It was her first time participating in something like this, so she didn’t know what to expect from ‘fans’ who came to say hi. She had met those kids at the market, but apart from that, she had enjoyed a life of anonymity since she started making videos. Katherine was sure that the line was for Laurence for the most part, so she was surprised when many of them expressed excitement to see her.

“Oh my god, hi!” a boy came hurtling straight at her, putting his arms around her face and almost throwing her off balance. “I love you so much. You are my hero.”

Katherine chuckled breathlessly. “Thank you. How are you doing this morning?”

“I’ve been subscribed to you since the beginning and when I found out that you guys collaborated, I was ecstatic,” he said happily.

“Thank you so much for the support,” Laurence replied warmly.

“You can get Laurence to sign something for you. Do you have anything on you?” Katherine’s voice was much calmer, contrasting with the hyper reaction of the fan.

“I have an edit you made printed out. Could you sign it?” the boy asked, hope filling his eyes. Katherine couldn’t say no. She chuckled as she placed her hand forward, motioning him to give it to her.

“I don’t sign anything usually, but because you are cute, I’ll do it.” She gave him a playful wink. Rounds of hugs followed. Some said they watched all the videos, others said that they liked Laurence and Katherine together. She even received some gifts that she tried to deny.

Laurence told her that it was best she take them. Fans put in a lot of effort for those gifts and it was uncouth to return them or say no. Katherine begrudgingly took the gifts but kept a thankful smile on her face.

The whole affair lasted about an hour and went great. When it finished, Laurence and Katherine went their separate ways. Laurence had to catch up with other content creators while Katherine had to head towards the grand hall to prepare for the competition.

The preparations were coming along great and she was constantly talking to her. All the competitors had had gathered around the table after the event was over. Katherine felt a weight lift off her shoulders as she interacted with the others. They seemed like normal human beings who had been thrown into a large group. Somehow, they managed to keep the conversation flowing.

All the water she drank to stow away her anxiety finally made an appearance. She needed to go to the toilet. She announced the same, garnering giggles around the table.

“While you are there, can you see where Ian went?” Laurence called. “He’s been missing for twenty minutes.”

“Well, if he’s not back in five minutes, I’m stealing his food,” someone joked.

“Will do,” Katherine coughed, giving a thumbs up before she headed to the ladies’ room. After relieving herself, she was about to head out of the stall when she heard the door burst open. The voices that followed sounded somewhat familiar and she quickly placed them as two females from the staff who had been extremely friendly towards her as she struggled through the procedures.

‘I should say hi,’ she thought. Before she could leave the stall, the words they spoke made her freeze.

“I don’t know why people even like her,” Staff number one scoffed. “Like, she is not pretty and everyone knows she is with Laurence to become popular.” Katherine screwed her eyes shut as she tried to reign in her anger. She didn’t know why she didn’t burst out and put them in their places but she stood there, unmoving from the spot as they kept talking about her.

“And his money,” Staff number two supplied helpfully. “I hear Laurence makes six figures every month. I’m talking seven figures a year,” she added. “I can’t believe they let such a subpar looking person and gamer join the championship. She’s not famous enough and her videos are crap at best. Why didn’t they get someone else to fill her slot?” The woman huffed.

Katherine snarled in her thoughts. She was the highest viewed and followed competitor. Moreover, she played better than some of those people sitting at the table.

“She’s a woman. You know how the marketing team harped on representation. They could have taken a much better female representative, in my opinion. Seeing how chummy she is with Laurence, maybe they knew each other from before. Do you think she has connections within the higher tier of staff?” Number one sighed. “Well, we can just crop her out of the photos and keep her from taking too much footage.”

“Enough about the gold-digger. Apparently, some hot guys are in the dining area, wanna go check them out?” Number two commented with a little too much enthusiasm.

The two yammered away as they left the washroom while Katherine stayed in her spot for a significant amount of time before stepping out. She wanted to make sure they were far away, but she was also shaken by the encounter.

This was how people thought of her when she wasn’t even associated with Cage. Instead of thinking about how much worse it could get, she thought about the inevitability of being talked about. She was getting mildly popular and people would continue talking. If she could handle criticism for herself, she could handle it when it came from inconsequential people like those staff members.

She tugged at her hair as she thought about the comments from last night. She saw those on videos and forums all the time and never took them seriously. Last night, she took them so personally that she had teared up. Most of those people were trolls and Katherine had focused on the positive comments.

But this was her first time hearing a mean comment in real life. It was a different playing field, but she was less affected than before.