Thug and Idol: 10X Rewards Second Identity System

"Are you going to do something about it?"

Nel didn't reply immediately.

It took him a few long moments to finally nod.

"I want to talk with her, at least—I want to find out what her problem is!"

Tristan beamed.

"That's right, we are going to have a really, really nice talk with her. I already invited her, and I feel like she won't refuse a meeting."

Nel huffed.

"You were going to talk with her with or without me, then? Damn, Tris, you are…" He opened and closed his mouth a few times, then sighed and ruffled his hair in frustration. "It's all gotta go your way or no way!"

"Yes. Were you complaining?"

"…I don't know. Give me a week to process this. Hell, I knew showbiz can be stressful, but I didn't expect drama like that."

Tristan laughed.

"Come on. There's a new controversy every day. You gotta either grow a thicker skin, or a superiority complex to be in here."

Nel grinned.

"And you, an overachiever, have both."

***

Like Tristan predicted, Jane replied quickly, eagerly agreeing to a meeting. She invited him to an expensive restaurant, agreed to be alone, and probably imagined that it was a date.

The restaurant was a very fancy one.

Tristan had been in places like these as a child and then a teenager, and it felt a bit nostalgic to return. Unlike him, Nel actively fidgeted with a hem of his suit, and was poorly hiding unease at the sight of men and women in expensive clothing, or an actual maitre d.

Both Tristan and Nel wore suits for the occasion, so despite Nel's nervousness, they didn't stand out from the crowd with anything except being young and particularly handsome, especially Tristan.

"We were invited by Ms. Greenpawl," Tristan said to the maitre d.
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"Yes, of course. I will bring you to her table."

Jane chose a table for two in a corner, where waist-high walls were giving some extra privacy. She wore a flowing pink dress today, and her long blond hair was styled in a way that looked casual, but actually deliberately accentuated her chest and framed her face.

At the sight of Tristan, her blue eyes lit up—only to widen in shock when she saw Nelson walking next to him.

Ignoring Jane's reaction, Tristan casually sat down opposite of her. In a moment, the maitre d brought an extra chair to the table, and Nel sat down too.

"Hello, Jane. It looks like you are doing well despite everything. Too well, it seems," Tristan said.

To give her credit, Jane was a superb actress—she was smiling charmingly again, with barely a hint of her true tension beneath.

"Mr. Gemello! I thought you wanted to talk with me in private! Why did you bring your… friend here?"

The way Jane said this, and the glance she threw at Nelson, said that she clearly meant "lapdog" instead of "friend".

Unlike Jane, Nelson didn't hide his anger.

"Oh, like you would've talked with me otherwise, Ms. High-and-Mighty! Like, you know, normal people do instead of just trying to spread lies about them!"

Jane's smile changed to a very convincing confusion, but her fair skin became a shade whiter.

"What are you talking about? Mr. Gemello, what is he talking about?"

A waiter approached their table to ask for orders, forcing the entire group to quieten. Jane asked for tea. Tristan blindly ordered whatever his finger pointed at at the menu, and Nel, after a momentary pause, repeated after him.

When the waiter left, Tristan closed the menu with a loud snap.

"Don't pretend to be innocent, Jane. This time, it was all entirely your doing."

Nel nodded. Before this, Tristan showed him the proof, eliminating all doubt—not that there was any.

"We've seen the proof, Ms. Greenpawl. What do you have against me? Why did you do this?"

Jane's mask cracked as she openly glared at him.

"Well, what did Mr. Gemello find in you, hm? You are just some village pumpkin who barely knows how to hold an instrument." She flipped her hair dramatically with a hand. "Someone like you shouldn't stand next to Tristan! Really… Mr. Gemello, why do you keep him?"

"Huh? Wait, is this all because Tristan refused your co-promotion offer?" Nel pointed a finger at Jane, but she ignored him, instead turning to the stone-faced Tristan.

"Really… I can give you so much more than him! Mr. Gemello… I know we might have had a misunderstanding in the past, but I was trying to apologize! My offer was only a benefit to you—how could you refuse it to stay around with this clown instead?"

Tristan still didn't move, and his face still stayed expressionless.

The reason for this was…

He felt like if he moved even a muscle, he won't be able to stop himself from slapping this bitch hard enough to give her a concussion!

And he didn't want to create a scene here. He was a public person!

At Tristan's silence, Jane fell silent, too. Her eyes flickered between him and Nelson.

She gasped.

"Don't tell me Mr. and Mrs. Mayar WERE right! Is this it? Do you just keep him around because you have an affair?" Jane cringed in disgust.

"No!" Nelson snapped. "Enough of this. Ms. Greenpawl, I'm going to sue the hell out of you! Just wait for a court invitation from me—just you wait!"

Jane snorted.

"The only one sued will be you. You won't win a court case against the Greenpawl family in a million years."

"Ms. Greenpawl," Tristan finally spoke with a cruel grin. "Did you forget which of us has actual blackmail material? Stand on your knees and apologize profusely to Nelson, or the court case against your family will be not about slander, but about conspiracy to commit assault just to win a round of a contest."

Nel gasped in shock.

"This was you, too?!"

Jane stared at the both of them, white as a sheet, with a look of utter helplessness in her eyes.