The Traitor (17)

Joann shared it with Xu Jing. Their expressions moved from shock to horror as they went through the pieces of evidence.

After taking some time to digest the sudden flow of information, Joann put the thing down, turned to look at Lee Mu and uttered in a slow tone, "So, you're… gay?!"

As hard as he tried not to, Lee Mu could not help himself from flinching. The word stung. One of the reasons why he went along with the demands of the blackmail was because he did not want to let his friend know about his secret. He was not yet ready. What if Joann could not accept him for who he was? He did not want to lose a friend over this… so he chose to hurt his friend instead, the whole thing was rather dumb if you are taking the perspective of an outsider but things are a lot more complicated if you are seeing this from within.

Joann slammed the envelope on the table and it made most of the people in the room jump. "In that case, you should have laid it on me thicker during that conference! Calling me an actor that is hard to work with is barely a slander to my name, Lee Mu, I expected better from you."

Joann then shook her head with regret and sighed, "This is such a missed opportunity."

"Huh?!" People were confused by her words. It was Lee Mu who asked the question that was on everyone's mind, "Joann, what do you mean by that? Aren't you angry at what we did?"

"Yes, I'm angry!" Joann whipped her head to narrow her eyes at Lee Mu, "But not at what you did but at the fact that you're hiding your happy relationship from me, I thought we are better friends than this. Moreover, I'm angry at the fact that you didn't come to me when you received this in your mail."

Joann waved the envelope to stress her point. Then her face softened with a smile. She was truly happy for her friend.

Lee Mu was still in shock. He stammered, "But… what would be the point of me… me coming to you?"

Joann tutted like she was talking to a less than bright child. "Have you been knocked on your head recently? Have you forgotten what we do for a living? We're professional actors for God sakes. We definitely could have played this up some more. You could have called me with worse names and I could have thrown stuff at you. We could have put on a show! Based on how good we are, I doubt the blackmailer would realize we were merely acting."

Lee Mu and Zao Ming were stunned. Indeed, why hadn't they thought about that?

They could have approached Joann privately and acted out a whole show. They were too caught up in their own drama to realize this option was readily available to them.

Then again, unbeknownst to them, this was a blessing in disguise because while they could deal with the reporters afterward, they had no way of knowing how close the real blackmailer was to them. The culprit would have seen through their acting easily. Therefore, it was a good thing that Zao Ming and Lee Mu were too caught up in their own problem to seek Joann out.

In any case, it was Xu Jing who said, "It's too late for that now. We better figure out a way to resolve this issue."

Then, the man turned to flash a smile at Lee Mu and Zao Ming. When he found out Lee Mu bat for the other team, the animosity and prejudice he had towards the man disappeared almost instantly, as easily as the snake shedding its second skin.

He even leaned forward towards Lee Mu and said with a friendly smile, "I realize I haven't apologized for punching you in the face before this. For that, I am really sorry."

It was Zao Ming who reacted the most from the apology. The man almost jumped up from his seat to charge at Xu Jing. "Wait, you assaulted my boyfriend?!" he hissed in a dangerous tone.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Xu Jing pleaded and apologized, "I was being dumb at the time."

Lee Mu stopped Zao Ming. "Calm down, the man has already apologized. Let's just forgive him. It's pointless making a big deal out of this."

In the end, Lee Mu managed to persuade Zao Ming. The latter sat back down with a harrumph. "You're lucky my boyfriend is so forgiving." Then he reared his head to glare at Lee Mu, "And you, why didn't you tell me about this?!"

Lee Mu scratched the back of his head and he chuckled awkwardly. "Because it was nothing serious…"

"But you could have been injured…"

Before they could go on, Lin Kang coughed drily and he grumbled with annoyance, "Are you two done with your lovey-dovey stuff? Don't forget the real purpose we're here!"

Realizing the whole room was looking at them, Zao Ming and Lee Mu lowered their head in shyness and shame. Lee Mu coughed, "Sorry about that."

Xiu Ling smiled, looking at how obviously in love these two were. "It's alright. Anyway, Lin Kang is right, we need to steer the boat back to its route. Is there anyone who has a bright idea on how to resolve this issue?"

The issue being to clear Joann's name from the scandal and to help Zao Ming and Lee Mu escape the persecution of the blackmailer.

Like plagiarism, if it happen once, it is most likely going to happen again. Knowing they had Zao Ming and Lee Mu under their control, the blackmailer was not going to stop. The threats were going to get worse and the demand bigger.

No one had brought this up explicitly and everyone present was bright enough to know of this consequence.

Lines appeared on faces as they settled down in thought.