The King's Invaluable Possession [Bachelor in Love #4]

Chapter 11

Linda

“Number thirty-four.”

I looked at the guy who was responsible for calling numbers. A woman raised and she walked inside the room. My heart was pounding loud every time he mentioned a number. Mine was forty-three. I just couldn’t wait to get this over with. Could I? I was born ready. I was determined and so sure I could get this role but I just couldn’t get rid of this anxiety. Gosh, I hated it when being fidgeted like this.

It’d been three hours since I got my number. Most of them came out and cried out loud. There were three people inside. The director, Jones who I recognized as the most successor director in the movie industry. I heard he was really strict and wouldn’t hesitate to tell the mistake the actor caused. He could even fire them if he was seriously pissed off. Worse, he dumped his position as the director. The other two were the producers and one of them…was Alex.

I think I had an idea why those ladies failed. They were concentrating on Alex and bam! They screwed up. Or they didn’t really want the role and only wanted to see Alex.

I pitied those kinds of people. Many people were in this audition because they really wanted it. It was their passion. However, sometimes there were those people who only wanted to show off their poor ability in order to get the attention of the person they wanted to show off. In this case, Alex.

It hadn’t been fifteen minutes and the lady had come out. She looked…pissed off? And then she kicked the garbage bin next to the door. Whoa! “f**k him!” she screamed and stormed away as the other contestants were watching her. Failed, huh? Poor bin. It didn’t do anything wrong to her. They immediately announced the result. If we had the potential, they would tell us to wait in the other room to determine the winner. If not, well, just like her. Kick the bin and walk away.

“Number thirty-five,” the man said. Another lady stood up as he collected the bin and put it back in its rightful place. It seemed he had seen that kind of attitude throughout his career. When they got inside, I noticed some of the girls stood up and just walked away. They didn’t even bother to try their luck and show what they could do and allowed the fear to consume them. Oh, man. Seriously? I might be scared but I had to do it. I needed to see if I had the potential. I needed to show them. I couldn’t walk away without even trying. That was so not me. I didn’t walk away from a challenge. I faced it. If I could say this to just confess my feeling to Jason.

The previous lady came out with a big smile on her face. She walked into the other room excitedly. She was chosen as the potential one. There were already six inside.

I leaned my back on the chair while exhaling. Last night, I was so positive I would get the role. Now not so much. There were so many talented people out there and maybe I was just not as good as them. Being in a real movie was so much different than being in a theater.

“Number thirty-six,” he mentioned the next number. No one was standing. “Thirty-six? Thirty-six not here? Okay, thirty-seven?” he stated again and no one was standing. Oh, boy. “No? Thirty-eight?” And the brunette lady stood up and followed him to the room.

“Losers, aren’t they?” a woman next to me commented. When did she sit next to me? She had blonde hair and she was dressed up in a dark brown dress. She looked…stunning just by her side profile. She smelled nice too. She turned to me and stared her blue eyes at me. She looked…familiar.

“Um, are you in this audition as well?”

She chuckled at my question. She had a cute laugh, though. “Do I look like one?” she asked with that smooth British accent. A British?

“Well, the fact you’re here, I suppose you are.”

She smiled and shook her head. Was it odd to think that her smile was…rather cold? Like she was pushing it. “No, I’m not. I’m just here for business with someone.”

“I see.” I looked away, directing my eyes to the door.

“You’re in this audition, aren’t you?” she asked, making me turn back to her.

“Yes.”

“Are you new? I’ve never seen you before. No offense, though.”

“None taken. Yeah, I’m still new. I’m trying my luck here. Hopefully, I can get through.”

“I hope so. I think it’s not easy to get this role, isn’t it? Most of them came out crying their arses off just because they failed. What did they expect anyway? Got the role easily like sell off their bodies?” Whoa, that was too straightforward! This girl just had no brake with her mouth. Kind of like me.

“Too bad some people were like that, huh? Or maybe there’s a certain someone inside that they wanted to meet. Or entertain.”

“He’s like the kryptonite to most ladies.” I bet she must be referring to Alex. Kryptonite to ladies? That was funny I almost laughed. That title fitted him.

“Have you met him before?” I asked.

“I have,” she replied lazily.

“And what do you think about him?” She didn’t answer straight away. Her blue almost green eyes started to the contestants until she stood up.

“A rubbish,” she callously stated. I was left speechless. She turned to me and smiled. “Good luck.” She walked away. Rubbish? Damn, that was harsh. The way she said it was like filled with hatred. Oh, did Alex do something to the poor girl? She looked quite young. How old was she? And why the hell Alex had to bother a girl from a different country anyway? He just couldn’t help himself, huh?

“Five minutes break,” the man who called numbers announced.

