84 The Review 2 (1/2)

Joann's fingers that held the tabloid were shaking from both humiliation and fury. She skipped the rest of the so-called review and turned her focus to the byline. The article was written by someone whom she could not recognize. She was sure she had no beef with this journalist so Joann failed to understand why she was specifically targeted.

The article proclaimed itself as a review but it was quite obvious a thinly-veiled personal attack piece aimed at damaging Joann's name and reputation.

For a confident individual like Joann, shame was a rare emotion to experience. However, standing there at the stall, with the naked picture of herself before her, Joann felt embarrassed and exposed like the world was judging her and watching her.

It was a feeling that she did not like.

Joann slammed the tabloid close. The papers crackled noisily as she crammed the book under her arm but it did nothing to wake the old man up. Joann pulled out a 10 note from her pocket and dropped it into the box before leaving hastily.

The longer she was in the open, the more unsettled she felt. She headed for home.

…

Ever since Xu Jing punched Lee Mu in the face out of pure jealousy, things had been rather frosty at home. This was exacerbated by the ongoing cold war between Joann and Sylvia. Practically, at the Xu household, no one was talking to anyone else.

Well, that might not be entirely true. Xu Jing tried communicating with Joann but the latter rebuffed him and as mentioned earlier, Joann was still not on speaking terms with her daughter.

In other words, her home was not really a welcoming haven of comfort but compared to being judged by others in the open, it was still the better choice.

When Joann stepped through the front door of her house, she was shocked by the scene that unfolded before her eyes.

Instead of a spacious living room, the room was filled with stacks after stacks of thin booklets. There was barely a standing space left.

Joann walked cautiously into the room and realized all the books were the same tabloid she had bought that morning. She felt wrought with discomfiture, 'What is the meaning of this? Who is behind this? Are they trying to rub it in my face?'

Then she saw the back of Xu Jing's head poke out from the sea of tabloids.