Chapter 153
“And cut!” Director Han’s voice echoed in the silent environment once the scene ended.
Elara took a deep breath, her sharp gaze landing on Beatrice, a bit suspicious.
Why? Because it had been a month since the shooting started, and Beatrice was yet to make her move to torment her.
She would be a fool to think the girl wasn’t planning anything against her. Probably, she was waiting for the right moment, and Elara wanted to stay prepared for that right moment.
“You did well, Elara. I am afraid you outshone me in this part.” Beatrice placed her hand on her shoulders, and Elara smiled, one that didn’t reach her eyes.
“You are too humble, Senior Beatrice. No one can match your level of acting,” Elara said.
Beatrice’s smile faltered a little, and she was about to speak when Producer Li walked to them.
“You both did great in this scene. Since the main singer is in a supporting role, we didn’t expect your acting to be so top-notch, Elara,” Producer Li said.
Elara nodded, her lips twitching as her gaze averted to Andrew, who had arrived today as the guest to see how shooting was coming along.
“What can I say, Producer Li? I also thought I wouldn’t be able to do it, but then I guess I was an actor all my life,” Elara whispered in the last part, hinting at how desperately she had tried to be something she wasn’t.
She shook her head and excused herself to get changed.
Once she was back in her casual clothes, she put on her goggles and was about to walk to her car when someone stopped her.
“Elara, I am afraid we haven’t gotten the chance to talk after that night. Would you like to have coffee with me?” Andrew asked.
When Elara didn’t respond immediately, looking back at him as if she was suspicious of his intentions, the man cleared his throat.
“The divorce doesn’t mean we can’t meet or have a coffee or dinner together, right? At least as friends? We are yet to address that night,” Andrew tried again.
His ambiguous words stopped Beatrice dead in her tracks.
What night were they talking about?
Elara quirked her brows.
“What is there to talk about? Wasn’t that a normal occurrence—your family accusing me of something I didn’t do? The only difference was that you guys didn’t punish me by standing outside the house or kneeling in the rain. Then again, maybe it’s because you lost those rights long ago,” Elara smirked.
Andrew opened his mouth but then closed it, remembering what had happened last time at his grandfather’s birthday.
Beatrice looked between Elara and Andrew before walking to Andrew.
“I am sorry. I hadn’t been able to visit Carla for a couple of days because of the busy schedule. The female lead’s schedule is really one-of-a-kind. How is she doing?” Beatrice asked, averting Andrew’s attention to a different topic, hinting at how Carla had mentioned it was Elara behind that attack.
Elara, who was well aware of her tactics by now, just chuckled.
“Yes, Andrew. How is your sister doing? I hope she is not seeing random women entering her room and then accusing me. You should let her see a psychiatrist.” Elara blinked her eyes innocently.
“Elara! Don’t take it too far. My sister is not mentally sick.” Andrew clenched his teeth, and Elara laughed before she stepped forward until she was eye-to-eye with him.
“But healthy people don’t blame people like this. Or is it just me that you guys hate?” Elara rolled her eyes and turned to leave, but she stopped and looked him dead in the eyes.
“And Andrew, you and I are not friends; we never were and never will be. I see what you have with your female friends, and I want to stay out of that dirt.” Elara looked between Beatrice and Andrew to hint at their ambiguous relationship before she scoffed and left.
Once Elara sat in the car and asked Antonio to start it, she immediately called Justin, who had been handling the Green Dream team’s proposal that they needed to revise.
The government changed the demands at the last minute, and now every company is struggling with creating the proposal from scratch.
It was already surprising that, rather than working on the proposal, Andrew had enough time to waste here. Then again, he had enough staff to handle that kind of stuff, no?
When Justin’s number was busy, Elara was about to try calling Zishan when her phone vibrated with an incoming message.
It was a message from her brother, and she arched her brows at the words.
“You have a lot to explain to me and Mom, Missy. Is this your indirect way of telling the world your decision?” George asked through the message.
Elara read the message repetitively, wondering if she even read it right, as if reading it thrice would suddenly explain everything to her.
When she still didn’t understand, she was about to ask what he was talking about through the message when another message popped up.
She looked at the photo, and her pupils dilated for a brief second before her cheeks turned slightly rosy, heat rising to her neck.
It was a photo of the day Daniel had put that ring on her finger. Apparently, they used the image for the advertisement campaign.
While one wouldn’t know who the couple was because only their hands were visible, anyone who knew her and Daniel could easily make out who they were.
After all, the other campaign pictures clearly showed her modeling them.
Elara zoomed in on the photo a couple of times, feeling a strange giddiness wash over her. What was this feeling that she had never felt before? Why was she feeling so giddy over a simple photo that didn’t even show their faces?
Antonio saw Elara’s smiling face through the rearview mirror and couldn’t help but feel happy for her. After all, she usually keeps her emotions to herself.
Even after coming out of that rotten marriage, the revenge was surely stealing the joy from her life; thus, he was really grateful for Daniel, who was like a fresh wave of happiness in her life, despite harboring a darkness for others.
“It was for the shoot,” Elara replied to her brother, who rolled his eyes inside his office before looking at Kyle.
“She really thinks we all are fools who can’t understand anything,” George said before he stood from his chair and grabbed his coat.
He had a scheduled meeting with the Stewarts about the new drone project.
As he walked out of the office, he suddenly remembered how close Elara was to Candice and wondered if he should call her.
But it was mainly a business meeting, and he wouldn’t have time to entertain her.
George sighed.