Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
In the restroom of the Sweetheart Cafe, Jessica stared at her reflection in the mirror. She took a long inhale and then exhaled heavily. Then, she patted her face with her ice-cold hands.
She didn’t understand why she was so angry, either. She only remembered that, at that very moment, her heart was filled with anxiety and worry. Then, the last thing she knew was being out of control… why did it happen? She knew that she wasn’t really angry about Mark Slate’s joke. The joke was just the fuse igniting the bomb. The reason could be that she had felt that she was being excluded unintentionally, or that Wang Yang turned down her offer of playing the leading actress in his movie. It also could be that Rachel was so much talented than she was…
With the sound of a door opening, Rachel walked in. She approached Jessica with an amicable smile and asked, “Jessica, are you okay?”
Jessica looked at Rachel’s reflection in the mirror and forced a smile, saying, “Thank you. I’m fine. I’m really sorry. Just now, I was… I wasn’t acting like myself.” She pulled her hair around her ear, looked so regretful. “I don’t even know what got into me. I just went insane all of a sudden.”
“That’s okay, Jessica. Don’t worry about it. We all care about you very much.” Rachel comforted her for a while, and then continued, “Is this because of the leading actress audition?”
Jessica shook her head, “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe I was just not feeling very well.” Due to her childhood experience, Jessica had always had a rather defensive attitude toward strangers. She had known Rachel for less than two hours, so she wouldn’t reveal all of her true feelings now.
Rachel smiled slightly, and she knew how to deal with this situation. In fact, she had plenty of friends in Toronto, and whenever they were in a bad mood, she would be there for them. She was a very good listener. Actually, she had had many experiences resolving problems like Jessica’s. Apparently, Jessica’s feelings were hurt by something, but she buried the reason deep in her heart.
She must try to let the steam out. But Rachel knew that, if she didn’t open up the topic first, Jessica would never tell her feelings. Therefore, she said, “I’m really sorry, you know. I got a little carried away discussing the movie stuff with Wang Yang…”
“No, no, it’s not your fault.” Jessica interrupted. But when she thought of the time when Rachel and Wang Yang hit it off so quickly over the topic of movies, and she was like a fool standing beside them, her heart twitched again. Then, she sighed. “It’s all because of me. Maybe I shouldn’t have come here today.”
“I know it must be very rough. I have these kinds of feelings all the time. Sometimes, when my friends talked about something, but I had no clue about their topic, I would totally feel like I was excluded.” Rachel mocked herself, and then shrugged smilingly. Her positive voice was really infectious, “But I know they didn’t do that on purpose. They did that only because they think of you as a close friend, so they don’t have to pay attention to your feelings all the time.”
Jessica had to admit that Rachel’s word was rather reasonable, so her expression loosened up.
“And I can tell Yang is so passionate and obsessed about movies. I have met many people in my college just like him. They could be crazy sometimes.” Rachel rolled her eyes and made fun of the “crazy people”. “Wow, whenever they talk about movies or any topic related to movies, they’ll go ‘blah, blah, blah’ for days and nights straight. You just can’t stop them at all, not even for a minute.”
Rachel smiled and said, “That’s just who they are. Movies are in every cell of them.”
“Yeah, I know that,” Jessica said, finally putting on a smiling face again. She smiled slightly with a trace of pride and said, “Yang is absolutely the most persistent person. Even since he was very little, he had made up his mind to be a big-shot director. And he has been chasing his dream ever since. Actually, among all of my friends, he is the most enthusiastic one. He has never changed.”
When Jessica finally opened up to her, Rachel knew it was a great chance to further their conversation, so then she asked, “Ever since he was very little? So, it means you knew each other when you were kids?”
“No, it’s not like we always knew each other.” Jessica thought for a while and explained, “Well, that was when we were in the second grade. I got transferred to Yang’s school. Then, we became very good friends, but only for a very short time. After that, I moved to LA with my family.”
Jessica turned around and stretched her arms backward on the restroom sink, then smiled happily. “We only recently met each other again. But both of us have grown up.” She felt a little unconfident looking at Rachel. She deliberately used the word “recently”, because she didn’t want Rachel to know that Wang Yang and her had run into each other only less than one week ago.
“Wow, it sounds so romantic.” Rachel smiled.
“Yeah, maybe.” Jessica pretended that she didn’t really care about it and then shrugged. “Sometimes, LA could be very small.”
“Yang helped me many times when we were kids, so I’m very grateful to him. Now he is in trouble, but I can’t do anything to help him. I hate it.” Suddenly, Jessica’s emotions went down like a rollercoaster and she said, “Maybe that’s why I got so angry.”
Rachel was confused and asked, “In trouble?”
“Yeah, in trouble. But I shouldn’t be the one who tells you the story. If you wanna know, you could ask him.” Jessica shook her head and said, “Anyway, I feel so guilty that I couldn’t offer any help at all. I’m useless.”
Then she started to mock herself, “Now, everyone is telling me ‘Wow, you’re so pretty!’ But so what, what can I do with ‘being pretty’? There are just too many pretty girls out there. I have failed more than ten auditions in a row. They all told me I wasn’t good enough. Sometimes, I just feel like maybe it’s true; maybe I am not good enough. Maybe it was pure luck that I got several roles in the previous movies. And now, my luck is running out, so I become who I really am again.”
Rachel tried to comfort her. “Jessica, don’t you think like this. That’s life. Life is full of ups and downs, isn’t it? If that’s God’s plan, then He has his purpose. What we need to do is listen carefully.”
