"Claire Evans, hang in there!"
"Claire, push harder!"
"You got this, Claire!"
"Claire…"
Inside the spacious delivery room, Claire Evans lay in a birthing tub filled with warm water. It was an underwater delivery.
Behind her, a row of medical staff cheered her on, raising their hands and shouting support with high energy.
Claire had been pushing for over an hour. Now she was trying to catch her breath.
She took in a shaky breath and glanced at the live broadcast camera positioned directly in front of her. The screen showed a woman drenched in sweat, her dark hair plastered to a pale, exhausted face — basically a hot mess.
[WTF?]
[Wait, is that… Claire Evans?]
[THE Claire Evans? The top actress who was always praised as the cleanest and purest in showbiz?]
[Who else could it be? Even the nurses are calling her name.]
[I’ve been watching for an hour. That’s definitely her.]
[OMG, my childhood's over.]
[Are you kidding me? She disappeared for a few months and just popped a baby out online?]
[“Innocent” movie queen delivers live on cam?]
[Never even heard of her being in a scandal. And now she’s having a kid?]
[No wonder she dropped off the radar all year.]
[But real question is—who’s the baby daddy?]
[Who’s the trash guy that knocked up our goddess?!]
[That face? Goddess? Get real.]
[Bet your mom looked worse pushing you out.]
Viewer count was exploding — from a few thousand to over a million in just one hour.
Staring at the overwhelming flood of comments, Claire wanted to crawl into a hole. Normally obsessed with keeping up her perfect image, she couldn’t believe the wreck on screen was her. But the nurses behind her kept shouting out her name like it was some cheer squad.
Claire tilted her head weakly to glance at them, her voice low and tired: "Seriously... thanks to your entire ancestral line."
Then she clenched her teeth and put all her strength into pushing again.
Meanwhile, across Rongcheng in a cozy apartment—
Grace Evans sat snugly in front of the computer, watching Claire’s livestream labor with a smug grin.
A year ago, Claire had blown up in the entertainment world with her "pure and innocent" image, bagging three top awards before she even turned twenty.
And Grace? Even though she entered the industry five years earlier, she was still stuck as an extra — the kind that dies in episode two.
They shared the same last name. So how come Claire got to be the chosen one while Grace spent ten years grinding and still ended up a nobody?
Ten months ago, at that fateful party, Grace had spiked Claire’s drink and had her dragged to a hotel room. Then she arranged to stuff inside a filthy, creepy old homeless man.
Sure enough, Claire ended up pregnant.
Word is Claire tried to get rid of the baby, but her body had taken a hit from shooting water scenes in winter. Doctors said if she had an abortion, she might never conceive again. Claire loved children, so she kept it.
For the past ten months, Claire vanished from all public appearances, focused on having the baby, and left her agency bleeding millions.
Meanwhile, Grace worked overtime to snatch up all the resources Claire had left behind. She finally climbed to A-list status and even replaced Claire at the top of the company.
But she wasn’t about to let Claire stage a comeback after giving birth.
So she convinced the agency to arrange this “well-planned” live birth stream — all to ruin Claire for good.Claire Evans stepping away from the spotlight to have her baby had cost the company billions. But now, as long as she agreed to livestream her delivery, they'd drop the breach of contract charges—so of course, she said yes.
Giving birth was messy and painful. No one looked pretty doing it. For a national sweetheart like Claire, livestreaming something like that wasn’t just humiliating—it totally wiped out her angelic image. The show would definitely spike traffic, but her "pure and innocent" brand? Gone. Shredded.
People watching this would never see her the same again. All they’d remember was how awful she looked giving birth. And once the world knew she was a mom, casting her as any kind of innocent young girl would be impossible.
Forget competition—Claire’s career was over. A thought that made Grace Evans practically smirk from ear to ear. Watching the viewer comments roll in, she could barely contain her glee. Everyone was dying to know who the father was. Letting her fingers fly over the keyboard, she set the rumor mill on fire:
“Rumor is Claire got drunk ten months ago and hooked up with a homeless guy. Guess it checks out!”
“Hear he was some gross old vagrant covered in sores. And she seriously had his kid?? What was she thinking?”
“My goddess... why would you have a baby?”
“Wait, the dad’s an old guy? With sores? A homeless man?!”
“Claire hooked up with a bum?”
“No way.”
“Tell me it’s not true... a goddess having a bum’s baby??”
“Ugh... that’s disgusting.”
“Are you serious right now?”
“A bum’s baby? Guys, I need a minute—blegh.”
The chat blew up just like Grace hoped. She was so amused she touched her recently plumped up face to stop herself from laughing too hard. Claire Evans? Done for. She'd never crawl her way back to the top again. Grace would make sure she stayed crushed under her heel forever.
Meanwhile, inside the delivery room, Claire was too focused on pain and pushing to even glance at the barrage of hateful comments.
And 88 floors above the city, inside the executive tower of Fields Corporation…
Victor Fields, the empire's CEO, was deep into paperwork. Dressed in a sleek, black tailored suit, his features sharp and cold, he exuded untouchable authority. The guy just had that impossible-to-ignore aura—calm, distant, dangerous.
Owen Carter, his personal assistant, barged in clutching a laptop, clearly rattled. He was usually composed, but today? Not so much.
“Mr. Fields! We found her!”
Victor didn’t look up. He signed a page neatly, precisely, without pause. Then, with a controlled lift of his eyes, he asked coolly, “Where?”
His voice was ice.
“She’s... she’s live-streaming a birth!”
“What?” The air in the room shifted. His expression darkened instantly.
There was a ten-second silence. Then—snap. The fountain pen in Victor’s hand cracked cleanly in two.
Owen didn’t hesitate. He ran over with the laptop and slammed it on Victor’s desk, opening the stream.
On-screen, under dim lighting, a woman was going through underwater labor. Her face was pale, drenched in sweat, twisted in pain. But whenever she caught her breath, you could see it—that face. Sharp features like they were carved by hand. Impossible to forget.
Claire Evans.
And just like that, rage sparked behind Victor’s eyes.
That woman. That audacious, reckless woman.
It happened at a party ten months ago. She’d stumbled into his room, drunk and bold, climbed into bed while he was asleep...
And the next morning, she’d vanished without a trace—ghosted in a heartbeat.
He’d spent months trying to find her. Nothing. It was like she disappeared off the face of the earth.
And now? She popped back up... livestreaming a birth.
