Dear fans,

As you well know, I have been caught up in a –

"No!" Martha whispered furiously and back-spaced her composition. She tried again.

Hey guys, how are you doing? Happy weekend!

So this news has been going around about my –

She groaned and cleared the message. "Let's try again."

Dear followers, there are rumors circulating about me that I am yet to address. I will very soon. Just keep in mind that I love you all and I appreciate your love. Keep praying for your fav girl. Have a happy weekend!

She ended the message with a string of kissing and love emoticons.

"There." She said, satisfied. She tweeted the message and sank back in her seat. Within seconds, her phone started to chime with notifications.

That was one of the perks of being a celebrity. Whatever is posted takes seconds to gain media attention, therefore, careful planning is needed before anything is posted. It cost the media nothing to praise or drag content from celebrities and now that she was still in the throes of constant dragging through the mud, she had to be painstaking with every sentence.

Despite the fact that it had been three days since the news broke, the attention hadn't been diverted off her one bit. Instead, it had been worse than before.

She had expected a lot of support from her fans and she had gotten it but she had also gotten the trolling, which hurt very much, more than she would admit. Was it her fault? No. She was human and she was an adult. Didn't she have the right to make her own decisions?

Perhaps, she had been foolish. Dating Prince Philip had been nothing short of anguish for her as she had had to give up a lot for the relationship. It hadn't been that way at first. She had been very much in love with the prince and with the idea of being a part of the royal family. But it hadn't ended well.

Dating Philip who was a duke and the son of the cousin of the Queen was met with a lot of backlash and criticism, especially because of her lifestyle. As a person dating a prince, she was expected to dress more conservatively, wave at the crowd like a president on an inaugural parade, and smile all the time. She had loved Philip – she still did – but she had felt smothered by his family members and their demands. She had ended the relationship a year later. She told him she wanted to "find" herself.

The public breakup had been the topic of discussion for weeks and it had thrown her into yet another scandal, the first being the fact that they had been dating. When they had started dating and the news had gone viral, many had speculated that it wouldn't last while others had wished them well. That had been a scandal. The break-up had also been a scandal. It was too much to bear.

After another year of being single, she was swept off her feet by her co-star in a blockbuster movie that had shattered the box office by bringing in a whopping sum. It was unprofessional of an actor to fall in love with a co-star but she hadn't been able to help it. Neither had he.

Maybe because he kissed so well, or because their fans had shipped the relationship and had begged frantically for it to be real, Martha knew she hadn't been able to resist the gangster character she'd had to tame in the movie and in real life. That didn't turn out to be a fairytale like her last relationship either.

Her on-and-off relationship with Duncan Nail had been her fourth public relationship and had ended last month, after two years. Within those two years, they'd separated, fought, disagreed, given each other "space," until he finally proposed. His proposal had been very pubic too, and thinking of it now, strategic.

Duncan had been a heavy drinker, which had been one of the many things they had constantly fought about. He had been a sharp contrast to Philip who had been a teetotaler. In fact, they were polar opposites. Duncan was more rugged, bad boyish, owned sports cars, and rode a bike, while Philip was composed, well mannered to a fault, and always tucked his shirttail in. Philip was obsessed with being orderly and neat. Duncan was scattered and scrawny and didn't make plans for the future.

Duncan had also cheated on her. There had been photos of him with strange women at different bars which at first, she'd waved off as being rumors but as time went on, she started to think otherwise. One day, she confronted him about a recent one. He broke down and admitted to it. He said he was sorry and blamed it all on his alcohol addiction. That same night, he checked into rehab.

The day he got out of rehab had been the day she was invited to sing at a concert. She had limited her time to twenty minutes in order to welcome him personally, as she hadn't been able to see him since he checked into rehab.

As Martha lolled on her couch, she saw herself back on stage, hearing the excited chants filled with anticipation from ten thousand people, and their screams when her name was called and her song started booming from the speakers. Her entry had been iconic. She had entered a mini elevator from below the stage and as her song started and as the people screamed, she was lifted from the floor unto the stage.

She struck a sexy pose that accentuated her alluring body which looked glorious in her see-through jumpsuit that was sparking with lots of tiny diamonds. The light technician did his thing and made the lights swirl in hundreds of ways before going dark in the room and focusing a bright beam only on her. The screams from the audience gave her goosebumps, one she was accustomed to, one she loved with all of her being, one she never wished would end.

She walked into the stage and started singing and dancing. The dancers that had been practicing with her for weeks moved in tune to the beat and got excited screams from the audience as a reward. The next instant, Martha raised the mike to the sky and the song stopped. It was dead silent for half a second before the audience screamed. They were happy and giddy with excitement.

Sweat and perspiration had started to pour down her back and her breathing was labored but she didn't care. The people screaming and loving her were everything. They were the reason she did what she did. The reason she got up in the mornings filled with hope and vibrancy. The reason she had the strength to write songs and act in movies. They were Martha Reed.

