"You’ve been rehearsing for the past one week, so how is it you can’t get one line right?"
"What is this? Even dolls have more emotions on their face than you do!"
"You know what? Let’s take a ten-minute break before we continue." freew\e bnovel.com
Kelsie was backstage when the shooting started.
Despite being so far off, she and the crew member could hear the director’s disgruntled voice lashing out every ten seconds.
A large equipment had fallen on the crew member, cutting her in various places. Hence, she spent a little over ten minutes cleaning and bandaging.
"Thank you so much, doctor." Thanked the crew member as Kelsie helped her comfortably rest on the wall.
Kelsie flashed her a small smile. Then she got on her feet, lifting her eyes to the equipment which fell.
It was as unstable as when it fell on the crew member, yet they actually placed it right back up with nothing to make it stable.
"It was my negligence. I laid directly under he equipment to take a quick nap before the shooting began. Usually, no one ever comes here so the management doesn’t really care about the unstable equipments."
As if reading her mind, the crew member chuckled bitterly.
Kelsie turned to look at her, eyes flickering between her bandaged head, arm and the various band-aids on her face.
"Visit the hospital later today for an arm sling. If you can, come to Haven Medical Center and I’ll recommend some creams so the cuts on your face doesn’t leave any scars."
"Sure. Thank you, doctor."
Kelsie hummed and left the stage.
She had just gotten to Holly and her other assistants when Holly began talking her ears off.
"The pretend docror keeps messing up. First, she spilled the drink she was to give him on him, and he had to change. Thus, delaying the scene for five minutes."
"Then she began stuttering. Then she said having dozens of people looking at her was making her nervous, so we all had to look away."
"But guess what? She still stuttered. I mean, I know acting is hard, but the director has practically done everything to make her comfortable. How did she even pass the audition?"
"Did she pull some strings or something? How pathetic, really. At this rate, we’d be spending all day here with them."
"At least we get to rest. As long as no one gets a serious injury, this is like a vacation for us." One of the other nurses said, filling her mouth with potatoe chips.
Kelsie sat beside her, turning to take a peak at the name on her badge.
Then she glanced at the badge of the other.
Veronica froze, her free hand naturally reaching for her doctor’s coat as she apologized, "I’m sorry, Dr. Sutton, I took off my coat so I don’t spill food on it. Is that a problem?"
Kelsie calmly shook her head.
"I was just checking your name. But it’ll help to keep it on at all times. That way, no one will miss who you are."
"I will." Veronica nodded, placing the coat on her thigh.
Kelsie then leaned back on her seat, absent-mindedly fiddling with her phone as she thought of her children.
Unlike the hospital, it wasn’t ideal to leave as anything could happen while she was away.
If anything happened in her absence, no matter how minor, she might as well just email Kelvin her resignation letter.
She thought long and hard about what to do, but no matter what plan she tried to come up with, it ended up with one name; Jett Adler.
Sighing with resignation, she dialed his number.
In his office, Jett abruptly stopped scribbling when his phone lit up, the words ’My Darling’ sprawled across his screen.
"I take it you got my gift."
"Gift?" Kelsie paused, eyes darting to the matte box beside her.
Oh, so it was from him.
Kelvin Reynolds had sent her expensive food before which she hadn’t ate when she saw the note that it was from him.
This time, this gift didn’t come with a note, just her name on it. So she assumed it came from him, but this time, he didn’t sign his name so she wouldn’t return it.
Jett felt his nose awkwardly, eyes shifting towards Eric, already blaming him for a problem he didn’t even know of.
"What? You didn’t like the... my gift? It’s cheap, isn’t it?"
Kelsie reached for the box.
Naturally, the three women with her craned their necks.
Even people of their class could tell the box was expensive. If the box was expensive, then just how much would the gift inside be worth.
Kelsie unhurriedly took off the cover, revealing a red rose adorned with diamonds.
She squinted immediately as the light from the set caught the diamonds, flashing into her eyes.
Veronica gasped, the chips slipping from her hand as both hands flew up to cover her mouth.
"A rose with diamond. I’ve... never seen something ."
Holly, however, narrowed her eyes at it and sucked in a deep breath.
