136 At Jasper City 2 (1/2)

”Second Miss?” A female dressed in a white sleeveless blouse and black slacks came to the woman's side and asked, concern and worry mixed in her inquisitive tone.

The young woman staring at the direction Chris went to did not immediately reply to her, prolonging the mental agony of the other. The assistant was quite fidgety because it was not an everyday chance to see this rich Missy getting dumbfounded like this. Yet every time the young miss does, there would be tons of jobs or heartache waiting for her, the assistant.

The slightly dreaded came true.

When the young woman in yellow dress recovered from her daze, she furrowed her brows for so long before turning to the person who rushed to her side, ”Miss Aura.”

The beautiful actress wannabe blinked her large hazel eyes and said in a soft voice,

”I'm confused. What gave it away to him? I thought I'm doing it properly because no one before him did not fall for my acting. So what mistake did I commit this time? I was so close to celebrating another successful case. But then he suddenly turned around and told me that my acting 'just' nearly fooled him...”

The assistant shook her head, replying, ”Miss, don't think too much about it. Don't also pressure yourself so much. Director Julia said that for a rookie who is just about to debut, you're already very excellent, comparable to actresses who have been in the industry for two or three years. It's already something which you should feel happy and proud about.”

The assistant's reply made the girl sink into silence for half a minute, drowning in her thoughts. However, her mind did not focus on her flatteries.

Miss Aura's last remark made sense. She also knew that she was aiming too high for someone who hasn't yet acted in anything but small plays in theaters. It was just there's a huge sense of urgency in her heart due to who she was. She was someone about to be crushed by the huge stone looming above her head which always turned larger and drew nearer the more she grew in age.

It was the pressure of having to prove herself to her family... in order to obtain her birthright, freedom, and identity.

This was the reason why she, the one people around her called Second Young Miss, wanted to perfect the only skill she could best her older sister at.

Acting.

She frowned. No matter how she thought about it, it should be hard for an 18-19 years old young man who was not an insider in the Entertainment industry to determine whether she was just acting earlier or not. How did he do it? How did he detect that she was not really someone left by a jerk, but merely playing that role?

The woman sulked because she could only think of two answers. That young man had very good eyes and was also good at acting, better than her in fact... Or her performance was just flawed and just had too many rooms for improvement...

Honestly, she would rather accept the second. Anyway, that was most likely the truth. She knew she still has a long way to go because even if she has the talent, it doesn't immediately equate to skill mastery. Talent is just something which tells if someone has potential in a particular field. But it doesn't mean that those with talent always end up reaching the peak.

'In short, I really have to work harder and become wiser...' she concluded in her mind.

As for the first possibility...

The woman smoothed down the hair gently blown away by the passing wind, her thoughts wandering again to what happened earlier.

In the midst of it, Aura's voice softly echoed next to her ear.

”Miss, let's go back to the van. Forget that one setback. Don't be too hard to yourself. Remember, out of 10, 9 fell for your show. Look at the bigger number. Nine is greater than one. The successes are greater than the failure. You've already worked hard enough today, so I suggest you treat yourself to something. Ice cream or a cake, perhaps? I know a nice place where we could have some. Don't worry, this will not be enough to ruin the figure of a future Film Empress.”

The response from the yellow dressed girl came after five seconds. And it was after a sigh.

”Fine. But I really can't rid the questions in my mind so I want you and Diaz to investigate that boy.”

Aura leaked out a bewildered voice. ”Miss?”

”Do it. Before I fell asleep I will be reading scripts and scenarios in preparation for my upcoming movie. I also want to read the report before that.”

The assistant did not show anything on her face. But inwardly, she grimaced and felt pity for her boss who finds it hard to get over anything that remotely challenged her acting skills. As they said, when passion meets inspiration, an obsession is born. It seemed her boss was already at that stage. Her passion for her goals became an obsession. And she, the assistant, must work hard too in order to be of great assistance to this girl's quest.

Resigned to her fate, the assistant bowed, ”Yes, Miss. I will tell Diaz to work on this with me. Within four hours, we will compile a comprehensive report and send it to you .”

The young woman softly smiled and walked back to where the black van was parked. The assistant followed behind her with a determined look on her face.

....

Meanwhile...

....

”Son, I'm glad you're back!”

After Chris parked the bicycle next to his father's white old model car, he picked up the bags of groceries and paper bag containing the cough medicine. That was when his father's voice rang loudly from the porch to the parking space. As he strode into the house, he nodded to the other man in the house then walked straight into the kitchen situated on the living room's right side.

The new home for the Meyer family was in a community village located Southeast of Jasper City. This was where cheaper and affordable houses could be found. If he remembered correctly, this house was already the last one on sale and they were lucky to have bought it. Aside from its price to area ratio, the other good thing about their new residence was its security. This village was like a subdivision, but there were proper guards stationed at the various entrances and exits of the whole community. The guards were not mere muscle-bodied decoration because they had undergone quality training before and were only a bit inferior to the bodyguards of VIPs.

Or at least that was what he heard from his braggart father.

As for the downside. Aside from they were new here and had no other acquaintances yet, he couldn't think of others. Their new home was near to the supermarket, school, public transits stations, and church - the biggest one at that in the city.

And most of all, very far from troubles and bad memories.

What more could he ask?