Published at 28th of July 2022 10:36 am

Chapter 10 Part 3

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“That director…. gives me a bad feeling.”

Mason mumbled and Tony, who was biting into a sandwich, lifted his head up, "Huh?"

“Why? I like him. Isn’t he unique and cool?”

“Cool?”

Mason looked at Tony like he dislikes it.

“He’s totally a genius. All the movies he’d filmed ever since he was twenty-two, have been successful. –He is a little weird, but normally geniuses are a little…. different than normal people.”

Tony stared at the director from afar, who was filming something else, with sparkling eyes. He probably thought, even that kind of weirdness was cool. Mason had felt this before, but it seemed like Tony was a much bigger fan of Director Vick Procter.

A moment ago, Mason had gotten carried away. He had never spent plenty of time, pointing the gun in the air, without a target, and so he’d ended up pulling the trigger, unconsciously. Actually if he had done such a pointless thing, while at work in his past life, his colleagues would have glared at him.

Would he be doing such stupid things, from now on? That bastard Aaron did kill Mason, but he didn’t normally let his guard down, so easily. While living as Haley, and when standing in front of the camera, he’d often felt like something inside him was being dissected.

“……”

Maybe he was just imagining things, simply because he was not used to the cameras. Mason glimpsed at the busily working cameras with displeasure and took a bite of his sandwich.

“Haley, am I doing this correctly?”

He suddenly heard a voice and turned around to see Chase, standing there with eyes sparkling and holding a gun. “Pardon?” Mason chewed on his sandwich.

“Ah, you are in the middle of eating. Is the sandwich good?”

“Do you want some? I thought you ate lunch already.”

Mason pointed at the generous amount of sandwiches, that Tony had prepared. Chase smiled in a friendly manner, with his teeth showing, “Give me one, please,” he said and sat next to him. Tony stuttered, “You, you would eat this kind of food? Are you really okay with that?” Mason chuckled and stuffed ‘this kind of’ sandwich into his mouth, and Chase replied with a perplexed expression.

“What do you mean ‘this kind of’? Haley is also eating this.”

“No, no, I didn’t mean it like that.”

Tony sported a queasy expression, as if he was having butterflies in this stomach and at the same time, he kept glancing at Haley. Mason pitied him and said, “Bring me some cold coke, Tony” giving Tony a chance to look at Chase from a distance.

“Wa, wait a moment. I’ll be right back.”

Tony stood up, as if he had been waiting for this and ran over to where they kept an icebox. Mason watched him digging through the icebox, sweating and turned around. Chase was staring at him.

“-Have some?”

Mason quietly handed him a sandwich again, and Chase gaped at him.

“You are very, very different from the popular opinion.”

“Is that so?”

Mason replied unconcernedly. Chase looked at him with eyes full of admiration and goodwill.

“Yes. No, actually I had been prejudiced. I know this is rude, but I used to think that, those journalists wrote novels instead of articles. And that, you might not necessarily be as promiscuous; but at the same time I’d questioned that maybe there was a little…. I used to have thoughts like that too, but now, in person, I see that you are actually totally different.”

“No, well, I am a little like that actually.”

Mason said humbly. Based on what he’d heard from Tony, most of Haley’s articles were 'unexpectedly' true, unlike how other people thought. If it wasn’t for the bad credibility of that yellow paper, on which those novels had been printed and sold, and without people’s belief that, ‘Even though this is Haley, he’s also human and he definitely wouldn’t do this much,’ Haley would’ve already been buried deep.

“No really, I didn’t expect at all for you to be so calm and charming. You are very thoughtful and patient ….. Of course, you are also very handsome, and your aura is really–”

“Excuse me?”

Mason cut through his praises and smiled awkwardly, but Chase still managed to say something very cheesy in the end, “You are fantastic!”

“Haha…. Thank you! But I think you have misunderstood something….”

“No, I trust my intuition. There is no doubt that you are way more amazing than what is known. I really wanted to clap during the shoot a while ago. –Did you learn separately, perhaps?”

He asked secretly, and Mason chewed on the sandwich to avoid the question.

“Your skill in handing the gun….. My shooting coach is a retired soldier, but I think you are better than him.”

He wore an excited expression and Mason laughed awkwardly. He had been on active duty, just a month ago and so, it was obvious that he was better than a retired soldier. He had only wanted to look like a pretty good amateur, but the director had sneakily inched him on and pushed him to go with the flow. His hands had moved on their own volition. Even if it wasn’t a big risk, that had still been an oversight.

Mason jokingly said, “Really? I guess, I’ve got some talent after all,” with an innocent expression.

“You’ve seriously not studied it? If that’s so, how about learning it properly? I’ll introduce you to my coach-“

Chase was getting too close to Mason for comfort and the moment he tried to refuse, a long shadow approached the top of his head. A sweet, sour smell attacked him.

Splash-!

Mason unconsciously stood up, trying to avoid it, but the liquid falling on top of him, was faster. He got drenched from head to neck. He blinked his eyes, a little irritated and looked up.

