Stella Lockwood’s infatuation with Don Joyce began with his first leading role in an idol drama.
That year, he was eighteen, and she was fifteen.
When she saw him on screen, she thought for a moment that her older brother, Flynn Lynch, had come back to life.
So, she frantically collected information about Don Joyce, trying to prove that this person was her brother.
But the records showed that this boy, who looked so much like her brother, was a complete stranger.
He had started acting at the age of twelve, but back then he was just a child playing insignificant minor roles.
It wasn’t until this particular show that he truly became famous.
And just like that, she became his die-hard fan, boosting his rankings, organizing fan campaigns, and flooding social media with praise—all even though he had no idea she existed.
For those six months, it was as if she lived only for him.
Later, her third sister asked her, “Stella, do you still want to act?
Flynn loved performing, and so do you.
After he passed away, you were so devastated that you completely shut yourself off from the world.
Do you want to stay that way forever?
Don’t you want to act alongside your idol one day?”
Stella took her sister’s words to heart.
Her brother could have become a brilliant performer, but he was dead and had lost his chance.
Now, someone who looked so much like him had appeared.
The most direct way to chase after him was to act again.
It would be a way to fulfill her brother’s unfinished dream while also achieving another one of her own: to one day act alongside Don Joyce, the man who so resembled her brother.
So, she decided to return to acting.
However, the years she had spent away from the entertainment industry were also the years she was growing up.
By the time she returned, she found that although she could still get cast, the projects were all second-rate.
She never landed an outstanding role that would make audiences remember her.
She muddled along like this for a few years.
The best role she ever got was a second female lead, but unfortunately, the show wasn’t a huge hit.
Because she couldn’t land any good scripts and her acting was inconsistent, many directors were reluctant to cast her.
During those same years, Don Joyce’s career had steadily risen, and he had become a top-tier, high-traffic celebrity.
Though he hadn’t yet won a major “Best Actor” award, he was already a big name in the industry.
Plus, as the Crown Prince of Veridian Media, it was practically a matter of time before he became a superstar of film and television.
Stella Lockwood and Don Joyce first formally worked together two years ago.
They were cast in the same TV drama; he was the male lead, and she was in a supporting role, playing his character’s mother who died young.
They had three scenes together…
She performed exceptionally well, nailing her scenes in a single take and earning praise from Don Joyce.
He even had his mother sign her to Veridian Media, and she, in turn, switched agencies without a second thought.
Unfortunately, after joining Veridian, she was involved in two on-set incidents that cost the company a lot of money, which infuriated the boss’s wife.
Over the past two years, her greatest joy was seeing Don Joyce at the company from time to time, and even getting the chance to exchange a few words with him.
Even more, just a short while ago, Don Joyce had privately confessed his feelings to her.
Not long after that confession, she, Stella Lockwood, would officially become Don Joyce’s secret girlfriend.
He, in turn, would start working behind the scenes to make her famous.
Their lives would become truly intertwined starting this year.
And not long after that, this man would sleep with her.
The thought of those scenes made Stella feel utterly disgusted.
But back then, she had been like someone who’d fallen into a honeypot, dazed and giddy.
He had her over the moon with his sweet talk every day.
She’d willingly become his plaything and even thought that sleeping with him was some kind of supreme honor.
‘How unbelievably stupid I was…’
But now, she was no longer that foolish girl.
In the future, her fate would certainly not be controlled by him…