Chapter 3Hard Launch, Hard Fall: Canceling My A-List Client

Because Cole changed his passwords, the relationship announcement sat at the top of the trending charts for a whole day before the company finally managed to suppress it.

In just 24 hours, his announcement post amassed hundreds of thousands of comments. Half of them were from his loyal stans, aggressively spamming emojis and copy-pasted blessings to drown out the hate.

The other half was pure outrage and cursing.

[I stayed up all night voting for you yesterday, and today you give me a sister-in-law? Am I crazy or are you?]

[Why did you have to announce it? Couldn't you date in secret? Did you have to shove it in our faces?]

[I've spent over $30,000 on your merch and albums. I haven't missed a single tour date. And you repay me with a girlfriend?]

[I've spent over $100k! And he takes my money to fund his little romance. I'm gonna throw up!]

[If you make a living off your fanbase, you serve the fans. Otherwise, quit being an idol.]

[Turns out only the fans cared about your career. I want my three years back.]

There were countless other comments too vulgar to even repeat.

The comment section was quickly restricted, then shut down entirely.

His fans were running themselves ragged in the fandom Discord and Reddit threads, desperately waiting for his explanation.

But their precious idol was spending these few days taking his new girl on a luxury vacation.

I handed over my work accounts, returned to my apartment which I hadn't seen in ages, and scrolled through my personal phone while eating chips.

A life without Cole Mercer was wonderfully quiet.

It wasn't until I saw a photo of him and his girlfriend hiking on his private Snapchat story that I remembered—early in his career, when I was terrified of missing an emergency text, I had added him on my personal account.

After becoming an A-lister, Cole's ego inflated so much he was practically floating.

Posting a picture like this on his private story right now... was he trying to speed-run his own cancellation?

In the photo, there was a new tattoo on his inner forearm.

It was the letter "S".

I had seen that letter before.

Back when Cole first won his debut survival show, a friend of mine who ran a major pop-culture gossip account told me she received a tip.

It was an intimate photo of Cole with a girl, and the tipster's handle had the letter "S" in it.

I knew Cole's girlfriend was named Sierra Knox. It had to be her.

Out of professional habit, my brain instantly went into conspiracy-theory mode.

I instinctively tapped on Cole's profile, wanting to warn him to be careful of being used for clout.

Thankfully, the moment I opened the chat, I caught myself.

My hand slipped, and I accidentally double-tapped his profile icon, sending a notification.

When I refreshed my feed, the photo was gone.

He had probably blocked me. But I didn't care.

Whether he was truly in love or getting played, it had absolutely nothing to do with me anymore.