“-Oh my! What should I do?”

Melisa stood behind him, with her eyes wide open and shaking a cup. Mason stuck his tongue out a little to taste the liquid. The smell was strongly sweet, sour. Was it lemonade?

“I poured it, because I smelled something bad while walking.…. and I was right, it was the rag. It turned out to be good, because I don’t have to feel sorry after all.”

She laughed, covering her mouth. Chase stood up shouting, “Melisa, what-” Tony, who had been watching Chase with eyes full of a fan’s heart, shouted, “Liz!!! Liz!!!” and came running.

“Why did you do such a childish thing?”

“Did you just scream at me?”

Chase was mad at Melisa, and she looked at him with tearful eyes. He was about to burst upon her detestable face, but stopped, biting his lips, because his upright character did not allow him to.

“Hey, there-! What’s going on?”

Filming was stopped briefly, because of the fuss they made, and the director watched them from a distance. Mason waved his hands and said, “It’s nothing” and turned to Melisa. Looking at Mason’s impassive face, Melisa’s lips trembled.

“-Hmph, why? Looks like even the director has taken to you. Why don’t you go, suck his dick and tell him to cut me off?”

“Me–, Melisa!”

A normally well-mannered Chase was shocked by her explicit and foul words. He stopped her, but she glared at him with anger.

“Why? Did you fall for this rag too? When I offered my lunch, you said you were full, but now, you are eating this cheap thing. How can you do this to me? I’m really dumbfounded–!”

‘How am I worse than this rag?’ said her facial expression, when Mason turned around to look at her. He stared at her big breasts for a second and said.

“Melisa.”

She glared at him angrily, daring him to say something. Mason slowly wiped off some of the liquid and said.

“You probably feel it a little, it's not that people like me, it’s more likely that they hate you.”

‘You’re an idiot if you haven’t realize that already. Don’t tell me that you haven’t?’ –When Mason finished talking, Melisa looked taken aback, “Wha, what did you say?” Her face turned red. Instead of repeating himself, Mason graced her with a smile full of pity, turned around and headed to the restroom.

Soon afterwards, he heard a horrible shriek and a mixture of insults. He did not look back.

*****

“Ah, really….”

Melisa was Mason’s type a little, since she kind of looked like Julia, but he hadn’t expected her personality to be so fierce. The curse words that Melisa spewed on his back, surprised even Mason, who’d spent his entire life on the low ground.

Tony seemed to be dealing with the film set that Mason had ruined, so he didn’t follow him. In fact, compared to throwing lemonade at people’s faces, what Mason did was less serious. He knew Melisa would go insane if he told her that, but he still did it. Well, off-the-wall if something did go wrong, he just wouldn’t receive the fifty thousand dollars. Losing it would be regrettable, but it can’t be helped. Wrapping up his thoughts readily, Mason continued to wipe down his wet clothes.

His clothes weren’t so wet, since he mostly got hit on his face, but how much syrup did they put in? The sweet, sticky feeling refused to disappear.

“Tsk!”

After agonizing for a while, Mason took off his clothes and washed the sections, where the lemonade had splattered, with soap. He squeezed it to get rid of excess moisture and shook it. Although cold and damp, it was better than being sticky. Anyway the sun outside was nice and the clothes will dry soon. Also, it was a little on the hot side, and now it’ll be cooler.

Mason wiped his wet hands on the knees and left the restroom.

He shuffled out of the building and started walking. Melisa was probably still excited and teed off, so he thought it wouldn’t be a good idea to go back to the set right away. Gloria already told him that there was a lot of time left before the next scene. And…..

Fidgeting with his collar, Mason studied the surrounding, moving only his eyes. It wasn’t his original intention, but since he was here, he couldn’t help but look around.

He wondered if the men from Zii were still around; evidences left behind by them, were still visible.

A camera lens aperture glinted in the sunlight, from a window in the building, right across his old apartment. Flowerpots with cameras planted in them, had been placed at the florist’s, in front of the building entrance. The products used weren’t Zii favorites, at any rate it proved they were still looking for his appearance.

“Tsk…..”

Mason clicked his tongue. He guessed they still haven’t caught on to Aaron’s trail. Had they found a single evidence of Aaron being alive, they’d have easily guessed that the destroyed corpse wasn’t his.

“No, well, actually I don’t have to care….”

It was somebody else’s work, but he still felt pity for his colleagues, who were wasting their time. Stupid bastards. Mason had instructed them several times to move their bodies more if they weren’t smart enough, but they were still the same. Of course, he was also to blame for leaving behind a few traces in his old apartment.

The sun was strong and his clothes dried fast. There sweet, sour smell still lingered but somehow his mood brightened. Should he start back to the set? Mason checked his watch and the moment he tried to move his feet, he felt bothered by something. He glanced across the street, froze and rubbed his eyes.

“Why is that guy there again…..?”

Mason muttered like a moan. Across the street, a familiar man, who Mason knew, was surrounded by tough looking men.

It was Noah.

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