Chapter 119: Parasocial

People had a habit of getting their faces up in other people’s businesses.

Granted it varied from person to person, with the exception of few who couldn’t give two hoots what was going in other people’s life, the underlying and inquisitive nature of couldn’t be beat.

The internet, unfortunately--especially social media, had now become a cesspool of such nosy habits exemplified.

More so when several individuals on these platforms were always seeking out the next form of entertainment or the other at the expense of someone’s privacy.

It was also why, what should’ve been a low-key, heartwarming reunion between Niall, his lady and his parents, had ended up becoming viral news.

Courtesy of a lifestyle influencer whom had been a passerby at the airport, she’d uploaded a video onto TicToc without considering she could be sued if said individuals in the video didn’t take too kindly to an invasion of their privacy.

In the short, one-minute clip which she’d captioned; That’s so sweet. They look like such a lovely family; it was one of Camille constantly peppering Niall’s face with kisses which was then followed by him greeting his parents a couple seconds after.

Then the lady had turned the camera back to herself for a brief pose and a flash of her pearly whites whilst mentioning how she couldn’t wait to tour LA.

At first, most of the initial comments had just been the usual.

Hyping said influencer with the usual sisterhood lingos, reacting to the video of the adorable family, some hate comments here, warnings about how she’d literally disclosed yet another private moment between strangers there...

But when the video began stumbling into the feeds of several fans of Niall and paparazzi alike, it didn’t take long before some of them recognized the two middle-aged individuals.

Afterall, [Polaroid’s] cover art was a picture of Niall’s parents dancing together as his younger self peeked out from the edge of the photo.

Then there was the familiar side frame. One that looked very similar to the young star even though they couldn’t quite see his face properly.

Yet, that was all the internet really needed to identify that it was in fact Niall Parker.

That, naturally, brought about a helluva a lot of posts about it on several social media platforms, TicToc especially being the highest concentration this time.

Unsurprisingly, the most interested in said infotainment, had been the female demographic of Niall’s fans, most of whom had varying reactions to Niall being a taken man.

More so when he’d being so tight-lipped about his private life, this was literally the first ’tea’ regarding it they’d ever gotten.

It also made sense then, that it was the initial video made by said lifestyle influencer that had blown up the most.

With a staggering 10M views, the lady herself had pinned her own comment at the top, her words hypocritical to say the least.

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Baddest Bae: Please, Niall Parker. Please don’t sue me! I swear I didn’t mean to leak your privacy to the world.

Common Sense Bonker: Then take it down @Baddest Bae! Stop, being, a fucking hypocrite!

Maya The Witch: I can sense it. A disturbance in the force. Of several hearts shattering into a million pieces. Of phones dejectedly placed down. Of eyes blankly staring at the ceiling in defeat.

Ruth C: NOOOO! Why God, why?! I wished upon a field of dandelions that Niall Parker would be mine all of the time!

King Slaying Queen: Usually, I’d say men are the lucky ones when they bag a baddie. This time, it’s the other way around. She’s a lucky woman, that lady! She’s so beautiful too! Just look at her face! Her hair! HER HAIR! Those are some of the most beautiful red curls I’ve ever seen!

Sobs In Corner: The kisses????? Girl we get it! You won! Now stop making me feel bad about my non-existent love life!

TroyInTheMiddle: The female portion of Niall Parker’s fandom is going through the five stages of grief in the comments and I’m all for it. Might grab some popcorn while I’m at it too.

Call of Doodie: No relationship rumors. No paparazzi photos. No soft launches. No Instagram clues. Man was operating a Black Ops relationship, lol.

BluntBellina: Perhaps the funniest part about all this, was that Niall wasn’t even hiding it. He was just living his life like every Tom, Dick and Harry. Y’all are just way too parasocial to say the least.

Countess Dracula: Niall’s parents looking exactly like they did in Polaroid is honestly the only reason I recognized them. Are they secretly vampires in their family or what?

Fastest Man Alive: Everyone suddenly becoming a forensic analyst because of ONE blurry side profile. Lol.Honestly though, I have never seen Niall laugh with such mirth before. Whoever that lucky lady is, she has him down, bad... and vice versa I’d believe. Like my woman has me.

Sorceress Supreme: Respectfully, WHO IS THAT WOMAN AND WHY IS SHE KISSING MY MAN LIKE SHE PAYS TAXES WITH HIM??? BY THE EYE OF AGAMOTTO, I CAST REWIND!

Viva La Vida: I’m all for celebrity gossip but filming strangers during a private family moment and uploading it for millions is weird as hell.

-

Social media wasn’t the only one buzzing with the news.

Hollywood press companies had also jumped on the bandwagon, doing their best to pump out articles that honestly, could be considered just as, if not more invasive.

Especially as several of them had instantly began digging into whom Niall’s partner was.

It also didn’t take long before they identified her as Camille Jones, a rather well-off lady in her own right.

Afterall, not only did she run a small yet lucrative art gallery all the way down in Franklin, Tennessee... she also had a thriving online gig-site that had commissioned some really great work.

Naturally, it also didn’t take long for these individuals working at these outlets to go through her portfolio, further adding to their scoops when they realized she was the one who illustrated the cover art for Niall’s Fate Series thus far.

As if they weren’t invasive enough though, the paparazzi on the other hand had once again found themselves focusing a lot of their efforts back on Niall Parker.

Given they hadn’t been seeing him around in LA for the past two months and a half--which was as a result of him travelling around and scouting locations for [A Maddened Wonderland]--they’d naturally shifted their efforts to other celebrities.

However, seeing that he was indeed back, they jumped ship without thinking, secretly lying close to the gates of the estate he was living in for any opportunity they could to get a picture of him, his parents and most especially, his lover.

Together, preferably.

That was just what happened when you were the talk of the town and you barely ever shared your private life in a place like Hollywood where glitz and glam came with the territory.

Besides, a single picture of them could keep their bills attended to and equally keep them afloat for the next couple weeks, if not over a month if they got a particular good shot.

It also helped that Camille was an unconventionally attractive redhead, whose looks contrasted perfectly against Niall’s more conventional attractiveness.

That alone, was bound to add more value to whatever picture they would take.

Because if there was one thing Hollywood liked in addition to an already good celebrity scoop, it was gossiping about how good-looking said individuals were.

Sad, yes. But that was just how it was.

As one would expect though, a select few celebrities weren’t taking too kindly to this disloyalty from said paparazzi--most of whom they’d had dealings with beforehand.

Of these, was Louis Hoffman.

And he was not the least bit happy about the news currently circulating the internet, more so since he’d never liked Niall to begin with.

Considering he had also tipped off a bunch of these paparazzi about his whereabouts a day earlier and Big Boon studios had secretly informed a select few press companies about the sequel to the third [Syndicate] movie; [Syndicate: Reckoning]; they’d both hoped to synergize and soft launch the news onto the internet.

However, for all their efforts, it was a news about Niall Parker and his family that had thrown an absolute wrench into their plans.

And though the soft launch wasn’t exactly a miss, it still didn’t detract from the fact that the current gossip circulating the internet had a clear hand in suppressing the reach it would’ve otherwise had.

As a result, Louis’ disdain for Niall only seemed to be fueled more and more as the days went on.

Unaware of the going-ons in Hollywood at the moment though, Niall was currently staring at his babe, her caribbean-blue irises glimmering with hope as she held a familiar script in her hands.

Then he folded his arms across his chest and amusedly asked;

"Let me guess, Red. You’d like to be involved in making some of the concept art?"

To that, Camille enthusiastically bobbed her head, her response gleeful;

"Yes!"

Advance Chapters are available on Patreon!

/Caer07