Published at 28th of July 2022 10:36 am

Chapter 11 Part 1

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Mason thought that the world was very small, scratching his head. It wasn’t as if the guy showed up wherever he went, but he had met him several times in a month already, that too in the most unexpected places.

It would make more sense if Mason had met him in Beverly Hills. Did Noah have work around here to come and go frequently? But he had never met him before, in front of his old apartment, when he lived there for the past 10 years!

“……”

Mason stared at the man for a while and murmured, “No, just ignore him.” Even if he were to talk to him, Noah would coldly say, ‘Didn’t you say that you won’t talk to me after we get off from the elevator?’

Noah wasn’t a small seven year old or an unstable seventeen year old, anymore. The guys surrounding him looked pretty dangerous, but they cannot just touch ‘the Raycarlton’, much less beg for money or do something. That man had enough money to pour it in a swimming pool and swim in it, so he’d probably be okay.

“Huk….”

But right afterwards, Mason gasped. Mason had to admit that he had underestimated the street robbers, because, just then, one of them had taken out a gun and pointed it at Noah.

***

The director of the movie Real, Vick Procter, picked at his ear and apathetically said, “Yes, yes. He was too harsh.”

Melisa Ain was a one of the hottest female actors in Hollywood recently. Not long ago she’d undertaken a deaf psychic role in a drama, which at the end of its screenings had left an already quite well known Melisa, with five hefty CF (commercial films). People say that it was the merit of the role that she played, but this was Hollywood, where however amazing a role it was, if an actress cannot play it well, she’ll disappear just like how so many others did. Whether because of the role or not, Melisa seized the moment and jumped in to become the new, hot actress. How long can she keep it hot that would depend on her ability, but at any rate there were many places eager to have her.

Vick had picked her from a list that was recommended by the production company. She wasn’t that bad, and Vick thought her image would fit just right. Actually an actress wasn’t so important for this movie. Vick would just have to please her a little and shoot an okay scene.

Turns out, he didn’t exactly love her. Actually he disliked her, but this was a work and he was a pro. As long as she gives a good performance, he wouldn’t care even if she were a murderer. There were countless actresses with bad personalities, and the ones with nice characters were so few and far

between. It was not like Vick casted those rare nice actors.

What use does an actor have for a good personality anyway? Doesn’t matter if they were rags, junkies, or mad; as long as they shined through the camera’s viewfinder, Vick can film anybody.

The problem was in fact Melisa wasn’t shining that much.

Everyone in the set had given that impression. Chase, who was unbelievably bright and gentle for a Hollywood actor, was sick of her and because he couldn’t ruin the mood in the set, he was patiently listening to all her whines. The staff were either unnoticeably avoiding her or leaving her out, ignoring her completely.

The only one who didn’t know any of this was Melisa, who had become famous overnight like Cinderella and had lost her sense, indulging in narcissism.

‘It’s not that people like me; it’s more likely that they hate you. You’re an idiot if you haven’t realized that already. Don’t tell me that you haven’t?’

When Haley had said so with an indifferent expression, Vick, who was standing up from his chair and looking over at them, had laughed loudly. He laughed so loudly that soon everybody was staring at him.

“Ugh… Director, uh, really that, hck, hck, that rag, uggggh…”

“Huh? What did you say?”

Vick pretended not to understand and asked her again. She held in her cry and said, sobbing

“Director- Director likes that rag better too, right?”

“Huh? Me?”

“That’s why you, laughed, hughhh,”

She said sobbing her heart out and Vick rubbed his cheeks that were sore from laughing too much.

Actually it wasn’t Vick’s decision to cast Haley. Few weeks ago, the biggest sponsor had asked for a role like that of a gangster, and Vick had fought back a little, but threw a role that any unknown actor could have played. And next day when he’d heard from Gloria that the person who got casted was Haley Lusk, he had been pretty surprised.

Haley Lusk? He’d never met him, but Haley had been publicized so frequently in the third-rated magazines that Vick enjoyed to read that of course, he knew him. Most of the articles bearing his name were mostly dirty or stupid, and whenever Vick saw these articles, he clicked his tongue and used to think, ‘Wow, what is he gonna do after this…’

When Vick saw the recent Raynoah incident and read about the attempted suicide, he had murmured to himself, ‘He’s doomed for real this time’. And not so surprisingly, Haley was recently fired from the television series that he had worked on for the past ten years.

