Maria sat alone under a tree for a while, staring at her phone screen that kept flashing. Finally, she rubbed her face and was about to stand up when her agent walked over.
“Are you calm now?” Her agent crossed her arms and looked at Maria’s expression.
She had been following behind Osborn when he took Maria away, but she stood far enough back that she could only see their conversation. She didn’t hear what they said, or rather, she didn’t want to hear it. In truth, there were some things she knew in her heart but since Maria hadn’t brought them up with her directly, the agent didn’t want to ask too many questions.
The agent wasn’t overly concerned about Maria; after all, she was just one of the artists under her management.
“Sorry,” Maria whispered.
“Don’t apologize like that to me. The director is still waiting for you,” the agent said, turning away without displaying much emotion. “Maria, there are some things I don’t want to meddle in, but I’ll tell you one thing: you’re a public figure, an actress facing countless cameras every day.”
Maria paused for a moment, then lifted a hint of a smile. “I know, after all, I still have a long way to go in this industry.”
Her hand, originally about to turn off her phone, hesitated. Maria pursed her lips and, in the end, shut down her phone completely.
Back on the set, the agent led Maria to apologize to the staff one by one, vaguely attributing the previous incident to feeling unwell.
Although the director was somewhat displeased, Maria was the rising star at Star Entertainment, and a confrontation would benefit neither side.
After the makeup artist touched up their looks, the advertising shoot with Maria and Osborn continued smoothly, almost in one take.
After a few additional shots, the advertising shoot on this side concluded successfully.
Maria breathed a sigh of relief, hastily eating a sandwich, preparing to follow the agent onto the car to the next shooting location.
However, before she could board, the driver came down from the driver’s seat.
“What’s wrong?” Maria took a sip of water, nearly choking because of eating too quickly.
“It seems like there’s an issue with the car; it won’t start,” the driver shook his head.
Hearing this, Maria looked worried. “What should we do? We still need to return to the set.”
The agent rubbed her chin, then clapped her hands suddenly. “You can take Osborn’s car. After all, you’ll be heading back to the set together later.”
“The same car?” Maria’s face looked strange. “Aren’t you afraid of being caught by paparazzi again, saying that the two of us are in the same car?”
“You two are from the same company, and how can you be sure that there are no paparazzi around here? It would be fine if they take pictures of your car breaking down,” said the agent as she patted Maria’s shoulder and sent a message to Osborn’s agent.
Maria rolled her eyes and then saw Osborn’s agent coming to pick them up.
She had wanted to tweet on her phone but was stopped by her agent. She looked at her phone screen quietly with a glint in her eyes.
“Aren’t we leaving yet? Are we just standing here for photoshoots?” The agent poked Maria’s forehead and pulled her back as she was lost in thought.
Maria quickly followed him, but as soon as she got into Osborn’s chauffeur-driven car, someone stumbled over towards them.
Kim saw Maria’s chauffeur-driven car and walked over, but only found the driver standing there beside it.
“Where is Maria?” Kim looked inside the car but didn’t see anyone there.
“You are…” The driver was startled when Kim approached him suddenly. He suspected at first that he might be a fan, but then recognized his face from somewhere else.
“You’re Kim? Maria’s boyfriend.” The driver slapped his head before finally remembering who he was talking to.
“Is she still filming?” Kim asked softly with a smile on his lips.
“Nope. She just left,” replied the driver shaking his head.
“Alone?” Kim felt surprised because even if it were after work hours, she should have taken this chauffeur-driven vehicle home instead of another one belonging to their company.
The driver patted on the bodywork helplessly before smiling wryly, “Nope! This vehicle broke down so I’m waiting for towing services while she took another ride with colleagues from our company.”
Kim was momentarily stunned, a strange expression on his face.
He took two steps back, looking down at the conversation box on his phone that received no replies, clenching his teeth.
…
This scene was set in a bar, revolving around the incident between Maria and Osborn in the bar. Though there was an element of covering up, there was ultimately a reasonable explanation for that incident.
Now that Maria and Osborn were the company’s main stars, Star Entertainment was willing to go to such lengths to make amends.
“Follow the script.”
The director gestured, the camera was ready to roll, and Maria sat across from Osborn, unable to help but prop up her cheek.
“I didn’t expect to reenact this scene.”
Maria felt these past few days had been chaotic; even the prop drink in her hand was mostly water, tasteless when sipped.
“Sorry.”
Thinking about the previous incident, Osborn felt awkward.
“I don’t accept it,” Maria chuckled softly where the camera couldn’t see, “and right now, we’re filming. What you should say are lines, not apologies.”
Osborn’s eyes flickered, and he reached out, gently caressing Maria’s cheek before leaning in to kiss her lips.
At that moment, a camera zoomed in to capture Maria’s expression. She hesitated for a moment, then slowly closed her eyes.
Similar actions to that day but a different state of mind.
“Cut!”
The director shouted in front of the monitor. Maria immediately pushed Osborn away, vigorously wiping her lips.
“You’re drunk,” Maria recited lines from the script.
Osborn didn’t speak, only reaching out to pull Maria, but she shook him off and left without a second thought.
“Cut! It’s a wrap!” the director announced. Maria hurried to the monitor to review her performance, finding no mistakes.
Several more scenes were shot, extending into the late night, and the crew decided to wrap it up manually.
“Quick, send out a tweet; it seems like you’ve been off the grid for a while,” the agent draped a coat over Maria’s shoulders.
“Ah…” Maria hesitated for a moment before saying, “My phone is out of battery. I’ll do it when I get back.”
“Your phone ran out of battery? Don’t you have several power banks charging it every day?” the agent teased, making Maria shift her gaze uncomfortably.