Kapitel 2: Ruined image

'Have you ever felt like life just wanted to deal with you? And that you have no control over it? Just accept what it gives you?'

Ruby's life has never been cupcake and rainbows.

SLAP!!

Ruby's face stung from the sharp blow, her hand instinctively reaching up to touch the burning skin. She stared at her fiancé, Williams, in disbelief.

'Did he just slap me?' She thought.

His eyes blazed with anger as he spat, "You're despicable, Ruby. A liar and a pretender. If Sonia hadn't told me the truth, I'd still be in the dark."

Her mind raced, struggling to keep up. 'What truth?'

But before she could even ask, Sonia appeared, slinking to Williams' side, her arm entwined with his as if she had always belonged there.

"I warned her, Williams," Sonia said softly, her voice dripping with false concern. "I told her how wrong this was, but she just wouldn't listen."

Confusion swirled inside her like a storm. "What the hell are you two talking about?"

Williams' face contorted with fury as he yanked out a stack of photographs and threw them at her. They fluttered to the floor, one landing near her feet. Hesitantly, Ruby bent down to pick it up, her hands trembling. When her eyes locked on the image, she froze.

The photos were of someone in bed, their face unmistakably hers. Her breath hitched in my throat.

"What? No, this isn't me!" she stammered, turning to them in desperation.

"Even with evidence, you still have the nerve to lie to my face?" Williams growled, his muscles tensing as if he was on the verge of lunging at her.

"I saw the signs but I ignored them. Sonia kept warning me, but I chose to ignore because of the way you carried yourself. Now I know it was all a fake"

Sonia placed a hand on his arm, soothing him like a coiled snake preparing to strike.

"Calm down, babe," she murmured, her eyes cold.

'She called him babe?' Ruby's heart clenched in disbelief.

"The engagement is off," Williams said, his voice sharp and final. "I wouldn't want to marry a whore. You are a disgrace."

His words were like knives, cutting deep into her soul.

"I sacrificed a lot of things for you, Williams. Please believe me when I say that it isn't me," Ruby voiced out.

He sneered, his lips curling with disdain. "Did I ever ask you to make sacrifices for me? To be honest, I was never serious about you. You just gave me the perfect excuse to annul this engagement."

"You can't do this to me…I have helped you with a lot of things, how will I come and betray you?"

"I am sure you used your body to do all of that. I can never marry a slut. My eyes have always been on Sonia all these while. You just used yourself as a pawn to make me reach greatness."

Ruby's chest tightened as realization hit her like a tidal wave. 'This wasn't about truth or justice. Was this all Sonia's doing? Did she orchestrate this? How could she do this to her?'

"Please, Williams, listen!" she pleaded, tears burning my eyes. "This isn't me. These photos were edited. I would never cheat on you!"

She reached out to grab his arm, but he recoiled, jerking away from her as though her touch repulsed him. She had sacrificed her whole career for him, thinking that when he finally marries her, she will enjoy the life she felt she deserved.

A good life. But it was all just a lie. She couldn't let her life just end like this.

"Stop pretending, you lying bitch," he spat, turning his back on her. "Acting all high and classy when you're nothing but a whore."

He stormed out, leaving her alone with the woman who had destroyed everything.

Sonia stayed behind, her lips slowly curling into a sneer. As soon as the door clicked shut, she laughed—a cruel, cold sound that echoed through the room.

Ruby's fists clenched, the urge to hit Sonia surging inside her like a tidal wave, but she held back. "Why, Sonia? Why would you do this to me? What have I ever done to you?"

Sonia's laughter stopped abruptly. She tilted her head, looking at Ruby with nothing but contempt.

"Your high class and dignity mean nothing now, Ruby," she sneered. "It wasn't hard to fool Williams, or everyone, really. After all, no one ever liked you."

A chill ran down Ruby's spine. "What do you mean 'everyone'?"

Sonia's smirk widened. "Haven't you seen what's trending? You're so pitiful."

Heart pounding, Ruby pulled out her phone, and her stomach dropped as she saw the headlines. Stories about her being a whore, accusations that she had slept her way to success. Her phone buzzed incessantly, vibrating with calls and notifications. She saw her manager's name flashing on the screen. Her fingers shook as she answered.

"RUBY, what the hell is this?" Her manager's voice was cold, furious.

"Ma'am, please, I can explain," she stammered, her voice breaking. "It's not what it seems!"

"Don't give me some lame excuse. Your career is over! Every company that signed with you is pulling out. No one wants to work with you anymore. And guess what? Neither do I. You'll ruin my image, too." With that, she hung up.

Ruby's legs buckled beneath her, and she crumpled to the floor. Her world shattered around her as she tried to comprehend the weight of what just happened.

Sonia's voice slithered through the air like poison. "That's what you get for thinking you could be better than me. And I wouldn't have been successful if your sister didn't help."

"What?" Ruby couldn't believe her ears.

Her sister is involved in ruining her life. The sister that she has loved with all her heart and took care of.

"I wanted to tell her myself," Ruby looked to see her lovely sister, Catrina, walking towards them.

"Please…tell me it isn't true," Ruby said, her voice trembling.

"You are still so dumb." Cathrina replied.

Ruby's body trembled with rage as she heard her, "How dare you?!"

"After everything I have done for you. Why will you ruin my life? What offense did I do against you that you will do this to your own sister?"

"You are not my sister and I never saw you as one. I never forced you to buy expensive things for me. I never forced you to please me whenever I wanted. You did it all by yourself because that's just who you are, someone that has no identity and is sticking to others like a leach," Cathrina spat.

"I'll tell everyone what you've done!" Ruby spat, glaring at her.

