The men would also have a difficult time but only at the beginning when the height of public criticism was at its peak. Then they would recover almost scot-free. As a matter of fact, some immoral men wore their past scandals like a badge of honour.
In contrast, most women only had one way to go—down. Those who were resilient enough to rise up could only live with tainted reputations. They had no choice but to change their image into something more provocative if they wanted to continue surviving. Their original clean reputations were gone forever.
Chen Fei understood this but still felt reluctant to accept Jin Chonglin’s idea. “I don’t think that our situation is as extreme as a scandal. It’s only a dating rumour. There’s no reason for us pretend to date.”
He sighed. “You still don’t fully understand. I’m Jin Chonglin! A superstar!”
She rolled her eyes again. “Yeah, yeah.”
”Because of my fame and high status in showbiz, people always care about what’s going on in my life especially my dating life. It’s not only my fans who care but also other people. If a woman is rumoured to be involved with me, then everyone would want to know everything about the woman and dissect everything about her life. Even if the rumours are proven to be false, the damage to the woman is already done. I can’t control this.
”Like I said, I usually don’t care but you’re different. I may not like you because you’re a rude, bossy woman but you’re still my sister-in-law’s close friend, not to mention that I have to work with you again when my next line of men’s product for Orchidia begins development. I can’t just ignore you even if I want to!”
Chen Fei pursed her lips. His description of her angered her but he did make sense.
”So what’s the point of me pretending to be your girlfriend?” she asked.
”It’s to give you a status so that the criticism won’t be too harsh on you. If my fans and the people know that I pursued you and made you my girlfriend, then they have no choice but to accept it. Sure, there will still be some who will dislike it but those ones will always dislike any woman who becomes gets romantically linked with me anyway. Those obsessive fans only want me to belong to everyone and not have any real-life lovers.”
She pondered over his reasoning. Although he made sense, she still thought that his idea was ridiculous.
If it were only her, she wouldn’t care about the public opinion at all. However, she was now the COO of Orchidia. As one of its highest executives, she had the responsibility to maintain a good image in order to uphold the company’s reputation. She couldn’t taint Orchidia because of her personal issues.
”Ah, fuck this.”
Jin Chonglin clicked his tongue when he heard her swearing again. “So you still don’t agree? Fine, then.” He shrugged. “I tried protecting you but you still refuse my goodwill. Whatever happens from here on isn’t my problem anymore.”
She glared at him. “How long do we have to pretend to be in a relationship?”
He raised an eyebrow at her question. It seemed that she was starting to change her mind.
”Depends on the amount of attention we continue to get. My manager suggests that we ‘date’ for at least three months. Because if we ‘break up’ too soon, the public will start finding out why. I’ll be okay as always but you’ll be the one who’ll have to face another wave of negative public opinion. They might say that I found you inadequate or something like that.”
”People don’t know shit.” She sneered. “I, Chen Fei, am inadequate? Hah! Unless they’re certified geniuses like Xiulan, then they have no right to talk crap about me.”
”That’s true. But what do you expect from haters? They’ll always gonna hate no matter what you do.” He finished his latte and stood up. “I gotta go now. I still have a taping later. Just think about my offer but don’t take too long to make a decision or we’ll miss the optimal time.”
She also stood up. “Fine, I accept.”
He was startled. “You what?”
”I said I accept! Are you deaf?”
He ignored her testy attitude. “You really accept?”
”Yes!”
His iconic killer smile spread across his face. Then he stroked his chin. “Admit it. You’re just pretending to hate me when in fact, you really like me. You can now finally grab the chance to be my girlfriend even if it’s just pretend—”
”You hooligan!” She threw a business magazine at him.
All the executive assistants watched their furious COO chasing a laughing Jin Chonglin out of the office. They looked at each other, their eyes filled meaning. Then they smiled and continuing working as if nothing unusual happened just now.
Chen Fei chased the infuriating narcissistic diva man until he disappeared in the elevator. Then she returned to her office, gasping slightly from all the running. When saw her reflection in the mirror, she slapped both of her cheeks.
