Celestine gripped her phone, tapping into the latest trending topic.
She quickly realized that the notifications she’d glimpsed earlier were now pinned to the top of every major social platform, their click counts soaring past a hundred million.
Under the post about Chester offering a massive reward, the comments section was on fire.
[No Day Off Tomorrow]: Chester’s married? His wife vanished? A five–million–dollar reward for finding her?! This is the juiciest drama ever! Where are the paparazzi–on vacation?
[Big Thunder, Little Rain]: Smells like billionaire family melodrama. Mrs. Fordham disappeared off the coast near my place, but everyone knows there are sharks in those waters around Portside. Spending that much to find her…I’m not holding my breath.
[Patch Up]: Well, well, didn’t the whole internet used to ship Joanna and Chester? Joanna’s fans were always calling him “brother–in–law” on the Fordham Group’s page! Guess who’s the clown now, ha!
[DAOSHI]: Truth above! Joanna’s fans are literally outside Fordham Group with banners–laughed so hard I almost choked.
As Celestine scrolled through the comments, her confusion gave way to curiosity.
She clicked into the Fordham Group Official account.
The first thing she saw was an onslaught of black avatars with Joanna’s fan tags, spamming black images with bold red letters: “Chester, how will you ever repay Joanna for what you owe her?”
Celestine’s gaze turned unreadable.
Below, the outrage only intensified.
[Joanna’s Butterfly]: Chester, what kind of man are you? Couldn’t you at least wait until your wife was dead before leading Joanna on?
[Beauty Joanna]: So you toss out a casual ‘I’m married‘ and expect us to forget years of Joanna’s dedication? Do you even know how much she’s been hurt? You’re no man, Chester.
[Love Joanna]: That woman better be dead! Everyone knows Joanna and Mr.
1/3
13:43
Fordham are close–how dare some nobody come between them! What a shameless tramp.
Joanna’s fans lashed out at everyone–no one was spared, not even “the dead woman” herself.
Celestine included.
Her eyes went cold.
In just a few days, people were crawling out of the woodwork, eager to claim the five–million–dollar reward by sending Fordham Group so–called “sightings” of her.
Even false leads earned a thousand–dollar tip.
Celestine stood by the shore, watching the endless line of trawler boats drifting in
and out.
A wave of bitter irony swept over her.
All for show.
If they really wanted to find her, they wouldn’t have overlooked this tiny fishing village.
But this place had a sinister reputation–a chilling name and a haunted legend. Not a single boat had dared dock here, not once.
Celestine glanced at her phone, opening her only source of entertainment these days.
Online, Chester, Joanna, and the mystery of her disappearance were hotter than
ever.
At three in the afternoon, a new post shot to the top: a fishing crew had reportedly
“recovered her body.”
Celestine munched her lunch, scrolling through the frenzy as self–appointed experts dissected her supposed death with meticulous detail.
Joanna’s fans, meanwhile, had switched tactics–gone was the abuse, replaced by frantic denial of any romance between Joanna and Chester.
[Good Night Joanna]: Joanna has *never* said there was anything more than friendship between her and Mr. Fordham! Stop spreading rumors!
[Don’t Cry Joanna]: People these days are so delusional with their shipping! Joanna
and Mr. Fordham are just close friends, that’s alll Who doesn’t have a low do friends of the opposite sex? Not every pair needs to be a couple!
They clung to the “just friends” narrative as tightly as they could,
But this time, the bystanders were having none of it. The number of amused onlookers exploded–and no one was buying the story.
Soon, Joanna and Chester’s “friendship” was the laughingstock of the internet, trending at number one with the biting hashtag:
#Joanna*Chester JustTwo OrdinaryFriends WhoGoOnDatesHugAndKiss
