Even though Mia had clearly stated that she was ready to face the press conference, when her eyes stared at the sea of reporters who had taken their places in her office hall, cold sweat once again wet her forehead. Her feet moved restlessly and only stopped when Victor's big hand gently rubbed Mia's forehead.
"Just think of this as a regular press conference, Mia. If you feel nervous or start to feel pressured when the interview starts, you can tell me, and I will take your place to speak to them. Nothing bad will happen. I will protect you, along with the people who love you."
Mia's nervousness eased a little when Victor tried to calm her down. Her face, which was still a little pale with faint dark circles under her eyes, was covered by light make-up.
"Sorry, we're late."
Mia looked back to see Enzo, who had just arrived with Lily. Both of them looked a little tired. Throughout the day, Enzo continued to ensure that this press conference could run until he was a little sleep-deprived. The man investigated all the reporters who came and only calmed down when he had finished filtering out people who had personal grudges against him or Victor.
"Sorry for troubling you, Enzo, Lily. After all this is over, let's spend time together no matter what the results of this press conference are."
Enzo stared at Mia, and he could feel Mia's determination as she spoke. Enzo slowly nodded. He fixed his slightly messy suit because he was in a bit of a hurry when he left earlier.
"Okay, we'll eat together when all this is over."
It seemed that Enzo was worried for no reason. With Victor standing beside his cousin, how could Mia feel more pressured than she should? It wasn't just him who wanted to protect Mia. All of Mia's acquaintances also wanted Mia to achieve her dreams no matter what her relationship with Victor.
As for Enzo and Victor, they just wanted Mia to be healthy again and smile brightly again.
Victor held Mia's hand when the time for the press conference finally arrived. Mia returned Victor's hand with a small smile before glancing at Enzo and Lily, who also smiled while looking at her.
No matter what would happen after this, Mia would try to face it for the sake of the people who supported her all this time.
***
When Mia and the others entered the press conference room, camera flashes immediately attacked them like the blink of an eye that never stopped. Even though the media continued to surround them, Victor didn't want to bother unlinking his hand with Mia when the two walked side by side to sit in their respective places. His face seemed to give off a cold, authoritative aura, the same as the Victor Mia had first met.
Victor probably only put on that face to people who were not too close to him. Because all Mia could see on Victor's face was a gentle expression that occasionally smiled to cheer her up when she was sad or nervous.
To get the most up-to-date information, some TV stations chose to broadcast the press conference live. The link between Victor's hands and Mia's did not escape the camera. The audience watching the live broadcast exploded as soon as they saw the deliberate attitude. Not only them, but even the reporters who were recording the scene were itching to ask questions but held them back when they remembered the strict rules they had to obey to get the hot news.
In order to get permission to enter this press conference, they had promised to ask questions only during the Q&A session. Anyone who caused a disturbance would be thrown out without mercy by the security staff. So before everyone present for the press conference sat down, the reporters had to hold back their itchy lips, wanting to ask the truth about the rumors.
But even if the reporters were forced to keep their mouths shut, the people watching the live broadcast began to enliven the internet with their discovery. Their favorite singer was probably in a relationship with a man, and they had to accept this fact when the press conference had just started.
Mia still didn't know what kind of internet commotion she had caused because of her hand-link with Victor when they entered the room. Mia just sat down according to the arranged seat before her eyes looked at the row of reporters sitting in the seats provided by her agency.
The event was opened by Lily, as the manager and host of the press conference. When they finally entered the question session, everyone raised their hands to ask questions. Lily looked at the reporters one by one before finally deciding to point to one of the female reporters, who got up from her seat to ask her question.
"Previously, the internet was abuzz with a video of Miss Mia, who was seen coming to Mr. Victor's company office with a pale and panicked face. After the video was watched by many people, fans began to speculate and caused chaos on social media. On this occasion, can we hear the truth of the real reason behind the video?"
Victor nodded. He only rubbed one of Mia's palms, representing Mia to answer the question.
"Mia and I had been in a relationship long before that video was recorded. Something happened, and we had a little disagreement at that time. Because of our disagreement, Mia started to forget about her physical condition until she got sick. Mia, who couldn't stand arguing with me for long, decided to visit me at the company because she didn't want to risk revealing my home address since she left her apartment by taxi. She met me at the company, and someone ended up taking pictures of our interaction."
Victor wasn't completely lying with his statement. They could indeed be considered to have had a disagreement at that time. Although to be more precise, Enzo was the one who actually had a disagreement with Victor to the point of taking leave for Mia and keeping her in his house.
"From that statement, Mr. Victor himself has confirmed that you are indeed dating, right? Actually, when did this relationship start? Was the relationship already formed when Mr. Victor was confirmed to attend Miss Mia's fan sign event a few months ago? And is it true that this relationship was formed through cooperation between the two parties? Some fans claimed they saw Mr. Victor give Miss Mia a valuable jade statue at the fan sign event a few months ago."
Victor remained calm as other reporters began to ask questions. Victor's cold eyes swept across everyone present. He knew many people thought Victor deliberately 'bought' Mia for his pleasure.