Laura’s POV 113
“Laura, listen to me.” Gina left me a message, “I think there’s something fishy about this, Cameron isn’t this kind of person. He obviously made up his mind to take you away, so why did he go and meet up with Queenie? I’m afraid the problem still lies on Queenie’s side!”
I closed my eyes, not wanting to hear or see.
It didn’t matter what the problem was, what mattered was that as long as I was with Cameron, we would be cursed. It was as if a magical force was stopping us, and I couldn’t get anywhere with him after all.
Early one morning I heard a loud noise downstairs.
“Ms. Laura, Ms. Laura!”
I opened the door quietly a crack.
Willow stood in the living room, white sweater and jeans, her hair tied up in a high ponytail, without powder, overflowing with youthful vigor.
I smiled bitterly, then looked at myself in the mirror, pale and thin, where was the anger?
“Ms. Laura, I know you’re in your room.” She shouted from downstairs, “I also know that you won’t be able to think about … because of this, but I think that you isolating yourself like this is no different from chronic suicide!”
I held my head and buried my face in my knees, covering my ears as hard as I could.
Willow’s voice disappeared, and after a while, I suddenly smelled the aroma of instant noodles.
I hadn’t eaten anything in those days, and even a bowl of instant noodles felt delicious.
A small hand gently opened the door along the crack, the instant noodles were served in a delicate patterned porcelain bowl with a ham sausage on top.
Willow poked her head in, showing her little tiger teeth in embarrassment.
“I know you haven’t eaten in a few days, so you must be hungry. But … this is the limit of my cooking!”
I was touched for a moment in my heart, letting her in and then serving the instant noodles in my hands.
“What’s the point of coming to meddle in this nonsense if you’re not going to school?” I looked at her quietly.
“I can’t leave you alone!” She pouted, “When I ran away from home with no place to go, when I couldn’t think straight, it was you who stayed by my side. You gave me food and drink, gave me a place to stay, and guided me like a friend … Now that you’re in trouble, of course I have to get through it with you!”
My nose turned sour and I silently dropped a tear.
“Here, take a bite.” She smiled, “You taste it. I can’t do anything else, but I’m great at noodles!”
I tasted the special breakfast she had made for me and the slightly spicy flavor instantly opened up my taste buds.
“Teacher,” she looked me in the eyes, “That’s all just the media reporting blindly, I don’t believe that handsome uncle would treat you like that. It must be that ex-wife of his who can’t see that you guys are good, and is doing it on purpose … Look at me, I won’t let that woman get away with it!”
“Willow!”I pressed the back of her hand, “This is a matter between adults, you stay out of it! And there’s a lot in between that you don’t know, don’t be reckless. Promise me!”
She grimaced and nodded with great reluctance.
“Anyway … you mustn’t separate from the handsome uncle.” She said softly, “No matter what, you still have your daughter, don’t you? Never let your daughter lose either of you …”
She slowly lowered her head and her voice was much smaller. “Girls without moms are miserable.”
My heart jolted violently.
This incident poked her where it hurts, and it poked me where it hurts. I thought back to when I was growing up, and how much I’d always looked forward to having my mom around.
She was right, children without moms are really miserable.
And I couldn’t let my daughter, make the same mistake.
I picked up the bowl and ate all the noodles, then went and freshened myself up and picked out a brightly colored dress.
Willow looked at me with wide eyes, “Ms. Laura, you look better dressed like this than you ever have!”
I gave her a grateful smile.
I have to say she was the one who brought me out of this haze.
I regained my spirit, and the first thing I had to think about was moving out of the house. After working for more than half a year, I’ve got some savings, so it’s not a problem to rent a small house and bring Sunny to live with me.
George called me to ask me to come out and sit down, and I told him about these ideas.
“Get another job?” He held his chin in one hand and made a contemplative gesture.
“No, no, you misunderstand.” I quickly waved my hand, “I didn’t tell you these intentions to ask you to help me find a job! It was already a pain in the ass last time.”
“What do you think you can do?”
I consider it for a moment and shake my head, “I don’t really have any ideas at the moment, but I think that teaching might not be a good fit for me.”
“Is that so?” He raises an eyebrow and smiles.
I knew the meaning in his smile; he’d said long ago that being a teacher wasn’t a career that belonged to me.
