The Trending Topic Herself: The Villainess is the Superstar!-Chapter 102: Jessica Young Reduced to a Background Character

Chapter 102: Chapter 102: Jessica Young Reduced to a Background Character

The tour guide was passionately speaking at the front, while Maya Monroe was scanning the room with boredom.

Suddenly, her gaze met with someone else’s—a woman with slightly short hair, not particularly noticeable. This must be the special guest of this episode, Paul Phillips, a famous powerhouse singer. Usually laid-back and uncompetitive, it was surprising that she would join a survival-oriented show like this.

Paul Phillips’ appearance leaned toward androgyny, and she merely nodded slightly at the attention, showing no other emotion.

Maya had been arguing with Jessica Young earlier, so she missed the part where the guide introduced the special guest.

Maya suddenly remembered Nina Vance, the girl with dimples. She hadn’t expected that their last time together on the show would be the previous episode.

"It seems everyone is almost ready, so let’s embark on the journey for the second episode of the Great Survival Challenge!" The guide’s voice slowly rose, carrying a subtle sense of schadenfreude if you listened closely.

The people around began to applaud.

Maya also raised her hands with little enthusiasm to clap.

She looked quite unenergetic despite her beautiful face.

[Bunny Is The Cutest: Hahahahaha Maya is so cute; her expressions are so obvious! Isn’t she even pretending to be happy?]

[Kitty: Maya says I advise you not to embarrass me!]

[Maya: Hahaha, suddenly remembered that time when the director asked Maya to walk around twice, and it cracked me up, practically the funniest thing of my year!]

[Crazy Beans: After watching the first episode, I feel a bit indifferent towards Jessica Young and Justin Morgan—are they ruining their personas?]

[Miles: Cheering like crazy for Miles! Brother’s the best!!]

[Promise Kept: Wishing for Miles to kick to the top of the popularity charts!]

[Miles I’ll Take You Away: Silly sister, but this kid isn’t very talkative; haven’t seen him speak more than ten sentences (wiping tears)]

*

Maya boarded the plane again. She and Jessica Young didn’t get along, so naturally, they wouldn’t sit together. This time, her seatmate was the quiet Paul Phillips.

Maya was indifferent to the show and didn’t want to talk, closing her eyes to momentarily relax her tense nerves.

Miles Wallace occasionally closed his eyes to pretend to sleep, feeling his thoughts were as tangled as a ball of yarn.

Claire Brooks’ advice was still echoing in his mind, urging him to showcase himself more and establish a successful persona.

Miles wanted to speak, but he found that whatever he said would be inappropriate at this moment, not to mention the surrounding chatter only heightened his annoyance.

To speak nicely, this was a variety show; to speak harshly, it was a battleground for popularity, where everyone’s words likely had ulterior motives.

Everyone had their own agenda, but wasn’t he the same?

Miles disliked doing things he didn’t enjoy, variety shows included. Or perhaps, he loathed anything unrelated to music. Once hailed as a musical genius, he felt ’musical madman’ was more fitting. He didn’t rely heavily on his talent but rather held onto his obsession with music with fearless courage until the end.

As soon as he closed his eyes, he seemed to recall the feel of the piano keys. His long fingers danced in the air to the soothing music from his earphones, as if they were touching the cool keys, ready to unleash a cascade of vibrant notes.

Everyone lives under pressure, no exceptions; no one can escape the enormous and complex framework of society.

Miles glanced backward out of boredom and happened to see Maya dozing off. She wore a knitted hat, revealing a smooth forehead; maybe because of the heat, her cheeks were flushed pink.

Perhaps... someone really can live freely.

Maybe it was the prolonged repression and gloom that allowed Miles to see some vibrant colors from Maya, so vividly intense it was absurd. She had an energy and vitality that others couldn’t possess...

Miles looked for a few more seconds before retrieving his gaze, a barely noticeable envy flashing in his eyes.

Claire often spoke of Maya’s poor reputation, but after interacting with her here, Miles’ impression of her changed significantly.

Miles never took sides during the arguments between James Wallace and Julian Caldwell, but after this show, he thought he might lean towards Julian.

This flight was longer than the last.

Maya glanced at her watch and tutted impatiently.

Her hand subconsciously reached into her bulging pocket, and after feeling the plastic packaging, she breathed a sigh of relief but didn’t take it out.

Since they were still live broadcasting, it wouldn’t be good if the production team discovered something.

Maya felt no sleepiness and shook her chair a bit before rubbing her sore neck.

Jessica Young felt slightly annoyed by the tiny noises Maya was making behind her.

Maybe it was because she was targeting Maya specifically, but she had no issue with Jamie Miller speaking, and yet found Maya shaking her leg an eyesore.

Jessica Young turned towards Maya with an impatient crease between her brows: "Maya, could you stop making those little noises? They really affect others, you know?"

Seeing her, Maya smiled and stomped her feet twice: "You mean like this?"

Jessica Young was so mad she almost spat blood.

"So, it is like this, huh? I’ll try to do it less in the future."

As she spoke, she stomped again.

Jessica Young turned her head sharply, unable to face Maya’s face right now.

Because she kept recalling some unpleasant things, like the last time she posted a group photo of the show guests on Weibo. Maya’s picture, she had spent a lot to have a professional touch-up artist work on it.

But once posted, it was ridiculed as a "background board," "overpowered," and some even pointed out the photo had obvious retouching traces.

Jessica Young was genuinely angry and deleted the related Weibo that very night, but the incident became a piece of blackmail for her mockery.

Jessica Young couldn’t swallow this down, and couldn’t help but feel displeased whenever she saw Maya.

Jamie Miller noticed the situation and tried to ease the tense atmosphere with a smile: "Young girls nowadays love to chat and joke around. I remember back when I was young..."

Unexpectedly, Jessica Young, who had poor emotional management, didn’t catch Jamie Miller’s hint at all and angrily burst out, "Jamie, don’t compare me with Maya! I have absolutely nothing to do with her!!"