CAUGHT ON CAMERA: The CEO's Scandalous Muse

SUSAN'S POV

I adjusted my grip on the phone, kneading my forehead with my other hand, as a headache cropped up.

The recipient on the other end of the line, had launched into a lecture I had heard so many times by now- of a past I wished everyone would forget.

It had become a painful reminder; it would have been easier if the lady had just turned me down from the start.

"What? No! I can assure you, I am not an alcoholic." I emphasized for the umpteenth time that day, "I really do not know what happened. I-".

The older woman cut me off before I could defend myself, her tone curt and full of distaste.

"It's disgraceful, Susan. We hold an honest profession. You should know better than to do... that!"

My cheeks flushed slightly.

She couldn't even say the word.

I couldn't either.

I was still so ashamed, even though time had passed.

"My kids could have seen that!" The older lady continued, and then sighed, "Susan, you're a talent, I know that for sure. But I'm sorry, N Media cannot accept someone with such a promiscuous record."

I sighed heavily, as she dropped the call.

At least she didn't hang up immediately, as soon as she heard my voice, like the other media houses I had called earlier had done.

I looked around my apartment, and blinked back tears. With my rent due, I doubt I could still call it mine.

My gaze fell on a stack of unpaid bills on my desk. Their words seemed to scream at me. The letters from the banks to pay up one loan or the other, seemed to mock me. I had exhausted all my savings, and frankly, I needed a plan.

The tears that had been threatening to fall, slowly rolled down my cheeks.

"F*ck!" I cussed as I wiped them off hastily.

I was so frustrated that my past haunted me.

***

FLASHBACK

The last time I felt in control of my life was two years and one hundred mistakes ago.

My life was perfect.

At least as perfect as it could be.

I was one of the top twenty news anchors in the country, with the highest rating on my shows in my company. People recognized me on the street, asked for autographs. I got praises, and I was heading towards a promotion.

I was living the dream.

Back then, as an ace anchor, I was gaining popularity that I hadn't anticipated. I had friends and connections in places that matter. I was very well favoured.

I had also caught the eye of Josh Stuart, one of Sky Networks' highest paid anchors.

If I was among the top twenty best anchors, he was among the top three; he was that good.

I didn't understand what he saw in me to take interest in me. It was all too surreal. After about a year of dating, he proposed.

I said yes, obviously.

I mean, who wouldn't?

He was the man of every girl's dreams, and I was just lucky to be the one he chose.

Everything was just too good to be true... until it was not.

Just a week after my engagement party, I was still riding on the high of it all, with a wedding to plan on my mind. I had spoken to my mum and she was happy for me.

It was a Wednesday afternoon, when my world turned upside down.

I was getting ready for my noon broadcast, and I needed a caffeine boost. With little time to go get it myself and prepare, I asked an intern to get me some. I took it in haste as soon he arrived and I downed every last drop.

Ice Americano, no sugar.

That was all I remember taking.

Nothing else.

"Susan? Susan? Susan!"

I blinked hard at the caller. My vision appeared to see more than one person. I shook my head, trying to come back to my senses, and realized it was a guy from the production crew. I couldn't remember his name.

"Are you okay? You're up." He seemed genuinely concerned.

I frowned, "Yeah, I'm fine."

I headed to the studio and sat down as the makeup crew touched my face a bit, and the production crew fit in my microphone.

I began to mutter my lines under my breath as I read from the paper in my hands. Few seconds to time for my broadcast, I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. I stared at the words again and they seemed to blur on the pages.

What was going on?

Was I tired?

The microphone in my ear told me that I had five seconds until cue time. I stared directly at the camera and put on my TV ready smile.

"And cue!"

"Good afternoon, and thanks for tuning in to Sky News at Noon. My name is Susan Carter with the news." I read expertly from a teleprompter.

"Why is her speech slurred?" I heard someone say.

"Susan, your eyes look a bit unsteady, are you okay?"

I didn't realise that these words were being directed at me through the microphone in my ear, because I was on a high that couldn't be explained.

The smile on my face stretched to an exaggerated degree as my words began to sound like gibberish, "This suspicious very first-hiccup-conscientious-hiccup-"

"Susan! What the hell are you doing?! YOU'RE LIVE!" I heard someone shout into the microphone.

