Chapter 254 - Depression

"I know I don't have to. I still want to." He spoke on the other side, infuriating her. 

"Natalie, I know that no matter what I do, I will never be able to make up for how you felt when I ended things between us. But Nat, I would like to do all I can to make you feel better, if you let me." 

She snorted. "Is this some kind of joke? You play with my feelings and later claim to want to make me feel better? You are out of your mind!" She hung up on him, but that didn't stop him from responding to all of his fans' questions about their relationship. He meticulously worded it to be his fault that they broke up. He was definitely doing it on purpose and probably thought it would win her over. He was wrong.

"Don't bother your esteemed self with my personal business. It's none of your concern." She ended the call feeling enraged. She didn't want to deal with him anymore. It was more important to dispel everything Angela had said. She couldn't understand why Desmond was not saying anything and when she checked the current top comments, everyone was scolding him for being a jerk and it was getting out of hand. 

Perhaps he was trying to buy time for something but just in case he needed her to explain anything, she wrote a brief article. Just when she was about to save it, Lucy called. 

"Ms. Roatta?" She answered the call curiously. 

"Can we meet tomorrow in the morning?" She didn't give her an actual chance to decide before throwing a location. "8am, Le Perle. See you there!" 

When the call ended, Natalie was flabbergasted. That was so much like Lucy. It was her way of ensuring the other person made time for their meeting whether or not they were planning to. 

Knowing that Lucy would bug the crap out of her if she didn't go, she showed up at Le Perle at 8 am. The woman was excited to see her. 

"I'm glad you made it." 

"Glad I saved your time so you didn't have to drag me out of my apartment with some scary reason?" She joked and sat down at the table opposite Lucy. The woman had already ordered breakfast and it mostly consisted of what she liked. She had done her homework and it was probably for a reason that would require lots of coaxing. 

"I'm sorry I made you wake up so early. I just wanted to make sure we met before you went to work or you would be too busy to make time. Help yourself." She pointed at the spread on the table. 

Natalie glanced at it then back at Lucy. "If you need to say anything, you don't have to beat around the bush." 

"That would save us both a lot of time, wouldn't it?" Lucy sipped her coffee. "Don't give an explanation to the public." 

Natalie scoffed. "So I should simply let everyone continue misjudging me and thinking I was the woman who ruined the relationship between my best friends. Got it." 

Lucy knew she was making fun of the matter. "I'm serious." 

It took a while for Natalie to believe that she really meant it, and it made her laugh out loud. "Are you kidding me? And why exactly should I listen to you?" 

"Because it's for the good of Dawn. Slander is not necessarily a bad thing, you know. If it blows up, you will gain a lot of popularity once the truth is revealed." 

Natalie cut a piece of the sandwich while trying to figure out what the woman before her was really thinking. "You do know that popularity gained from this kind of scandal only lasts up to a week, right?"

"Then we are going to use this week to put Dawn out there." Lucy shrugged. 

It seemed like Lucy was hell set on using her. When she thought about it, however, she realized that she would gain the most out of it. It was an exchange of money for her pubic image but in the end, she needed a strong supporter and there was no one more capable of helping her than Lucy. 

Nonetheless, she was suspicious. "If you wanted someone to fill in this position, you would get a lineup at the snap of your fingers. So why does it have to be me? Why are you trying to support me?" 

Lucy knew that none of that capability crap would be enough to convince Natalie so she went for the truth. "Because once upon a time, I was you." 

Natalie had heard a lot about Lucy in recent days so she knew about the Su family scandal. It was true that the two of them had a lot in common but she brushed it off. "No. There is something else, isn't there? And this is not about us having a mutual grudge against the Sparks family." 

"Rest assured that I will gain nothing from trapping you. But from working with you, I just don't want you to live the kind of hell that was my life before." 

She was even more confused. "In what capacity are you protecting me? You are not my mother." 

"No I'm not." Lucy was considering coming clean when the commotion at the end of the diner caught her attention. Two men were locked in argument and were nearly getting physical. Her brows rose. "Isn't that Jupiter?" 

Natalie shot her eyes over and squinted them when she recognized Devonte in all his glory, grabbing his opponent by the collar. He was an actor too, and she had met him before. Roland. She recalled his words from the night they met, which implied that he and Devonte couldn't stand each other.

"It's just a jerk getting physical. Nothing to see here." She raised her cup of hot chocolate and stopped when she caught Lucy's gaze from above her cup. "What" 

"Nothing. I just couldn't help thinking of how pitiful he is. He is canceling all his contracts. He contacted me yesterday to cancel his commercial agreement with Twilight and the cancellation fees will definitely put a dent in his life." Lucy explique. 

"What's pitiful about that? He just isn't competent enough to go through the terms he agreed on." Natalie was indifferent, but Lucy's shocked reaction made her think about her response. Did she say something wrong? 

"You two were dating, right? Up until a month or two ago, I presume?" She pried. 

It was none of her business but Natalie wanted to shut her up so she answered. "Yes. And that's in the past." 

Lucy glanced in the direction of the men, where they had been separated by security and Devonte was being shown to the door. She caught his gaze in the split second that he turned to glare at his opponent, caught sight of Natalie instead, and his gaze softened. He mouthed her name but stopped himself from going over and obeyed the order for him to leave. 

She eyed the woman before her. "I know it's not in my place to say this but if the two of you were to completely end things, you would be sad too.  Especially if it's for such a reason as him being depressed."

Natalie gasped in shock. "What did you say?"