DOS
Lisa froze on the spot.
She felt as if someone had knocked her hard on the chest, she couldn't hear anything other than Irene's voice. It was only when Irene's figure disappeared that Lisa regained her senses and realized that the scene had already finished filming.
The director watched the replay off to one side, hesitating over whether to re-take it or not. Although Irene completely didn't follow the script, the female lead she played was a coldhearted assassin, her disposition overbearing and awkward, so refusing to look at the male lead while confessing was actually very in-line with her character. The rarest was the expression that Irene had just now. Even if they told her to act it out once again, she might not be able to replicate this kind of feeling.
"Re-take it." Lisa suddenly said softly.
"Huh? What?"
Lisa was still staring at the place where Irene had been standing. There was the hint of a smile on her lips, she spoke softly, but brooked no argument, "Cut that earlier sequence, shoot it again according to the script."
Lisa was the big boss of the investors, and so they had to do their best not to offend her. Plus, the director was already hesitant in the first place, and this spurred him into making an immediate decision... he asked the workers to prepare for a reshoot.
Irene had been sitting to the side resting, so Lisa walked over with a smile, and told her about the director's decision.
"Hmm," Irene wasn't surprised, she only peeked at Lisa, "Was my acting just now not up to par?"
"It was quite marvelous." Lisa fixed her stare upon Irene, a smoldering light began to burn in her eyes, she pushed down the impulse to kiss her right then and there with all her might. "I've decided to keep this segment for my personal collection, so it would be impossible for it to be broadcast on TV."
Irene immediately grinned, "The royalty fees will be really expensive."
"No matter, listen to my offer first." Lisa pressed on Irene's shoulder, making a show of dusting her off, as she leaned closer and closer to her ear and said with her voice lowered, "When we get back tonight, I'll read the script for you too. I'll read it however many times you want to hear it."
Irene's breath caught in her throat, and she sat up straight at once.
Lisa gave her a smile, she smoothed the wrinkles on her clothes with meticulous movements, then as if nothing had happened, turned around and left.
A long moment passed before Irene leaned back against the chair again. She calmed her violently thumping heart, and raised her head to look at the azure blue skies as she slid the script up, bit by bit, to cover her face.
The expression on her face at that moment wasn't something she wanted to share with anyone else.
There were still some hours until nighttime.
Irene felt that the next part of the day was more like chaos during wartime. They first reshot that important scene. This time she didn't play any tricks and acted out the scene properly according to the script.
It wasn't exactly outstanding, but there weren't any glaring issues either. She finally made it until work wrapped up for the day, there was still a dinner waiting that evening.
The one spending the money to treat them was Lisa, and so the location for the dinner was chosen by her as well. The grand hotel downtown was in a prime location, disregarding the actual cuisine, the decor alone was extravagant enough.
PD Kim was busy with something else and arrived a bit later. Perhaps she was afraid of being attacked by Irene, she also brought several young assistants along with her. They were all young men and women, and really knew how to cut loose and have fun during a drinking party; it didn't take long for them to liven up the atmosphere.
Irene remembered her chat with Lisa the night before, and asked her about the matter of her engagement ring. PD Kim was the carefree type, but her face unexpectedly turned scarlet when this was mentioned, and she sputtered, too embarrassed to speak.
It was the man next to her who spilled the beans when he said, "I proposed PD Kim that night at the wrap party!"
"Yeah! All those people were waiting for her to give her speech for getting the award. She on the other hand, secretly slipped away to the roof and quietly settled on her marriage."
"No hints beforehand, not a peep out of her afterwards, PD Kim is so sneaky."
"You were once a soju ambassador, now penalty drink! Penalty drink!"
The youngsters started making a ruckus one after another, and kept bugging PD Kim to drink.
PD Kim scratched her head, she wasn't uptight at a time like this though, she drank three shots in a row, earning a round of cheers.
Lisa was the only one who didn't make a sound, she was busy helping Irene distribute the food from start to finish, and didn't even look up once. It wasn't until PD Kim continued to drink that she stepped in to fend off some shots for her.
Irene listened as they talked about the wrap party, only then did she remember that PD Kim had disappeared for a stretch of time that night. Apparently, she had gone off and got proposed by her boyfriend. She thought about it more carefully, wasn't that also the night she spent with Lisa on the seawall getting blown around by the wind? It was only from that night onwards, when their relationship actually started to gradually change.
In that case, that really had been an unusually auspicious day.
Lisa was pouring tea into her cup, she saw that Irene was smiling, and couldn't help asking, "What are you thinking about?"
Irene waved a hand, "Just wondering how PD Kim got proposed."
"What could be so original about a proposal? It's just getting down on one knee and whipping out a ring, right? Oh, but PD Kim is a bit dumber than everyone else, she almost tripped when she was getting ready to put the ring."
Irene wasn't expecting her to be so good at putting someone down, she let out a laugh.
"Almost sounds like you saw it with your own eyes or something."
The look in Lisa's eyes darkened, she didn't continue the subject, she only smiled, "When we get PD Kim drunk later, we can talk to her about the whole film business."
