'The winner of this year's Most Popular Artist Award goes to…' the host on stage began to bring everyone's attention even more focused on him.
The faces of the nominees, all of whom were top-tier, widely admired artists, looked tense. Of course, each of them was eager to receive the trophy made of pure gold as the most popular artist in Ravenport this year.
'The winner is… Elena Starling!'
As the winner was announced, victory music blared from the stage, accompanied by thunderous applause and cheers of congratulations for the angel-like woman in the white dress who was currently the center of attention.
Elena Starling, a female artist sitting in the back row, covered her lips in shock. Her heart was pounding uncontrollably, as if it were accompanying the tears that coated her brown pupils.
Elena looked around before walking, nodding respectfully to her seniors in the entertainment line. Her smile grew even brighter as she looked at the large screen displaying a list of films and commercials she had starred in.
"Congratulations, Miss Elena," the host congratulated along with the awarding of the gold trophy that all the artists there desired.
"Thank you…" Elena replied kindly, and a moment later the applause grew louder as her trophy was raised high with great pride.
"With all due respect, I would like to express my gratitude to the seniors who have been nominated. You are all amazing. I am honored to be among my most amazing idols."
"I am truly grateful to God for this opportunity. I also want to express my deepest gratitude to those who have supported and believed in me."
The audience, most of whom were well-known artists, continued to smile at Elena, even though most of them were seniors as Elena had said, but they accepted the defeat of the newcomer without being discouraged.
That's because Elena, the young actress who rose to fame with her debut film, is humble and talented. She's even starred in numerous commercials and several films by up-and-coming directors for low fees.
But who would have thought her role as a dumped wife would be a success and break into the mainstream.
"And finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my dad, who is currently in the hospital. I know he is watching me tonight from there."
"Dad, thank you for your life and the valuable lessons you taught me. This award is for you, Dad. I love you, Dad…"
Elena once again received thunderous applause and cheers of joy with pride. More than anyone, she hoped that this kind of winning momentum would continue to be felt every year in her illustrious career.
But it turns out that award was the only one she received before her life was shattered in one fateful night, leading to regrets that continue to this day. It's a beautiful yet bittersweet memory for her.
.
.
.
"Dad, I miss you. Please forgive your foolish daughter." she said softly to the photo frame in her hand. Memories of that award moment five years ago filled her with guilt once again. It felt like her tears had been wasted during those five dark years.
Like eating her own feces, Elena knows best what regret feels like.
Five years ago, after the awards ceremony, the producers and crew invited her to celebrate their victory. Elena initially declined, remembering that her father needed company in the hospital.
However, the euphoria of victory led her to become so intoxicated that she became drunk.
That morning, the feeling almost made her feel like she was standing on a frozen lake, and if she stepped on it, the surface of the lake would shatter and make her sink.
How could she not feel that way when she woke up and realized she was in the arms of a man known as the CEO and successful billionaire of Ravenport City? And when she opened her phone, the devastating news from the hospital sent her spiraling into despair.
Before the father's grave was dry, a month later she was found pregnant, and it was confirmed to be the CEO's child. In a hasty decision, the two entered into a conditional marriage for the common good.
However, even after five years of marriage, the relationship was like a hellish rope that seemed to continue to drag her to death. Her career as an artist was ruined, and she ended up confined to her home.
Instead of being a good mother and wife to the Cole family, Elena continued to sink, feeling like a failure as a daughter and a human being.
Since giving birth to her son, and even through their five-year marriage, Elena had done the foolish thing dozens of times, taking overdoses of sleeping pills, hoping to find peace when her eyes closed.
But her fate hadn't allowed her to die yet.
"I've been holding on for five years, but why can't I get up and keep feeling like a dumb, Dad?" she said softly, glancing at the bottle of sleeping pills in her other hand, "I'm tired, Dad," she continued, then put down her father's photo frame.
Elena uncapped the bottle and poured a random sleeping pill into her palm. Then, like someone possessed by a demon, she swallowed the dozens of pills in her hand while crying.
"Luca, Nathan, I'm sorry…"
Life felt so hard and painful for her that she kept doing such foolish things, leaving her body weak and vulnerable to illness. Instead of dying, she herself didn't know why God hadn't taken her life.
However, tonight felt different. As the minutes passed, her chest ached and tightened, her heart pounded furiously and hotly, and her stomach reacted violently and painfully, making her feel like death was imminent. In reality, death wasn't as pleasant as she'd always imagined. It was excruciatingly painful.
Elena suffered a seizure, foaming at the mouth, before finally losing consciousness. What should have been a perfect life instead felt miserable.
***
Dawn broke, the woman began to regain consciousness when another woman's voice was heard calling the name of someone else she seemed to have heard before.
"Mrs. Elena, wake up. You must get ready soon," the voice rang out again, but Elena's eyes wouldn't open. Her heart still ached and her head was spinning.
"Mrs. Elena, please wake up or you will be in trouble because Mr.Luca is angry again," the call was heard again, and because Elena didn't feel like it wasn't her who was being called, so she continued to ignore the voice.
'Who is Mrs. Elena? Who is Mr. Luca? Who dares to scold me? Do you know who I'm?' she laughed inwardly at the woman's voice she had been hearing all this time.
However, Elena's calmness in her closed eyes was disturbed when her body felt touched and slightly shaken along with the voice of the woman who was now beside her.
"Mrs. Elena, wake up. Mr. Luca will be home soon, and you haven't cleaned yourself up yet. I'll clean up this mess too," the woman's voice sounded more urgent this time.
Elena, starting to feel strange, tried to open her eyes. Slowly, light began to appear, though faintly.
'Where am I? Why am I here?'
Elena muttered in surprise as her vision began to clear as she saw the ceiling of the room she was in, different from her last memory of being in an old, rusty warehouse.
The room, filled with bright white and golden hues, was a feast for the eyes. She had rarely seen such a sparkling atmosphere before. It was like a princess's room.
"Mrs. Elena, can you hear me? You're awake, right? Then come with me. I've prepared warm water for your bath, huh. Let me help you so it's quicker," the woman who had been calling out to her immediately made Elena's lazy eyes flutter open.
She no longer explored the beautiful room where she was, but instead turned to the woman standing nearby.
"You want to bathe me?!" a spontaneous sentence came out of Elena's lips along with her body's reflexive movement of sitting up in shock.
'What's going on?'
.
.
.
"May you be destined to be a creature worse than a disgusting animal in your next life, as a consequence of your present life. Die in agony!"
Those were Alice's final words to her enemy, who appeared to be dying in excruciating pain. The previous barrage of gunfire had clearly acted as the Angel of Death for the pitiful man.
Alice left the man who was almost a corpse and rushed to carry Damian to her feet.
"Damian, are you okay?" Rose asked her confidant who had accompanied her for the past ten years.
"Thank you, Boss. Because of you, I'm still breathing," Damian said gratefully, accompanied by a light laugh.
"You underestimate me too much. Get up, let's go home now!" Alice replied, reaching out to pull Damian off the ground.
However, when she looked back, she saw that the enemy wasn't completely dead. The man seemed to be struggling to aim his gun at Alice's back, as her back was facing away from him.
'Boss, look out!' Damian shouted, making both of them turn around, facing the enemy.
However, it was too late. The enemy bullet had already pierced Alice's chest, sending the gangster boss falling backward, but Damian caught her.
"Boss!"