"It’s not just a rose. It’s molded in the form of a rose. It’s molten red gold? I don’t know. But it’s gold in the form of a red rose."
Hearing her, Jessica swallowed.
"One of those diamonds can buy the house I live in."
Veronica vigorously nodded, chipping in, "Mine too."
Kelsie only stared at the flower for a moment before she covered the box again and dumped it beside her.
"You like it? I mean, I’m glad you like it." Only then did Jett retract his eyes from Eric.
Kelsie fell silent the next second.
The silence lingered for several seconds before she said through clenched teeth, "Is it possible to pick the triplets from school?"
Her words had just fallen when she heard something screeching on his end.
Pressing a finger against her temple, she exhaled heavily.
"It’s fine. You’re a busy man, I’ll just call one of the teachers to know if they can bring them to..."
"Actually, I have a free day today." Jett calmly interrupted, walking out of hid office.
Behind him, Eric stared at the heap of paperworks on his table helplessly before following after him.
"I’ll call the school to tell them someone else will come to pick them. I’m hanging up now. Drive safely... on your way back with them." Kelsie’s relieved voice came up almost immediately.
As the call connected, Jett couldn’t help the smile rapidly spreading across his face.
Drive safely... on your way back with them?
She added the last part in a hurry. So she actually meant to drive safely, right? Right.
Meanwhile, in Grade 3 of Aventis Academy, an unbothered Jesse Sutton sat in the midst of noisy kids two years older than him, flipping through a computer magazine.
Every now and then, he would lift his eyes toward the entrance, then lower it back to the magazine in disappointment.
After a while, a blonde boy rushed into the classroom, straight towards Jesse, saying amidst heavy breathing, "Jesse, your sister... your sister..."
Jesse didn’t wait to hear the rest of it as he sprinted out of the classroom.
In the extended classroom of Grade 3 just beside his, Zade got the same message and took off.
Three classes away, in the main classroom of Grade 2, Keira Sutton stood before a man and three women, bawling her eyes.
"I-I didn’t do it. I really didn’t do it!"
Two of the adults, a man and woman, had on expensive clothing. The woman hugged a little girl of Keira’s age tightly as she glared hard at Keira.
"This dirty little thing! Where did you keep it? Ariana’s water bottle is imported and expensive!"
"She had to wait seven months to get it, so she has never been careless with it and it never went missing until you got here."
Keira used her sleeves to wipe the tears that wouldn’t stop spilling from her eyes.
"It really wasn’t me!"
At this, the second woman in the room, the same woman who had met Kelsie in the parking lot the other day, inched closer to Keira and hissed.
"This little brat, still denying it when it’s so obvious you did it! Your classmates told me you often gazed at the water bottle with a longing look in you eyes."
"Ariana has had it for two months now and it never went missing because none of her classmates coveted it, but even if they did, their parents are wealthy enough to get it for them. Only an idiot would believe you had nothing to do with this sudden disappearance!"
As she spoke, she crouched to Keira’s level, shaking the little girl hard.
Having four pairs of angry adult eyes on her made Keira cry harder.
Her classmates had been taken outside, but the curious ones had hung around, watching what was happening while also sharing the news to their friends.
The fourth woman in the room was the only woman who spoke a little calmly. "Keira, did you really take the water bottle?"
Keira sniffled, her voice already hoarse from so much crying as she answered, "I really didn’t take it. I don’t know where it is."
"I see you won’t talk. Maybe you’ll say something when I beat you a little bit." The first teacher sneered, raising her hand to hit Keira.
But it was at this moment that two figures darted towards her, pushing her away at once and almost sending her stumbling backward.
Then they stood in front of Keira protectively, completely shielding her behind them as they glared hard at the teacher.
"My sister said she didn’t do it, so she didn’t do it!" Jesse was so angry he couldn’t bring himself to say any more.
Zade, on the other hand, trembled all over in rage as he spat out, "You dare to hit my sister for something she didn’t do, but even if she did do it, you have no right to hit her! My mother will never let you off!"
It was at this moment that a dark-faced man appeared in the doorway, his gloomy eyes settling on the red-eyed children.
"Someone hit Keira? Who is this unfortunate person?"