Chapter 509 Jerk

As the interview went on, Harry kept his gaze on Mia as she moved around the hall. Why did she look so familiar? Where had he seen that face before? He mused, and before he could look away, Mia caught him staring and flashed him a smile.

Of course, this did not skip Jade's attention. She followed Mia's gaze and saw the way Harry looked away from Mia as though he was embarrassed at being caught staring.

If she didn't know better, she would think Harry had been staring because he had a thing for Mia. She hoped Mia wouldn't misunderstand Harry's curiosity for attraction.

Jeff also was not left out. He also noticed the smile that Mia flashed Harry, and he couldn't help but wonder where Harry could have seen her.

They all returned their attention to the interview when one of the reporters asked a question that caught their attention.

"Does this mean the rumors about you breaking up with Sonia Smith are false?" One of the reporters asked Bryan, and everyone was silent as all eyes moved to Bryan.

It seemed like everyone in the room was curious about the answer to this question too and Bryan looked at Mia, remembering her warning to him in the car not to say anything about Sonia that he might regret.

Although Mia appeared calm, she held her breath as she exchanged a look with Jeff, both praying that Bryan wasn't going to act immaturely and say something stupid that would jeopardize his relationship since they both knew he loved Sonia.

Bryan, on the other hand, took some time to contemplate the question. He knew he didn't have to answer it, but thinking about what Matt and Mia had said about his fans giving Sonia a hard time, he knew he needed to address it.

Was he breaking up with Sonia? Did he want that? The answer was NO. As annoying as the whole situation was, he didn't want a breakup. He loved her too much to want to be apart from her.

"Bryan?" Jade called softly when Bryan had remained quiet for some time without answering the question.

"Those rumors are ridiculous. Why would I want to break up with the most incredible, most intelligent, and sexiest woman I've ever had the privilege of knowing?" Bryan asked while Jade eyed him.

"Most intelligent? Seriously? You're saying that with your unintelligent sister seated right next to you," Jade muttered, and everyone laughed, including Bryan, who grinned, while Harry shook his head.

"Perhaps I should rephrase that. Sonia is one of the most incredible and intelligent women I've ever known. Hank Women are incredibly intelligent. My mom, Jade, and of course, my would-be sister-in-law, Lucy," Bryan added, looking at Tom apologetically.

Although he had apologized earlier, but he still felt sorry. He knew he was definitely a jerk for saying those ridiculous words to Tom about Lucy. It was stupid to feel resentful towards her when she did nothing wrong to him.

"So, to answer your question, yes. The rumors are false. I love Sonia Smith with every fiber of my being, and although we've known ourselves for only a short time, I can't imagine living without her," Bryan said with a sigh.

"But you left her at the station. Wasn't that the action that fueled the rumors that there was trouble in your paradise?" Another reporter asked, and Bryan nodded.

By now, he knew without a doubt that he had screwed up last night by leaving her at the station the way he did.

Leaving her this morning without properly talking things through was also a bad idea. He had yelled and said a lot of things but had failed to communicate clearly why he was pissed. And despite her insistence to fix things between them, he had walked away.

He let Derek get into his head without even knowing it and allowed the idiot to succeed in creating a rift between him and Sonia.

He had been too blinded by his ego and anger at Derek to think clearly, and he had gone as far as breaking his promise to her. Was she going to forgive him?

There was no doubt about the fact that Sonia was wrong too. She was wrong for treating their relationship the way she did, for calling him names, and for not trusting him enough to take his side at the station, and as much as he liked to believe that he had a right to be angry, his anger did not justify the fact that he had acted like a jerk. He was brought up better than this.

All he wanted was for her to understand that if their relationship was going to work and if they were going to be together, then their relationship couldn't be about her or him. It had to be about them. They were both equal partners in the relationship, and he didn't want her calling the shots without caring about his opinion. That was exactly what he needed to communicate to her.

