Chapter 19 — Fake Kisses with My Ex's Best Friend

The "Creative Campaign of the Year" Gala Night is Hưng Thịnh Creative's biggest event, where the company summarizes and honors the best campaigns of the year, gathering all employees, management, and some important partners. The hotel's banquet hall was lavishly decorated, the main stage was glowing under the lights, and an atmosphere of excitement spread throughout the space.

Khả Tâm and Bách Nhân were together, but since a few days ago, the atmosphere between the two had become more awkward than usual. Bách Nhân still hasn't found a way to ask her directly about what Thành Kiệt said, and that unusual silence, even though he tried to hide it, still made Khả Tâm feel an invisible distance creeping between them.

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong?" She asked as the two stood next to each other, waiting for the show to start, her voice filled with worry.

"I'm fine," Bách Nhân replied, but his eyes avoided a bit, making the answer even more unconvincing.

At a table not far away, Bảo Ngân sat with a few colleagues from the Sales Department. Her eyes occasionally glanced at Thành Kiệt who was drinking one glass after another, his expression becoming darker and darker. She no longer has any feelings to save for him, but is still sophisticated enough to realize that something wrong is accumulating in the heart of the man who used to be her boyfriend, a time bomb that could explode at any time.

Gia Kỳ, sitting at the same table with Bách Nhân and Khả Tâm, tried to break the awkward atmosphere with a few innocuous jokes, but both of her friends only smiled wryly in response, making Gia Kỳ, even though she didn't know what was going on, vaguely sense the instability spreading between them.

The campaign that Khả Tâm and the Communications team implemented in the last quarter was named one of the three best nominees of the year, and when the MC invited the group's representative to the stage to receive the award, Khả Tâm stepped up to the applause of the whole hall, feeling proud and nervous.

Just as she had just received the medal and was about to step down, a voice rang out from the stands, not through the microphone but loud enough to interrupt the solemn atmosphere of the ceremony.

"Excuse me, I wanted to say a few words before the ceremony continues."

The whole hall turned to look. Thành Kiệt stood up from the Sales Department table, holding a glass of wine, walked straight towards the stage, his gait was a bit unsteady because he had drunk a lot during the party.

"Kiệt, what are you doing?" A nearby colleague pulled his hand back, but he pushed it away, continued walking up, and grabbed the spare microphone placed next to the stage before anyone could stop him.

"I just want everyone to know an interesting fact," he spoke through the microphone, his voice shaking from alcohol and pent-up emotions for so long, "About the 'dreamlike' love story between Khả Tâm and Bách Nhân that everyone is admiring."

Lâm Bích Thủy, sitting at the chair table, stood up, "Thành Kiệt, what are you doing, sit down."

But Thành Kiệt did not stop. "Do you know, that relationship started with a plan to take revenge on me. That's right, me. Khả Tâm asked Bách Nhân, my best friend, to pretend to date her to make me jealous. A perfect play, right? Yet for so long, everyone thought it was a sincere love story."

Noise immediately erupted throughout the hall. Hundreds of eyes turned to Khả Tâm, who was still standing on the stage, holding a medal in her hand, her face pale with shock.

Nhật Hạ, from her table, rushed out of her chair, intending to run to the stage to stand next to her friend, but the path was blocked by the stream of people standing up. She stood there, helpless, only shouting loudly in the crowd, "Everyone calm down, let Tâm speak!" Her voice was quickly drowned out in the chaotic whispers of the entire hall.

On stage, under the light shining directly on her face, Khả Tâm felt like all sounds around her were distorted, leaving only the sound of her heart pounding in her chest. She looked down at the crowd, looking for a familiar face to cling to, but all she saw were hundreds of unfamiliar eyes glued to her, waiting for a reaction, an explanation, or perhaps, simply waiting to see how much she would fall.

"Kiệt, that's enough." Bách Nhân stood up from his seat, his voice raised, and walked quickly towards the stage.

"Is that enough?" Thành Kiệt turned to look at his friend, his eyes were red, "Don't you think everyone deserves to know the truth? Don't you think you also deserve to know, from the beginning, you were just a pawn in her plan?"

Khả Tâm stood on stage, her hands shaking, feeling like hundreds of eyes were piercing straight at her, judging, criticizing, and worst of all, she glanced at Bách Nhân's face, no longer angry at Thành Kiệt, but confused, a silent question clearly visible in his eyes when he looked towards her.

"Bách Nhân..." she called softly, her voice lost.

But at that moment, the crowd became noisier, some whispered, some took out their phones to film this chaotic moment, and amidst all the chaos, Khả Tâm felt the ground beneath her feet was collapsing, exactly like the feeling of falling down the stairs that started it all, except this time, no one caught her in time.

"Everyone calm down." Lâm Bích Thủy tried to restore order, her voice rang out through the main microphone of the stage, "This is not the place to resolve personal matters."

Several senior partners sitting at the front table of honor also began whispering to each other, their eyes both curious and somewhat uncomfortable because the solemn ceremony was interrupted. Lâm Bích Thủy glanced in that direction, clearly feeling the pressure to quickly control the situation before the company's professional image was further seriously affected in front of those who could decide on important contracts next year.

But Thành Kiệt still didn't stop, his drunkenness and pent-up bitterness made him completely lose control. "I just want to be fair. I lost everything, and the two of you are being hailed as a beautiful love story, when the truth is that it was a lie from the beginning."

"It's not a lie," Bách Nhân, now standing right under the stage near Khả Tâm, spoke up, his voice no longer as gentle as usual but sharp and powerful. "If you want to tell the truth, tell all of it. Yes, the original plan was to take revenge on you. But you forgot the most important part, the part that you don't want anyone to know: why it started. Because you betrayed her. Because you chose to keep both women at the same time to see which one benefited you more. You want the whole hall to judge Tâm for a revenge plan, so do you dare let them judge you for the reason that plan came into being?"

The whole hall was silent, the atmosphere was as tense as a string about to break. Thành Kiệt stood dumbfounded on stage, still holding the microphone, but had no words to respond, only the stage light shining directly on his face, revealing more clearly than ever the panic and humiliation rising in his heart, when he realized that he had just turned the company's most solemn honor ceremony of the year into a stage for the collapse of his own honor.

Khả Tâm, still standing on the stage, looked down at two men, one had just announced the truth with the intention of humiliating her, the other had just stood up to protect her but was also carrying an unresolved doubt in his heart. She walked up to the main microphone, her hands were still shaking, but her voice, when it spoke, echoed throughout the hall with a surprising calmness.

"Correct," she said, just one word, but enough to make the whole hall silent again," It's exactly the original plan like Mr. Kiệt just said. I don't deny that."

The whispers arose again, but this time, Khả Tâm did not let it interrupt her. She took a deep breath, preparing to continue speaking the most important part, the part that she knew would determine not only her honor before the group, but also the future of the relationship she cherished more than anything.

But just as she was about to continue speaking, the organizers, under the urgent direction of Lâm Bích Thủy, turned off the stage sound system to prevent the chaotic situation from continuing in front of both partners and staff, causing her voice to suddenly cut off mid-sentence, leaving an oppressive silence covering the entire hall, and an unfinished question hanging in the air that everyone, including Bách Nhân, was holding their breath waiting for the complete answer.