“You got me.” I shrugged, “I can’t stand on the sidelines rationally with my students, I’ll do my best to teach them the facts of life, but what the school needs, more often than not, is a teacher who’s overqualified in the subject.”
“You’re not losing confidence with The Denoble Family this time, are you?” He looks at me, “I don’t really blame you, President Rafael does have a bit of a temper on that one.”
“I do think it’s a good thing you quit though.” He grinned, “Just as well I’m short of actresses here!”
“Ah …”
“Don’t look so surprised!” He winked triumphantly, “Anyway, you won’t be able to go with Cameron this time, so why don’t you just come to my company and take acting training. I’ll package you up and you’ll be ready to go on screen, and maybe even gain a huge fan base!”
I held my breath and spit out a few words with difficulty, “Let me think about it.”
As soon as I got back I finished packing two suitcases.
Yasmin helped me move my bags into the small apartment I had just rented.
It was a serviced apartment, close to the city center, in a nice environment, fortunately there was a floor-to-ceiling window facing the sea, the sunlight penetrated and warmed the whole room.
Yasmin asked me as she packed her things, “Have you really decided?”
I nodded.
She laughed, “Anyway, it’s good to go out more while you’re young. Women are like flowers, if you don’t enjoy the sunshine while it’s in full bloom, you’ll soon be old and gray! At my age, I can’t go out even if I want to.”
“Yasmin, do you really support me?”
I’ve been thinking about the job George promised me for the past two days, and finally decided to go for the boondoggle.
And there was a decent salary during the training period, which was the most important thing. Right now, Sunny and I, both need a stable income.
“Support! I’ll support whatever you do!” She smiled, “But I heard that showbiz is a bit messy, can you handle it?”
“Don’t worry about that, I’ll protect myself.”
“Hmm.” She nodded, “You don’t need to worry about home, I’ll take care of Sunny, so go ahead and break through!”
“Thank you, Yasmin.”
“It’s just …” she looked hesitant, “Cameron’s side, you’re not going to tell him?”
I was stunned for a moment.Content (C) Nôv/elDra/ma.Org.
It’s been days since I’ve heard from him.
I wonder what he’s been up to. Busy getting rid of those rumors, or busy catching up with Queenie?
But I don’t have time to think about that for now.
Cameron hadn’t been in touch with me during those days, and at first I’d felt an ache in my heart, but then I’d slowly and deliberately faded the matter out of my mind.
The most important thing for me now was to support myself.
I said yes to George and joined The Curry Group as a newcomer to the acting program.
George was in high spirits for a few days, as if my fame was just around the corner. I took the forms and papers from him and said to him with a soft smile, “Don’t get too excited, maybe soon you’ll realize that I’m not as good as you think.”
“No way!” He winked, “I trust my own vision, and I trust Willow’s.”
“Willow?”
He gave a start, as if he wanted to say something.
I remembered that Willow had once said she had a favorite, but she wouldn’t say anything if I asked further. The look was exactly like George’s now.
Could it be that the two of them …
“By the way, Laura,” George said softly, “the training department is a separately managed department, and even though I’m the big boss here, I can’t control it too much, so … ”
“Don’t worry.” I understood what he meant, “I won’t talk too much, much less go around publicizing my relationship with you.”
“I trust you on that one.” He smiled, “But I mean, I might not be able to take care of you everywhere, there are a lot of things you’ll have to deal with on your own.”
“I’m not a child, why do I need you to think of everything for me? I have to learn to face it on my own, and in the future, in case I do get into acting, there are even more things to learn.”
“I knew you weren’t just any woman.” George gave a thumbs up, “Cameron really wasn’t wrong about you …”
“Cameron?”
I tugged at my heart and looked up at him.
He shut up at the right time, gave me an awkward look, and turned around to work on something else.
Turns out Cameron was in constant contact with him.
It turned out … that Cameron knew every move I made.
But he just doesn’t show up in front of me!
I bit my lip, feeling inexplicably sad.
When I didn’t want anything to do with him, he wouldn’t let me go, and when I finally got up the courage to give it all up, he let me be the way I am now!
Did he even try to explain anything to me?
In that case, we might as well disappear from each other’s lives.