I raised from the chair and went to the bathroom. Standing in front of the sink, I inhaled and exhaled a few times. I was so nervous. Just a few numbers and then it would be my turn. Staring at myself in the mirror, “You got this, Linda. Don’t mess up.” I closed myself. Manifesting that I would succeed and I would get out of this building with a happy smile and sleep like a baby tonight.

Once I calmed down, I washed my hands and walked out. “I had f*****g enough with this bullshit!” someone exclaimed as I just stepped out of the bathroom. Looking at him, that dirty blond hair, oh, the actor in this movie. The male lead, Mark.

“Come on, Mark. You can’t do this to us. You’re here to choose the perfect girl to be your partner in this movie,” the man in glasses said. I guessed he was the other producer besides Alex.

“Yes, I am, but I could do it if you guys gave me suitable candidates. All I’ve seen for the past four hours were just a bunch of talentless women.” Hey, that was extremely rude! He hadn’t seen anything yet. Me. What about those six? Did he consider them talentless too?

“We’ve got six of them. Just be patient and wait for the others.”

“How about if you cut this s**t and do something with those six?” Mark suggested. Oh, no.

“You mean, you don’t want to see the rest?”

“No. Just f*****g do it.” Oh, f**k no! He couldn’t do this. Who the hell he thought he was?

With anger, I strode my heels toward him. “Calm down, Mark.” Until Alex appeared behind him. “There’s more to show. You haven’t seen the real deal. The one who was born to play this role.”

“What do you mean, Browning?”

“The six ladies we have chosen, to be honest, I’m not really sure about them. What I’m trying to say is maybe one of them will be perfect for this movie. We just haven’t seen her yet.”

“So, you’re saying we should continue with the audition?” Alex nodded his head. Mark scoffed. “Give me a break. They’re just a bunch of amateurs. What’s the point of continuing anyway?”

“I can promise you, Mark. There will be someone who will make you change your mind and you will be grateful to me to hold back the remaining ones. In fact, you will ask us to get rid of the other six and you will choose her only,” Alex stated. Although I couldn’t believe Alex too much now or even put my hope in him, I was delighted. He was trying to give me a chance. He was the one who found me and he wanted everyone to see what I could do.

Without a word, Mark walked away with the producer. I looked at them before to Alex who was staring at them. “Happy, muffin?” he asked, making my body jump. He noticed I was listening? He spun to me. I walked toward him.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it. I just don’t want him ruining my audition. That’s his bad habit. Got bored easily because he couldn’t find the perfect girl asap. This is still my project. I put a lot of money into this movie and I want everything to be perfect. And,” he paused and touched my shoulders. “I want you to get the role for me.”

“Well, I’ve promised that I will. Do you think I could be the one who will make him thank you?”

“Of course. Show him what you got, muffin. Prove him that you’re not just an amateur and you’re worthy of his f*****g time.” I couldn’t hold back the grin and nodded my head. He turned his shoes and followed Mark back to the audition room.

The break was over. I walked back to my chair, waiting for my turn. Another hour passed and then finally, “Number forty-two?” No one stood up. My heart was in turmoil now. Because if the person was not here, that meant, “Forty-three?” It was my turn now. I closed my eyes for three seconds before I convinced my feet to push myself up.

“Yes.” He looked at me as I headed toward him.

“Please come inside and stand on the X sign over there. And good luck.”

“Thank you.” I walked in. The coldness of the room showered my body it gave me a shiver. I went to the X sign with the judges sitting behind the long table covered with a white cloth. I saw Mark was there, sitting next to the early producer. Alex was sitting on the left side of the table as his eyes never left me. Right, I had to pretend I didn’t know him. Maybe he didn’t tell anyone I knew about this audition from him.

I stopped my black heels on the X sign and faced my judges. “Welcome,” Jones greeted. He was wearing a dark blue jacket with a white t-shirt underneath. Jones was known to be quite casual everywhere he went. He had dark hair, some of them were slightly greyed already. “What is your name?”

“Linda. Linda Greene.”

“Greene? Are you related to James Greene?” Great, why did he have to ask that?

“Yes, he is my cousin.”

“Cousin, huh? Why you didn’t try to be in his agency instead of Mr. Browning’s over here? Don’t you think he might consider you as…I don’t know, a traitor, maybe?” Jeez, he indeed had a harsh mouth and was extremely rude.

“My cousin doesn’t have anything to do with this. I’m doing this audition because I want to and without his help. I don’t want to use his connection to get a job.”