He’d never wanted to film him. ‘A gay guy with a rag’s image?’ Vick wasn’t an art house director; he was a public movie director. People didn’t like him… and Vick himself did not find Haley attractive too.

‘It’s just an extra role, I should give it a try,’ Vick had thought but not so enthusiastically. He felt that Haley had poured filth on his movie; so to be honest he was a little upset. ‘A killer with such an image? What’s this?’ He’d thought. ‘Were they trying to turn my movie into a laughingstock?’ So he hadn’t been keen to go to the set that day.

He woke up on time and when he couldn’t push it any later, he arrived at the film set, still dragging his feet. A killer role played by a promiscuous gay? He wondered if there was any other role and went inside the restroom only to find Haley Lusk there.

Haley, now that they’ve actually met, was…. Well. He was very different from what he had imagined. A few profile pictures he’d seen were honestly that of a common junkie, who one could come across in an alley. Skinny, poor, and eyes blurry like a dead fish.

But the Haley in flesh was very different. First he looked like he exercised a little, and his skin was oddly clear. Exercise and skin care. He got it up to there, but couldn’t figure out the next bit. Had he done any plastic surgery? Did he get botox? Filler? He thought about several other things, but the changes in Haley’s appearance weren’t particularly of that of his facial features.

What did he do to change his aura so completely? Vick thought. If Haley were this kind of a person, he would give him a try as an extra. He had imagined a guy, to whom the word ‘gun’ brought an image of a dick, but unexpectedly, really unexpectedly, Haley had managed to stimulate Vick’s creative curiosity.

How would this man look if he held a gun? Vick had an idea about the image that will emerge. Vick, his heart throbbing a little, told Haley to hold a gun. And when Haley held the gun with his both of his hands and aimed at some far away spot,

‘Oh my gosh, Director, this….’

Chase, who was standing next to him quietly, slurred his words, and Vick completely understood what he meant to say.

This was different. This was totally different from what he had thought. The man, who Vick thought wouldn’t be suitable at all, turned into a complete professional when he held the gun. The angle of his arm holding the gun, his stare, direction of his chin, and his whole vibe turned sharp all of a sudden. Haley was different from all those models, who’d held a gun like a lovely prop and acted all cutesy, whenever he’d asked them to pose for something with a gun.

How would he look through the camera’s viewfinder? Will this scattered shininess show through on film too? –Vick felt himself growing impatient to film him as soon as possible.

He knew it was a little too much but still asked Haley to assemble the gun and pull the trigger aiming outside the window. Honestly Vick didn’t care if the gun was actually getting assembled or not, not as long as he got a pretty good shot. Haley can just pretend to be an expert and they can always edit it later and make something out of it.

But Haley’s hands that were assembling the gun attracted people’s attention from the very beginning. They were a little slow but at the same time smooth. He didn’t stutter or anything and got all the pieces right, screwed the screws and connected the parts, until the parts become a gun; it was like watching a documentary. Vick secretly told his staff to turn on the camera.

‘Pull the trigger, Haley.’

When he whispered, he wasn’t in his mind either. Bang-! Because of the silencer, the shot rang quietly inside the room and everybody stared quietly at Haley.

They needn’t check the shot they’d just filmed. They knew that a moment ago an amazing scene was born.

‘I should’ve given Haley a bigger role.’ –Vick, who’d thought he didn’t want to use Haley even as an extra only this morning, was already regretting his decision.

Actually that killer’s role was not at all important, and since it would be a waste to not use this scene, it will still go into the movie, but stand out of place. Those idiot film producers, who don’t even have eyes, might try to cut the scene without even realizing that it was the only thing good in the whole movie.

While filming other scenes later that afternoon, Vick kept thinking ‘Too bad. Too bad.’ The scene that he wanted to film or the scene that transpired better than he imagined, cannot be used: what a damned situation. While he kept shooting, unfocussed and thinking about Haley, a fuss broke out on the other side of the set.

Haley, drenched from head to shoulder, was standing without showing any expression. In front of him there was Melisa and standing next to him was Chase, sporting an angry expression. He knew Melisa, who had sharp claws, would do something to Mason, but what he couldn’t predict was Haley’s reaction.

He didn’t get mad or cry or cursed. He just gave her advice as if stating the obvious, ‘it’s not that people like me, it’s more likely that they hate you.’

Vick knew it wasn’t right, but burst out laughing when Haley asked her ‘Are you an idiot?’ He thought he was watching a dramatic comedy.

