LEINA'S heartbeat almost sounded like drums. In her ears, that was all she could hear. The sweat on Leina's forehead raced down from her cheeks down to her neck. What's happening with my Instameter account?! This picture isn't supposed to be here!

Honey instantly grabbed the phone from Leina's hand. He logged in on Instameter using Leina's account and immediately deleted the picture. But before that, Leina already saw the comments below coming from some of her followers.

JizElle: Who's that in the picture? Is that Leina?

Marley: Why would anyone think that's Leina? The person in that picture looks so different.

Julienne: That person looks like a witch. While Leina looks like an angel.

Preinsess: But why would she post that picture if that's not her? Maybe that's her old picture.

JoeZell: That picture proves that no one is perfect.

Halle: Did she undergo surgeries to achieve her current face?

Leina's hands trembled and her knees weakened. She collapsed at that very spot, tears running down her cheeks. "That's... not m-me," she whispered and convinced herself. "The girl in the picture is not me!" Leina pushed the things on her table, aggressively. She grunted so loud and threw the glass wine on the wall.

Plastic surgery...

Ugly...

Those were the words running in her mind. They echoed into her head, reminding her of where she came from.

Memories suddenly flashed in her thoughts—memories she tried to erase but she couldn't.

"WE DON'T want you in our family! You look so horrible!" Leina's mother threw the former's clothes outside of their house. "You'll just bring bad luck to this family."

"M-Mom..." The six years old Leina couldn't help but cry. She could not understand why her mother was treating her that way.

"Mom? I am not your mother! I don't have a daughter who looks like a monster! Pick up your clothes and go somewhere!"

Leina tried to hug her mom but the latter pushed the child into the ground. "W-What did I do wrong? Why are you throwing my clothes, Mom?"

"Look in the mirror then you'll know." Leina's mom shut the door, leaving her own daughter in the dust.

After one day, a woman fetched her and told her that she was going to be her adoptive mother. Leina was happy at first because a new family was awaiting for her. She thought they would accept her for all she was.

But the opposite happened...

Just like her biological mother, her new family abused her just because of her physical appearance. They were even worse, and treated her like a slave. Leina couldn't even consider them as family.

They would call her names. And they even told her that ever since she came in that family, bad luck kept on running after their lives. Just because of her physical appearance...

Bad luck...

A monster...

That was all she was back then.

---

"I ALREADY deleted the picture in your Instameter account. Please, contain your emotions. For now, let's find where you left your phone." Honey helped Leina to stand up.

"Someone stole my phone. I am sure."

Honey sighed. "Let's cancel your appointment."

"No," Leina immediately replied, determined. "I'll attend the interview and I would explain everything to everyone."

"This is not the right time to play games, Leina. Your career is at stake. It's just right to not address the issue. Many people would even be curious about the picture, and you know what will happen next."

"Trust me on this, Honey."

---

"YOU uploaded a picture earlier and people got curious if that's you or not..." The interviewer didn't even hesitate to ask that firstly.

Leina composed herself. She cleared her throat and gracefully flipped her hair. "That's not me. For those watching right now, let me just announce that my phone is missing. The person who stole it uploaded their picture, maybe. But the sure thing is, that's not me."

"You heard it, folks! That ugly person is not Leina."

Leina clenched her fist and tried so hard to contain her emotions. But she is an idol performer and not an actress—that made it harder to hide her pissed expression. "One million dollars will be given to the person who will bring me back my phone."

She immediately saw Honey's shocked expression. She was already expecting that but she got no choice but to risk for her career to be saved.

"Why would you be interested to pay that big just for a phone, Ms. Leina?" The bald interviewer suspiciously looked at her.

That pissed her even more. "There are important files there."

"Hmmm... like your throwback photos?" He smirked at Leina. "Are you afraid of them being exposed that's why you are willing to pay that big?"

Leina broke her eye contact with the interviewer. She couldn't look at him straight in the eyes. There was nothing she could but to gulp intensely as pure tension rose.

"The public is already aware of the lies you said, Ms. Leina. Are you really that afraid to tell us the truth about you that you killed Diane Parkers?"

That was the time for Leina to look at him straight in the eyes. "I didn't kill Diane! You have no right to accuse me like that!" She stood up and pointed her fingers at the interviewer. Tears started to fall from her eyes.

"Why? You will also kill me because I am exposing your dark secret?" He smirked even wider.

"Cut! Cut! Stop the cameras!" Honey shouted to the crew and the director of the show.

In the middle of that, a notification was heard from the audience's phones. Leina's Instameter account posted again, but this time... it was a video clip.

Leina's account uploaded a video clip where she was introducing herself before her plastic surgery. Her face was vastly different from her current look but the voice is intact and the person even introduced herself as Leina Daven.

Many people there were shocked about what they saw. They booed Leina.

"Someone stole my phone! I am not the girl in the video!" Leina shouted after she grabbed the mic from the stand in front of them.

But people were already convinced. They wouldn't believe her as she was seen as a liar, a fraud, and a fake.

At that very moment, Leina felt the humiliation she experienced as a child. The familiar pain went back again. For the first time in years, she felt like the monster they feared she was—the monster that would bring bad luck to everyone, even to herself.

---

"WHAT did I tell you, Leina?! I told you the interview won't bring any good to your reputation. Now, things even escalated the way it's not supposed to be! Is that what you want?!" Honey shouted at Leina inside their hotel room. It almost took them two hours just to get there due to the huge number of press waiting outside of the hotel.

Leina shook her head. She was still crying as she was looking at the floor.

"Stop crying! You wanted this, right? Now, face the consequences. I already told you what would happen but you still went to the studio! Now, the company cancelled all of your shows including your major concert."

"I'm... s-sorry." That was all she could say.

Honey sighed. "The tech team are already looking for your phone's location. Your stubbornness led us here, fix that." He hugged Leina. "You know I hate it when you cry."

Leina's cry even became louder.

"Leina..."

"H-Honey... tell me. D-Do I really look that horrible back then?"

He didn't respond. Honey just tapped her back to calm her somehow.

"D-Do I really bring bad luck to every person I encounter?"

Honey sighed as memories flashed into his mind. She certainly was not a bad luck, he was sure of that. Her journey to stardom was the testimony.

He is in the brink of speaking when his phone rang. Honey immediately picked it up from his pocket. "Who's this?" He didn't notice that the number who called him was Leina's number, so the caller was the person who stole Leina's phone.

"I have her phone..." A man with a deep voice answered Honey's question.

Leina grabbed the phone after hearing the man's voice. "P-Please... I am begging you. Bring me back my phone! Do not post anything!"

"It's nice to hear you begging, Ms. Leina."

"I am not playing games with you! Stop ruining my career!" Leina's tears raced down her cheeks once again.

"Meet me at the nearest coffee shop near your hotel. Tomorrow, 9 am."