Chapter 214 - 212: I Can’t Bear This

"Thank you all so much. It must have been a lot of trouble."

Lily Sterling took the flowers from a fan. Her team members’ hands were already full of bouquets, all brought back from the film set, and now they were being loaded up with even more. One of the security guards was nearly buried in a sea of flowers.

"Where did you all come from?" Lily asked curiously.

"We’re all from Lorcain."

"That’s right. This airport greeting was pretty last-minute, so the president only organized for fans in Lorcain to come."

"President?"

Lily blinked, her gaze traveling over the heads of a few girls in the front row, and subconsciously landed on Jared Keaton at the very back. "It couldn’t be you, could it? You’re the only guy here!"

Jared Keaton had been staring dazedly at Lily, but he was caught off guard when she suddenly spoke to him. His expression changed in a flash, and his fair, handsome face instantly flushed red all the way to his ears.

"That’s me. I’m the president. My name is Jared Keaton, and I’m twenty years old."

The same person who had just been calmly and coolly organizing the fan club members was now so nervous that he started giving a random self-introduction.

Lily watched his awkward reaction and suddenly smiled. The smile was so bright and flawless it imprinted itself right onto Jared Keaton’s heart.

’She’s even more amazing in person than she is online.’

"President, the letters! The letters!"

Someone had to remind Jared Keaton, who hastily snapped out of his daze. "Oh, right! Lily, these are handwritten letters everyone wrote for you."

A tote bag was stuffed with a dozen or so letters, all in beautiful envelopes.

In her whole life, she had never seen a real, physical letter. She never imagined that one day she would receive letters handwritten by her own fans.

"Thank you~"

Lily took them without hesitation, her heart filled with emotion. She used to think it didn’t matter whether she had supporters or not. Her ambition was to be an actress, to create different characters on screen. Her dream was to win awards, to become a Best Actress.

But in this moment, she truly felt how wonderful it was to have people supporting her. It was a strange, magical feeling she had never even dreamed of.

After all, being liked by others is always a good thing, a pleasant feeling.

Seeing more and more people pouring out of the arrivals gate, Lily quickly said, "Let’s not disturb anyone. How about we find an empty corner to take pictures?"

She wasn’t in a hurry anyway, and she hadn’t asked her sister to pick her up. These people had gone through so much trouble to greet her at the airport; she didn’t want to just leave after a brief meeting.

A mutual effort was the only way to do right by each other.

When everyone heard that Lily was willing to stay and take photos, they were absolutely thrilled. They stamped their feet and squealed, trying to keep their voices down, but inevitably drew the attention of many passersby.

With such a commotion, even passersby who didn’t recognize this newcomer could easily guess from the scene that Lily Sterling was a celebrity.

Everyone remained very orderly, which was what pleased Lily the most. She was terrified of causing a disturbance in a public space, as it would make her feel immense pressure and guilt.

They found a corner. Since there were only a dozen or so people in total, Lily was more than happy to take an individual photo with each of them and signed an autograph for everyone.

Jared Keaton deliberately queued up at the very end. When it was his turn, he stood next to Lily like a wooden post, his face blushing so hard that not even the bright spotlights on the airport ceiling could hide how beet-red he was.

When the other girls took pictures, they couldn’t help but get very close to Lily, and Lily happily played along, snuggling up, acting cute, and striking adorable poses.

But when it came to a guy, Lily was also a bit unsure of how they should pose.

Seeing this, the girl taking the photo couldn’t help but tease, "President, your face is so red! If you’re hot, just take off your down jacket!"

"I’m not. Just take the picture."

Jared Keaton felt his heart pounding. He imagined the air around him was filled with the scent of pear blossoms.

Lily could tell he was nervous, which was understandable. She had been just as nervous the first time she met Yuna.

"How about we count to three and jump?" Lily suggested suddenly.

Jared Keaton paused for a second, then nodded with a goofy smile. "Okay!"

"I’ll count! When I get to three, the president and Lily jump together! Ready? One, two, three!"

As the count finished, Jared Keaton leaped into the air with a huge smile, jumping incredibly high.

But Lily didn’t jump at all. Instead, she tilted her head, looking up at the high-flying Jared Keaton with her fists balled up by her cheeks, wearing a playfully astonished expression.

It made for a lively and fun photo!

When Jared Keaton landed and realized Lily hadn’t jumped, he looked utterly mortified, his face turning an even deeper shade of red.

The others watching the fun all burst out laughing.

But the resulting photo was absolutely perfect.

Finally, they all took a big group photo together.

"Lily, can I post this group photo?" Jared Keaton asked cautiously. "I made a fan club account specifically for you. It already has tens of thousands of followers, and they’d probably like to see it."

Lily didn’t refuse. "Of course you can. But in the future, please don’t come to these airport greetings anymore."

Everyone was still basking in the joy of the moment and didn’t expect Lily to suddenly say something like that. Their expressions froze, and their hearts grew tense.

Jared Keaton was the most nervous of all. "Why? Don’t you like it?"

Lily shook her head. "No, it’s not that. I just think it’s too much trouble for you. A round trip to the airport takes over an hour, and you have to arrive early. I really feel like it’s a waste of your time."

Hearing Lily’s explanation, everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief, and a warm feeling spread through their hearts.

"We don’t mind the trouble, Lily! It’s not a big deal if we get to see you."

"That’s right! Other celebrities all have fans greet them at the airport. Our Lily can’t be the one with nobody waiting for her."

Once one person said it, others chimed in to agree.

Seeing this, Lily quickly tried to stop them. "Let’s not get into that kind of comparison. Greeting someone at the airport is a high-cost, low-reward activity. I hope you can save more of your time for yourselves. As for me, I’m incredibly honored to have your support, and that’s more than enough for me. Please, don’t waste any more of your extra energy and money on me. I mean that from the bottom of my heart."

"Besides, there might be more people coming to greet me in the future, with new faces constantly joining, and maybe even people coming from out of town. But I can’t guarantee that I’ll be able to set aside time for everyone like I did today. If I can only meet you briefly before leaving, I’ll just feel terrible about it. I really can’t handle that."

Lily’s words were earnest, every single one of them a genuine, heartfelt expression of her thoughts.

In the past, when she saw news about celebrities being greeted at the airport, she only ever saw the star walking quickly under the protection of their team while fans trailed behind, struggling to snap photos with their phones. Then the celebrity would just get in a car and leave without a word. The whole thing might only last ten minutes or so.

Lily couldn’t understand it at all. How could celebrities enjoy that with a clear conscience? And what did the fans get out of it?