It was a message from Mr. Jones. Grace's expression immediately turned serious, instinctively guessing it involved her younger sister.

  Sure enough, as she slowly absorbed the contents of Mr. Jones's lengthy text, her face grew increasingly dark.

  "What's wrong?"

  Noticing Grace's change in expression, Scarlett leaned in closer.

  Grace handed her phone to Scarlett.

  Though Scarlett wasn't part of any fandom, she'd followed celebrities for years and knew all about the absurdities within fan culture.

  "Extreme behavior from fans like that is pretty rare. The important thing is she's okay." Scarlett tried to comfort Grace.

  Grace wasn't one to dwell on things, but when it came to her sister, she couldn't help but feel angry.

  Still, she understood such incidents were uncontrollable—especially in the entertainment industry, where practically anything could happen.

  Mr. Jones had been sincere, even sending Wendy with security to ensure Chloe's safety wouldn't be threatened again. Grace had no reason to be angry with him.

  This incident wasn't his fault anyway.

  Thinking it over, Grace sighed. Whose fault was it, really? No one's. No one wanted this to happen; no one could control it.

  Once someone became a public figure, they were exposed to over a billion people. No one could control the actions of a billion individuals.

  "You eat first. I'm going to video call my sister." Phone in hand, Grace walked to the floor-to-ceiling windows and dialed Chloe.

  The call connected. Judging by the background, Chloe was already in her dressing room, having her makeup done.

  "Sis!"

  Seeing her sister, Chloe's voice was sweet, her demeanor seemingly unaffected.

  Grace smiled slightly. "I heard about what happened this morning. Scared you, didn't it?"

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  Chloe blinked in surprise. "You found out that fast?"

  Then she smiled reassuringly. "I'm fine, Sis. I was scared at the time, but I've calmed down now."

  Chloe was too innocent to lie convincingly. Seeing her genuinely okay, Grace believed her.

  This industry was like a kaleidoscope—anything could happen. No matter how far Grace's reach extended, she couldn't protect her sister from everything. Some situations Chloe would have to face alone, and she'd grow from them.

  By noon, the trending lists delivered as expected.

  First, bystanders and extreme fans uploaded the morning's chaotic videos across various platforms.

  Then, these extreme fans organized, publicly demanding answers from Bryan's agency and team: why had they let him film a kissing scene?

  Shortly after, Bryan's agency released a public statement. It concisely stated that kissing scenes were a necessary path for any actor and a basic professional duty, condemned the extreme behavior of certain fans for crossing the line between fan and idol, and finally apologized to Chloe, who had been unjustly implicated.

  The extreme fans, of course, refused to accept this. They swarmed Chloe's social media accounts and launched a large-scale campaign to control comments and boycott her. They even petitioned to replace the actress playing "Daisy," attempting to force Chloe off the production.

  However, Chloe's fans weren't pushovers. With over seven million followers across platforms, they completely dwarfed Bryan's extremist faction.

  Chloe's fans rose to defend their idol, passionately debating the trolls across social media.

  Soon, Chloe and Bryan's shipper fans, along with Bryan's rational fans, joined the "Anti-Haters" campaign. They hunted down those extremist fans online and relentlessly flamed them. The situation quickly reversed. Not only was Chloe unaffected, but the leaked video of her being cornered earned her sympathy and affection from millions of netizens.

  By the time her trending topics exploded online, Chloe's cross-platform followers had surged past 10 million!

  The promotional team for "Destined to Be Queen" seized the moment, releasing a short behind-the-scenes clip from the previous day's kissing scene. The clip showed everything up to the moment they were about to kiss—then cut off abruptly, leaving everyone desperately wanting more.

  Couple fans were celebrating like it was New Year's!

  Even their career-focused fans cheered, crying, "Our babies have grown up—they can kiss now!"

  The butterfly effect followed. Chloe, Bryan, "Destined to Be Queen"—all related terms hit the trending lists, dominating the charts once again.

  From this morning's absurdity to today's full-blown online carnival, the turn of events surprised everyone.

  Marcus scrolled through the trends, grinning foolishly. Was this him contributing? It didn't really have anything to do with him, but somehow it kind of did.

  The rest of the team was naturally thrilled too. Today's incident had boosted Bryan's national recognition far beyond any promotional campaign they'd ever racked their brains over.

  Truly, "You can plan a thing, but you can't plan the result!"

  The cast and crew were all glued to the trending topics online. Seeing how well things were turning out, everyone was absolutely thrilled.

  Almost everyone, that is.

  Take Veronica, for example.

  Since Mr. Jones's warning, Veronica had been much more well-behaved. Not that she had much choice—stuck on set with no outlet for her frustrations, she occasionally posted fun behind-the-scenes moments for exposure, but compared to the official promotion, the result was negligible.

  And now Chloe's name was topping the trends again. A newcomer who hadn't even debuted yet, and she'd already dominated the chart twice? How could Veronica accept that?

  The more she scrolled, the more frustrated and resentful she became. Finally, with a smack, she flipped her phone face-down on the vanity, startling her makeup artist.

  Her team fell silent, afraid of being caught in the crossfire.

  Cynthia, meanwhile, was practically losing her mind with jealousy. Initially, she'd gleefully scrolled through the news, gloating at Chloe's misfortune. But within an hour, the tide had entirely turned. Instead of seeing Chloe attacked by Bryan's fans, she witnessed everyone defending her. The voices of the trolls faded, eventually disappearing like stones dropped into the ocean.

  And Chloe's cross-platform followers had exceeded 10 million.

  Cynthia herself? 12,000 followers on Instagram—10,000 of them were bought. On TicTac Video, she barely had 800.

  It was in this moment that Cynthia suddenly realized: she and Chloe were no longer on the same level as actors. She no longer had the right to compare herself to Chloe.

  "Oh my god, Chloe! There really are more good people in this world. Look—aside from accounts claiming to be your fans, every neutral netizen is defending you."

  Taylor clutched her phone excitedly, monitoring public opinion online, her expression full of warmth.

  Chloe smiled faintly and nodded. The shadows lifted from her heart. The fear she'd felt that morning dissipated, replaced by gratitude for the kindness of strangers.