Chapitre 29: Janus

Xue Junxie wasn't a bad actor. Far from it. Ever since he'd realised that his parents lapped up his pity party act whenever he fought with his brother, he'd been using this talent to his advantage.

In high school, he'd learnt that it wasn't just his foolish family who were that gullible. The girls in his class, too, fell for the charms that he portrayed. No one would believe that this friendly, good-natured classmate of theirs, who was good at his studies and behaved like a gentleman, would have another side to him. No one suspected him of forging his credentials to work part-time in clubs and entertainment establishments, making friends with those in high places one dirty deal at a time.

Convincing his new female colleagues to sleep with male clients, helping to deliver drugs, slipping hypnotics into customers' drinks, you name it, he'd done it before.

But no one in school knew. Even that one ex-classmate he'd accidentally gotten pregnant had had to drop out in shame after she couldn't stand the bullying by his female admirers. She hadn't lied, the child was his, but no one had wanted to hear it. They had called her a slut, covered her desk and textbooks with the words 'whore' and 'prostitute', all because she had tried to drag their Big Brother Xue down with her.

Xue Junxie had gotten away with it. Until now.

His manager called him when he was in the shower, getting ready for another day of filming. He had been feeling very satisfied with what he had done just a couple of hours ago, congratulating himself on a job well done. Despite the minor hiccoughs, such as Su Qiao refusing to let him into her room and the security guards that had shown up, he'd had enough material to sell to BigBrotherWon'tTellYou, whom he knew was one of Su Qiao's haters.

So what if Su Qiao knew that he was responsible for it? He was confident that, just like all the people he'd bullied before, she would have no choice but to swallow the unfairness in bitter silence.

He had monitored the responses, especially those of the internet navy that he'd spent money to buy. Of course, there were a couple of negative comments about him too, criticising him for showing up at Su Qiao's doorstep in the middle of the night. But his fanatical female fans and 'fans' soon drowned the dissenting voices out.

Only when he'd been confident that Su Qiao's reputation was in tatters, did he put his phone aside and head to the en suite washroom.

But in the half an hour that he was gone, the tide had turned.

"Who the fuck did you offend?!" Xue Junxie's manager exploded once he picked up. His phone had blown up with text messages and missed calls, some of them concerned, others scolding him for being a disgusting human being. Flummoxed, Xue Junxie towelled his hair dry and asked what was going on.

In response, his manager sent over a couple of screenshots. He downloaded these and when they finally opened, his blood ran cold.

The first picture was of him in the private booth of a club, exchanging a brown paper bag with another man. He recognised the interior decor as belonging to the upscale entertainment centre that he used to work in and now frequented as a VVVIP client. In the photo, he was dressed like a member of the serving staff, which showed how long ago it'd been taken.

On its own, this shot wasn't all that incriminating. But the next picture revealed the contents of the bag, packets of white powder in exchange for a wad of cash that had funded Xue Junxie's hobbies, such as partying and booking hotel rooms for one-night stands.

His phone slackened in his grasp and clattered to the floor. If he couldn't figure out a way to clear his name, he was finished.

His manager was still screaming at him down the line. This time, he was asking him why some girl and her family were saying that he'd gotten her pregnant and then refused to acknowledge the baby.

A face flashed in his mind, ashen with despair as their classmates around her jeered. He'd remembered feeling so triumphant as he'd watched her burst into tears and flee, once a school flower, now the butt of all jokes.

She didn't abort the child?! Why didn't she?

"Is it yours?!" his manager demanded to know. "Legal wants to work on the case immediately. We need you to tell us the truth, Junxie." His entire team was in chaos this morning thanks to this unexpected development, and it wasn't even 8 am yet. Xue Junxie might be new but he was promising, having won a reality TV acting competition before signing on. Furthermore, he had a lot of direct competitors and the higher-ups suspected that this was the strategy by a rival company to take Xue Junxie down before he could establish a solid fanbase.

"I—but I—" Xue Junxie stammered. The truth? The truth was far worse than anything his management team could imagine. Not only had he slept with her on her birthday, but he'd also denied it and instigated his entire school to turn against her. Xue Junxie wasn't the sort to be in denial. He knew that he was a horrible person, he didn't care. He relished in the hurt that he caused others. But the caveat being, no one was supposed to find out about it.

Sweat prickled on his skin. "Manager—"

"Shit," his manager swore suddenly. "She posted again, saying that if you continue to insist that the child isn't yours and refuse to pay maintenance for him, she's happy to challenge you in court with a paternity test. I'm going to ask you one last time, Xue Junxie, are you the father?"

Xue Junxie tried to speak but his throat clamped up. However, his silence was telling enough.

"For fuck's sake!" his manager yelled, voice strangled. "Are you telling me the drug-dealing photographs are true too?!"

"I—I needed the money," Xue Junxie tried to explain feebly, already reverting to his old habits of lying. "Big Brother Yu, it was really only one time, I—"

The line died. Xue Junxie sank onto the floor in a despairing heap. To think that not long ago, he was gleeful about ruining Su Qiao's life. Perhaps he didn't have enough dirt on her yet to tear her down permanently, but it was sufficient to stain her name for the duration of 'Diamond in the Rough' and help Bai Meixin to shine.

Bai Meixin. The colour drained from his face when he thought of her. Had she seen the news yet? What would she think of him?

Ever since he'd seen Bai Meixin at Director Ma's introduction dinner, Xue Junxie had been unable to get her out of his mind. He thought of her every waking moment and dreamt of her at night, unable to satisfy any of his urges unless he had her in mind. But it pained him to think about her that way. She was brighter than any star to him, so pure and perfect that she deserved only the best.

She deserved someone like CEO Lin, for example. And he was happy that CEO Lin seemed to be interested in her too. For the first time in his life, Xue Junxie was content to take the backseat and just protect her quietly from afar.

And protect her, he did. Bai Meixin was too much of an angel to complain about how Su Qiao mistreated her but Xue Junxie wasn't blind or deaf. He had heard the nasty things Su Qiao had said to his goddess and had vowed to help her take revenge, even if it meant that he had to go near that disgusting woman to do so.

He had been so close to succeeding too. Where had he gone wrong? His intel might not be the best but his friends in the clubs that the high society young masters frequented had told him that Su Qiao had fallen out with her family because she was jealous of the preferential treatment they gave Bai Meixin.

Rumour even had it that Lin Zizhou and Su Qiao had been a thing before Bai Meixin had come along and shown Lin Zizhou that Su Qiao was worthless in comparison.

So if neither the Su Family nor Lin Zizhou was supporting her, how did she manage to clear her name and implicate him so quickly?

Panicking, Xue Junxie tried dialling the number for his ex-workplace. They were all in this together, surely they would bail him out?

But it was only 8 am, the establishment wouldn't open for another twelve hours yet.

And by then it would be too late. Xue Junxie was at a loss. He couldn't think of any other solution but to go to Su Qiao and beg her to stop whatever she was doing.

Yes. There was no difficulty to that, his pride was worth nothing with his future on the line. Once everything died down, he could think of another way to get back at her. But for now, he needed to save his skin.

Rushing to the closet, he threw on a T-shirt and some jeans, not caring about his appearance for the first time since forever. But when he yanked open his main door, he was stunned to come face to face with two policemen.

They exchanged glances with each other before regarding him beadily, as though they suspected he was attempting to make a break for it.

"Xue Junxie?" One of them held up a badge to verify his identity. "You're under arrest for the suspected sale of illicit drugs."

He was over.