Chapter 549 - 545: Utterly Uncouth

As the car neared the hotel, Finn stirred awake. He rubbed his eyes and saw a large crowd gathered outside the main entrance in the distance.

His professional instincts kicking in, he quickly said to the driver, "Sir, don’t pull up to the main entrance just yet. Stop by the roundabout for a moment."

"What’s wrong?" Yuna leaned over, looking ahead curiously, then gasped, "Why are there so many people?"

Lily Sterling subconsciously glanced at the time. It was already 1:40 AM.

"They can’t be here for Lily," Yuna reasoned. "This trip was too last-minute, the fans wouldn’t know. There wasn’t a single person at the airport."

Finn said, "Even if they’re not here for Lily, if she gets out and gets recognized, she’ll definitely be mobbed. Driver, let’s go to the hotel’s underground parking garage."

"Ah, but that’s a huge detour. I’d have to drive up ahead and make a U-turn," the driver said.

But just then, a luxury Mercedes-Benz van drove past them, then slowly decelerated and came to a stop right at the hotel entrance.

The crowd, which had been waiting for a long time, instantly erupted. Everyone swarmed forward, screaming and shouting.

"Kiara Holden! Kiara Holden!"

"Sweetie, we’ve been waiting for you for hours..."

The hotel’s security guards came out to maintain order. The van door didn’t open for what felt like an eternity. Then, a girl wearing sunglasses, her face expressionless, stepped out.

Finn recognized her with a single glance. "It’s Kiara Holden!"

She was a new actress who was just as popular as Lily Sterling in the industry. She had also been nominated for the Best Newcomer Award at the year-end Golden Magpie Awards, making her one of Lily’s strongest competitors.

Yuna immediately labeled her a rival. Her face scrunched up in distaste. "Are they insane? Making their fans stake out the hotel this late at night."

As professional assistants, Finn and Yuna could tell what was happening with a single glance. Her company must have deliberately leaked her schedule and hotel information. Then they would have contacted fan club leaders to organize a mob, and finally tipped off media influencers to create the illusion that she was massively popular.

This kind of publicity stunt was standard practice. Almost every star who relied on online buzz had done it.

But the timing was so inconsiderate to the fans. It was already almost two in the morning. ’Was this really necessary?’

The contrast with Lily was stark.

The fans, however, were genuinely ecstatic. They completely mobbed the van, thrusting all sorts of gifts, letters, and flowers forward. But Kiara Holden kept her head down the entire time, letting the security guards escort her through the crowd.

When they reached the entrance, the security guards formed a human wall, physically blocking the fans outside. Without a single glance back, Kiara Holden quickly disappeared into the hotel.

"She just left like that?" Yuna said in surprise.

Finn let out a laugh of pure exasperation. More than anger, though, he felt a sense of helplessness. Fans were often more than willing to put up with this kind of thing, and most celebrities handled these situations the exact same way.

This was why if one of these celebrities, who were constantly put on a pedestal, deigned to stop for a single minute for their fans, the fans would lose their minds with excitement, shouting, "She loves her fans so much!"

"Our Lily is way better to her fans," Yuna muttered, pursing her lips.

A few moments later, once Kiara Holden’s figure had vanished into the lobby, the passion of the waiting fans finally began to cool. Finn directed the driver to pull up to the main entrance. Lily pulled her hat down low, quickly got out of the car, and entered the hotel with Yuna by her side.

They moved so quickly that no one around them had time to react.

"Hey? Wasn’t that Lily Sterling just now?"

"Lily Sterling? Where? I’m a fan of hers, too!"

"What? You like Lily Sterling? She’s our Kiki’s rival!"

"Why didn’t I see her?"

"She vanished in the blink of an eye..."

By the elevators, Kiara Holden and her assistants, surprisingly, still hadn’t gone up. The moment Lily and her group rounded the corner, they were hit by the distinct smell of cigarette smoke.

Kiara Holden held a cigarette between her fingers in one hand and was looking at her phone in the other, never looking up.

Her two assistants glanced over, but since Finn was standing in front of Lily, they didn’t see her.

Until Yuna raised a hand to fan the air in front of her, muttering in disgust, "It stinks!"

The other group all looked up at once. One of the assistants frowned and asked, "What did you say?"

Yuna looked at them, but Finn spoke up first. "You shouldn’t smoke in a public area. It stinks."

"You..."

The assistant flared up and was about to snap back, but Kiara Holden patted her arm. "Forget it. Let’s just go up and rest."

Just as she finished speaking, the elevator doors opened, and Kiara Holden walked right in.

Her two assistants shot Lily’s group a venomous glare before following her into the elevator.

Seeing this, Yuna deliberately raised her voice. "The smell of smoke is awful. We’ll wait for the next one!"

Lily couldn’t help but suppress a smile. Then she heard Yuna add, "Some people have absolutely no class!"

Once the other group’s elevator started its ascent, Yuna turned to Lily. "I don’t think they recognized you."

"They probably just didn’t notice."

She had been standing next to Finn, with Yuna diagonally in front of her, so she had been completely blocked from view.

Finn gave her a thumbs-up. "You were pretty fierce just now!"

"Lily, do you think I was being too harsh?"

Lily Sterling smiled and shook her head. "You should always speak up against rude behavior to stop it. You weren’t being harsh, you were being brave."

’I have nothing against Kiara Holden personally,’ Lily thought, ’but smoking in a public space is just wrong. Even if it were someone else and Yuna hadn’t said anything, I would have spoken up myself.’

Hearing this, Yuna couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows proudly at Finn. "Did you hear that? Lily said I was brave!"

Finn laughed. "Definitely brave!"

Lily just never expected that when she arrived at the restaurant the next day, completely barefaced, to meet Connie, she would find Kiara Holden—wearing a light, natural makeup look—sitting right across from her.

"Connie, allow me to introduce you. This is our Kiara Holden."

Kiara Holden’s agent was a young man who looked to be in his late twenties. Connie knew him, calling him Rowe.

Kiara Holden shot up from her seat and greeted her with immense enthusiasm. "Hello, Connie! You can just call me Kiki. I’ve only been in the industry for two years."

In front of a major figure like Connie, Kiara Holden’s entire demeanor changed from her usual style; she suddenly seemed much more charming and agreeable.

Connie smiled amiably and said softly, "I know who you are. You had a hit show this year, didn’t you? It did very well."

Upon hearing this, Kiara Holden demurely replied, "Oh, you’re too kind," but she couldn’t hide the smug pride in her eyes.

She was young, riding high on her success, and had landed a blockbuster hit right after her debut. That was a rare feat in today’s hyper-competitive entertainment industry, so Kiara Holden had every reason to be proud.

"Connie."

Just then, Lily Sterling found them. She had changed into a clean set of clothes and had simply combed her hair, but her face was completely bare, without a single trace of makeup.

It was a level of barefacedness that even Connie had never seen on her.

Connie turned at the sound of her voice and was visibly taken aback. While there was a difference between Lily’s appearance with and without makeup, she was still a natural beauty—fresh-faced and lovely.

Connie stared for two seconds before it registered. "Wow, you’re really keeping it real. You didn’t even touch up your eyebrows?"