”What the hell are you doing? No, this is not blushing. This is just a normal physiological effect after a workout. Yes, that’s right. My red face has nothing to do with that womanizer.”
She tapped her cheeks again before forcing her attention back to the work piled up on her desk.
###
Just as Jin Chonglin predicted, there were many people who started criticizing Chen Fei. Most of them were his obsessive fans. It became worse later than night when most of the night owls were active.
Inside her own home, Chen Fei felt furious after reading some of the mean and unreasonable comments about her. There were those who called her ugly.
She couldn’t help but look at herself in the mirror.
”Which part of me is ugly? I may not be as gorgeous as Xiulan but I don’t think I’m at the level to be called ugly. I’m pretty enough.”
Other comments called her a gold digger and social climber.
She scoffed.
”Me, a gold digger and social climber? I may not come from a high-society family but my parents are veritable high-income professionals just like me. There’s no need for me to target that diva man’s wealth and status.”
She tossed her hair over her shoulder.
”Do people think that I’m using Jin Chonglin as a sugar daddy? I don’t need a sugar daddy. I’m my own sugar mama! Hmph!”
Finally, she stopped looking at all the bashing directed at her online. It was too toxic. Even if she didn’t care much, she still felt offended and hurt by some of the meanest ones. Continuing to look at them was not worth her mental health.
She was about to call it a night and head to bed when her phone rang.
”What now?”
”Tsk tsk, rude as always,” Jin Chonglin’s voice replied. “But I was raised to be a gentlemen so hello to you.”
Chen Fei wanted to retort but all the mean comments about her popped up inside her mind again. She sighed and felt deflated.
”Oh, what’s this? You’re not retorting?”
”It’s late. I’m tired. What do you want?”
Thankfully, Jin Chonglin didn’t continue teasing her anymore.
”I plan to make an official announcement about our ‘relationship’ first thing tomorrow. You also have to coordinate with me and make your own confirmation.”
”Tomorrow? So soon?”
”What so soon? Do you want to continue being attacked online for longer?”
She was unable to retort. Her mood fell even further. Being attacked online by a bunch of strangers was no fun at all.
Then she remembered that Iris went through the same thing with Jin Chonglin before. No, what Iris experienced was so much worse than what Chen Fei was experiencing right now.
Iris even almost lost her life back then. It was because of the nonstop rumours about her chasing Jin Chonglin that made his ex-fiancée Fan Luo go crazy from jealousy and attempt to murder Iris. If Iris had been unlucky and died, nobody would have known about Fan Luo’s evil scheme.
Even when Iris miraculously woke up from a year-long coma, made an almost complete recovery, and then successfully returned to the showbiz limelight, people still continued to criticize her because of Jin Chonglin.
Chen Fei hated Iris before but not anymore. It was because Iris kept on bullying Long Jinjing back then.
Now, however, Iris was one of their closest friends.
Chen Fei felt furious on behalf of Iris. She couldn’t help but blame Jin Chonglin. “Everything is your fault!”
Jin Chonglin had no idea about the extent of her thoughts. He thought that she was only blaming him about their current situation.
”Alright, alright. It’s my fault. Happy?”
She was unhappy but didn’t want to argue with him anymore. Everything that happened today made her exhausted in a way that she had never felt before. She almost found it hard to breathe.
’Xiulan is amazing to survive all that,’ she thought.
Then she said, “Fine, let’s follow your plan for tomorrow.”
The next morning, Jin Chonglin once again visited Orchidia. Like yesterday, he was inside Chen Fei’s office.
”No, delete that photo,” she said while trying to grab his phone. “This angle makes my jaw look wider. Let’s take another photo.”
Jin Chonglin sighed and took another hundred photos of them together before she was satisfied with just one.
”Can I post it now?” he asked, already feeling tired when it was still very early in the morning.
She nodded. “Yes. Don’t forget to tag me.”
”I know, I know. Jeez, you’re so bossy!”
