Betrayed Spotlight-Chapter 44: A Little Buzz

A week had passed like a whirlwind. Sarah found herself at Zachary’s studio every day, working with Silas to perfect their collaboration. The song was finally ready, needing only a few small finishing touches.

"I’ve never seen a song come together this fast," Zachary said, listening to the final version through his headphones. "Usually it takes months to get everything just right, but you two work so well together."

Sarah smiled, feeling proud of what they had created. Working with Silas felt natural and easy, like they had never been apart. Their voices blended perfectly, and the song had a beautiful mix of emotion and melody.

"It’s because we understand each other," Silas said, looking at Sarah with warm eyes. "We’ve always been able to read each other’s minds."

"Well, before we release this masterpiece," Zachary said, clapping his hands together, "we need to create some buzz online. People need to know that Sarah Chen is back and working with Grammy winner Silas Li."

Sarah felt her stomach flutter with nervousness. She hadn’t been active on social media since her problems with Diamond Sound Entertainment. The thought of putting herself out there again was scary.

"What do you want us to do?" she asked.

"Photo shoot," Zachary said simply. "Professional pictures of you two together. We’ll post them on all the major social media platforms with announcements about both your solo single and your collaboration."

Two hours later, Sarah found herself in front of bright photography lights again, standing next to Silas. The photographer was directing them to pose in different ways - sometimes looking at each other, sometimes looking at the camera, sometimes pretending to sing together.

"You look nervous," Silas whispered during a break between shots.

"I am," Sarah admitted. "What if people don’t like the song? What if they think I don’t deserve to work with you?"

"Stop thinking like that," Silas said firmly but gently. "You’re incredibly talented, Sarah. Anyone who hears your voice will know that."

When the photo shoot was finished, Zachary immediately got to work posting the pictures online. Sarah watched nervously as he typed captions and uploaded the photos to all social media platforms he had.

"And... posted," Zachary said with satisfaction. "Now we wait for the magic to happen."

The magic happened faster than anyone expected. Within an hour, Sarah’s phone was buzzing constantly with notifications. The posts were being shared hundreds of times, and comments were pouring in.

Sarah read through them with growing disappointment. Most of the comments were about Silas, not about her.

"Oh my God, Silas is collaborating with someone!"

"Woah! Sarah Chen? The cheater? Is she good enough to sing with Silas?"

"I don’t care about her solo song, I just want to hear what she sounds like with Silas."

"I was her fan before, she sounds good. But I don’t know if she sounds better with Silas. I just hope she doesn’t ruin his song."

Sarah felt her heart sink. She had hoped that people would be interested in her for her own talent, not just because she was working with a famous singer.

"Don’t look so sad," Silas said, noticing her expression. "This is normal. People always react this way when there’s a new collaboration."

Sarah tried to smile, but she couldn’t hide the hurt in her eyes. "I know. It’s just... I hoped that maybe people would care about my music, not just your name attached to it."

Silas looked like he wanted to say more, but he just nodded quietly. Sarah could see sympathy in his eyes, but he didn’t offer any more comfort.

That evening, Sarah was sitting in her room when Mason knocked on her door.

"Come in," she said, not looking up from her phone where she was still reading comments.

Mason entered and sat on the edge of her bed. "I saw the photos online. The song sounds like it will be successful."

Sarah was surprised. "You saw the posts?"

"I keep track of your career," Mason said simply. "It’s important to me."

Sarah felt a small warmth in her chest, but she quickly pushed it away.

"Who’s Silas?" Mason blurted out next.

"Uhm, my friend. He’s my childhood friend." she said simply and saw his face scrunch up slightly, as if he wasn’t happy.

"I need to tell you something," Mason changed topic immediately. He hated to admit that he was okay with this Silas guy. "There’s a business dinner party in seven days. I need you to come with me."

Sarah looked at him. "A dinner party?"

"Yes. Important clients will be there. It would be good for them to meet my wife."

Sarah sighed. She didn’t really want to go to a stuffy business dinner, but she knew it was part of their contract. "Okay. I’ll go."

"Thank you," Mason said, standing up. "I’ll have a dress sent to you."

After Mason left, Sarah decided to go downstairs for dinner. She wasn’t very hungry, but she needed to do something to take her mind off the disappointing online reactions.