‘I shouldn’t have laughed like that for the sake of the left over scenes.’ –Vick regretted a little bit later, but he wasn’t confident he wouldn’t laugh again if he thought back to that incident.

“Hugh, how can he just say that- Isn’t he an extra, and I, the main character? If people didn’t like me, why would they hire me as a main character?”

Melisa wasn’t even crying now, but she kept talking like she was very sad. Vick had kept repeating ‘yes, yes, you are the best and he’s not that good.’ ‘Ah! I want to run away now.’ Vick glanced at Chase, but he seemed to be really mad this time and wasn’t even looking at them.

“Even Chase- He took that rag’s side. Isn’t it obvious that I’m sad? Don’t you think so, Director?”

Melisa actually had quite a crush on Chase. If Chase helped him out, it’ll be easier to calm Melisa down. Vick made another signal towards Chase, to tell her a single word, ‘sorry’. But instead of apologizing, Chase turned around and walked away. ‘Aigoo, my head!’

“H…. ugggh, Directorrrr!”

Vick sighed quietly when Melisa started to cry again. Actually Vick didn’t even like her, so he wondered if he really needed to go through this.

“Yes, yes. I understand everything. Right now Chase is a little shy and he’s not that mad. Later, after you calmed down a little bit, Chase will probably come back and apologize. You know, he may look like that, but Chase is a very shy guy, so he can’t say what he wants to say.”

Vick kept talking but he didn’t even mean to calm her down, and she wiped her tears and mucus and said

“Really, my pride is hurt, and I’m so upset that I can't shoot my scenes. How can he do this to me? What so if I poured some lemonade? Do you know what he poured on me last time?”

She was sobbing sorrowfully and cursed at Haley as much as she wanted. ‘Just a while ago, he probably practiced for several days and nights and then pretended like he didn’t know anything, only to move swiftly later, like a fox. Just looking at that crazy bitch was scary and insidious,’ she chewed on him for a while and at the end she finally said.

“Director, can’t you cut him off?”

“Huh?”

“He’s not even that important, right? Doesn’t matter who plays the role, right? Don’t you agree? There are many good rookies in my agency, it’ll be good if one of them is cast-“

At this juncture, a good answer would have been, ‘Oh, should we?’ or ‘Of course, just as you say.’ But Vick unconsciously said, “Huh?” and startled. She opened her eyes wide.

“Why? Don’t tell me Director, you don’t want to cut him off? I’m telling you, I can’t do this movie if he acts!”

“Ah, that….”

Vick hesitated, and she stood up with an angry expression “Oh my gosh!”

“Is it gonna be me or him? Choose! If you like him so much, why don’t you just make him the main character and shoot!”

Vick couldn’t bring himself to say, ‘Of course, I want you!’ Because he ended up thinking, ‘Ah, Haley as a main character, now that’s a good idea.’ Vick’s insincere reaction made Melisa to bite her lips. She turned around, with a bright red face and yelled for her manager, “Ellie!!” She took her manager and walked out of the set, trembling, without giving anyone the time to stop her.

“Melisa. Melisa!”

Vick called after her. Haley, as a main character? Of course filming Haley was more fun than expected and the movie might turn out to be good, but he cannot afford do that. Haley was not an actor that can help the movie in the box-office. Not only would it be unhelpful, but people might also start boycotting the movie, and the investors probably will hate him. Well, of course, the one who pushed him was indeed the biggest investor, NLC, but still…. Vick didn’t understand why he kept organizing his thoughts around making Haley the main character. What cannot be done cannot be done. Also what about the scenes that were already filmed? Using a top actor like Chase, a leading female actress, and a leading male actor? The story and the flow of the movie will have to change completely.

“Hey, Melisa? Melisa!”

Vick desperately thought of reasons why he can’t use Haley. He didn’t have to think hard. A long list reasons unrolled in his head, like a toilet paper.

“Melisa….”

She was stalking out at an amazing pace for someone wearing heels and Vick grabbed her shoulders in order to stop her. She was crying so much that her face was a mess. Vick was trying to say, ‘How can I use Haley instead of you? Does that even make sense? The only person that will make Chase shine in this movie is you.’ He obviously had to say something to calm her down and bring her back to the set. That’s the duty of a professional director.

But he did not do so and the reason was because of a situation unfolding right across the street. Haley was running somewhere, in the direction of some thugs holding a gun and at the end of it was, Raynoah.

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