Alter Ego: His Sultry Lover

Chapter 261: Don’t Publicize

[C: You’re cleaning?] he had texted.

[K: Cleaning up after other men.] Was her reply.

[C: You will be punished for that. Beware.] She shook her head as she smiled.

[K: I’m running away…]

She placed the phone back in her pocket and then went to Ian and Laurence. They were sitting beside Angelina asking her about her job. She was positive in her responses.

“So, your boyfriend manages influencers?” Ian asked, waving towards her phone. She was still holding it in her hand and checking messages.

“You could say that,” Angelina evaded. 

“I think I saw Stephen Luther,” he said. His eyes gleamed as he looked at her with intrigue. So, Stephen had been recognized. Angelina and Katherine shared a look. Both wondered how to answer. Yet there was no way to bypass the questions now that Ian knew who Angelina had been talking to. 

“I didn’t think my boyfriend was famous enough to be recognized,” Angelina grumbled. She looked straight at Ian as she spoke the next words. “I hope you don’t publicize this. I don’t like flaunting my relationship.” The remark was biting and clearly Angelina was taking revenge on Katherine’s behalf. 

“How did you meet him?” Ian asked casually, ignoring the jab. 

“I met him through a friend. Why do you ask?” Angelina gave him a no nonsense look that could make people’s blood turn cold. Ian looked shocked to be on the receiving end of the look. He shook it off quickly.

“I was wondering if you could hook us up with him. We’d love to get a collaboration with Cage Cavanaugh.” He motioned towards Laurence as he said so. “You know how some movie stars promote their movies through influencers now, right? With Laurence’s reach, it would be mutually beneficial for the two to collaborate. And Cage likes to play videogames, so it shouldn’t be a problem.” As easy as that sounded, Katherine felt her heart thump with fright.

Angelina looked inconspicuously at Katherine’s expression and sighed. “I don’t mix myself with my boyfriend’s business. Also, it is impolite to give away someone’s number without their knowledge.”

“Don’t misunderstand Ian!” Laurence defended quickly. “He gets a little aggressive when it comes to our channels,” he chuckled nervously. Angelina tried to hold back the roll of her eyes.

“I sometimes forget if he is your friend or your manager,” Angelina commented bluntly.

“He does take care editing and publishing of my videos,” Laurence said without thinking much. So, the power was in Ian’s hand even though he was the one making the money. Ian had a lot less followers and mostly shot to fame because of his friendship with Laurence. Apart from that, from his videos and posts, he seemed like a nosey person who didn’t know his boundaries. He made prank videos and flash gameplays. Katherine had no interest in his videos and couldn’t understand why others would watch it either.

To each their own.

“Let’s start filming the video,” Katherine spoke up, wanting the conversation to end.

“How I wish we had food like last time. It would be great.” Ian rubbed his stomach, recalling the memory of the delicious food Katherine had cooked for them. Suddenly, he clapped his hand. “Aren’t you going to City O for the championship? Maybe you can come over to our house. And Laurence will allow you to cook me something?” His eyes glittered.

“I’ll make you something good,” she assured without much thought.

“Sweet!” Ian pumped his fist upwards. “By the way, with Stephen helping you plan and manage, you’ll be big in no time. Don’t forget us then…” He paused and thought about something. “Doesn’t that make you as important as Cage?” he asked innocently.

“Of course,” Katherine retorted slyly.

Laurence laughed, calling her a narcissist before pulling her towards the film setup. They sat down, Katherine with her drawing tablet and Laurence with his gaming laptop. The camera was rolling and the play began.

“I have been asking me to send your pictures to me to edit. And you guys flooded my social media with weird images and ideas. I am not complaining, though. But you finish all the edits and make this extra entertaining, I have brought on the highly anticipated and loved creator, Rinsten.” He angled his body towards her and gave a cursory clap.

She bowed her head slightly, accepting his introduction before turning to the camera with a blinding smile. “I have gone through the submissions. I must say, you guys set us up for failure.” She mock glared at the camera and suppressed her smile. Her expressions were natural as she tapped her hand. “What do they have in store for us?” she asked Laurence.

Laurence looked at her with an adoring smile. “This person asks us to make her skin look flawless.” He gave her a grin and shared the picture. They started to record their screens and both took no more than two minutes to finish their edits.

Laurence was looking at Katherine with admiration in his eyes. “You’re really fast!”

“I have photographers and models as friends. I’ve done a lot of editing for them in my free time. I’ve found that I am very efficient in a short amount of time.” She nodded, feeling self-satisfied with what she had done.

“Are you tooting your own horn?” Laurence joked. Katherine shrugged.

“One must appreciate themselves.” She puffed her cheeks up and held back a laugh as she watched his face morph into horror. “Scared of me yet?”

“Not at all,” he stammered, looking at his laptop screen. “You sounded too cool,” he said after a while.

“Yes, so cool that I can freeze people’s heart over,” she deadpanned. “I am dying to know what you did with the picture!” She peeked at his screen and then shook her head.

“What? She wanted flawless skin!” he defended. He looked at the monitor which showed their respective screens.

“You actually cleared up all her pores,” Katherine admired. “Not bad.” She took another look at the picture.