Chapter 62: Keep Some Distance
“Yes. We were still filming, so we spoke. It was a bit awkward, but I thought I shouldn’t get too friendly,” Cage said slowly.
“Why?”
“It was just… something. I wanted to keep some… distance?” His eyes flashed as he looked at the glass of water in front of him and reached for it. He had it in his hand when the reporter asked him another question, making him pause.
“There were numerous articles linking the two of you up all those months ago.”
“Not at that time. That started a little later.” He answered before reaching for a sip.
“No relationship? If you don’t mind me asking again.” Katherine had to roll her eyes. She didn’t know how many times this question would come up in the conversation, but it was bothering her that the reporter and other people doubted Cage’s truth so much.
“No!” Cage said vehemently.
“And she says that at the time you went on set and asked her to marry you.”
“When I heard that… I was pretty relieved because it was easily disprovable. A lie that can be debunked,” he said with a small smirk on his face.
“The story started getting picked up in the media?”
“Yeah, it just went on… Everyone thought that I was in a secret relationship with her and that we were living together… going to get married. It was all a mess.” He pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Why didn’t you give an interview then?” Suspicion. That was what laced the reporter’s voice.
“And say what? That it is a lie?” Cage asked, stunned.
“Why didn’t you?”
“I didn’t want to do something so… disgraceful.” The three in front of the camera startled.
“You were clearing you name,” the reporter said firmly, questioning the actor’s integrity.
“Anything and everything I did was used against me. I was somehow dating her in secret and everyone was for the relationship. The movie producers, the companies, the investors… just… I was mobbed. I didn’t have the authority to come out and say it. My friends told me that I couldn’t do it.” The viewers must have felt pity for him in that moment. He seemed so distressed and tired of the situation that they wanted it all to just stop. He sounded lonely, like he was fighting the battle alone. It made their heart ache.
“They told me that I was a star… that it would help my image…” he continued. “What has a star got to do with the human being that I am? How do I merge my stardom with myself?”
“This is not a small thing. You were being sullied!” Even the reporter looked enraged.
“It wouldn’t have done much. Up until recently, the fact that we were in a relationship was always in third person… never in quotes. It could be denied at any moment!” The frustration was clear in his voice.
“Everything was anonymous,” the reporter accepted, nodding his head and taking down a note. “What do you think is going on?”
“We need to ask the person who has narrated this story. I don’t understand what is going on.” He leaned against the chair, confidence peaking through.
“What did you feel?” the reporter asked after a pause. “How did you feel?”
“I won’t be able to describe or except you to understand what I was feeling. I can’t ask you for that,” Cage shook his head.
“Tell me when things changed.”
“I woke up one morning to her messages. I can’t tell you the substance but it was all very abusive.” His eyes were narrowed at the camera as he said this.
“Was there anything beyond the string of abuses?” asked the reporter.
“Nothing. Just the abuses,” Cage answered honestly.
“And what did you do?” Cage shrugged.
“I just closed myself off from her advances.”
“There were advances?” The reporter moved on his chair, straightening his back and listening in interest.
“She better not have hurt my baby,” Angelina muttered, but the other two ignored her.
“She got shot being with someone else and the cheating scandal became a thing. I thought that was the end of it,” Cage explained.
“Did you talk to anyone about it?”
“Yeah. My whole team knew about this. But it died out for some time. I just had to pretend to be myself,” he confessed.
“Did she stop approaching you?”
“No. The promotions were difficult. She was constantly asking me to be with her for publicity. I think it really hit her that the scandal was causing her harm.” He frowned as he looked as his hand in contemplation.
“Was she physical with you?” He nodded. “Can you tell me how?”
“She tried to remain close to me, but I was not… interested. It was my image she was playing with.” The viewers could see a flash of anger in his eyes before it was gone. He had replaced his emotions under the calm façade his PR team had created for him.
“So the movie releases and the news breaks out that you two are getting married. Can you explain to me what happened there?”
“Sure. See. She just knocked on my door on Sunday and pushed past me inside the house. She threatened to ruin me if I didn’t concede to her plan and proceeded on to clicking a picture of us together while I was trying to drag her out of my house,” he informed.
“Which picture are we talking about here?” The reporter shuffled through the paperwork in front of him, trying to find the evidence in question.
“The one she subsequently posted on her social media, tagging me as her husband. She also said something about vows.” Cage sighed and looked at the reporter helplessly.
“And you never had a wedding,” the reporter concluded as he went through his notes.
“No. I would remember if I were to marry a woman I barely knew. That was the one time I was alone with her in a room and I can guarantee that nothing happened. I go back to my house and see that the news channels are saying that we secretly married. I was… dumbfounded.” He sounded mortified. If not for his celebrity status, it would be his right as a citizen infringed on to have so many people invading his privacy so readily.
“You said she threatened you. What did she threaten you with?”
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