1 Woke Up On The Wrong Side Of The Bed

Jiang Ying Yue's life went to hell on a Thursday. She'd woken up to find her name splashed all over the tabloids and the internet for the first time in her life, but it wasn't because people had finally recognized her talent. Or because she was going to be starring in a big-budget movie after trying for years to make it.

No, before Jiang Ying Yue became known as an A-rank actress, her name became synonymous with "homewrecker."

Apparently, Ning Kuo, who was her fellow actor under Regal Entertainment and the man she thought she'd been falling in love with, had a secret wife and child. And the wife had not been happy about them dating, wanted revenge and spilled everything to the media.

By the time she'd arrived at the agency, the heads had already convened and decided on what to do in order to minimize losses for the company and save the most profitable artist.

And she, a relative newcomer who hadn't had her big break yet, was basically nothing compared to award-winning actor Ning Kuo who already has several hit movies and TV series under his name.

Oh they told her some flowery words about her "not reaching her full potential" with the company and that she was "so talented she could join any agency" so they "were giving her the option to choose whichever path she wants."

They'd told her that producers chose to go with Qin Huo Lian for her role in "Eternal Love" instead because she had a bigger agency and stronger backing. That she was a good enough actress not to need to a strong backing like Qin Huo Lian anyway.

They'd told her that they hoped with how good the company had treated her, she would continue treating them well in the future as well for the sake of friendship. With a smile too, like they weren't subtly threatening that they would kill her and make it look like an accident if she ever opened her mouth to the press.

But in the end, all that bullshit amounted to the same thing: she was cannon fodder. The sacrifice for the greater good. Or greater profit, in this case. They can't let go of one of their main moneymakers Ning Kuo, so they would strip her of everything and ruin her name in the entertainment industry if that was what it took to clear his name.

By Thursday evening, instead of "award-winning actress and star of 'Eternal Love' Jiang Ying Yue," she was now "Jiang Ying Yue, the upstart actress who seduced Ning Kuo and ruined his marriage." Never mind that she never even officially dated him or that they barely kissed. Never mind that Ning Kuo was the one who relentlessly pursued her for a year until she began trusting his feelings to be true and gave in.

It didn't take even 24 hours for three years of hard work to go down the drain.

She'd thought she had been careful, never meeting him in public and never saying she was officially dating him. She was aware this early in the game, a romance was something that could hinder a career as an actress no matter who was your partner. It turns out Ning Kuo was not half as careful as her, taking photos of her and keeping it in his phone, which his wife had eventually found and confronted him about.

Ying Yue honestly didn't blame Ning Kuo's wife. Maybe she could have exposed him in a smarter way, but the fact is Ning Kuo had been emotionally cheating on her, the mother of his child, for a year. He'd been chasing after her, stopping by her location sets when he could have gone home and spent some time with his wife and kid. Jeez, what a lowlife.

She didn't even know if Ning Kuo's wife was going to divorce him. She hopes she does because no woman deserved to have that bastard as their husband. But Ying Yue is realistic to know that there's a greater possibility she would stay with him for the sake of their child or for her own reputation. Divorced women with children had it even harder than spinsters in their country.

The worst part of this whole situation is honestly not even that Ning Kuo basically cheated on her and his wife. It's that she could have avoided being sacrificed for him had she any backing at all. Yes, she'd made a mistake, but not the career-ending kind. The "homewrecker" news wouldn't have been that hard to twist to their advantage or that difficult to suppress even if their agency wasn't that big. This label wouldn't even have been attached to her name had her agency not chosen to encourage the media to put the spotlight and pin the blame entirely on her.

But because she was the woman, it was easier to cast stones on her.

Because she was the powerless one, it was easier to throw her aside even if she didn't do the most wrong or that she was more talented than a, frankly, B-rate actor like Ning Kuo.

Because of this tiny little thing, she would be unable to show her face in the entertainment industry and would have her reputation spat on by people who didn't even know what the hell actually happened. She would become one of those countless of nameless actor- and actress-wannabes who become eaten by the cutthroat system and spend the next 30 years of their life wondering what could have been.

She wasn't the first one and she wouldn't be the last.

Now, she had no apartment, car, assistant and job prospects, all of which had been provided by her agency before.

If this wasn't a reality check to the highest degree, she didn't know what was.

Maybe her parents had been right all along. They'd pushed her to apply for a stable job in a good company instead of pursuing her "impractical" dreams of being an actress and director. She'd thought her parents, who were regular office workers, had dreamed too little and were stuck in dead-end jobs, not living their lives to the fullest.

Well, it took having her reputation dragged through the mud in front of the entire nation for her to learn that maybe it was better to be safe and secure than attempt to reach for the impossible.

As she dragged her one suitcase away from her apartment building, which thankfully no reporters had found, the only thing she could think of was...it's time to wake up from this dream and smell the damn roses, Jiang Ying Yue.

God, her parents are never going to let her live this down.

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Ying Yue had planned to go back to her parents' house, but honestly? She didn't think she could face them right now. Though she knew they wouldn't exactly yell at her or blame her, their disappointed faces would be enough to make her break down.

She'd give it a few days, just until she could get herself together and make a plan on what she was going to do now that she was directionless.

Her plans since college had gone down the drain basically. She'd had it all figured out. She was going to start her career as an actress since she didn't have any capital to make her own films. She was going to gain a great reputation as an actress before branching out to scriptwriting and directing. She would tell her own stories and maybe star in films that were important to her.

Ying Yue had always been confident about her abilities. Maybe it was because she was her parents' precious only child, but they'd given her everything they could and only had encouraging words for her while she was growing up. She pursued whatever she wanted with relentless determination and mostly excelled in whatever she did. While they didn't have money for her to go to a top school, she did go to a relatively good university and graduated with a double major in business management and film and theater arts. The latter she'd fought for and promised to her parents that she would drop the moment her grades for the business management course went down. She'd never needed to rely on connections and never needed approval from anyone but herself and her family.

Maybe that was the problem in the end. She'd been adamant that she didn't need anything but her own talents and skills. But no one can survive the entertainment industry without at least some cunning and scheming. She'd been too stubborn and arrogant, and she'd learned that the hard way.

Now, she lied on the bed, her head pillowed on arms, and stared outside the window of the hotel she'll be staying in for the night, looking at the sky. She couldn't see the stars, most of them invisible due to the city lights while the rest was obscured by smog and clouds. She couldn't see any living soul, just buildings with lights.

She'd never felt more alone in her life than at this moment.

At least before this, she had her dreams and goals. Now, it feels like she truly had nothing.

It wasn't like her dream wasn't her dream anymore or that her goals were literally impossible to achieve. But right at this moment, when she had no one to hold her and tell her that it was OK to keep dreaming, that she could still make it if she continued trudging on, it truly, honestly, felt like she had nothing. She had some cash to her name, but no home to truly call hers or people she could rely on to follow her even if she left the entertainment industry.

She was truly alone.

And thus, no one else saw when she stopped stifling her sobs and finally broke down.