Chapter 41: Tired of Bullies

['Luna' Travelling with our Q5 Boys?!]

[Is 'Luna' Actually a Teenage Boy?]

['Luna' Spotted with the Rest of her Teammates at PVG!]

[Who is 'Luna'?]

Article after article was titled with questions or theories but all matched up to that one question of who she was. It should have been no surprise to her, considering how many people had been hounding them for answers both at the hotel and the airport.

As she scrolled through the articles and some forums out of curiosity, she saw that many of the reactions were actually mixed. Out of all the titles, one stuck out the most to her.

[Luna, The Fake Witch]

[Today, I was at the airport with 'Luna'. As a dear fan, I asked her to take a picture with me and she hid behind the members of Q5 and didn't even acknowledge us!] -Chuyu523

[I saw this, too! I was also there! This 'Luna' has already started corrupting our guys! Not only did she avoid us, she also held the guys back away from us!] -Doriboo8

[What! No way! I've always been an avid watcher of her streams! There's no way she would do something like that!] -Chenine67

[Why are you sticking up for her? Actually, how do we even know that's not a man in disguise who's playing us all for a fool? Unless you're her!] -Chuyu523

[I'm not! I'm just saying that you guys can just be reading too much into this!] -Chenine 67

After that, it seemed all hell broke loose. Everyone in the forum was going off on this poor user. Some accused her of being 'Luna' and trying to 'cover his tracks'.

Others scorned 'Luna' for not even trying to defend herself. They sent provocative messages to try to lure her out. The forum was such bad chaos that Zhao Yingyue had to swipe out of it almost immediately.

She threw her phone down in the seat beside her. Of course the antifans had already started to activate and she wasn't even revealed yet.

As Zhao Yingyue, she had fans and anti-fans but her anti-fans were never this toxic. It was over petty things like makeup or people feeling as if she was too much of a people pleaser. However, this was another level of hate and lies being spewed.

And that poor girl who had tried sticking up for her before had been shut down immediately and bullied endlessly. Who did they think they were to be so cruel to someone?

Liu Haoyu had been monitoring her from the moment she picked up the phone. Seeing the conflicted look on her face, he got up and took a step toward her. He could already guess what she'd seen on her phone without having to check online himself.

Zhao Yingyue, seeing this and not wanting to be pitied, stood up quickly and said, "I'm going to head to the bathroom real quick! I really hate using those cramped ones on the planes and we board soon!"

Everyone could tell that this was an excuse to escape but no one decided to call her out on it. They knew that she had to learn to deal with it on her own if she didn't want it to destroy her.

Liu Haoyu, especially, watched her back as she walked to the bathroom.

Once she'd wandered off to the bathroom, he sat back down with a sigh. "It's already started and we haven't even revealed her yet."

Wu Bocheng stood leaned against a wall. "She has to get through this Haoyu. You know that. It only get worse before it gets better. You knew this would be the result when you picked her. And after meeting her, you said that she could handle it. As her team members, it's only right that we support her and have faith in her ability to make it through this."

Liu Haoyu sighed.

Logically, he knew that this was the case. However, emotionally, he wanted to shield her from the world no matter what. How could he watch his wife suffer at the hands of people who didn't even know her?

Li Dongyang plopped down next to Liu Haoyu.

"Little Sister will be fine! From the stories you've told us of your engagement party, she's resilient!"

Liu Haoyu nodded slowly. That was true. She was extremely resilient and had been torn down more than enough for a lifetime.

Yang Ruoxuan coolly said, "She has no choice but to endure. If she can't even endure this, does she have a right to succeed Brother Bocheng?"

His words were ice cold and straight to the point. He had seen her play before but an ability to play was not all she would need to make it. Her mental strength would also be crucial to not only facing crowds, but also keeping her gameplay at the top level. When emotions got involved, it oftentimes led to misplays.

Li Dongyang stood up and snapped toward his teammate. "Ruoxuan, don't say that! You know that we all needed some time to adjust!"

"Well she doesn't have that luxury Dongyang! All eyes are on her now so what happens when we reveal her? You think the pressure lets up? No! It will get worse! If she breaks down now, she will never be able to give this team her everything!"

"Ruoxuan, you..."

"He's right."

All of their heads turned to Liu Haoyu, who was sitting with an extremely cold expression on his face. He wasn't mad at any of the teammates, rather at the situation. But he also knew that his wife would have to develop those skills quickly so that these irrelevant peoples' words wouldn't be able to affect her.

Li Dongyang was surprised. Did he just agree with Yang Ruoxuan? Wasn't his Little Sister supposed to be Liu Haoyu's wife? How could he bear her being bullied?

Liu Haoyu said, "It's true that she will need to endure much worse than this and if she can't, then she won't be able to give her all. Dongyang, even you have to acknowledge that as an indisputable fact and so will she—if she hasn't yet understood it."

Yang Ruoxuan gave Li Dongyang a look that said 'I told you so'.

Li Dongyang gritted his teeth. "Still, we don't have to be so cruel about it!"

Yang Ruoxuan retorted, "Yes, but you were the one who mindlessly brought the headlines up to begin with as if it were some joke."

This shut Li Dongyang up. It was true. He had been skimming through the entertainment news but he had only seen the ones surrounded in mystery. He didn't notice the amount of hate that she was receiving, otherwise he wouldn't have said anything at all.

Liu Haoyu spoked again. "Regardless, we all expected this—including her. She has no choice but to power through."

Liu Haoyu spoke seriously. Right now, he had to be her team captain. He had to separate work from his personal life for the time being. He had no doubt that she would be fine but he had to take the objective stance. Later, though, when she was ready, he'd make sure to shift back into her husband again for the time being.

Wu Bocheng pushed himself off the wall.

"She will. Even in games, after multiple bad plays and being in an obvious losing position, she always pushed through. Everyone here knows that sort of grit isn't only applied to the game. If that were the case, would any of us be here?"

***

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Zhao Yingyue tore off her mask and glasses and stared at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were puffy and tear-filled while her cheeks were red.

Now that the initial shock of the situation was over, she was really upset.

She was sad to find out that people truly felt this was about her without even knowing who she was. They just immediately made assumptions and drew conclusions based on nothing.

She was nervous because she didn't know if this would ever go away.

She felt empathy for all the people before who had gone through something like this and let it get to them in the worst of ways.

She felt pity for those who felt the need to bring others down to feel better about themselves.

And more than anything, Zhao Yingyue was angry at the people who claimed to be her fans but attacked someone who defended her. Angry at them for misguiding their emotions in such a way and angry at herself for not being able to protect people like this person who deserve it the most. No fans of hers should ever bully anyone.

She knew what it was like to be bullied and feel hopeless and alone.

Why did people like this exist? Those who aimed to bring people down?

Tears streamed down her face but not of sadness.

Zhao Yingyue was sick and tired of people marching around with their heads held high, feeling all high and mighty, and then turning around bashing others because they could hide behind a screen.

Was it really that fun? Was the momentary pleasure worth it?

She clenched her hand into a tight fist as she took deep breaths and stood there for a few minutes letting the emotions flow out.

In this moment, she would allow herself to cry and freely feel. But when she walked out of that door, she would be fine. Because she will have acknowledged her standing and start mapping out ways to make everything better.

Zhao Yingyue was tired of bullies and she would become strong enough to graciously bring them down. Especially if they dared to parade around as her fans. She didn't need fake fans like that.