Chapter 3
Madeline bit her lower lip, she was on the verge of crying, knowing that Oleana had a point. In the eyes of the public, she would get no justice. Madeline blinked, quickly turned away from the camera so it wouldn’t catch her tears. "That’s it, I’m done with this interview."
Madeline walked out of the talk show set with her head up high to her room backstage, purposely ignoring all the judging stares she got from the staff as she passed them.
Only when she entered her room and locked the door did she let her mask fall. She leaned against the door, closing her eyes in exhaustion.
"It’s okay, Madeline. This is your life now. This is part of the job as the most hated woman on the internet," Madeline told herself, trying to calm herself down. But the moment she looked at herself in the mirror and caught sight of her pitiful appearance, her eyes began to pool with tears.
She began to sob to herself, "It hurts. It hurts so much. Why are people so cruel to me..."
She was hurt, and she felt so much injustice for what happened to her. But she had no choice. She needed money—a lot of it, not just for mother’s medical bills but also for her father’s gambling debts.
’If only that useless man didn’t squander all of our money away before running off like a coward...’ Madeline lamented, hiding her face in her hands. Then she shook her head, trying to give herself a pep talk. "No, I have no time to be sad. I have a lot to do."
Madeline wiped away her tears quickly with her hands and took out the first aid box she had prepared inside her luggage.
She treated her wounds and winced through the pain. It took her a while to treat the wounds all over her body, but it allowed her to compose herself. When she was done, she walked to the dressing mirror to wipe off her doll-like makeup.
She carefully removed her contact lenses and put them in the lens case.
Her real eye color was brown, just like her hair. But she had to wear blue contacts to give herself a more dollish appearance for the camera.
Next, she wiped off her eyeshadow and gently peeled off her fake lashes before storing them with her other lashes, all as dramatic as the ones she had chosen today.