Jessica sat paralysed on her bed. This could not be happening. All her fans could see this! How was she going to face the backlash?

In a daze, Jessica returned to the Arm Wrestle for Love website and resumed reading. When a second reader pointed out that although Jessica was clearly recognisable in the sex clip, the man banging her was out of the frame and could be anyone, SheBangsHard defended himself with confidence. “Freeze frame and zoom in,” he wrote. “There is a photo frame on the dresser in the background. There is your beloved STAR specialist, looking splendid in his blue uniform.”

Jessica felt tears welling up. This was more than she could take. She needed her best friend by her side right now.

As she reached for her mobile phone, she noticed there was an incoming message. It was from Inspector Toh Boon Hwee, the one who had taken her statement after the Little India riot.

This is to pre-empt you that the media will likely be pounding on your door soon. Haroon, the migrant worker who carried you to the ambulance, has woken up.

Chapter 12

A blessing in disguise was what it turned out to be.

That was the thought that ran through Sharon’s mind as she skimmed the online articles. She had tasked Masri to compile a list of trending articles so she could gauge the public’s response to the new revelations that had emerged with the awakening of the comatose migrant worker.

When the lawyer representing Haroon Kumar first made the claim that no sexual assault ever occurred in the ambulance, there was uproar among the public. It was a false claim! That was what lawyers were paid to do—lie through their teeth! How could anyone doubt the suffering that Jessica Tan Jia Lin underwent the night of the riot? Overnight, six online petitions sprouted simultaneously to gather signatures and to demand that the police prosecute the rapist Haroon Kumar. He might be weak from three months in a comatose state but the prison cell would allow him years of reposeful convalescence.

The public furore was so vehement that the police commissioner felt compelled to make a statement in response. He stated simply that Jessica Tan did not claim, in her statement taken right after the riot, that she was sexually assaulted. Neither had the medical examination she underwent revealed any evidence of physical or sexual assault.

The public went into shock. How could that be possible? Did Jessica not, at one point or another, claim that she was a rape survivor? Did she not kick-start the J Bruise Movement to motivate and support rape victims? What did she have to say now? But Jessica Tan Jia Lin could not be contacted for comments. The young woman appeared to have gone into hiding.