Winning My Ex-Crush

Fenella’s POV

“Hello, Jessy.”

I picked up the call from my agent. Yes, up until now, he was still my agent, and I still had to answer his calls. He was still my friend because we had made amends, and I had forgiven him for the incident in Mexico.

In the end, I swallowed my pride and became a good friend to him again. He was struggling with his relationship with Mike. Honestly, I couldn’t bear to leave him when he needed my help.

“Fenella, forgive me.” His voice was hoarse, and he sounded like he had been crying.

Oh no. What’s happening now?

“What’s wrong, Jessy?” I asked, furrowing my brow.

“It’s an emergency. It’s a mess, and you were right; it’s all my fault,” Jessy whimpered with tears in between his words.

“Jessy, what is it? Tell me.” I knew this would be terrible news.

I sat on the sofa, preparing for all the bad news that was about to hit me this time. My heart was pounding fast, and Jessy slowly stopped crying. I sat up straight, sharpening my ears.

“Alan said you had submitted your resignation, so he asked me to arrange all your schedules only until all the new contracts were completed. Then, when I scheduled everything for your agenda-” his voice choked, and he started crying again.

“Go on, Jessy,” I encouraged him while my body remained tense.

Jessy cleared his throat loudly. Then I heard the sound of him blowing his nose into a cloth, and he struggled to continue speaking.

“Remember the contracts you signed a couple of days ago? I just realized you had a contract to model for a commercial for this brand.” His voice trembled.

“I’m sorry, Fenella. My mind has been a mess lately. Mike has distracted me, and in a short time, I didn’t read all the projects submitted yesterday. Alan has been constantly angry with me, rushing me.” He spoke very quickly, almost too fast for me to understand.

“Jessy, what have you done?” I groaned.

“I got you to sign to a new condom brand advertisement project.” Fear crept into his voice over the phone.

“Oh, no, that’s bad.” I bit my lower lip.

My eyes immediately glanced at Laird, who seemed still busy in the kitchen, continuing to make the spaghetti bolognese dish I had only just started. If he found out about this, he wouldn’t be happy.

“The initial concept proposed was a commercial scene with actors acting as if they were having sex naked as a couple.” Jessy whispered again.

“Oh, my goodness. That’s terrible!” I hissed and stood up.

In a situation like this, it was not just a possibility anymore; Laird would definitely be angry. He would be furious and then give me the silent treatment again. I couldn’t go through something like that again now.

“Alan was specifically chosen to be the modeling partner because he’s a shareholder of the company along with Mallory West!” Jessy wailed now.Content property of NôvelDra/ma.Org.

My mouth dropped open, and my breath caught. Now this has turned disastrous. Oh, no, that was awful! I started pacing back and forth in the room, biting my nails.

“No, I can’t do it.” I whispered in panic.

“You have to do it, or you will be labeled as Mallory’s enemy. She is asking all her friends to support the HIV/AIDS prevention campaign through this advertisement and her new condom brand.”

Listening to that, my heart raced erratically. My breath seemed to stop, and I groaned. My eyes felt hot, and tears quickly welled up. My vision became blurred by tears, and I finally sat back down on the sofa.

“Jessy…” I said his name in disappointment and pain.

“I know. I am going to mess up your life again. I tried to cancel this contract with Alan, but his mood is still unstable.” The man cried again.

“He said he would fire me if I messed up this project with Mallory. I can’t be fired; I need money to pay for my mother’s medical treatment at the hospital. I-” Jessy wailed again while I could only listen in silence.

I knew Mallory indeed wanted to recruit me as her model, but it was for a music video! Clearly, I couldn’t back out now. If I backed out and didn’t fulfill the contract, it would be the same as rejecting Mallory.

Rejecting Mallory’s invitation to a social campaign specifically for her circle of friends means declaring war on the worst revengeful pop diva in entertainment history. My career in the fashion and entertainment world would go up in smoke without a chance to rise again. There have been many examples of this, and I didn’t know if I wanted to live my life like that until old age.

“Ugh, everything feels wicked now. It’s all Alan’s doing, not yours.” I rubbed my temples and groaned in annoyance.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Alan might have planned everything. He brought me to meet Mallory and got me into her circle. After Mallory showed interest in me, he recruited me as a model for his condom brand.” I sighed deeply as my hands continued to massage my temples.

“Alan knew I wouldn’t be able to refuse his project. Also, I resigned, and it only made matters worse. He got a chance to force me to complete all the projects unless I paid a hefty penalty.” My body slouched, and eventually, my weak head leaned back on the sofa.

“I’m doomed, Jessy. Alan has ruined me.” My voice weakened.

Right after I hung up the phone, Laird approached me with a raised eyebrow. He placed a large plate of spaghetti with bolognese sauce and two empty plates on the coffee table.

“Is everything okay?” He furrowed his brow and looked at me, confused.

My eyes stared at the man in front of me for a long time. His emerald green eyes looked bright this time, and I knew those eyes would look at me disgustedly with overflowing anger if he knew about this. But we had promised to be honest with each other, right?

Communication is the key to success in a relationship, no matter how bad the conversation we are about to have. Although my heart ached to ruin the happy atmosphere we had just gone through, and although I didn’t want to break the bad news to him, I eventually told him everything.

Sooner or later, I felt I would need his help as my personal lawyer. After I told him everything, he clenched both his hands on his thighs. Clearly, he was angry, but he seemed to restrain himself.

“Can we sue Alan for fraud or breach of contract?” I asked him.

“Fenella,” he rubbed his face several times. He fell silent for a long time, as if thinking hard.

“Legally, you are more likely to lose if you fight against Alan. The court will blame you for not reading the entire contract. He has ruined you.”

He shook his head. I didn’t know what to say until the silence engulfed us. Not long after we fell silent, he stood up, went out to the balcony, and smoked.

I cried with a heavy feeling weighing down on my chest. Slowly, I bent my knees to my chest and buried my face there. Crying was all I could do to vent my emotions at the moment.