Chapter 1274 The Storm Is Coming (Part Four)

• “Belinda, I know you’re doing this for everyone, for the guys. But this could blow back on you,” Manman said, and suddenly she couldn’t stop the tears. “Belinda, I’ve been hearing bad stuff lately. Everyone knows I’m your person. Normally, they’d keep this kind of thing from me. Not now… I keep worrying. I’m scared Ms. Yang will really go after you. I’ve been with you step by step. I know how hard it was for you to get here… I don’t want them to—” She choked up and couldn’t go on.
• Tina froze mid-step. Her eyes went wet all at once—not for anything else, just for that one line from Manman: I know how hard it was for you to get here.
• Truth was, from the very first step of her life, she couldn’t remember a single stretch that was easy. A poor childhood where no one ever took her seriously, doing whatever chores she could as soon as she could lift a finger. Then dropping out young and coming to Millsborough, thinking a big city meant a better life—only to get hit harder by reality. She carried dreams, but Millsborough was huge, and even finding a place to crash felt impossible. She still remembered the days waiting tables and scrubbing dishes, the sister who fell sick and died miserably, the long nights with a guitar on her back, hustling through every club in town. Not a single night in a real bed. Always fending off sleazy hands and bad intentions, while her family back home bled her dry like vampires, like it was their right. After she got into the company, it was endless training and gigs. Behind the spotlight, no one saw that she slept two or three hours a night, or how one careless word could ruin her for good. Life never once let her stop and take a breath.