Damon chuckled, sliding an arm around her waist. "Should we show him your neck? That way, he’ll know you’re already my responsibility."
Charlotte gasped in mock offense before smacking his arm. "You just want to give him a heart attack, don’t you?"
Laughing, she carefully placed the oversized teddy bear in the backseat, along with the other little trinkets they’d picked up. But as soon as she settled into the passenger seat, her phone started vibrating non-stop.
Frowning, she pulled it out. "Weird ... I swore I turned off notifications for my social dia."
The mont she unlocked her screen, dozens of missed ssages from Chloe and Isolde flooded her inbox.
"What’s with them?" she mumbled, confused.
Before she could think too much about it, her phone rang. Seeing Chloe’s na flashing on the screen, she imdiately answered. "Wh—"
"Charlotte!" Chloe’s voice practically exploded through the speaker, making Charlotte jerk the phone away from her ear.
"What—"
"Why weren’t you more careful while going on a date?!" Chloe half-shrieked. "Do you know what’s happening online right now?!"
Chloe’s reaction sent Charlotte straight back to the past, to the ti her old agency had scolded her for secretly dating Julian without informing her team. Back then, she hadn’t been overly cautious because her fans weren’t the type to lose their minds just because she was in a relationship.
But now ... things were different.
She had just finalized her divorce, and suddenly, she was dating again. The timing couldn’t have been worse.
Even though many people seed to support her and Damon, she wasn’t naive enough to believe that everyone would. Once rumors started flying, there was no telling how the public would react.
"I was just walking around the Night Market near my house," Charlotte said, trying to keep her voice steady. "We wore masks and caps ... oh, wait." Her heart sank as realization hit. "We took them off while eating."
"Oh no," she groaned. "Did soone take a picture of us while we weren’t wearing masks?"
"A picture?" Chloe practically hissed in frustration. "Charlotte, there are tons of pictures of you and Mr. Sullivan flooding social dia right now! Just check for yourself!"
Damon, noticing the shift in Charlotte’s expression, leaned in slightly. "What’s going on?"
Charlotte exhaled sharply, pressing her fingers against her temple. "Ms. Chloe said a bunch of people took pictures of us earlier." She hesitated, then muttered, "Do you think this will hurt my upcoming movies?"
Damon’s gaze softened as he reached for her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze. "We didn’t do anything wrong. We were just out on a date, like any normal couple, in a normal place." His lips curled into a teasing smile. "We weren’t even being scandalous, because soone won’t let kiss her in public."
Despite everything, Charlotte found herself rolling her eyes.
Damon chuckled and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. "Relax, sweetheart. We’ll be fine."
Instead of dwelling on the problem, Charlotte found herself fixating on sothing else, Damon calling them a couple.
Technically, he wasn’t wrong. But she still hadn’t properly reciprocated his feelings, so how could they be called that?
If she had to put a label on their relationship, she’d say they were mates.
... Wait. That was basically the sa thing.
She shook her head, pushing aside her random thoughts, and quickly opened social dia. Just as Chloe had said, it was blowing up.
The hashtag #CharlottesNewBoyfriend was already in the top three trends, with over 100,000 posts.
How was that even possible?!
The first picture had been posted barely an hour ago, yet the internet had exploded with discussions about it, as if people would die if they didn’t imdiately dissect every detail of her life.
"This ... this is insane!" Charlotte’s eyes widened as she scrolled through the countless posts. She didn’t even blink. "Everyone is talking about us!"
@TeaSpiller99 – "I KNEW IT!!! They had too much chemistry to be just friends!"
@DramaDetective – "Wait ... didn’t she just get divorced? This is kinda fast, no?"
@SimpForDamon – "Charlotte’s taste is IMMACULATE. Damon Sullivan?? Hell yes."
@ToxicKing23 – "I refuse to believe this. Charlotte belongs to the streets."
@DamonIsDaddy – "This man is FINE. Charlotte, girl, you are LIVING my dream."
Not long after, a flood of notifications filled her phone.
"It’s from the producer." Charlotte’s heart pounded because she was terrified Diego was about to rip her apart for the scandal.
Charlotte was bracing herself for an angry ssage, a stern warning, maybe even a full-blown crisis eting. But instead ...
"Congratulations, Charlotte, on your new relationship!"
... What?!
What did he congratulate her for?!
She blinked. Then blinked again. Did she read that right?
"What did he say?" Damon asked, glancing at her with curiosity.
Charlotte slowly turned to him, her expression a mix of shock and sheer disbelief. "He ... congratulated ?"
Damon raised a brow. "For dating ?"
"Yes! What kind of reaction is this?!" She frantically scrolled through the rest of the producer’s ssages.
[Producer West: This is great publicity!]
[Producer West: Fans love it. Engagent is through the roof!]
[Producer West: Your upcoming movie just got free promotion, thanks to this.]
Charlotte groaned, covering her face with one hand. "Oh my God. He’s happy about this."
Damon chuckled. "I an ... it’s good for business."
"Business?! Damon, people are dissecting our every move! Look at this!"
What the hell was wrong with people?
Shouldn’t they be mad?
"But, everyone’s supporting us." Damon held up his phone, showing Charlotte the flood of comnts cheering them on.
@RandomGals - "Wait, is that teddy bear from a Night Market ga?!"
@xxxx - "OMG, STOP. HE WON HER A PLUSHIE?!"
@AimlessChaos - "Okay, but listen, soone at the market said Charlotte SUCKS at aiming, and Damon still hyped her up and won the ga for her. If that’s not peak boyfriend behavior, IDK what is!"
@DamnItDamon - "I would fold so fast if my man did that for . Too bad my man doesn’t exist"
@HopelessRomantic - "Sa, girl. Sa."
Charlotte blinked at the screen, her mind struggling to process the sheer amount of positivity flooding in. She turned to Damon, stunned. "They ... they actually like you?"
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