Loving A STRANGER

"What the heck are you doing?"

Kylie humbly negotiated with her: "Dear Miss Cotty, can I wear a more conservative dress? I had a cold last night, and my neck doesn"t feel well now..."

The dresser glanced at the looming hickeys on her neck, and taunted her: "Are there so many mosquitoes in the mountains? Everyone else is fine, how troublesome!"

Kylie pulled her aside and put a card in her pocket. "My dear Miss Cotty, you know that there"s been a lot of gossips lately about me. If I get caught by the reporters like this, I"ll drown in everyone"s saliva..."

Cotty took a look at the cash card with its golden lines, smiled, and said with embarra.s.sment: "I don"t want to be mean either, but if the director is dissatisfied with your costume, you have to cover for me."

"Don"t worry, and I won"t sell you out."

The amount on a cash card was three times as much as Cotty"s salary for a month; she certainly knew what she should do. Besides, she didn"t have a profound hatred of Kylie, so there was no need for her to turn Kylie down. In a few minutes, Cotty matched Kylie with a decent dress, that was better than yesterday.

After changing clothes, Kylie went to the washroom and checked the clothes, front and back, confirming that it was not broken and that there was no strange smell. Then she put it on again.

When she had entered the entertainment industry, she had started her career from the bottom, so she had seen a lot of terrible things: Such as squeezing a pushpin into one"s shoes, or putting a needle in one"s wig. And one time she had seen someone putting paprika on the lining of someone"s costume...

The entertainment industry from an outsider"s perspective was wonderful and desirable. But in fact, there were so many gray, and even black areas, among it.

She could check her clothes and shoes, but not the water. She was not sure whether Khloe had done something with the bottle of water, which had suddenly appeared in the dressing room.

Even Lily had not taken it away, so she would not drink it either.

After Kylie had checked her clothes, she found that the piano teacher was waiting for her. The director let the others shoot first and asked Kylie to learn the gestures of playing the piano. She just needed to act like playing; the music would be dubbed during post-production.

After several shots, Director Johnson came over and said: "Kylie, learning piano is not an overnight success. If you find it difficult, we could use a subst.i.tute."

"I want to give it a shot," Kylie humbly replied.

Director Johnson asked the piano teacher: "What do you think?"

The piano teacher laughed, "Then let her have a try."

"Alright, let"s give it a shot!"

The scene was about breaking off a marital engagement. There were several characters in the scene: the householder of the family, Mr. Ruiz, the stepmother, Becky Ruiz, plus Angela Ruiz, Richard Martin and several servants.

The eldest daughter, Angela Ruiz, was engaged to Richard Martin. But Richard wanted to break off the marital engagement because the Ruiz Tea House was facing high debts. However, after coming to the Ruiz house, he fell in love at first sight with Mr. Ruiz"s second daughter, Becky.

Therefore, he proposed a condition: he would marry Angela, and he"d also pay off the Ruiz family debts. But, with the condition that he could marry Becky, as well.

Mr. Ruiz called Becky to the hall to convey Richard"s intention.

When Becky entered the hall, the expression on her face shook everyone. Director Johnson gestured towards the cameraman to give her a close-up.

She strode in and sat in front of the piano with determined eyes. She took a breath, and her hands landed on the keys.

When the music started, Director Johnson and all the crew were totally shocked. He hadn"t expected that a girl with such a low degree of education and such a strong personality could play the piano so well.

They hadn"t expected her to really play the piano, just to act like she was playing. But she played the adapted version of Beethoven"s work: Daniel Barenboim"s Allegretto, a piece of great difficulty. Kylie played smoothly and elegantly as if she were a professional pianist. Director Johnson hurried to gesture to the cameraman to give her more close-ups.

Standing not far away, Richard was completely attracted by her valor and talent.

Seeing his eyes that obsessively staring at Becky, mouth-watering, Angela was full of envy.

Vigorously playing the last chord, Becky fully expressed her refusal.

It should have ended there, but the director was too fascinated and forgot to say "cut."

"That was awesome!" The director suddenly applauded. "Kylie, you really surprised me. You played very well! And Hideo, your eyes completely touched me! And also Lily, your performance was so good that I can"t describe it in words!"

Lily clenched her fists. Her good performance was not thanks to her acting skills, but to her hatred of Kylie.

The actor who played Richard always acted as a villain, but his own reputation was very good. He said to the director: "Director Johnson, I was really attracted by Becky. It was really my natural response.

"Kylie was picked by Director Johnson. Certainly, he had a reason," Khloe said hypocritically. Her fists were also clenched.

When they were taking a rest, Khloe called Lucas aside. "Did you really put the paprika in her clothes? Why doesn"t she have a reaction at all?"

Lucas was puzzled. "I personally put it on her costume, my hands are still hot and burning..."

Khloe furiously bit her lip. "Then why didn"t she react at all?! There are hickeys all over her body. With so much paprika on her clothes, she should be in pain."

Lucas whispered: "Don"t worry, even if she didn"t wear that dress with paprika. I got a plan B."

Confusedly, Khloe asked: "What plan B?"

"On such a hot day, she must drink a lot of water. I put something in her water..."

Before he had finished, he saw someone shouting and covering his nose, "What"s that smell..."

"Who shat his pants? It stinks!"

"Is it..."

The sight of the whole crew fell on Lily. Her face was pale, with her hands pressing on her belly.

"I"ve got a sore tummy..." Lily"s legs were closed and trembled uncontrollably.

Lucas was dumbfounded. He did not understand why the water in which he had put Lily had drunk laxatives.

Khloe hummed. This time, she had failed to scheme against Kylie, but she would do better next time. Even if Khloe didn"t succeed next time, Lily would also give her a hard time.

"Hum! Kylie Finch, if you think you can step on my head because you got a decent role, you"re wrong. I"ll give you the taste of falling down from a terrible height," cursed Khloe.

Because of her good performance in that scene, Kylie received praise from the director but also became the target for the whole crew as well.

Rumors spread out among the crew: "Scheming woman," "Well-prepared," "Hooked up with the actor of the crew, "... There were even rumors that Kylie was punishing Lily just because of her previous offense.

Johnson was worried that she would be influenced by what people said, so he found her at the end of the shooting. "Kylie, just keep your good performance. Your part is not too much, and it will soon be over."

Kylie took a piece of chewing gum and threw it into her mouth, saying with a smile: "Please rest a.s.sured, Director Johnson, such things won"t affect me."

Lily had taken anti-diarrhea medicine and changed her clothes, but she still smelled strange.

When she pa.s.sed Kylie, she said in a strange tone: "Director Johnson, did you arrange for a sound-insulated room for our "Best Actor" Cliff Benjamin? He doesn"t want to disturb his neighbors, I think. Right? Khloe."

Khloe smiled but did not answer. Cliff"s room was between her and Lily"s. If there were any movement, they would easily find it.

As long as they had the slightest evidence, they would send Kylie to h.e.l.l.