Chapter 62: When Cats Bring Fame
The evil witch spirit that had long been buried in my heart suddenly surged to the surface, and I wanted nothing more than to kidnap those teenagers and boil them in a hot cauldron.
"Go away!" I bent down, grabbed a fistful of sand, and threw it toward them. "If you can’t say something nice, then keep it to yourself!"
The teenagers squawked, running off while laughing at us.
"Haha, his girl turned into a dog!" one mocked Lando. "He’s pathetic, his girl has to defend him! He can’t even run!"
I was about to chase after them when Lando held my arm.
"It’s fine," he said calmly, looking completely unbothered by their insults. "I’m used to it."
I let out a heavy sigh, my shoulders dropping. My eyes softened as I spoke.
"But still ... those words don’t define you." I held his arms tightly, lifting my eyes to his as if I were a coach trying to drive courage into her player. "You are so much more than what they think. My husband is an amazing man, and nothing in this world will ever change that."
He swallowed hard and widened his eyes slightly when I accidentally pulled him so close that our faces nearly touched.
But I wasn’t trying to flirt, I was just trying to comfort him.
"Do you understand that, husband?" I asked.
"I ... I do." Lando nodded lightly, though for some reason his gaze kept flickering between my lips and my eyes. What was he looking at? Was there something on my mouth?
I let go quickly and turned aside, brushing my lips with my fingers, and found nothing. When I turned back, he was still watching me.
He was probably just confused and awkward because I had suddenly grabbed his arms. That must be why he was trying so hard to avoid my eyes.
"Good," I said gently, once I was sure he wasn’t blaming himself. "Let’s go home before those mad dogs come back to bark at you again."
But if they dared return and insult him one more time, I would gladly throw them into the sea myself and offer them to the sea god.
"Okay," he replied simply, letting me hold his hand as I led him toward the car.
He even gripped my hand a little tighter along the way. Oh ... was my husband actually feeling truly hurt by those insults, and now he was trying to draw comfort from me?
Oh, my poor husband.
I patted his hand gently before we climbed into the car, and for some reason, we still kept holding hands the entire ride home.
Lando didn’t say a word. In fact, he barely moved at all, which made me worry something was wrong with him.
However, once we reached home, he finally let go of my hand and said, "Good night."
Before I could even answer, he was already pushing his wheelchair toward the elevator, leaving me standing there. I tilted my head, wondering if he had rushed off on purpose because he didn’t want to talk to me.
Or maybe ... he just wanted to sleep early because walking around the beach had worn him out.
I let out a long sigh, thinking Penny was honestly too cruel for giving me that kind of quest.
[Host, Penny only told you to hold his hand at the beach, not drag him all over it.]
[You’re the one who made him walk.]
I narrowed my eyes, convinced Penny was just looking for an excuse to blame me.
The longer we spent together, the more she sounded like a real friend; sometimes making me happy with her presence, but other times driving me insane.
[That’s just your imagination, Host.]
[Penny never makes you upset.]
’Right,’ I answered curtly in my mind.
Shaking it off, I went to my room and opened my Zentra+ account.
"Holy shit!" My eyes flew wide open, so wide I worried for a second they might actually pop out.
The video I uploaded yesterday had already hit one million views, and the second one had reached three hundred thousand today!
Not only that, but my followers had jumped to six thousand in just two days.
I bounced on my tiptoes and fanned my face, squealing quietly so I wouldn’t disturb anyone.
Just as I thought, cats were truly good luck charms!
But as I kept scrolling through the comments, I realized ... a lot of them had nothing to do with cats at all.
[Wait, forget the cats, who’s the girl? She’s gorgeous!]
[She’s prettier than most influencers out there, I swear!]
[So cute! Even the way she laughs feels like a drama scene.]
[No offense to the cats, but I followed for HER!]
[Can we get a skincare routine, please?! You’re glowing!]
I blinked several times, scrolling up and down the screen just to make sure they were really talking about me and not the cats.
In those two videos, I had barely even shown my face on camera, so it honestly shocked me that they noticed me and even praised me for being pretty.
To be honest, I’d been worried people might recognize me as Madeline’s sister. But thankfully, they didn’t. My appearance now looked so different compared to those old videos of Helcia being bullied back in high school.
Even in high school, Helcia used to straighten her hair all the time and work hard to dye her naturally black hair shades like brunette or blonde.
On top of that, the video that went viral at the café didn’t really show my face clearly, so of course it would be harder for anyone to recognize me.
This was actually such a good thing!
At least this way, I had some time to let people know me first before they eventually realized I was Madeline’s sister.
After thinking about it for a while, I finally decided to scoop up Lingo and Luna from the not-yet-finished cat room and carry them into my bedroom.
I quickly washed my face, then set up my camera on the vanity table. As the little red light blinked on, I straightened my back, smiled at the lens, and said warmly, "Since so many of you have been asking about my skincare routine ... let’s do my night skincare together with my babies here, Lingo and Luna!"
The two cats meowed right on cue, and I couldn’t help but laugh softly. "See? They’re excited too."