"You are right. I was a jerk. It is ridiculous that I got myself into this mess because I fought to defend and protect her, yet I let my ego and anger get the best of me, and I abandoned the same person I fought to defend at the station when all she wanted to do was help. Sonia did nothing wrong. And only a stupid person would say she is damaging my career. I hate to believe I have stupid fans," Bryan said honestly.

"Aww, you've become so mature merely by sitting next to me. We should do this often," Jade whispered, and Bryan glowered at her while Tom and the others chuckled.

Harry made a mental note not to involve Jade in any press conference with her brothers in the future since she seemed to have a hard time staying serious.

"So, should we be expecting a real engagement and a wedding soon?" a reporter asked.

"No. There is no reason to rush it. We still have to get to know and understand each other better so that we can properly handle our misunderstandings in the future without it becoming a public business," Bryan said, and the reporter nodded.

"Is it true that you got kicked out from Golden Star Entertainment Agency, as the CEO said?"

"No, I wasn't. I was there some days ago to cancel my contract with Paul. And I will prove it by giving him a call," Bryan said as he dialed Paul's line.

Paul deliberately didn't accept the call until the last second when it was about to disconnect, "Don't tell me your brother has kicked you out already, and you want to come back," Paul said in an amused tone.

"Why would I return to an agency whose CEO lacks integrity?" Bryan asked, and Paul roared with laughter.

"Integrity? This has nothing to do with integrity, Bryan. By the time I'm done with you, no agency would want to sign an ingrate like you, not even your brother," Paul promised.

"What makes you think I won't do anything about this? I will tell everyone what a liar you are and…."

"Don't be silly, Bryan. It will be your word against mine. What evidence do you have of this?" Paul asked smugly.

"What do you want me to do, Paul?" Bryan asked, pretending to be scared.

"I told you before, didn't I? I made you the star you are today, and I have all it takes to break you. I will stop at nothing to make sure you regret turning your back on Golden Star because of that girl," Paul promised, and without another word, he hung up.

"That was faster than I expected. On the bright side, we not only have proved that he lied, but now we also don't have to pay any termination fee, so we can say the termination of the contract was a mutual agreement," Jade said with a bright smile as she patted Bryan's shoulder.

The reporters murmured amongst themselves as they wrote down all they had gathered from the conversations between Bryan and Paul.

"Let's proceed with signing the contract," Harry said, and the reporters, as well as the PR team of I-Global, took pictures of them.

"As you all know, I've been the one releasing the official statements on behalf of I-Global this whole time, and today will be the first time Tom releases his first official statement, but before we move on to that, do you have any more questions?" Harry asked once they were done signing the contracts.

"Does this mean the I-Global has become a family-run company, seeing how the three of you are now working together?" One of the reporters asked.

"I see no reason my siblings should work for other people and be treated unfairly when there is room in my company for them. Unlike their other employers, I won't try to stifle them, and I will only look out for their best interest as I do for all my employees. However, this doesn't mean I'm going to be partial because they are my siblings," Tom said, and the reporter nodded.

"Why isn't Miss Lucinda Perry present?" Another reporter asked.

"That isn't a related question. If that's all, I will release the official statement about I-Global Entertainment, and then we can all call it a day," Tom said politely.

A couple of minutes later, Tom, Harry, Bryan, Jade, Mia, and Jeff walked into Tom's office once they were done with the interview, leaving the reporters and the PR team to release the details to the public.

"That went well. I was touched. You meant all you said about Sonia, right? Or were you putting up a show?" Jade asked, and Bryan sighed.

"Of course, I meant it," he said, and Jade nodded.

"That's good. You did a good job," Jade said, and Mia nodded in agreement.

"This is the best interview you've had. Straight from the heart without Paul at the side whispering into your ears," Mia said with approval and looked at Jeff.

"You did well too. I'm sorry I snapped at you both earlier. It was for the greater good," Mia said with an awkward smile and quickly walked away from the office before either Jeff or Bryan could respond.