She was sitting alone at the large dining table, picking at her food, when Mason appeared in the doorway.

"May I join you?" he asked.

Sarah didn’t look up. "It’s your house."

Mason sat down across from her and asked the cook, to bring him a plate. Sarah continued eating in silence, ignoring him completely.

Mason tried to make conversation several times, but Sarah just gave him short answers or no answers at all. She was still upset about the comments online.

The silence stretched between them, heavy and uncomfortable. Sarah could feel Mason watching her, but she refused to look at him.

"Sarah," Mason said finally.

"What?" she replied without looking up.

"Feed me that," he said, pointing to the piece of crab on her fork.

Sarah’s head snapped up, and she stared at him in disbelief. "What did you say?"

"I said feed me that food," Mason repeated, his voice serious.

"Are you crazy?" Sarah asked. "You have your own food. Use your own hands."

"I’m your husband," Mason said shamelessly. "You should take care of me."

Sarah glared at him. "You ignore me when I want to talk to you, but now you want me to feed you? You’re unbelievable."

"It’s your duty as my wife," Mason said, though something in his eyes looked almost... desperate? "Just one bite."

Sarah was so angry that she wanted to throw the food at him. But something in his expression stopped her. He looked like he was trying very hard to appear calm, but there was something underneath that seemed almost vulnerable.

"Fine," she said through gritted teeth. "But only because I don’t want to listen to you complain."

Sarah stood up and walked around the table to where Mason was sitting. She held the fork with the crab meat toward his mouth, still glaring at him.

"There," she said as he ate it. "Happy now?"

Mason chewed slowly, and Sarah noticed that his face looked a little strange. His cheeks seemed slightly flushed, and he swallowed with some difficulty.

"Are you okay?" she asked, despite her anger.

"I’m fine," Mason said, but his voice sounded a little tight.

Sarah studied his face more carefully. Something was definitely wrong. "Mason, you don’t look fine."

"I said I’m fine," Mason insisted, but Sarah could see that he was starting to sweat slightly.

What Sarah didn’t know was that Mason was allergic to shellfish. He had been allergic since childhood, and eating crab always made him feel sick and uncomfortable. But he had been so desperate for Sarah’s attention, so tired of her ignoring him, that he had been willing to eat something that would make him ill just to get her to interact with him.

Mason’s throat was starting to feel scratchy, and his skin was beginning to itch, but he tried to hide it. He had gotten what he wanted - Sarah’s attention - and he didn’t want to ruin it by admitting he was having an allergic reaction.

"Thank you," he said quietly, looking into Sarah’s eyes. "For feeding me."

Sarah felt confused by the gratitude in his voice. It was such a simple thing, but he was acting like she had done something incredibly important.

"It was just food," she said, but her voice was softer now.

"Not to me," Mason said, and for just a moment, his usual cold mask slipped, and Sarah could see something raw and honest in his expression.

Sarah felt her heart skip a beat. These moments when Mason showed his real feelings were so rare that they always caught her off guard.

"I should go," she said, suddenly feeling overwhelmed by the intensity in his eyes.

"Wait," Mason said, reaching out like he wanted to touch her hand, but stopping himself. "Sarah, I..."

"What?" she asked, turning back to look at him.

Mason looked like he was struggling with something, like he wanted to say something important but couldn’t find the words. His face was getting redder, and Sarah could see that he was starting to breathe a little faster.

"Nothing," he said finally. "Good night."

Sarah left the dining room feeling more confused than ever. Mason’s behavior had been so strange, so unlike his usual cold and distant self. She couldn’t understand why he had asked her to feed him, or why he had looked so grateful for such a simple thing.

As she walked up the stairs to her room, Sarah couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something important she was missing about Mason. Something he wasn’t telling her, something that explained why he acted the way he did.

But trying to understand Mason Liu was like trying to solve a puzzle with half the pieces missing. Every time she thought she was getting closer to understanding him, he would put his walls back up and become the cold, unreadable man she had married.

Sarah decided to stop trying to figure him out. She had her own life to focus on - her music, her collaboration with Silas, and her career. Mason could keep his secrets. She didn’t need to understand him to fulfill their contract.

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