Then suddenly, breaking our conversation, a knock appeared on the door outside.
"Mr. Xu, the next scene will be shot within ten minutes. Be prepared," the assistant outside the door said.
"Okay," he replied.
"Yuan, I must be going now," I said to him.
"No, you are not. There are still ten minutes left. We can talk in that time," he said while holding my hand.
I smiled and said, "Yuan, you are such a great actor, not me, so I need to prepare myself. I am new at this."
He smiled back at me and said, "Okay then, it's fine. You can go."
Then I was about to go outside the room when suddenly I turned back to him and asked, "Yuan, did you notice something?"
"What?" he asked me.
"That from the start of the day, I haven't seen Yang Lulu. She didn't even inform me that she's not coming today. Maybe I should drop her a message on WeChat," I said.
I was about to type a message to Yang Lulu, but Yuan immediately stopped me by holding my hand and said, "Yang Lulu left the job."
"What?" I asked him very shockingly. "But why?"
"Actually, the main reason behind her leaving the job, I also don't know. But I know only one thing—that she left the job," he said quite confidently, the way that anyone could believe him.
"How do you know then?" I asked him.
He took a pause for a second and said, "Actually, I heard it from a few crew members on the set. I just overheard it, nothing more than that. But I really didn't know she has become this much of a good friend to you."
"Hm, actually she is. But it's quite strange she didn't tell me. I think I should call her or text her after the shoot to ask what happened suddenly," I said.
"But I don't think you should," he said.
"Why?" I asked him shockingly.
"Because I think she must be in some kind of situation, and if you ask her, she'll feel forced to tell you about it. So I think you must not ask her," he said.
"So what should I do?" I asked him.
"Wait for her. Maybe after a few days she herself will contact you. If you're saying she's your good friend, then after sorting out things she'll surely contact you," he said.
"Hm, I think you are right. I should wait first," I said. "Okay then, I'll leave. Come soon," I said and then left the room.
Meanwhile, after I left, Yuan was alone standing there in that room, thinking to himself—
I can't tell you the truth right now, but surely I will if it's needed. Otherwise, I can never let you know why Yang Lulu left the job. But for you, and for your safety, this is the best decision I could ever make. I know I lied to you today, but if this lie lets you live happily without any tension or stress, then I'll tell you lies every time you ask me. Because some lies are meant for good, and this lie is good for my silly girl.
Then, after the span of ten minutes, he came out of the room after getting changed into the scene's costume. The moment he went out, he saw me standing with Ji Juan, and both of us were holding our scripts and talking and laughing about something.
He immediately went close to us and, in his deep, cold voice—the voice that could make anyone feel scared—he said, "Are you both preparing for the scene or doing chit-chatting?"
Ji Juan almost got startled after hearing his voice.
I laughed and said, "Ji Juan, you are really something, man. You got scared so easily."
Ji Juan also smiled and said, "I told you since childhood, I'm like that. I get scared very easily."
"Yes, I can see it now with my own eyes," I said.
Then I don't know what look Yuan gave him, but Ji Juan suddenly started hesitating and said, "I'll get going," and he left.
Then I turned toward Yuan. It seemed like he had given his dangerous look to him and suddenly changed it when I turned to him.
"Yuan," I said.
"Hm," he replied.
"Is there something you're feeling but not able to say?" I asked him.
He smiled at me and said, "I know where you are going, silly girl. You eagerly want me to accept that, right?"
I nodded my head and said, "Hm, then accept it."
"But you are forgetting that you are my silly girl, not an ordinary girl," he said while slightly bending toward me to reach my gaze.
"So what's the difference?" I asked.
He said, "My silly girl is completely and helplessly in love with me. She can't even stop herself. So there's no chance of that word your ears are eagerly wanting to hear from me—j-e-a-l-o-u-s-y."
I smiled and said, "Yuan, you're getting it wrong. Why should I want to hear that? Okay, forget it. We're preparing for our scene. Ji Juan is also there, and after talking to him for a while, I got to know he is a really nice gentleman and very funny too."
"Hm," he said.
"Okay then, I'll go take my position for the scene. Come fast," I said and left.
Meanwhile, Yuan said to himself—
You trust so easily, but I can't when it's about you. I know you see the world the way you are—gentle and polite—but the world is not like you. And I have to protect the innocence of my silly girl. No matter what comes, your Yuan is here for you.
Director Li suddenly said, "Come for the scene," breaking Yuan's thoughts and silent promises.
He got into the scene. There was a verbal argument between Yuan's and Ji Juan's characters about me—a jealous scene where Ji Juan claimed he knew me better than Yuan, and Yuan claimed the same. A typical boyfriend vs best friend scene.
Then Director Li said, "Action."
I said my dialogue in character, "I think you two can fight here, and I must leave from here."
But before I left, Ji Juan held my hand, stopped me, hugged me, and said, "Don't go because of this foolish man."
"Cut! Perfect," Director Li said.
The scene ended for everyone—but not for Yuan.
"Mr. Xu, the expression in the last scene is perfectly correct. It looks like you're going to hit Mr. Ji's character," Director Li said.
But who knows—it was his real expression.
Everyone started preparing for the next scene, which would start in half an hour. We went to change costumes.
I went to Yuan and asked, "Are you okay?"
He didn't say anything, just nodded.
But how could his eyes lie? His expressive eyes never do. Today, they carried pain mixed with anger.
"Yuan, did you—" I didn't complete my sentence when he held my hand and dragged me into my makeup room.
Thank God everyone was busy and didn't notice us.
His ears were red, his eyes looked like they might burst with anger.
"Yuan, what happened? Why did you drag me here?" I asked.
"You really don't know what I want to say?" he asked.
I shook my head. But I could read it clearly in his eyes—regret, fear, anger.
He took one step closer, bent down to my level, his hands on his knees, eyes meeting mine.
Then he said…