AFTER...

"I'm done." Omal sighed and went back to his seat. It wasn't worth it. He knew Ares would blush and be shy about it but not that way.

He already felt suffocated by Orion and Estella, showing off their affection more in public since the day at the garden. He didn't expect the boy to get a crush on someone, and he definitely had enough sweetness that they were giving him more than enough diabetes.

"Hey!" Baby number two hopped to his friends in his lab coat while drinking his salted caramel milkshake. After he saw how Karson and Omal were staring at Ares, he frowned as he took a seat. "What's going on in here?"

"I think I have severe diabetes." Omal placed a hand over his heart but was soon ripped off and examined by the med student.

"Ah, hell no!" Eric shouted as he took the pulse, checked the mouth, and did a brief body examination. With that clothes and eyes, he was like a completely different person and confirmed that he was truly an on-the-way doctor.

Omal rolled his eyes, "I'm kidding. I'm fine." He then reached out for the sugary drink to take a big gulp that he called a tiny drop. "Thanks."

"Eh?!" Eric screamed when the cup came back almost empty. He tried to say something, but his friend just winked, and he could only grumble about it. What's done was done.

Karson sighed, "I'll buy you another one. Stop grumbling."

The future doctor turned to his friend with his eyes full of tears like a puppy. "Life saver!!" He tried to hug Karson but was rejected.

Amidst the chaos, the lovey-dovey couple showed up with their hands intertwined as if to provoke their single, lonely friends.

"How's it going?"

"AHH!!"" Ares screamed his soul out and turned to look at Estella who had snuck up to him from behind.

The girl had no remorse and took a seat in a swift movement. "Hey!" Behind her was Orion, casually judging his whole friend group. He only raised his hand and naturally took a seat next to his fiancee.

Before Ares could say anything, Estella rubbed her hands together like she was going to have a meal and looked at him with a smile mixed with a smirk. "TELL ME!!!"

Ares gave her a confused look, "About what?"

"Seriously? Your crush, Eirene Queen, of course!!"

The boy was still not used to hearing his crush's name, and when someone mentioned even his last name to call him, he'd blush out of nowhere and run away from the spot.

----

Many at the party thought that the news was going to be filled with the 'Queen'. But unexpectedly, the spotlight was given to a family called the Irwins, a big-shot real-estate dealing family because of their problem-causing little want-it-all.

The entire front page of several newspapers was about the sudden, rude outburst of the 'spoilt princess of the Irwin's'. Interrupting the family reunion of the Queens, hurting her friend and acting like a savage at a mannered party had gone viral online, receiving much criticism and dislike.

Ruby's father, Rodriguez Irwin, apologised publically a day after the news was released, but that only added fuel to the fire. The public was mad that the person who caused the mess didn't apologise and instead sent her father to lose a face and avoid humiliation.

It had been a week, but the whole Irwin clan had been quiet, and some of their company share prices had dropped. There was no follow-up news on the family ever since the apology conference.

Then finally, the second page was about the return of eternal beauty, Scarlet Queen. It was her first time appearing in public after more than fifteen years of silence and the shock she created when her beauty was never-fading.

Of course, all of those couldn't prevent the actress to stay in the shadows, but at least she wasn't in the spotlight. Some news even compared the actresses in lots of aspects lacking in respect which backfired and received disapproval from many Scarlet fans and secret Eirene fans.

Another news that shocked the media and the public was the official heir announcement of Queens corporation.

Pictures of the soft and stunning-looking young heir flooded social media.

Previously, Ares was usually given a confused look since he looked like a nerd from a farming family and was often treated like air. But as soon as the jaw-dropping news was released, people suddenly began acting more friendly, especially those in the same class as him. Some of them claimed to be his lover publically for clout and attention.

Everywhere the boy went, people followed him and the only people he could rely on were his friends.

The first thing Omal said after being chased and hiding in the bar was, "Welcome to the club." without any sign of sympathy.

----

Estella continued, "I know you were probably looking at her photos or chats before we came, you little tomato!"

The heir raised his hands, one still holding his phone. "Th-that's not true!"

His friends knew he was lying as soon as the phone dinged right at that moment, showing a message from the crush.

