"You haven't slept yet?"
Victor's voice sounded a little hoarse as he asked Mia who chose to sit on the bed instead of sleeping after Enzo left. Seeing Victor, who had just entered, Mia's cheeks unconsciously turned red as her sparkling eyes tried to look away to avoid Victor's gaze.
"Are you okay?"
Mia's cheeks grew hotter as Victor's big hand pressed against her freely exposed forehead. Mia saw Victor's handsome face up close, a handsome face that managed to make Mia's heart beat faster again.
Enzo said it was love. He was in love with someone, and it turned out to be very thrilling.
Mia was so focused on her thoughts that the girl didn't realize at all that Victor's ears were also slightly red when he realized that Mia had been staring at him intently. The girl's gaze wouldn't leave Victor, and the man would be embarrassed if Mia kept staring at him without blinking.
But Victor also seemed reluctant to let go of his gaze on Mia's pink lips as soon as his face felt so close to Mia's. Victor unconsciously swallowed his saliva. He thought it would taste good if he managed to kiss those sweet lips that gave off the scent of sweet fruit.
Damn. Victor secretly grumbled as his behavior became increasingly uncontrollable since Mia lived with him. Victor initially only wanted to make sure the girl was asleep or not. But because Mia was awake, the man had to be trapped in an ambiguous situation with her.
"I'm... Okay. That... I just realized that I love you."
Victor was initially surprised because Mia expressed her feelings as her cheeks turned redder. Victor chuckled as the ambiguous atmosphere between them slowly disappeared because of Mia's honest words.
"You only love me now?" Victor asked. The man already knew the answer because Enzo had told him. But Victor wanted to hear it directly from Mia. He wanted to hear Mia's soft voice confess her feelings again.
Let's assume Victor is trying to flirt with Mia. The atmosphere between them turns warm as Mia smiles before she speaks once more.
"That... I can't take my eyes off you since our first meeting. When you came to my fan sign event, my heart was beating so fast. I was much more nervous than when I had to perform in a foreign country, Victor."
"I understand."
With his fingers, Victor answered while stroking Mia's hair. A smile never disappeared on Victor's face, as he felt delighted.
"I love you too. Will you look at my face now, hm?"
Hearing Victor's words, Mia immediately looked up to see Victor's only focus on looking at her alone. Mia felt special as Victor's fingers slowly went down to stroke her cheek.
"I love you too, so don't try to hide your feelings from me anymore. But being with me is not easy, Mia. I'm a bad person when it comes to love. Even so, are you still willing to be with me?"
Mia smiled. "I do," he said smoothly without the slightest hesitation. Unexpectedly, Mia was willing to take the initiative to hug Victor tightly. Mia's warmth was transmitted to the man. Victor hugged Mia back when the girl said something right in the man's ear.
"It's okay. I believe in you."
***
Mia woke up again in the middle of the night. Mia turned her head to look at Victor. The man was sleeping soundly, seemingly exhausted because Victor had to take care of him while working from home since she lived there.
Mia moved to reach for her dead cell phone next to her bed. Since Mia lived with Victor, Mia somehow felt that everyone was trying to keep her away from all electronic devices. Mia could only use it to view certain applications, and even then, it was under strict supervision from the people around her.
If she wanted to find further information about this 'feeling of love' that she had just felt, Mia knew she had to search for many references on the internet to help her.
However, as soon as Mia opened the internet application on her cellphone, the smile on her face disappeared when she read the headline of the article on the main page of her browser application. Mia's round eyes read what was written in the comments column of the article. Her eyes began to tear up as many malicious comments were left there and directed at her.
"Sob, sob."
Hearing the sound of someone's muffled crying, Victor, who was originally asleep, immediately woke up. His eyes immediately moved to find Mia, who had woken up and was sitting next to him. The girl's eyes had been focused on her cell phone since earlier. And her expression did not look good at all.
"Mia..."
"Victor, why do people call me a fake-faced cheater now? Why do they call me a whore? Why do they want me to die?"
Hearing Mia's hoarse voice, Victor reflexively pulled the girl into his embrace. His eyebrows were furrowed when he heard Mia's crying voice starting to be heard from within his arms.
"Why... people I don't know say such cruel words to me? Why are they condemning my feelings?"
Although Victor was surprised by Mia's sudden words, his focus was now on what Mia meant. Victor's feelings were already uneasy when he glanced at Mia's cell phone, which was now lying on the girl's bed. The main sentence in the article successfully provoked Victor's anger. The man's face turned scary, as his hands could only continue to calm Mia down.
Because of Mia's video, the issue of Mia using drugs shifted to the current love scandal. The article stated that Mia had been secretly in a relationship with Victor.
In addition, the article also had a photo of him handing over his gift to Mia at a fan sign event and a picture of Mia smiling brightly there. The photos were taken several times. And finally, there was a photo of Mia running to hug him in front of the company with her pale face.
With just those photos, people immediately believed that Mia was in a relationship with Victor. Being in a relationship wasn't the problem, but people started to think badly just because Mia was an artist and Victor was a wealthy businessman. Fans exploded in anger because that article seemed to confirm the allegation that Mia could be successful by selling her body to rich people. Comments that tried to defend Mia were replied cruelly by others. The comment section was chaotic, and many people started to become more daring in cursing Mia harshly on social media.
Just because Mia was an artist, people felt that Mia's life belonged to them. Mia's fame had become a weapon aimed at the girl herself. No one would agree if Mia dated someone else and 'abandoned' her fans.
Enzo most likely didn't know about that article yet. That man was also busy with his organizational problems. Victor and Enzo were not almighty. They sometimes missed some articles when they were trying to suppress the issue regarding Mia.
"Hey, don't listen to what they say, okay? There's nothing wrong with loving someone, Mia. We'll face this problem together, okay?"
Mia was still crying softly as Victor gently tried to persuade her. The girl's hands gripped the man's clothes tightly. On that silent night, Victor had to stay awake to persuade Mia until the sun finally rose.