"Ten minutes have gone," Corey spoke into her headphone.

Martha almost regretted that she would leave soon but she had to do it for her boyfriend. He needed her. The remaining ten minutes would be for her second performance. She turned to her band and signaled them. They began a dulcet beat and she sang slowly in tune to it. Soon, the audience had raised their flashlights and it formed a beautiful sea of sparkling lights that reminded her of fireflies. It made her put her body, mind, and soul into the song.

She was sure she didn't leave a dry eye in the crowd.

Her eyes closed, she was at the last line of her song when screams erupted. It was normal for her fans to scream whenever she was ending a song so she had not expected the shock she received. It had been blindsiding.

When she opened her eyes and turned around, she had seen a balloon arrangement that read,

"MARRY ME?"

And standing right beside the arrangement was Duncan, looking all clean-shaven, healthier, and more handsome. He knelt before her and extended an open ring box that had a stunning diamond cut ring in it. He had been the reason they were screaming. They had seen what he wanted to do before she did. Duncan had given them more time to think about the marriage than he'd given her.

She'd said yes, teary-eyed and emotional. Social media had shut down. News blogs had gone crazy. Everyone was talking about the proposal of the decade. She and Duncan had been booked for numerous interviews for the next three months. Her following on Instagram and Twitter had accelerated from the then ten million to her present twelve, and the then six million to her present eight respectively.

Her fame had spread abroad. Her music had attained number one on the Billboard charts. The proposal had done a lot of good for her, just it had for Duncan. They both had benefitted from her saying yes to him.

It had been a grave mistake.

The door was slightly tapped then opened and her cook walked in. "Anything to eat ma'am?"

"Salad would be fine, thank you, Bjork."

She nodded and shut the door.

Martha picked up her phone and checked for engagements on her last tweet. As expected, she had sixteen thousand likes, five thousand retweets, and three thousand comments already. By the end of the day, it would be triple the current amount.

She didn't want to but out of curiosity, she opened the comment section. From experience, she knew that regardless of what she did, she would get loyal fans that would love and support her and trolls that would say hurtful things. For an unexplainable reason, the trolls always bothered her. Today, it did, and more than ever, it hurt.

She exited the app and tried to forget the hateful comments. Most of them had boldly called her a whore and a clout chaser. Someone said her fame was fading which was why she was clamoring for attention. One was confident enough to say that she was trying to worm her way into the royal family because she wanted a title.

Martha took several steadying breaths and picked up her phone. She didn't go back to Twitter, but instead to her contact list. She dialed the number and placed it on the speaker phone. She expelled a breath she hadn't realized she was holding when the call was answered.

"Martha honey?"

She waited for a second before quietly replying. "Philip."

"How have you been? I heard the news. You don't know how worried I am about you."

Martha tried not to scoff. "So why haven't you called?"

"I wanted to. I promise I wanted to, but I was advised to stay away until it cooled off."

"You could have called."

"I know my love, I absolutely should have. I just thought calling you would make me rush over there to hold you in my arms. I wouldn't have been able to resist."

Martha sighed and massaged her temple. Bjork came in with a tray containing a plate of salad and a glass of mineral water with lime pressed in. How had the woman known she needed lime? Martha waited for her to place the tray on a table, smiled a thank you at her, and watched her leave.

"Honey are you there?"

"Yeah. Bjork says hi."

"Same here darling. I promised her an "I Love England" shirt. Tell her I didn't forget and I'll get it to her soonest."

Martha chuckled. "I thought you were traveling during Thanksgiving. It's still September, it's too soon to tell her. I don't want to raise her hopes for nothing."

The line was quiet for two seconds before Philip continued. "Well, I er, I'm in England."

"What?"

"I traveled down here two days ago. My mother summoned me."

Martha felt like ripping his hair out but she would let his stone-age English terms slide. "You traveled to England and didn't tell me? I bet the media knows already and I, the "love of your life" am clueless!"

"Honey I'm –"

She hung up before he could say anything more, especially an apology. She'd had enough of it. One of the comments she'd read came back to her,

Poor thing, the dude that put her in this mess is ages away.

She balled her fists. Of course, everyone had known except her. Her anger was justified. She had millions of followers yet she was lonely. She had loyal fans who would keep her company but she knew none of them would stay with her as a true friend, but because of her celebrity status. They would film her for their selfish purposes, for likes and engagement.

No one was real anymore. Her so-called best friend had published her in a blog for money, for heaven's sakes. That was resounding proof of how miserable and lonely she was. Despite the noise on stage, she was lonely.

That was why she needed something different. Like peace and quiet. Peace and quiet and a bucket of wine.

Thank you so much for reading, please vote, comment your thoughts, add to your library and reading lists, and share. Thank you❤