Estella was faster than the speed light when it came to snatching the phone and using Orion's fingerprint to get in. "Oh, YES!!"

"What's there?!"

"What's she say?!" Omal and Eric were behind her like ghosts and stared into the screen. The three soon raised their head and smirked at the owner of the phone with the same look.

The model slapped the back of his head as he went around the table to sit back down. "You little wh*re."

Ares placed a hand over the spot and looked at his friend accusingly, "What did I do?!"

-----

"DAD, IT WASN'T MY FAULT!!"

"Keep quiet, young lady..." Rodriguez raised his shaky index finger and weakly continued, "And reflect on your mistakes!..." He couldn't bring himself to raise his voice at his precious daughter, and he slammed the newspapers on the black stone table.

The image of the company and family, that he and others tried hard to maintain for a very long time was crumbling before his eyes because of the immature, full-grown adult in front of him.

Ruby rolled her eyes and humped into the incredibly soft black sofa. She crossed both her arms and legs as she clicked her tongue and glared at one of the most annoyingly beautiful people ever to exist on the planet with anger.

As the media said, no matter how much Eirene Queen was hated, she was still a remarkable beauty that the whole universe would stop and gawk at her if she passed by.

At the party, the actress's usual black cobra-like image, as if going to the funeral of the person she killed, was replaced with a goddess nymph on her way to bless people.

Her sudden image change honestly was a wave of shock, and although many praised her for trying a different look, there were still bitter people who despised her even more, saying she was trying to get attention. Needless to say, Ruby was the latter person.

Rodriguez sighed as he sat on the single-seat sofa opposite his daughter, "Just... please don't ever do something like this to degrade our family..."

"I'm wasn't trying, dad! It was that b*tch, Eirene and Hannah!" Ruby shouted back with no respect. "If only you gave me a seat in the front, this wouldn't have happened!"

Seeing his daughter mad, the father apologised, "Sweetheart, I'm sorry. I was busy with other things that I forgot to send a reque-"

"Are you telling me that your job is important than me?!" Ruby leaned onto the table with disgust and anger.

"That's not what I'm-"

She held out her hand in the front, shutting her father up and stood up. "You know what? FORGET IT! I'm your one and only daughter that mum left behind and the fact that you put this on me, is outrageous." She spat out and stumped her way out of the luxurious living room of her taste.

She even banged her door closed and jumped on her pillow to scream incoherently.

It was all because of that b*tch.

If Eirene didn't show up to that party, right now, the news would be filled with Ares announcing their relationship.

Everything was ruined because of that selfish, disgusting actress.

Ruby punched the pillow thinking about the actress when an idea popped up in her head.

She stretched for her laptop and impatiently waited for it to start up. And when it was open, she did not waste time opening a search bar and typing in the keywords.

The results showed up as fast as always and did not betray her hope. Countless sites and pages were satisfying her needs and desire.

Ruby clicked on one of the violent, shady pages with a smirk as the sun hid behind the clouds. She read the posts and comments on that social media account and went straight to create an account on that site on another tab.

As soon as she finished registering, she went on to post random hot girls from the internet and pretended as if it was her for authentication. When she was satisfied, she couldn't wait for the account to get followers and went straight to private chats with that account.

[Hey] She typed.

Fortunately, the other was online and replied to her almost immediately. [hey]

[I'm Jen and so new to this and looking for a friend when I found you.] She said a random name and continued, [I think we can be great friends!]

The other took a little while to reply. [why do you think that? btw, i'm sam]

Ruby rolled her eyes as she typed, [Hey, Sam. I'm talking about our common hate for Eirene "clown" Queen]

[i'm interested]

[She's becoming more annoying day by day!]

[i gotta agree with that]

[And she's also an effing b*tch and a such wh*re! The media didn't tell you, but I was there at the party, and her attitude was over the roof]

[what happened at the party?]

Ruby smirked. This was the question she had been waiting for. [I can tell you everything you want to know, but I also want something in return]

She thought it would take some time, but unexpectedly, the reply was quite fast. [i'm listening]

The girl smirked as she typed in her condition and sent it to the person she was probably going to work with for a long amount of time.

[i'm in]