The short training program is only three months long, and these are just the basics. The course includes body, voice, dance, acting, hosting, and involves all aspects, and the intensity of the course and the strictness of the assessment are much more than I imagined.
Many people quit in the first month. Some dropped out automatically, and some were discouraged from taking the first month’s monthly exams because they failed. When I got my report card, I didn’t even dare to open my eyes until the classmate next to me told me, “Laura, you got A’s in five subjects!”
My heart finally dropped.
But this was only the first step in a long journey, and I still had a long way to go.
More or less everyone in this training class has a bit of an acting background, either they’re second-generation stars or they’ve been in the industry all their lives and have countless stage experiences, and I’m the only one who’s a blank sheet of paper.
There was really no way out for me except to work harder than them.
During that time, I slept only four hours a day, sometimes memorizing lines in my dreams.
Sometimes it was already midnight when I finished the last class, but the next day I had to concentrate on the performance.
Sometimes I would tell Sunny a story and then fall asleep myself, Sunny could express herself completely and complained, “Mommy is sleepy like a piggy every day!”
I am very sad, I want to be with her every day, but I can’t do it at the moment.
Cameron hasn’t been in touch with me and doesn’t even visit his daughter.
I had mixed feelings about this man, and I was a bit disheartened.
One day, I dropped Sunny off at the kindergarten, there was some traffic on the way, and by the time I got to the office, it was already close to class time. I hurriedly ran in, and a young girl dressed in colorful rubbed shoulders.
She had a special aroma on her body, and her figure and appearance were particularly outstanding, belonging to the kind of character that stands out in the crowd.
I couldn’t help but look at her a few more times.
This look suddenly felt familiar, and my mind instantly floated back to the ancient costume drama that was aired a few days ago.
I smiled at her and was just about to say hello, but I didn’t expect her to stop first and glare at me fiercely, the sinister and chilling look in her gaze made me shudder.
“Fryday, what’s going on!” Someone behind me followed, “Hurry up, hurry up, studio three! The next scene will start soon!”
“Got it.” She answered softly, turning away as if nothing had happened.
I stood frozen in place.
So she was Fryday, the actress who would soon be Willow’s stepmother.
I could be considered a stranger to her, but why did she just look at me in that way?
I felt a little uneasy, yet after a while I came back to my senses and thought that I was probably overthinking it. She was in a hurry to get to the movie, so maybe that look was a brewing emotion!
I was still in good shape in that class.
The professional teacher called me over after class and gave me a thick stack of scripts. “The stage play presentation is in a week.”
“Oh.” I took it.
“Medusa,” she looked at me, “familiar with the book?”
“Well, I’ve read it before.”
“Memorize your lines in a week.” She smiled at me, “We’ve unanimously decided that you’re the first female lead in Medusa!”
I froze for a moment, but then came a huge wave of joy. I gently caressed those scripts with a sense of total accomplishment.
Because I knew that I had worked hard and desperately to get this role, not by anyone’s face, and not by George’s connections.
I was determined to get the part right and make the debriefing a flawless experience.
That week, I was so wrapped up in my work, studying the script and practicing in front of the mirror every chance I got. I could almost see myself glowing on stage, and I even had a touch of unrealistic fantasizing, would this stage play be a hit and then I would officially be on my way to acting?
Although I said I didn’t want to be a star, how many people can really be indifferent to fame and fortune? Especially when such a great opportunity was right in front of me.
However, a week later when I was ready to deliver, something happened that caught me off guard.
The lead actress was temporarily replaced!
I received the news like a bolt from the blue, something exploded in my ears, and I was met by the sympathetic and helpless gaze of the character teacher.
She didn’t say much, just patted me on the shoulder and slowly pulled the stack of scripts from my hands.
The stage show was delayed by a week, supposedly to give that newcomer time to get used to it.
I didn’t feel like attending class or rehearsing that day. I sat on the floor of the company, the early winter wind cutting my face like a knife.
I think of my own this period of time to the heart and soul, think of for this role sleepless nights, non-stop practice … but now suddenly told me, you were replaced, without any reason for the replacement, that kind of mood as if from the clouds fell heavily, hurt to the bone.
“Ms. Laura!” A clear voice suddenly called out to me.
I froze and turned around to see that youthful and tender little face.