Director Beck’s movie starred two heavyweights in the industry. The Movie King, Edward, had been famous for over a decade and was already married with kids, with a massive fan base.
The Movie Queen, Crystal, had won numerous awards both domestically and internationally since her debut, and her standing in the industry was significant. It was also rumored that her background was so strong that no one dared to mess with her.
Edward still hadn’t shaken off his prejudice against Sarah and remained frosty towards her.
Crystal, who seemed aloof and difficult, made the other actors on set nervous, so they gravitated more toward Edward.
Especially Elisa, who, after Edward finished a scene, thoughtfully handed him a bottle of cold water. “Mr. Edward, you must be tired. Have some water.”
Edward had seen all kinds of beauties in his years in showbiz, but girls like Elisa, who were sweet, pure, and kind-hearted, were rare. After frowning at Sarah earlier, his face softened when he saw Elisa. “Thank you.”
At first, Edward had a low opinion of Elisa because of her poor acting skills. But now he thought, being bad at acting was better than being a bad person. At least Elisa didn’t send late-night texts asking to rehearse, nor did she slander other girls by spreading false messages.
Edward’s assistant, in particular, thought Elisa was a little angel.
Elisa knew her acting wasn’t great, but she tried hard to make up for it. She cozied up to Edward, saying, “Mr. Edward, could you give me some tips for my next scene?”
Faced with such a lively and cute girl, Edward felt protective. “Sure, come with me. I’ll show you.”
Elisa felt a bit smug and shot a glance at Sarah, but Sarah wasn’t paying attention to them at all. She didn’t care about Edward. After all, he wasn’t the only award-winning actor in the country-there were plenty who had won more awards than him. She wasn’t about to grovel just to win his favor.
Sarah had already explained the text situation the night before. If he didn’t want to believe her, so be it. She wasn’t interested in some nearly forty-year-old guy anyway.
To be honest, Edward was really handsome, especially compared to other male celebrities, but next to Holden, he didn’t even come close.
Sarah pinched her own cheek, wondering why she kept comparing every guy she met to Holden. Maybe it was because Holden was just too exceptional.
Richer than Holden? As far as she knew, there wasn’t anyone wealthier in City N.
More handsome than Holden? She hadn’t come across anyone who could top him in that department either.
Sarah sighed. It figured-the man who paid her bills was the best thing in this world. If Holden ever divorced her, losing those twenty million a month would be enough to make her fall into a deep depression.
“I’m still new to the industry and haven’t thought about signing with a company yet,” Sarah replied.
Crystal looked a bit disappointed. “Alright then.”
The two of them sat down together, and Sarah pulled out a box of strawberry milk from the sleeve of her costume. “Miss Crystal, want some?”
Crystal wrinkled her nose in a picky manner. “I don’t drink sugary drinks.” She had gained a little weight recently, and her agency had strict requirements for her figure.
But after glancing around and noticing her assistant wasn’t nearby, Crystal quickly took the strawberry milk from Sarah’s hand and sipped it. “… It’s not that bad.”
Not many people in the cast talked to Crystal, especially not newcomers. Either they believed the rumors that she was difficult and avoided her, or they were overly obsequious, which made her uncomfortable.
Sarah’s natural and unafraid attitude, neither too fawning nor too distant, made a good impression on her.
Half an hour later, the two were sitting face-to-face, each holding their phones as they teamed up to play a game.
Elisa and the Movie King Edward walked out of the lounge, only to see Sarah and Crystal chatting away happily.
It was well-known that Crystal had a bad temper, so Elisa had been too nervous to try to get close to her and had instead tried to befriend her assistant. But now, seeing Crystal with one arm around Sarah’s shoulder, looking nothing like the rumored diva, and instead appearing almost kind, Elisa bit her lip.
She knew Sarah liked to compete with her. Seeing her getting close to the Movie King, Sarah must have gotten jealous and turned to flatter someone even more influential, like Crystal. Sarah always wanted to outdo her.
Crystal had a late-night scene.
After finishing her own shoots, Sarah headed back early.
Once Sarah left the set, Elisa sneaked over to Crystal. “Miss Crystal, are you close with Sarah?”
Crystal frowned. “What’s it to you?”
To be honest, Crystal had the least respect for actresses like Elisa, whose lack of basic skills caused endless retakes and dragged down the whole crew.
Elisa faltered. “I just wanted to warn you to be careful with Sarah. We were classmates, and she had a bad reputation back in school.”
Crystal’s face instantly darkened. She’d been notorious for skipping classes frequently during her school days, so she didn’t have the best reputation either.
Elisa, oblivious to the tension, continued, “And she tried to steal my boyfriend. I saw in the news that you recently started dating a handsome young guy, so you need to watch out.”
“Steal your boyfriend? What is he, some rare treasure that everyone’s dying to have?”
Crystal’s temper was notoriously short, and this time was no different. “Talking behind someone’s back like this doesn’t make you a good person. If you’ve got the guts, say it to Sarah’s face.”
Elisa hadn’t expected Crystal to react like that.
Crystal had a loud voice, so when she yelled, pretty much half the crew heard her.
Elisa was both embarrassed and ashamed, lowering her head as her face turned bright red.
Edward and Crystal had never really gotten along; they’d worked together a few times, but it was always lukewarm. But Crystal had a much higher status than Edward, and she had connections too, so Edward usually tried to avoid crossing her.
When Edward saw Crystal picking on a newbie, his protective instincts kicked in, and he decided to step in and get Elisa out of there. “Come on, Crystal, don’t bully the poor girl. She’s twenty years younger than you; she’s just a kid. Cut her some slack.”
Elisa pitifully wiped her tears. “Mr. Edward, it’s all my fault. Please don’t blame Ms. Crystal.”
Crystal rolled her eyes. “Unbelievable… When it’s time to act, you can’t, but when it’s not, you’re better at it than anyone else.”
Director Beck noticed the commotion and walked over, giving everyone a scolding before telling them to get ready for the next scene.
Edward pulled him aside and mentioned what had happened the night before, hinting that Sarah wasn’t a good person and had tried to seduce him for favors.
Director Beck gave him a hard-to-read look and patted him on the shoulder. “Let’s not get too full of ourselves.”
Beck couldn’t reveal anything about Sarah’s background but tried to assure Edward not to overthink it.
Edward still felt a bit miffed. He thought Director Beck was being too biased toward Sarah.