Meanwhile, in Lagopool, Jade had unexpectedly run into trouble despite trying hard to avoid Carlson and his advances. Carlson knew it was his last chance to make a move on Jade, whom he wanted to conquer as a trophy, yet he failed miserably. She may not have been feeling well lately, but she was smart to escape his sneaky advances by making bold moves.
There were times when he would secretly attempt to harass her during filming, which caused delays because Jade would make a fuss over trying to make it a perfect shot. During the next take, she would instruct the cameraman to come up close to them.
That way, it made Carlson unable to act indecently. It didn't always work. At times, Jade had to pretend to yelp in pain and claimed that he accidentally scratched her. Sometimes, she had to discreetly injure herself to make it believable.
The shot she enjoyed the most was when they were supposed to act in a breaking-up scene. She took the chance to slap him many times till he had to use his stand-in; only then did Jade let the filming complete flawlessly.
It was during their last scene where their character was supposed to embrace each other after his heartfelt confession and a kiss. She wasn't comfortable with the growing nausea, which was worsened by Carlson's sour wood perfume mixed with his sweat.
Despite this, she remained professional, enduring his forced kisses and inappropriate touches, which were ignored by the directors on purpose in disguise as good show effects. She didn't want to make a scene because she wanted to leave as soon as she could when the filming wrapped up.
However, she just couldn't bear her nausea any longer. Right when the filming ended, she threw up as though mocking Carlson. Sam arrived on time to watch the scene unfold. As her assistant, Mei Jia ran up to check on her, Jade discreetly told her to lead her out of the premises.
However, before she could escape any further with her brisk walk, feeling unsatisfied, Carlson caught her arm before Mei Jia could reach her. He was pretending to pull her in for a hug and a photo.
Jade instantly flinched away and caused a commotion to argue with him on purpose. However, actions spoke louder than words. She couldn't endure her urge again as she threw up in front of him. Carlson felt very angry this time, feeling as though she did it on purpose. It caught everyone's attention as Jade was already in an agitated mood with her nauseous self, yet she had endured a day of filming with this notorious guy.
He tried to fake showing concern and help her, only for her to flinch away again. "Let go! You're being too much!" This time it was Mei Jia screaming at him.
"Come on, just a picture to close off… nothing else, babe…" Carlson persuaded Jade as he tried pulling her closer.
"Are you blind or stupid? Can't you see she is unwell?!" Mei Jia yelled, but he didn't give up.
"Oh really? Or is she just acting?" Carlson questioned with doubt, and it made Jade squint her eyes at him with a dangerous aura.
"I do not hesitate when it comes to harassment. Especially workplace harassment. I have eye witnesses and proof. Don't forget I am also an ambassador." She led his gaze to the CCTV on top of them before he chuckled.
"Try me…" He said while gently touching her right cheek with his finger lightly.
"Let's see how the public would see you when they know your relationship with Sam Chu is real…" He chuckled again after whispering to her left ear and led her gaze to the main entrance.
The sight of Sam standing by the corner, very furiously looking at them, took her off guard.
"If you don't want any trouble, come join the dinner first after you touch up your mess." He whispered closely to her ear, trying to play with fire.
"Alright, let's go to the after party! Jade is coming too after she cleans up herself!" He announced, which made Jade, who met with Mei Jia's gaze, nod accordingly.
"Go bring Sam elsewhere first. I will go to the washroom and meet you at the dinner place instead." Jade whispered to Mei Jia, who wanted to protest, but it was too late. Jade was already on her way to the washroom.
Mei Jia and Sam both knew there must be a threat made, so they both stepped up their guard on Jade that night. Seeing Jade's agitated, pale face looking in his direction tenderly, Sam wanted to rush up to her, only for Mei Jia to lead him outside.
"Where's she going?" Sam questioned when they were finally alone.
"The washroom first before dinner… She had no choice. We need to get into the van to follow her to dinner… Hurry!" Mei Jia urged.
Sam wondered if his timing of turning up just now had caused Jade trouble. He had noticed she hadn't looked very well. "Had she gone to the doctor?" Sam's question made Mei Jia take a sharp inhale by accident.
He knew it was trouble. "Why didn't she go?" He demanded her to answer while stopping her midway.
"Get into the van. Her safety first. I will explain on the way." Mei Jia panicked as she ran towards the van which was parked nearby, quickly urging Sam to hop on too.
As they alighted after an intense update from Mei Jia on Jade's working condition and how much she had endured, he was pissed for ever letting Jade work on this last movie. He was glad that it was the last day of filming, but he wasn't satisfied just yet.
He went up to Jade's manager, Austin and nearly gave him a punch, which Mei Jia halted him.
"Don't do anything rash… You will put Jade in trouble…" Mei Jia reminded him as Sam pushed aside his anger when Austin noticed him and came up to him.
"Sam Chu! What wind brings you here?" Austin asked, trying to disguise his shock before walking up closer to Sam.
"Ah, must be looking out for your ex…" Austin meant ex-girlfriend but left an open interpretation as Sam's glare grew intense.
"Where is she?" Sam asked in a very deadly aura that Mei Jia tried to hold him back, but it was too late. Sam was already clutching Austin's collar.
"If you don't tell me now where she is, I won't hesitate to throw punches to this fine face good for nothing…" Austin knew he couldn't overpower Sam. All along, Austin hated confrontation and was a people pleaser; he had to instruct his subordinate to lead Sam to the dinner place.
What Sam didn't know was that Carlson had already tricked Jade into one of the hotel rooms. He barged into the hotel dinner hall to find a room full of drunk businessmen, but Jade was nowhere to be seen. Even Mei Jia panicked as Sam demanded some drunk guys to tell him where Jade was. Sam could only make out from one of them, who was slurring his words, that he chuckled cheekily about Jade heading to a room with Carlson.
Mei Jia began to become frantic, but Sam was calm as ever as anger overwhelmed him. "Mei Jia, head to the counter and tell them your artist is in danger. Tell them specifically and emphasise it is a sexual assault. Make them reveal the number." Sam instructed her as she nodded and quickly obliged while Sam was searching with his glaring eyes on the surroundings. He noticed the agency's spies were around watching his every action.
As Mei Jia successfully got the hotel manager to go with her to the room, he stayed around to watch the spies closely. They were trying to trail or stop Mei Jia, only for Sam to delay them and spoil their plans by delaying their stair climbing with the room-keeping trolley.
As the hotel manager demanded to open the door, it annoyed Carlson, who had just managed to knock Jade unconscious by accident over a vase. He was about to strip her but was caught midway.
As he opened the door to stop the commotion, he was greeted with a punch in his face. Even the hotel manager and Mei Jia didn't know when Sam appeared from behind.
With that, the security and police took over the scene after Mei Jia took pictures of the evidence as well. Sam then quickly carried Jade, whose forehead was bleeding, out of the room, as Mei Jia led them to the van, headed to the hospital. Because Sam was experienced with such scenarios, he noticed Mei Jia was smart too.
"Send me the pictures so that they cannot hold you liable or threaten you in any case," Sam instructed as she nodded. In his mind, he wanted to look for a lawyer when Dexter came to mind, but he was reminded of Dexter's useless cousin. Still, Dexter was the only one he could rely on now.
As he texted Dexter, who was busy distributing food to the old folks that night, he was surprised at Sam's request. It was unexpected for Sam to reach out to him given how strained their relationship was over the divorce. He knew it must be a desperate case since it was a lawsuit to sue the agency for exploiting their artist, aside from sexual harassment accusations.
Dexter smiled, replying to Sam's message, assuring him he would get back to him the next day once his family lawyer got back to him.