With a hand pressed against her cheek, Jean turned and ran to Terence. Her eyes lowered and her bottom lip quivering, she said, "Terence, I just remembered, I have other things to attend to. I... I have to go."

There was a sob in Jean's trembling voice, carefully modulated to make her sound like a sad puppy.

Terence had been talking to the director about adding a few more scenes. As soon as he heard the obvious misery in Jean's voice, he turned to her and asked, "What is it? What's wrong?"

"Mr. Chen, I think I'm needed over there. If you'll excuse me..." The director was a shrewd, observant man. As soon as he saw Jean approach Terence, he quickly came up with an excuse to slip away and give the two some privacy.

"I'm fine." Jean was careful to keep her head down, but she sounded as if she had been crying. "Something came up, honest. I have to go."

"Wait." Sensing that something was wrong with Jean, Terence grabbed her hand and said firmly, "What's going on? You're not leaving until you tell me what happened."

"I..." Jean hesitated, as though unsure of what to say. "I just remembered that I have oth

voice. "But I don't care if the whole world hears about it, because I know I didn't do anything wrong."

She fixed Jean with a frosty glare. "My dear sister, please enlighten me. Did you tell Terence why I hit you? How did you explain it to him?"

"I..." Jean smiled bitterly at Julia. "Julia, please, you have to believe me. I'm not the kind to lie and make up stories, I swear. Why do you always assume the worst of me? It makes me so sad. I..."

"She's right." Terence turned to Julia with a disdainful sneer. "Jean didn't say anything to me. In fact, she tried her best to defend you and cover for you. I don't understand why you hit her instead of talking things over like a sensible adult."

That was the beauty of Jean's devious plan. She had deliberately said nothing about what had actually happened, leaving Terence with no other option but to guess and make assumptions. Even if he were to discover the truth, he would find it difficult to be angry with Jean when she hadn't lied to him.

Terence had been the one to jump to conclusions, after all. She hadn't said a single word.

Her scheme was foolproof.