Loving A STRANGER

He scanned the bedroom but did not see the culprit.

When pushing open the bathroom door, his heart skipped a beat. His daily necessities were the only things left in the cabinet. Kylie was gone!

"Just because I lost my temper and didn"t come home last night, she was angry enough to leave?" Ethan mumbled to himself. Thinking about it, he chuckled.

However, after that moment of humor, he felt extremely sad. He reckoned that Kylie had left him forever, and would refuse to stay with him again...

Lucy guessed what was going through his mind, and called from downstairs: "Sir, Mrs. Parker has gone to Baleney."

All of a sudden, he remembered that Kylie was not necessarily angry with him, but that she had merely gone to work.

"Um." He responded lightly. He returned to the bedroom.

When he took out his bathrobe from the wardrobe, he couldn"t help but notice the blue cartoon pajamas hanging in the middle of his row of near-white dress tops and black trousers—what a careless girl, who couldn"t even properly hang her pajamas.

Normally, one hangs clothes from the neckline, but Kylie had hung her pajamas by the cuff so that they looked awry.

Ethan took out the pajamas in order to re-hang them, but he changed his mind when his hands touched the soft fabric.

After taking a bath, he dried his hair with one hand, and he draped the pajamas over his other arm.

He walked to the next room. He entered the pa.s.sword to the locked door, and it clicked open...

***

Tea House began shooting in a market town at the foot of the Baleney mountains.

When Kylie arrived, she finally realized why Laurence had invested thirty million dollars into the film but hadn"t kicked her off the crew.

It had been decided that Khloe would play the leading actress, whereas Kylie would act as the third heroine: the younger sister to the tea maiden, an arrogant woman named Becky Ruiz.

In the first scene, the two sisters accompanied their father to town to shop, where they met a woman who made a living as a street performer. This woman and the tea maiden"s father exchanged meaningful glances.

Kylie"s character had few shots in this scene; she was merely required to follow her father obediently.

In order to be realistic, the bamboo basket that Kylie carried on her back was really filled with tea, plus she had to wear realistic, thick clothing. Kylie could feel that her back was soaked with sweat.

As soon as the director shouted, "Cut!" Lucas hastened towards Khloe with two a.s.sistants. Lucas brought her a chair, while one a.s.sistant ma.s.saged her shoulders and legs, and the other helped fix her makeup.

Lucas took the opportunity to give her a bottle of water and began fanning her, all smiles.

In contrast, there was n.o.body around Kylie. There wasn"t even any water for her to drink or any real place for her to rest. She could only sit on a stone by the side of the road to take a short break.

Many people in the crew knew Kylie, and they met, telling the director that she was so dedicated and professional. Director Johnson also nodded to indicate that he knew. His eyes were always drawn to Kylie on screen.

Although she had no lines in this scene, her eyes were very expressive; they were full of hatred for the fact that Becky"s father was planning to remarry. Hence, Becky would purposefully mess up everything, and become her stepmother"s thorn.

Kylie"s performance did not disappoint the director.

At that moment, someone excitedly cried out: "G.o.ddess Khloe, your fiancé has come to visit!"

In the distance, Aiden was stepping out of the car with an incubator in his hand, distributing iced drinks to the crew along the way.

"Oh my gosh! It"s fresh juice! Thanks, Master Parker Jr."

"What a perfect match. We"re so envious."

"Since you"re so busy, Master Parker Jr. visits you in the backcountry. What a good man!"

"You"re just like sparrows. I don"t think you guys are really thirsty." Khloe glanced at them shyly, then took a gla.s.s of juice and brought it to Kylie.

"Kylie, you must be thirsty. Have a drink."

"Thanks." Kylie accepted it politely but didn"t drink it.

She knew by now that Khloe liked to pretend to be nice in public. However, Kylie was becoming fed up with her performance. n.o.body in the crew knew about their personal animosity, so Kylie wanted to avoid confrontation. If Khloe wanted to pretend, then Kylie was happy to cooperate.

Returning to Aiden, Khloe pulled him into a corner. She hesitated for a few seconds before speaking. "Aiden, there"s something I don"t know if I should say..."

"What can"t you say to me?" Aiden pulled a chair out for Khloe.

"On the day of the opening ceremony, Dad told Kylie that I was going to join the crew. She didn"t approve, so they quarreled."

Aiden didn"t respond.

"And she also told Dad that if I was in, she would leave. She said she"d never been in the same crew as me. Dad thought that I would be worried, so he invested thirty million dollars into the Tea House."

"Then you should be safe now. But didn"t she say she would never be in the same crew as you? Why is she here?"

Aiden turned to look at Kylie. Sweat was running down her face; her makeup was a little ruined, but the way she looked at her script, with complete seriousness, surprised him.

With a pen in her mouth, she read and re-read the script, attentively making notes for herself.

Khloe swayed Aiden"s arm, making him look back at her. She said: "This is what I"m worried about..."

"What are you afraid of?" Aiden was beginning to lose his patience.

"My Dad said that Kylie has an unusual relationship with an investor, who has demanded that Kylie be the lead actress, or else the script will be destroyed," Khloe responded.

Aiden was annoyed. "She doesn"t have the ability."

"Don"t be so naive. You know her reputation pretty well. Besides, if she isn"t that kind of person, how could she have hooked up with Lord Ethan?

Once Khloe had mentioned Lord Ethan, Aiden was even more annoyed.

His Uncle Ethan, who had previously forbidden any woman to be with him, allowed Kylie to move in at Toprak Mansion within days!