Chapter 2: What Did That Mean?
After Cathryn sat down, Abigail introduced her to the people sitting beside her. Because of the identity of Abigail's parents, the people who played with her were all in the entertainment circle. Abigail pointed out that Cathryn was a new actress, meaning to tell everyone that she might not be as open as other small actors.
"What did that mean?" Cathryn thought to herself. "Open, open to what?" Cathryn said.
"Never mind, come on, Cathryn, according to our rules, the newcomer must drink three cups first." As soon as Cathryn sat down, Joel, who sat next to her, could no longer wait. He knew what he wanted, and he wanted Cathryn. It didn't matter what Joel had to do to get her, he was determined to have her all to himself. He started pouring her three glasses of wine at once.
Joel's parents were the most powerful, both of whom were investors in the entertainment industry, and the parents of the other people did not dare to offend his parents. Now that Joel had taken a fancy to Cathryn, the other men had to give up. They all instantaneously backed away. What Joel wants, Joel gets.
"I'm not really a drinker," said Cathryn politely. She was sitting closer to Abigail while Joel's body almost touched her body.
"Aren't you happy, Cathryn?" asked Abigail concernedly. She started patting her on the shoulder.
"Mm," Cathryn answered, and that tableau came back to her mind again. Her eyes turned red as she bit down on her lower lip to prevent herself from crying out.
When Cathryn was sad, she often bit her lower lip to relieve the pain. Everyone always found that it was really charming. She would always leave a row of teeth printed on her red and tender lower lip.
"Drink some wine." Abigail seized the opportunity to put the red wine in Cathryn's hand and promised, "You will forget all your troubles after you get drunk," but Cathryn refused again.
"To survive in the entertainment circle, it must be necessary to accompany the leaders out to drink and eat, and if you can't drink, you will not be able to survive," Abigail said to Cathryn.
Abigail continued to try and persuade her. Then Abigail held Cathryn's hand tightly and gave her a look, and slipped a pill into her hand. "This is some medicine that will make you feel better." Raising her eyebrows, Abigail whispered to Cathryn. Cathryn didn't want the pill and gave it back to Abigail.
Then Cathryn began to think carefully about how she had graduated from the film college two years ago and how some of her classmates had already played the leading roles in some movies while still playing only small parts. What was she supposed to do? There was no opportunity for her to play small roles or even prominent roles in a film.
She thought that because she did not accompany the directors, investors, and producers out to drink and eat was the reason why she had never become famous. Thinking of that, she knew she had to do something. She had to strive for her future on her own. Why not drink? What harm could it do? So Cathryn nodded slightly and took the pill from Abigail's hand.
The pill was small, so she could swallow it quickly. She discreetly put it in her mouth. Cathryn then drank a glass of red wine. The taste of the red wine was bitter and left her mouth feeling dry.
Everyone watched as Cathryn finished her glass of red wine. A few people next to her instantly became excited. They passed the other two glasses of red wine to Cathryn, and they immediately praised her for her excellent drink.
After she was done drinking her first glass of wine, Cathryn did not want to take the wine that they kept passing to her over and over again. Instead, she paused for a while to make sure she didn't feel uncomfortable, and then she continued to drink the remaining two glasses of wine.
Cathryn thought to herself that maybe she should have taken the pill as soon as Abigail handed it to her. After drinking the wine and taking the medicine, Cathryn did not feel uncomfortable anymore, and even her consciousness was still sober. She was feeling on top of the world. Like the possibilities were endless.
As soon as she had finished drinking the three glasses of wine, everyone began to play games again. Cathryn was no stranger to the games that they were playing. She had played them before when she was in college. There was a giant turntable in the room, and the turntable pointed to who had to drink.
At first, Cathryn was still a little reserved, but later everyone drank too much, and the atmosphere became lively. Cathryn gradually released herself. The turntable pointed to Cathryn five times in a row, so she had to drink five glasses in a row.
Cathryn thought she felt fine. She had taken the pill and drank about eight glasses of wine, so she decided she was going to get up and go to the lady's room. As soon as she stood up, she almost fell down. Fortunately, Joel was right beside her and had helped her just in time.
"Are you all right?" asked Joel with concern. He did not make any frivolous movements because he knew that he must be patient now. He knew that all that he needed to do now was to behave like a gentleman and make Cathryn put her vigilance down.
"I want to go to the lady's room," said Cathryn laboriously.
"Well, I'll take you to the washroom," said Joel. He was hugging her in his arms as they stumbled out the door. As they were leaving the room, he gave the others in the place a look. His thoughts were not of taking care of Cathryn, but of having his way with her. Everyone was watching and laughing as they left the room. They all knew Joel and what kind of person he was.
Joel had already booked a room, so he took Cathryn towards the direction of the room. The room was far away from the dance floor, and the environment here was relatively quiet.
The narrow corridor had only small lights on the ceiling, so Cathryn had no idea where she was going. She staggered along, and her body felt like a burning flame of fire. The flames ignited every cell in her body, but it did not burn the memories of her and her ex-husband, Jordan Riggs, away.
The memories came flooding back. Cathryn could vividly remember the tenderness of Jordan, the affection of Jordan, the love of Jordan...everything of Jordan appeared more clearly in her mind even after her body had been paralyzed by alcohol.
With all the despair and pain sweeping over her, Cathryn suddenly stopped her pace and collapsed to the ground feebly.
"Stand up!" Joel yelled. He had lost his patience. He started dragging her and walking towards the private room.
While he was trying to pull Cathryn up, the door beside her suddenly opened, and a man in a suit who had a tall figure came out. The light was so dim that Joel could not clearly see the appearance of the man. He could only see the dim light sweeping on the man's face, depicting his profound and perfect facial features.
Joel wanted to drag Cathryn away in a hurry, but Cathryn suddenly jumped up and hugged the man who had come out of the room.
"Why did you divorce me?" Cathryn said. Suddenly she could not help herself; she vomited on the man.