“Yeah, Rachel. You’re right.” Jessica was touched by the inspiration. Maybe God was testing her now! Then she smiled at Rachel, “Thank you. I feel much better now.” Rachel said, “You got it.”
Looking at Rachel, Jessica’s expression turned serious. She said, “Rachel, could you please do me a favor?”
“Of course. What’s the matter?” Rachel replied.
Jessica looked into Rachel’s eyes and said seriously, “You must promise me that you will try your best in Yang’s movie! This movie is so, so, so important to him! He told me once that this ten grand was all he has, so he couldn’t afford to lose! He couldn’t lose!” She held Rachel’s hands firmly and asked sincerely, “So you must put on your best show! Will you?”
Rachel nodded solemnly and said, “I will, Jessica. You can count on me. Even though you don’t ask me, I will try my best anyway.” She was a professional actress and also passionate about movies. In fact, she never treated anything halfheartedly.
“That’s great.” Jessica smiled joyfully. And then she said, “Let’s get out of here.”
The two girls left the restroom and went back to the cafe, seeing that Wang Yang’s table was swamped with people. All of them were there for the audition. The candidates of the leading actress were all very disappointed since the role had already been taken. As for the actors, besides those who were not suitable for their figures, everyone had a chance to act out a scene or two by following Wang Yang’s instruction.
“Hi, Jessica!” Wang Yang stood up quickly and shouted when he saw Jessica. He asked concernedly, “Are you all right?”
Jessica shook her head smilingly and said, “I wasn’t feeling very well. That’s all.” Although the conversation with Rachel made her feel better, she still had many doubts in her heart. And now, she was stared at by all of the actors around, so she just wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. She said, “Yang, I’m leaving. There is not much I can do to help.”
“Okay! Just go home and take a good rest. Be careful!” Wang Yang was so occupied with the audition that he just said goodbye in a hurry. And then, he fixed his gaze at the candidates again. The total number of interviewees in the afternoon boosted up. If it weren’t for Wang Yang only needing to choose the leading actor now, the crowd would have exploded the Sweetheart Cafe.
Jessica took her bag on the chair and said goodbye to everyone, then she flashed a friendly smile at Rachel. Before she left, she also took several glances at Wang Yang, who was evaluating the candidates attentively.
“I’m sorry, but you are not the one I’m looking for… next.” After Wang Yang announced the result, he avoided looking at the interviewee. Suddenly, he remembered something and began to look around. When he found Rachel, who was sitting over next to his table, he shouted immediately, “Hey, Rachel, if you are leaving, don’t forget to tell me. We haven’t even exchanged our phone numbers. I can’t let you disappear.”
“Okay!” Rachel smiled and held up her coffee, taking a sip. Then, she said, “Don’t worry. I’m free this afternoon, so I’ll just stay here and wait for the final result on the leading actor.”
The candidates for the leading actor were still waiting in the line. When they saw this beautiful and elegant girl sitting over there, many of them whistled. They all were very excited about potentially being chosen as the leading actor. If they got the part, they could also get a chance to know the leading actress!
But, finally, when the long line disappeared, no one was left. For the entire afternoon, the interviewees were coming in with seemingly no end in sight. Besides the actresses, who came and left very quickly, Wang Yang had at least interviewed more than three hundred actors, but none were a good fit.
As a matter of fact, Wang Yang didn’t set a very high bar for the leading actor. Especially when comparing to the leading actress, the requirements were much lower. In “Paranormal Activity”, the leading actor didn’t get as many shots as the leading actress. He was the one who held the DV camcorder. Therefore, most of the time, there was only his voice but no image of him in the movie. In other words, as long as he could perform being shocked well, there wouldn’t be too much performance needed.
Because of that, Wang Yang skipped the test on their ability to understand the script. As long as his performance wasn’t too bad, Wang Yang would be willing to take him in. When the shooting began, Wang Yang would directly tell him what he wanted so that the leading actor could just follow the instruction.
Unfortunately, however, no one could even meet this simple requirement. All of the candidates coming for his audition were all walk-ons. They never had been required to speak any line or had their own shot individually. No wonder they couldn’t satisfy Wang Yang’s expectations.
“Young director, you need to speed up.” Mark Slate tapped his watch and urged, “The time is almost up! Our schedule says this audition will be over at 5 o’clock, and now it is 4:20. Don’t you realize you are getting fewer and fewer interviewees?” he asked, reminding Wang Yang of the time. Then he continued, “Actually, I think that Thompson just now was pretty good—good looking, and his performance was okay.”
Thompson? Wang Yang shook his head and said, “He is good looking and his performances were not bad. But the problem is he looks too aggressive. I think he would be a good fit for a quarterback role in a school-themed movie. But what I need is a tall and strong person with an amicable face.”
“Come on, why do you have so many requirements? What about Tom Hanks? Let him play your role! Darn it!” Mark Slate was a little upset. Then, he said, “You have to understand, your offer is only 4 thousand bucks, not 40 million.”
Wang Yang shrugged and said, “No matter what you say to me, I will insist on finding the right fit. There are only two actors in my movie, so if the leading actor screws up his part, then half of the movie will be screwed up.”
“Um? Yang, look over there!” Rachel, who sat beside Wang Yang, suddenly cracked a smile. She stared at the entrance of the cafe and said, “Isn’t that guy tall and strong with an amicable face?”