Chapter 274 - Gold Digger
It was her first ti participating in sothing like this, so she didn't know what to expect from 'fans' who ca to say hi. She had t those kids at the market, but apart from that, she had enjoyed a life of anonymity since she started making videos. Katherine was sure that the line was for Laurence for the most part, so she was surprised when many of them expressed excitent to see her.
"Oh my god, hi!" a boy ca hurtling straight at her, putting his arms around her face and almost throwing her off balance. "I love you so much. You are my hero."
Katherine chuckled breathlessly. "Thank you. How are you doing this morning?"
"I've been subscribed to you since the beginning and when I found out that you guys collaborated, I was ecstatic," he said happily.
"Thank you so much for the support," Laurence replied warmly.
"You can get Laurence to sign sothing for you. Do you have anything on you?" Katherine's voice was much calr, contrasting with the hyper reaction of the fan.
"I have an edit you made printed out. Could you sign it?" the boy asked, hope filling his eyes. Katherine couldn't say no. She chuckled as she placed her hand forward, motioning him to give it to her.
"I don't sign anything usually, but because you are cute, I'll do it." She gave him a playful wink. Rounds of hugs followed. So said they watched all the videos, others said that they liked Laurence and Katherine together. She even received so gifts that she tried to deny.
Laurence told her that it was best she take them. Fans put in a lot of effort for those gifts and it was uncouth to return them or say no. Katherine begrudgingly took the gifts but kept a thankful smile on her face.
The whole affair lasted about an hour and went great. When it finished, Laurence and Katherine went their separate ways. Laurence had to catch up with other content creators while Katherine had to head towards the grand hall to prepare for the competition.
The preparations were coming along great and she was constantly talking to her. All the competitors had had gathered around the table after the event was over. Katherine felt a weight lift off her shoulders as she interacted with the others. They seed like normal human beings who had been thrown into a large group. Sohow, they managed to keep the conversation flowing.
All the water she drank to stow away her anxiety finally made an appearance. She needed to go to the toilet. She announced the sa, garnering giggles around the table.
"While you are there, can you see where Ian went?" Laurence called. "He's been missing for twenty minutes."
"Well, if he's not back in five minutes, I'm stealing his food," soone joked.
"Will do," Katherine coughed, giving a thumbs up before she headed to the ladies' room. After relieving herself, she was about to head out of the stall when she heard the door burst open. The voices that followed sounded sowhat familiar and she quickly placed them as two females from the staff who had been extrely friendly towards her as she struggled through the procedures.
'I should say hi,' she thought. Before she could leave the stall, the words they spoke made her freeze.
"I don't know why people even like her," Staff number one scoffed. "Like, she is not pretty and everyone knows she is with Laurence to beco popular." Katherine screwed her eyes shut as she tried to reign in her anger. She didn't know why she didn't burst out and put them in their places but she stood there, unmoving from the spot as they kept talking about her.
"And his money," Staff number two supplied helpfully. "I hear Laurence makes six figures every month. I'm talking seven figures a year," she added. "I can't believe they let such a subpar looking person and gar join the championship. She's not famous enough and her videos are crap at best. Why didn't they get soone else to fill her slot?" The woman huffed.
Katherine snarled in her thoughts. She was the highest viewed and followed competitor. Moreover, she played better than so of those people sitting at the table.
"She's a woman. You know how the marketing team harped on representation. They could have taken a much better female representative, in my opinion. Seeing how chummy she is with Laurence, maybe they knew each other from before. Do you think she has connections within the higher tier of staff?" Number one sighed. "Well, we can just crop her out of the photos and keep her from taking too much footage."
"Enough about the gold-digger. Apparently, so hot guys are in the dining area, wanna go check them out?" Number two comnted with a little too much enthusiasm.
The two yamred away as they left the washroom while Katherine stayed in her spot for a significant amount of ti before stepping out. She wanted to make sure they were far away, but she was also shaken by the encounter.
This was how people thought of her when she wasn't even associated with Cage. Instead of thinking about how much worse it could get, she thought about the inevitability of being talked about. She was getting mildly popular and people would continue talking. If she could handle criticism for herself, she could handle it when it ca from inconsequential people like those staff mbers.
She tugged at her hair as she thought about the comnts from last night. She saw those on videos and forums all the ti and never took them seriously. Last night, she took them so personally that she had teared up. Most of those people were trolls and Katherine had focused on the positive comnts.
But this was her first ti hearing a an comnt in real life. It was a different playing field, but she was less affected than before.
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