"You are accused of harassment!"
When Aiden heard those words, for a moment, he really wondered if it was some sort of a prank. Accused of harassment? How can that be possible when he has never done something like that?
He had always strived hard to be as respectful as possible with everyone, especially women in case he was taken as a creep. He knew that his behaviour was going to be scrutinised always when he was famous, so he had taken care to always act properly.
So, how the hell can he be accused of something like that?!
Moreover, who had accused him out of nowhere?
All these questions were roaming in his mind but he knew that it wasn't a prank.
After all, there were weird gazes all around him. Gazes that have looked at him with admiration were now looking at him with contempt.
It had changed in a matter of seconds.
To know what was exactly going on, Aiden took the phone from the hand of the staff member and looked at it. Tom also took out his phone, getting a bad feeling out of nowhere.
In front of Aiden, an article was opened. It was from Hollywood Weekly — a reputed handle, so he could at least take their word for it.
Slowly, he started reading through the stock and the more he read, the widened his eyes became.
He couldn't believe someone had said this about him. And it was said to the same reporter he had given an interview to two days ago. Was it a coincidence? Or something else?
Aiden didn't know but he felt a sharp pain in his heart. Like someone was slowly piercing his heart with a knife. Every second, he felt more and more pain.
He had never thought such an article would come out like this.
It was fake, he knew it as Aiden had never done anything wrong like this.
But the thing was that rather than the fake accusation, he was more hurt by the person who had made it. It hadn't come from anyone who he had a bad history with.
He had a bad history with a few women who didn't like him but he had never thought that a fake accusation like this would come from someone who he considered to be a friend.
It was from Katie Brooks, his co-star from [30 days of Happiness] and one of his first friends in America.
She had given an interview to a reporter about how when they both were working on [30 days of Happiness], Aiden had molested her when they were both alone.
She had even gone into details, saying that it felt like a betrayal because she considered Aiden a friend.
Reading that line, Aiden really wanted to curse out loud.
It was not him but her who had betrayed him. And it was not a simple thing either. It was an accusation of a crime that could simply end his career, even if he manages to prove his innocence.
Media was extremely harsh on men in these types of cases. In his mind, Aiden became a mess when he thought more about it.
'Why had she done it? We have not met in recent times but the last time we did, she seemed happy and we even had a nice talk with each other. Then, why? I don't understand...'
"Aiden, are you okay?"
Tom's voice suddenly pulled him out of his thoughts and he looked up at him.
"Ah, no, I don't think I'm okay."
"I can see that." Tom said. "Your face has gone pale."
Aiden touched his face when he heard that. He did feel a bit weak at the sudden turn of events in front of him.
He was happily promoting his movie one second and the next second, he had been betrayed by a friend on the charges of something he had never done before. He felt like the ground was spinning and nothing seemed okay.
"I just don't understand it. I think I'm just too shaken..."
Aiden muttered and let out a frown. Tom nodded his head and looked around. Everyone was still looking at him.
"Let's go get in the car. It's not good to be out in the open."
He said and pulled Aiden towards the elevator. Everyone moved away while a few people were shooting all of this from afar, knowing that these videos were going to blow up on social media.
After reaching his car, Aiden took a deep breath and tried to calm himself down. His phone had been vibrating all this time and he was getting messages from everywhere.
The news was probably blowing up everywhere.
'Other news websites would have picked it up and just copy pasted the whole article. They are experts in these things.'
That was how most news websites worked and Aiden knew that the internet would have already become a hot mess.
The question as to why Katie did it was still in his mind but currently, there was no answer. He first needed more information but he was not in the right state of mind for that. His hand was shaking a bit.
A betrayal wasn't easy to take at all, especially if it comes from someone one has good memories with.
"Aiden, let's go to the office. I think we need to cancel most things from your schedule."
"Yeah, the marketing team would be going through extreme disorder right now."
Just thinking about his movie that was going to release in a few weeks, Aiden felt like this was the worst time for such a news. But maybe, his movie was one of the reasons why it had come up at this time.
"Aiden, can I ask you something?" Tom suddenly asked and Aiden looked up at him.
"Were you close with Katie Brooks?"
That question was in his mind for a while now. Tom hadn't joined Aiden during the shooting of [30 days of Happiness]. He did know who she was as he had looked into the past of Aiden.
But he didn't know how close he was with Katie. So naturally, he had been curious.
"She was a good friend of mine. One of the first I made in America. We both were strugglers. Later, she got offered small supporting roles in commercial movies and it was then that we did [30 days of Happiness] together but after that, we seldom have any contact due to how busy I had been."
"Were you really dating her back then? I thought that was just marketing—"
"It was really just that. Marketing."
Aiden said and sighed. In the article that Aiden had read, Katie had even talked about that fake relationship but she had never talked about how it was a marketing gimmick and not real.
He understood that Tom had a lot of questions in his mind but for now, he had to trust him.
"Tom, please trust me. I have done nothing wrong. I never molested her or anyone else. It's all fake."
Hearing that, Tom nodded and started the car.
Aiden took out his phone to switch it off until he reached his office but before he could do it, another call came in.
The call was from Ava.
'What should I do now?'
Aiden thought as he looked at his phone. Will Ava listen to him or will she believe in the news that was going around? Aiden didn't know but there was only one way to find out.
***
In the office of Franco Li, Katie and he were sitting, going through the fiasco that was happening on the internet. Katie's name was being featured on every news portal and even major television networks were going to cover it tonight on their prime time news.
Franco Li had taken care of it.
"Now that the news is making a lot of noise, we would need to get the support from women's right groups and other feminist organisations. A lot of organisations in these movements are simply run on corporation's money, so it won't be hard to get their support."
Katie nodded hearing that. She had heard a line that every ideology ruins itself once it becomes mainstream as corporations start to use it for their own goals.
"You need to go on a lot of interviews and other things. Portray yourself as a victim and remember all the lines you have learned. Let my team handle everything else. This is surely going to ruin [Hex - Part 1] and Aiden's career but your career will be right back on track. A story of rising up after going through something like this would work well in garnering public support."
Hearing that, Katie's eyes shook a bit.
Franco noticed it and smiled. He stood up from his seat and walked towards Katie before asking.
"Are you feeling guilty about your friend?"
"N-no, it's not that."
"Even if it is, don't let those thoughts get in your mind. Remember, you need to sacrifice things in order to move up, even if it's your friends."
Katie nodded hearing that and took a deep breath.
'I can't back off.'
She thought to herself.
