Xander had never displayed much affection for either Tobias or Sheldon. Neither had he done much by way of his role as a father. In all of Tobias’ childhood memories, not a day went by without Xander and Claudia getting into one fight or another.
Claudia radiated an air of sophistication outwardly but resembled a demon at home. Xander’s temper only served to add oil to the hellfire.
Whenever Tobias meekly crept up to his parents and begged them to stop fighting, Xander would inevitably direct his rage towards him. Bellowing with tremendous fury, Xander had, on numerous occasions, lambasted Tobias with all sorts of abuse, saying that he was a bastard who should never even have been born.
Tobias had since thoroughly internalized this school of thought, often feeling that he didn’t deserve to live. People who had borne witness to Xander’s cruelty had often called him inhumane – even worse than an animal.
It was Skylar’s first appearance on a reality show.
Before the filming again, no one knew that Harry would be featured on Battle of Stars until he showed up on set.
The man had grown leaner. Attired in a jacket and shorts – from which his thin legs jutted out like sticks – along with a white baseball cap, his appearance was completely lacking in masculinity.
Having just hung up on him earlier that afternoon, Skylar felt a little awkward coming face-to-face with Harry again.
Harry sat a little way off from her in the dressing room. At last, he brought his chair over and sat next to her.
“Are you OK?” he asked in a low voice.
Skylar slowly took off her earrings and replaced them with small pink studs before replying to Harry deliberately, “I’m fine. I didn’t lose any limbs, so I think I’ll still survive.”
Harry’s face was thin and wan in Skylar’s mirror. Looking at this ghost of his past self, he brooded over how long he would have to remain under Ingrid’s vengeful clutches.
Outside, Harry’s fans had swarmed in and surrounded the set. In order to generate a little more buzz, Kate had helpfully exposed Skylar’s filming schedule and location to various fan clubs.
Hearing the crowd clamor for her, Skylar felt both flattered and overwhelmed. She straightened her face, however, nodding and waving politely to her fans.
She intentionally drew nearer to Winnie, keeping her distance from Harry. It did not stop her from fearing the watchful gaze that might be scrutinizing her every move behind the screen, though.
On the other hand, Winnie was obviously displeased with the fact that Skylar’s fans outnumbered hers.
During the games segment, the contestants sat in a circle, guessing the lyrics of songs that were playing in turn. Each of them sat on special collapsible chairs, holding a bucket of water. If they gave the wrong answer, the chair would immediately tip backward and launch the bucket of water onto the helpless contestant.
The actors from Unrequited Love were on one team, while the hosts were on the other.
Skylar worried a little if the makeup artist had received the memo and used waterproof makeup.
Eager to prove herself, Winnie fought for a chance to answer only to fumble.
Her entire team was punished accordingly. The chairs tipped backward and Winnie seized the opportunity to pour her bucket of water over Skylar as well.
Skylar was utterly drenched from head to toe. Presuming that this was part of the show’s entertainment, the audience roared with laughter.
Skylar shook herself off, but her wet hair clung like tendrils to the side of her face. As she had predicted, her makeup, too, had run.
Winnie smiled patronizingly, declaring, “I was going to pour it on the floor! My hand just slipped.”
Skylar scowled at her. She had no doubt that Winnie had done so on purpose.
The next few rounds yielded the same result. Winnie promptly gave wrong answers and continued pouring water onto Skylar.
Skylar, however, refused to retaliate. The filming took a technical break when water entered her microphone. When the crew ran over to change it, they kindly offered her a few towels for her to dry herself off.
She hung the towel over her head to cover her face. Her mascara had streaked, and so had her lipstick. Unable to stand by idly any further, Harry rushed over and draped his dry towel over Skylar’s shoulders.
Turning off his microphone, the man asked softly, “Are you stupid? Why don’t you pour your water on her?”
Skylar could not reject Harry’s gesture in front of such a large crowd.
Even though the weather was warm, her wet clothes stuck to her skin. She let out a gigantic sneeze.
After the filming session had finally ended, she charged straight back to the dressing room to warm herself.
Hannah, meanwhile, was fuming. “Winnie was clearly sabotaging you! Didn’t you see that look of glee on her face?”
