Rosalie caught on quickly, dabbing at the corners of her eyes before turning to Landon.
“Landon, the internet’s blowing up right now—everyone’s accusing Noelle of deliberately inciting her fans to attack Zinnia. Noelle feels terrible about it, she’s taken it so hard that she insists on apologizing to Zinnia. No matter how much we try to talk her out of it, she just won’t listen.”
As she spoke, Rosalie reached out and gently stroked Noelle’s hair, her voice trembling with concern.
“Noelle’s never been in good health, not since she was a child. She’s been through so much lately, so many shocks and stresses… I just worry—truly worry—that she won’t be able to take much more.”
Her voice broke, and she started sobbing softly in front of Landon.
Noelle’s eyes were red and watery as she looked at Landon, her expression full of wounded innocence.
“Landon,” she whispered, “I swear I didn’t do it on purpose. My therapist suggested I share more of my daily life online, that getting well-wishes and encouragement from people would help with my recovery. That’s the only reason I posted anything.”
“When I’m with you, Landon, those are my happiest moments, so sometimes I accidentally include you in the videos. I never imagined people would twist it, or that they’d start attacking Zinnia because of it.”
This time, Noelle was careful. She could sense Landon’s distance.
She’d always assumed Landon didn’t care about Zinnia—that’s why she’d provoked Zinnia so openly and so often. But after this incident, she realized she’d pushed things too far.
If she didn’t do something to fix this, Landon would only drift further and further away from her. And then, wouldn’t that just hand Zinnia the victory?
“Landon, I know I was wrong,” Noelle sniffled, her lips trembling. Her eyes were rimmed with red, making her look heartbreakingly pitiful.
But Landon just stood there, silent. All he could see were the filthy, venomous comments he’d read online. He wasn’t naïve enough to just take things at face value—he’d chosen not to think too deeply about it before, out of a sense of responsibility to Noelle. But now, as he looked at Noelle’s carefully crafted expression and recalled what Zinnia had said to him, he suddenly spoke.
“Did you have anything to do with what happened to Xander?”



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