Irene felt that something was a bit off, she kept thinking that Lisa's smile looked slightly odd, but she couldn't say precisely what was odd about it. Besides, later on there was a short episode, so she no longer paid any heed to this event.
PD Kim had gone for a bathroom trip, when she came back, she brought back an unexpected guest... Karina, who was completely soaked by the rain.
In Karina's own words, she had promised to meet up with her friends from the film crew to eat here. But when she got here, she couldn't find anyone, and her cellphone just happened to run out of battery. She ran into PD Kim when she was going back and forth in the hallway. Because of Lisa, PD Kim had seen her around a few times before, and was on friendly terms with her. PD Kim couldn't bear seeing Karina looking all pitiful and drenched to the bone, so she pulled her inside.
Chances are, no one would've believed that excuse other than big shot PD Kim.
Irene supposed that the little fox had overheard them when she and Lisa were chatting at the filming location. That's why she came all the way here. But Karina had given it some thought, seeing how she was able to find this place, and was patient enough to wait outside the doors for so long, Lisa lifted a hand and beckoned towards Karina to come sit next to her, and even took off her coat and passed it to her. Even if she didn't take off her coat, Lisa definitely would have taken off her own, she may as well play the nice person for once.
After Karina took her seat, she tried to start a conversation with Lisa in every possible way.
Lisa made her responses, but she grabbed Irene's hand under the table.
Irene could only try her best to muffle her laughter.
Over on the other side, PD Kim was forced to drink quite a few more shots. Once the effects of the alcohol over came her, and with just a bit of provocation from Lisa, she patted her chest and promised to let Irene be the female lead.
She even walked over to clap Irene on the shoulder, as she said to her in a hushed voice, "Irene-ah, obviously there's nothing wrong with you as a person, it's just your acting is too...too..."
"Too awful?"
"Heh heh. Originally, there's no way I'd have let you play the lead, but I couldn't stand it when Lisa, the bastard, kept pleading with me. I got all softhearted and ended up agreeing."
"How did Miss Manoban plead with you?"
"She said she wouldn't let me sleep if you didn't get an award."
Irene laughed when she heard this.
PD Kim lowered her voice and continued, "You know how Lisa normally looks like a player? She's actually really pure. She even knows how to write love letters. When I used to chase after partners, she was always the one helping me write love letters. Get her to write one for you someday."
When Lisa heard this, she hurriedly dragged Irene back, "Don't listen to her bullshit."
Irene had a few drinks, and was feeling a bit tipsy, she grabbed Lisa's hand, "You gonna write one for me?"
Lisa didn't know whether to laugh or cry, she kept on sighing as she said, "Okay, okay, I'll write it."
Her face the picture of docile obedience.
Irene thought there would never be a moment as sweet as this, she felt like laughing, even if she was looking at Karina's face.
The dinner was quite a cheery affair, by the time they walked out of the hotel it was deep into the night. There was a light drizzle. Lisa called for two taxis, as she had drunk and couldn't drive. In the middle of everything Karina played some little trick, and managed to squeeze herself onto the same car they were in, so PD Kim could only go and sit in the passenger seat up front.
Irene was sitting in the middle of the backseat, Lisa on one side and Karina on the other. It was quite the enjoyable place to be, but her temples were throbbing, and her heart felt anxious.
Was it because everything was going too well?
Rather, it felt unreal.
"What's wrong? Do you feel unwell?" Lisa saw that Irene kept pressing at her head, and reached out a hand to rub it for her.
Irene leaned into Lisa's arms, half asleep, she drowsily answered, "Wish we could get back soon."
"Can't hold yourself back?" Lisa dipped her head and kissed her hair under the cover of the night, "But those words will have to wait until we're in bed."
Irene forced herself to close her eyes.
The faster the car drove, the faster her heartbeat grew. The thing she had yearned for for so long, she only needed to wait a little more, she only needed to reach out a hand, then she would be able to touch it.
That dream was much too beautiful, so when the car accident occurred, Irene still thought that she was in the middle of the dream.
Because of the rain, when the car turned a corner, it slipped on the wet pavement and violently crashed into a big tree by the roadside. The tree trunk was broken by the force of the crash, and with a loud rumble, the branches fell, smashing right into the car roof.
The driver turned the steering wheel just in time, which resulted in the passenger side taking the worst of the damage. Lisa was sitting right behind the passenger seat, she quickly gave Irene a shove, Irene lurched to the side and slammed into Karina, it hurt so much that both of them drew in a sharp breath.
Then they heard Lisa's scream.
"JENNIE...!!"
Irene had never heard such a heartrending sound before in her life.
Her head instantly cleared.
Everything she had thought odd from before, the tiny details she had ignored from before, they only lined up in the correct order at this moment in time. Lisa's pale face during the wrap party, the photo albums neat and tidy in the study, and even her excuse for suddenly appearing in Damyang city ... all of this had to do with the same person.
And that person ... was not Irene.
Irene saw the shock spilling from Karina's eyes. She knew that her face must be mirroring the same expression. The car had been crushed out of shape, and Lisa still rushed forward, heedless of the danger, to throw herself over PD Kim.
Even saying a thousand "I love you"s had no meaning.
Only during a life or death situation could one's true love be revealed.
― 14 ―
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