Chapter 159: Chapter 159: I Never Touched Her

Yvonne Sutton hadn’t wanted to listen, look, or get involved in the commotion. But the profanity reached her ears, and anger flared within her. Most importantly, her clothes were now splattered with grease stains that would be difficult to wash out.

Candice Yates hadn’t even noticed her and continued to bully Kelsie Kensington.

"Kelsie Kensington, you’d better remember your place. Do you have any idea what the consequences are for crossing me? As your senior, I’ll give you one chance. Apologize to me right now!"

Kelsie Kensington was a mess, tears of humiliation welling in her eyes. But when she thought of her career, she slowly began to bow.

"Apologize to me!" Yvonne Sutton stood up, pointing at her own clothes as she spoke to Candice Yates.

Candice Yates clearly only just noticed Yvonne Sutton. She glanced down at Yvonne’s clothes, and once she understood, she looked back up with utter disdain. "It was just a splash of sauce from a dish. It’s not like I did it on purpose."

"All that matters is you admit you did it. Now, apologize," Yvonne Sutton said coldly.

Candice Yates pursed her lips. Even though they were at the far end of the long table, people were still glancing over, intentionally or not, to watch the drama unfold. If she apologized now, she’d lose all face.

"Yvonne Sutton, you’re going too far!" Candice Yates’s eyes darted. Then, her eyes reddened as she put on a show of being the one who was bullied.

Yvonne Sutton scoffed. ’Is she trying to put on an act for me?’

Yvonne Sutton wasn’t about to humor her. She snatched up a greasy dish and flung its contents at Candice.

Caught off guard, Candice Yates was splattered with food.

"Yvonne Sutton, you little bitch!"

Enraged, Candice Yates was about to lunge at her, but then she saw Yvonne Sutton pull out her phone and start scrolling through it.

She was struck by a sudden memory of that afternoon—Yvonne Sutton had a video of her hitting that child.

Candice Yates froze, not daring to charge at Yvonne Sutton any longer. A sense of panic was already setting in.

"What are you doing?"

Yvonne Sutton raised an eyebrow. "I’m waiting for you to apologize to me."

"You..."

Seeing that she wasn’t going to apologize, Yvonne Sutton went back to scrolling through her phone.

Anxious and flustered, but powerless against Yvonne Sutton, Candice Yates shot a desperate look toward Wyatt Shaw. But he was surrounded by staff making toasts and hadn’t noticed the commotion at all.

"I accidentally splashed you, but you deliberately threw a whole plate of food on me. That should make us even," Candice Yates argued.

Yvonne Sutton arched a brow. "I don’t think so."

"You..."

"Do I need to waste any more words?"

Candice Yates gritted her teeth again, took a deep breath, faced Yvonne Sutton, and lowered her head. "I’m sorry."

Yvonne Sutton huffed, tossed the empty plate back onto the table, and turned to walk out.

She didn’t go far, just to the main courtyard out front where the equipment was stored. There was a terrace there. She climbed a ladder up to the roof, sat on a small stool, and tilted her head back to look at the night sky.

The mountain nights really were more beautiful. The stars were brilliant, and she could even see the bright band of the Milky Way. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. The crisp air seemed to flow through her entire body, awakening every dormant cell, as if she were being reborn.

She loved a night sky like this, but she loved the tranquility of this moment even more.

Just then, she heard footsteps, followed by the sound of someone climbing the ladder. She felt a flash of irritation, annoyed by the intrusion no matter who it was.

The person reached the rooftop, stood in place for a moment, and then walked toward her.

"I set up the telescope. Do you want to come have a look?"

Yvonne Sutton sighed. "I don’t want to look anymore."

"Why?"

’He was asking *why* again?’

Yvonne Sutton wanted to talk to him peacefully, but perhaps it was her own issue—her temper always flared the moment she saw him. Not wanting to argue, she stood up to leave.

Wyatt Shaw grabbed her arm. The strong stench of alcohol on his breath made her frown.

"Don’t be like this... with me."

He sounded so hurt, as if she had done something unforgivable to him. Yvonne found it laughable and wanted to curse him out, but when she looked up at him, she saw tears welling in his eyes.

"You’re drunk," she said, trying to pull her arm away.

"I’m not."

"Then let me go."

"No."

"Wyatt Shaw!"

"I never touched her. I really didn’t."

Yvonne Sutton froze for a second, but then resolutely pulled her arm free.

"Wyatt..." Yvonne Sutton lowered her head and was silent for a long time before finally letting out a heavy sigh. "Just... let me go. My heart hurts so much. I know I still mean something to you, so you can’t bear to see me in pain, right?"

Wyatt Shaw watched her intently, and after a long moment, he gave a bitter laugh. "You’re right. I can’t bear to see you get hurt."

He reached out as if to caress her face, but just as his fingertips were about to make contact, he lowered his hand. He took a step back, tilted his head up, and let out a few hollow laughs before wiping the tears from his eyes.

"You should go. I won’t bother you anymore."

Yvonne Sutton’s heart ached even more. This was the outcome she had asked for, but not the one she truly wanted.

She took one last look at him. Behind him, the sea of stars seemed to merge with the dark mountains, as if he, too, was being swallowed by the vast landscape. She would just remember this image. The man she had loved would always be as brilliant as the stars in her world.

When Yvonne Sutton returned to the courtyard where she was staying, she was surprised to find Daisy Shaw and Megan Hughes sitting together, holding hands.

"Back at the academy, I was so poor I couldn’t even afford to eat. It was you—you used the money you made from shooting commercials to support me. Daisy, you hold the most important place in my heart," Megan Hughes cried.

"When I was filming my first show, I was always getting bullied by the assistant director. When you found out, you beat him up for me and got thrown in jail for it. Ingrid, in all the years since our falling out, I haven’t made a single other friend. Because you’re the only friend for me. Only you. No one could ever take your place," Daisy Shaw sobbed even more wretchedly.

Both were clearly drunk, holding hands as they poured their hearts out to each other.

"Do you know why I hit that actress?" Megan Hughes asked.

"I know, I know! That role was supposed to be mine, but she spread all those filthy rumors about me to get it. You couldn’t stand it, so you hit her. But then it got out that you were ’bullying’ a fellow cast member, and you got slammed by everyone online."

"And what about you? What did you do?"

"I went and pleaded with Harry Rhodes to have the director fire you."

"So you really did backstab me!"

"I did it because I didn’t want you to stick your neck out for me again and face more online attacks! I begged Harry Rhodes, and he helped you secure a role in another historical drama. That show became a massive hit later on! If only you had agreed to join the cast back then..."

"I didn’t want you going to people like Harry Rhodes and begging them for my sake over and over again! People like that never have good intentions!" 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"But for you, I was willing!"

"So you just don’t get it! More than being an actress, more than becoming a huge star, I just wanted my friend to be able to live with her head held high."

"Ingrid!"

"Daisy!"

The two of them threw their arms around each other and began to bawl their eyes out.

Listening to them, Yvonne Sutton was deeply moved. Their friendship was so genuine. To think they had resented each other for so long over a simple misunderstanding... it was such a waste. Thank goodness they had finally cleared the air.

She let them cry for a while before going over to try and coax them to their separate rooms to rest, but they were clinging to each other’s hands and refused to be parted. In the end, Yvonne Sutton had no choice but to let them share a room.

The rest of the night passed without incident. But early the next morning, while Yvonne Sutton was still asleep, she was awoken by a clamor.

"Daisy Shaw, you vicious witch! You’re crushing my arm! Are you trying to cripple me?"

"Megan Hughes, what are you doing in my room? What are you plotting?"