The Great Artist // NINE PERCENT Chen Linong

18

○ In exchange you get betrayed ○

"So what can I do to help?" Jane asked as she looked at the two. "But before that, are you two...?" she asked. "No, we're just friends, housemates since he's currently living with me" the artist quickly replied. "Oh alright, then what should I do?" Jane asked once more.

The artist looked at the writer, also not knowing on what they were going to do. But the writer only gave her a cheeky grin which quickly turned to a smirk. "Do you think a man as rich, as powerful, and as high classed as your lover is would have surveilance cameras around his place?" the writer asked. "Knowing him, he must have at least 2 in his place" she said.

"Do you know the exact coordinates of his living space?" Jane asked, already having her equipment ready for all the coding, tracking and all the technological job she would be doing to help them. "Unfortunately I don't but I know the code of his laptop he always keeps at home" the artist said and started reciting the code.

Jane typed quickly at the speed of light and was able to track the location down. "So he lives in a condo somewhere near his office, efficient I see" she said. "Can you access the cameras from there?" the artist asked. She was desperate before she arrived and she sure is even more desperate at the moment.

"Let me try first" she said and started typing furiously at the keyboard. Her tongue was slightly stuck out of her mouth as she focused on the codes. "It seems like there's a firewall here but... it's too strong and intact. The security is no joke" she said. "So can you do it or not?" the artist asked. "No sorry" she said.

"I think I might know the solution to all this" the writer suddenly said and took Jane's position in front of the equipment. He started typing a few things and in a matter of a few minutes, it was broken down and access was granted. "It... it was that simple?" Jane asked, inspecting the codes he just typed.

"People usually overlook things and when it comes to the easy ones they become confused or unable to solve the problem, it's human logic really" the writer said. Jane started working on her computer again. "I found a file that seems... suspicious. It was dated a week ago" she said.

"Play the record" the artist said. She demanded to know more and she was going to get it this time. The spy clicked play and the video loaded. It showed the CEO bringing home a woman not much younger than himself. She was beautiful, tall, has an ideal body posture, a bright smile on her lips, perfect.

But then all the problem started there. The two started making out and ended up on the sofa as they continued the intimate session. Jane closed the video immediately and silence engulfed them. From the writer's peripheral vision, he could see the artist's fists clenched.

Then the artist was the one who broke the silence. "We're going back, text me the coordinates, I need a word with him" she said. They went back soon after and was back in England in about an hour. "So you're going there?" the writer asked. "WE are going there, that is... if you want to?" she asked. "Of course" he said.

They zoomed out with a Bugatti to the center of the city where the CEO's condominium was at. "Stay here, it would be best he doesn't see you" she said and he nods as she went out the car and in the condo herself. "I'm here to see Mu Ziyang" she said to the receptionist. "Ah... of course, number 221" the receptionist said before the artist thanked her and went to the designated condo.

She heard noises coming from inside so she hid behind a pillar and peeked from there. "See you later, love" she heard a male voice said, one she knew all to well. "I'll be back soon, love, don't worry. I'll be home by midnight, I can promise you that" a woman with black hair and caramel eyes said and the artist saw the male kiss her forehead as she left.

The artist was infuriated by this. She felt betrayed, well she should. They have been going on a relationship with neither of them committing to it. He could've said that he found someone else and broke up, at least he was honest. But he chose to stay and do two people at once. It was messed up and the artist was about to get things straight.

She fumed to the number of the condominium and then rang the doorbell. "I thought you were going to- Michelle?" the CEO said as he opened the door, a shocked expression on his face once he saw his first love. "I certainly am, now I want you to tell me the truth of what I'm going to ask. Who am I to you?" the artist asked.

"You're my lover-" "Don't lie, I know that you've been cheating on me" she said and his eyes widened. "No-" "Oh yes, you have. Don't give me that innocent look because it won't work anymore" she said. "Fine... I have been cheating on you" he finally admitted. "I knew that something was wrong when we drifted apart" she whispered under her breath.

"Then why didn't you tell me?" the artist asked, looking at the CEO with soft eyes, as if she was going to cry any moment now. "I didn't want the relationship we had to be broken, I guess I was too afraid of letting you go" he said. Something in the artist clicked and her eyes changed at him, it was no longer the soft eyes she used on him just a few seconds ago, but they were stern ones instead.

She couldn't believe that the famous, one and only, Mu Ziyang would have such a ridiculous reason for not telling her that he had been cheating behind her back. She thought for all these years that he was THE artist she had been looking for, that he was THAT artist she would admire for the rest of her life. Turns out, she was completely wrong, and she regretted it, so very much.

"Well guess what, Ziyang?" she started off. "You just ruined it, we're over. You can have this back" she said as she took of the necklace she had been wearing. "It's a waste to know that you gave this to me meaninglessly. Give it to her instead. Goodbye" she said and left.

The necklace was a gift from the CEO at their first anniversary. It had a small heart pendant and was surely not cheap and not everyone can afford that. But now that he loves someone else, she didn't want to have it anymore. She walked away from the condo at a quick pace, tears freely streaming down her face.

"Are you okay?" the writer asked as she sat inside the car. He had been waiting inside for God knows how long with a nervous mind until the artist went inside. The fact that there were tear streaks on her cheeks made him question it. "I'm fine" she said as she wiped the tears and stared ahead with her emerald eyes.

"He's no longer worth my tears"