, Jason shouted in fear, "Are you crazy? You know scaring people can kill them!!!"

Tina blinked and smiled very sweetly—

Because the loudspeaker in her mind was broadcasting in real-time: [Congratulations on receiving 10 scream points from Jason.]

10 points!

That jerk's scream was only worth 1 point, but Jason's was worth 10!

Ten times more!

Facing Tina's almost eerie smile, Jason felt a chill and instinctively took two steps back. Then he heard Tina's encouraging voice, "Good, scream again."

Jason: "???"

Had this woman gone mad from too much stress?!