"Ouch! Why are you shouting?" I took out the microphone from my ear and began to fan myself.

It suddenly felt so hot in the studio.

At this point, I had no idea I was doing this. I only found out later, when I watched the clip.

"It's so hot. Why is it so hot here?" I said.

By now I had abandoned the script as I focused more on getting some air. Fanning myself didn't seem to work, so I began taking off my shirt. I was left in just my bra and pant trousers. I didn't focus on the gasps of the camera crew or the fact that I was doing this live on air.

Suddenly the lightheaded feeling got to me

I felt an inexplicable urge to puke, and...

Yes, I emptied my stomach on the table.

I was covered in my own vomit.

It was the most humiliating thing that had ever happened to me, and to the network in general.

••••

When I came to and realised what I had done, I couldn't explain the situation no matter how hard I tried.

"What has gotten into you?" My boss, the head of the news team Laurel queried, "How could you drink on the job? If you had problems, why couldn't you say so?"

"I swear to you, Laurel, I don't know how this happened. You've known me for five years, you know I would never do that."

"Really?" Laurel then called her assistant, "Did you get the breathalyzer?" Her assistant nodded and gave her the device.

I was stunned.

"Come on, Laurel. Don't you trust me?"

"I do. But I just need to make sure. If you didn't take any alcohol, you wouldn't mind if I tested you with this." She said waving the device in my face.

"Okay. Suit yourself." I blew a breath on the device. Even though I couldn't explain why I had behaved the way I did, I was pretty sure that it had nothing to do with alcohol. I couldn't handle alcohol, so I stayed away from it.

Besides, if I could handle it, why would I drink on the job?

Laurel frowned at the device.

I sighed. Surely, by her look, she had seen the result and realised I didn't drink.

"See? I told you!" I said with a satisfied smirk.

"Hmm... interesting," Laurel started, "I didn't expect you would lie to me."

She seemed pissed.

"Wait, what?"

No way. My self righteous smirk immediately wiped off my face.

I grabbed the device from her, with more force than I intended. It read 0.08% BAC. That was impossible.

"Is this thing broken?" I asked to no one in particular.

Laurel stood watching me, with her arms folded over her chest.

"No, wait. There seems to be a mistake-"

She held up her hand, stopping any further comments from me. "Stop it, Susan. You'll only embarrass yourself further. Effective immediately, you are fired from Sky Networks. Good luck finding a media house that would take you in, after the nonsense you pulled on air."

Every word after that, every plea fell on deaf ears. I was screwed. But I still had Josh at least. He was away from the company for outside duties, but I was sure he had probably heard the news or rather seen it.

I turned off my phone as messages and calls began to pour in. Family and friends seemed concerned, others were disgusted and were filled with judgements.

It was a mess.

Later that evening, Josh called me.

"Finally! I wanted to call, but I didn't know if you would be busy." I sighed, relieved to hear from him. "I am sure you heard what happened. I don't even know what to say."

"Great. Let me help you. You got drunk-"

"Josh, I didn't drink. You know I can't handle drinking. I don't know how that happened."

"I wasn't done speaking," He said in a harsh tone.

I kept my mouth shut, because I had never heard him speak to me like that before.

"It was bad enough that you were drunk, you took off... took off y-your clothes- on air like some slut! - And you, you barfed..." He sounded disgusted.

I didn't know how bad it was until he spelt it out like that.

"You're trash, Susan." His words cut through me more than any blade would have, "I can't believe I almost married you! F*ck!"

My eyes stung and bile rose to my throat. I didn't stop the fat tears that rolled down my cheeks. His words were harsher than all the words I had heard that day.

"Baby, I-"

"Save it! You don't get to call me that! You've ruined everything!"

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to." I said, "I didn't mean to..." My throat closed as I tried to defend myself. I was sobbing heavily by then.

"You're disgusting. A disgrace! You should be grateful that I settled for your sorry self. Yet, you humiliated me by showing your boobs to the world." He let out a strained breath, "I've been getting messages all day from people, all because I chose you!" His tone was filled with disdain.

"We're done! Got that? Done!"

The line went dead, and so did my heart. It felt like it had been crushed to a million pieces. I stared at my reflection on the darkened screen for a long time, wondering how everything had flipped in just one day.