"And who's going to believe you?" Sonia sauntered toward Ruby, her face twisted in mock pity. "You? The disgraced slut? Or me? The innocent friend who tried to help you?"

"You're not my friend," Ruby replied through clenched teeth as she tried to hold her tears.

Sonia laughed again; this time softer, more sinister. "I was never planning to be. This is where you belong, Ruby—beneath me. You should be grateful I didn't ruin you even worse."

Her eyes glinted with malice. "Don't think this is over. This is just the beginning," she whispered. "I will destroy you to the point where there's no coming back."

Ruby felt her throat tighten. "Why? What did I ever do to make you hate me this much?"

"Because I enjoy making your life miserable. I enjoy seeing losers like you having no future in this life," Sonia said, her voice seething with spite. "No matter where you go, no matter how you try to get back up, I will just continue to make your life miserable. You do not belong here, you have no one, even your family hates you because of how useless you are. Am I right Cathrina?"

"Of course you are, she is more of a servant than a daughter in the family," Cathrina replied.

"You are a pawn and you will keep being a pawn for the rise of others, especially me," Sonia's lips curled into a twisted smile.

Suddenly she raised her hand and slapped herself hard across the face. Before Ruby could process the shock of what she had done, a flood of reporters burst into the room, cameras flashing, recording every moment.

As the reporters swarmed into the room, their cameras flashed like a storm of lightning. Sonia's hand was still pressed to her cheek, her eyes wide with faux shock. She gasped dramatically, stumbling back as if in pain.

"She... she attacked me," Sonia whimpered, clutching her face and pretending to tremble.

"I was just trying to comfort her, to help her, and she lashed out at me! I warned her about this, but it fell on deaf ears" Her voice broke, full of false tears and exaggerated vulnerability.

The sea of reporters immediately turned their cameras toward Ruby, their eyes sharp and accusing. The flood of questions came all at once, like bullets aimed straight at her heart.

"Ruby, why did you attack Sonia?"

"Is it because of those pornographic photos?"

"Are you going to admit you cheated? Are you feeling ashamed of what you have done?"

The voices overlapped, suffocating her. She felt trapped, her breath quickening as they closed in, their microphones shoved in her face. She wanted to scream, to shout the truth, but the words caught in her throat.

"Sonia's been nothing but a good friend to you!" one reporter snapped. "Why would you harass her?"

Her head spun; every breath shallow as she struggled to find a way out of this nightmare.

"I didn't do anything!" she cried, my voice shaking. "This is all a lie! I didn't release those photos—someone edited them to frame me!"

"You are a liar. The evidence is all over the internet," Cathrina butted in.

"And I saw it with my own eyes on how she harassed Sonia. She keeps blaming her misfortunes on other people," she added.

"How do you explain the photos, Ruby? Your face is all over them."

"Did you really think you could cover this up? That your high class acting was all a façade?"

"I didn't do anything," Ruby managed to say.

But her words fell on deaf ears. The crowd didn't want the truth; they wanted a spectacle. They wanted blood.

Sonia, now standing just behind the wall of reporters, looked at her with mock sympathy. She dabbed at her eyes, pretending to wipe away tears.

"I just wanted to comfort her, ask her why she would do this, but she was so angry, so violent... I didn't know what else to do."

Her voice was soft, almost pitiful, and the reporters ate it up.

One of them turned back to Ruby, thrusting a microphone closer. "Why would you attack someone who tried to comfort you?"

Ruby felt her chest tightening, her breaths shallow and ragged. The camera flashes blinded her, the sound of their demands a deafening roar. "Please…stop this…please?"

"Is it true you were using your body to get fame?"

"Why did you become a slut when you were engaged?"

"Do you regret it, Ruby? Lying to your fiancé and to your fans?"

The word "regret" slammed into her, twisting the knife of betrayal deeper. Ruby could no longer process what was happening. She couldn't think straight. So many voices clouded her head.

"Please, just listen!" she begged, her voice cracking. "Sonia... She's lying! She set me up!"

Sonia's face twisted in a way only Ruby could see—a flash of smug victory before she resumed her fake innocence. She took a step forward, and the reporters immediately parted for her, treating her like a victim.

"Ruby, I'm so sorry this had to come out like this," she said softly, her voice laced with venom under the surface of concern.

"But everyone deserves to know the truth. The truth about the real you." She looked straight into the cameras as if giving a heartfelt statement, her face still tear-streaked. "I warned you to never go this path but you didn't listen"

The reporters leaned in closer, waiting for Ruby to lash out, waiting for more drama.

Ruby couldn't take it anymore. The weight of the accusations, the lies, the loss of Williams, being framed by her own sister, her life crashing down.

But no one cared. No one cared about the truth. All they saw was the story Sonia was feeding them—the fabricated tale of a perfect victim and a jealous, fallen star.

One reporter pushed in closer, nearly pressing their camera into her face. "Ruby, why are you still lying? Is this how you respond to being caught?"

Another yelled from the side, "Tell us about the photos, Ruby! How could you do this to your fiancé?"

She couldn't breathe. The walls seemed to close in around her, and every word felt like an attack, every flash of the camera like a spotlight on her shame.

Ruby looked at Sonia one last time, her eyes glittering with satisfaction. She had won. At least, for now. Her vision blurred as panic seized her. She had to get out of there.

Without another word, she bolted. her legs moved before she could process it, pushing through the throng of reporters, shoving aside microphones and cameras. Their shouts grew louder as they realized she was fleeing.

She heard them calling her name, demanding answers, but she couldn't stop. Her pulse roared in her ears, her breath coming in short, ragged gasps.

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