He Called Me Ugly Until I Turned Off The Filter Chapter 09
Ethan’s follower count started dropping.
The number in the corner ticked down. Down. Down.
He stared at his creator dashboard, his face cycling from green to white.
Tara grabbed his sleeve. “Babe, say something! You told me she was obsessed with you! You said she was ugly and broke and trying to use you to climb up!”
I laughed once. “So that’s the version he sold you.”
Tara froze. Then rallied — turned to the camera, tears streaming.
“I was tricked too. I didn’t know he was like this. I just… I just loved him.”
I’d heard that line before. Everyone plays victim after the crash.
But she wasn’t one.
I dropped one last screenshot. A message from Tara’s burner account in a fan group DM.
“Ethan’s ex is definitely ugly. Three years hiding her face and still clinging to him — perfect material for stan-baiting. Once our couple content is stable, I’ll have him tell the ‘catfished by an ugly girl’ story. Fans eat that stuff up.”
Tara’s tears stopped.
Chat lost it. She knew. Both of them cashing in on her pain. Stole her name, called her fandom “Willow Drops,” then called the real Willow ugly. The discount replica roasting the original — I’m dead.
Tara shrieked, “That’s not me!”
“The platform can verify,” I said.
V’s next line dropped in.
⟢ Account link verification submitted. ⟣
Tara went sheet-white. Finally dropped the act.
“Willow — who are you? Why does V keep helping you?”
I wanted to know too.
A second later, V sent a live audio request. I hesitated, then accepted.
No camera. Just a low, unhurried voice.
“Ms. Sheridan. This isn’t the first time we’ve seen each other.”
I stilled.
“Three months ago, outside Queens Community. An older woman dropped her prescription bottles on the sidewalk and you stopped to help her pick them up. I was in the car across the street. I noticed you.”
“I had someone try to find you afterward. I wanted to book you for a public-service campaign. By the time my people got there, you’d already left. All I had was your grandmother’s last name on the visitor log.”
Chat erupted again. So V wasn’t gift-slipping — he already knew what she looked like? A PSA campaign? A certified stunner filter-goblined herself — I can’t take this.
V went on.
“I sent the gifts because I recognized you. Not out of pity. Not out of charity.”
A pause.
“Willow. You’re beautiful. You don’t have to shrink yourself into something the world will accept.”
I couldn’t speak.
Grandma had told me the same thing. I’d never believed her.
I looked at my own face on the screen. Still didn’t feel like mine.
But for the first time — I didn’t want to hide from it.
Before I closed the battle, I looked at Ethan.
“You promised you’d get on your knees.”
He almost sagged with relief.
“I don’t need it anymore,” I said. “Save your strength. You’re going to need it — for the platform, your lawyer, and your fans.”
I cut the connection.