“That’s a great answer, Miss Greene. If you were just the same as those spoiled ladies we’ve dismissed, we’re going to send you home immediately. I’m glad that you’re not. And you’re here, without his help, I assume you do have the talent, no?” He was testing me; I was sure of it. I directed my eyes to Alex, finding him only looking at me. He wasn’t going to help me here. He believed in me. He knew I could pass this audition not just for him, but for myself too. He believed in my potential. My talent. He gave this chance to me and I would get it. No matter what.

“Of course.”

“Good, then, let’s begin. Mark?” he called Mark and he stood up. I think I could understand why he was so twitchy. He had to do the scene over and over again to someone who maybe didn’t know how to act, in his book, at least. When he was close already, I didn’t realize it before but he was quite handsome. I only saw him on TV and yes, he was handsome. But the real one was just magnificent. Dirty blond hair with a pair of brown eyes. He was really tall. Like, really tall. He beat Alex’s height. He stared at me like he was looking down on me. How come I always met this kind of guy anyway? Oh, I will show him what I’ve got.

“Linda, right?”

“Yes.”

“Nice to meet you. But please, do entertain me or I will leave you here. I’m tired of junk.” f**k, I wanted to punch him! Calm down, Linda. Hold back. Punch him with good acting.

“Ready? Action!” Jones announced.

I would prove him wrong. I was not here just for a show. Not to show off to Alex. He had seen what I could do. This role would be mine at the end of the day and Mark would beg me to do this movie with me and me only. Junk? Think again, pretty boy. No one rejected Linda Greene.

“How did you know?” I started first, just as Mark wanted me. Just by him changing his gaze, I could tell immediately he went into acting mode. All I could see was the male lead. This was what professionals did, huh? Amazing.

He walked toward me. “Do you have to ask?” He cupped my cheeks. “Because I always see you. I always watching you. Do you think I won’t realize how you always stand on the beach and sing with your soul, uncaring someone would listen?”

“I don’t think I have.” This man had watched over me. We just met yet he always had his eyes on me.

And everything happened so suddenly.

Mark let me go and he reversed to the rude Mark. Walking away. The hell? “Mark? Where are you going?” Jones asked.

“I’m not in the mood of doing something according to the script,” he stated while looking at me. “She’s got the potential; I can feel it. But you sound like a robot. Have you ever been in love before? Or are you now?”

“What?”

“You didn’t imagine him when you said those words, did you? I don’t want to do the role with someone who can’t even project her soul.” His words pierced my heart. He even noticed I didn’t imagine Jason earlier. Like he said, I only said the words straight out of the script because I wanted to prove to Mark that I was not a one-trick pony. “That’s too bad, Linda. Maybe an amateur should stay as one. You need another ten years for this shit.” And he walked away.

I couldn’t stand this. I looked at Jones and he sighed in tired. The producer in glasses couldn’t say anything. And Alex… He only closed his eyes. Either he was pissed off at Mark or he was disappointed in me. I turned to Mark again, watching his back leaving me. Did he say those words to the previous ladies? Oh, he would eat his s**t back! “Wait!” I halted him and he stopped. “Let’s do it again. I’ll show you that I can do this role straight from my soul.”

“Oh, really?”

“Yes, really. Now, get back here, and let’s do it again. Unless you’re afraid to admit that you’re wrong.” f**k, what did I do? Mark turned around with a smile on his face. What, he didn’t expect I would do that? I was different from those women. My mouth had no filters and this time, it was perfectly usable.

Mark stayed on his spot. “You’re pretty brave, aren’t you? I like that. How about this? Call the man you’re in love with now, Linda.”

“What?”

“This role hasn’t had a name. How about if you scream his name and let’s see if you’re serious with this role. It’s not hard, isn’t it? Pretend that I’m walking away because I’m disappointed that you chose me over your dream. Don’t think that man will like that, Linda. Not when he’s seriously in love with you?” Why the heck I could imagine Jason was currently saying that to me? What I felt like…I’d made a mistake?

Mark walked away from me again. And this time, I saw Jason instead. Jason who was disappointed in me. Jason who was in love with me. Jason who blamed himself because he made me throw my dream. No, I didn’t want him to go. I wanted my dream and him too. I didn’t want to lose any of them. “No… Don’t go. I’m sorry.” Before I knew it, tears ran down my cheeks. “Don’t go… Jason!” Mark stopped immediately. He turned to me but instead of Mark, I saw Jason instead. I immediately ran to him and wrapped my arms around his neck. “I’m so sorry. Please, don’t leave me. I know you’re mad because I chose you over my dream. You think it’s your fault. But it’s not. It’s mine. Because I couldn’t choose. I want…both. My dream…and you. So, please?” I released him and looked straight into his crystal blue eyes. “Don’t go. It hurts me when you leave.” Because this was how I felt when I abandoned my real dream. I wouldn’t make it if I had to lose Jason too.

“You should’ve said that in the beginning,” he said. He placed his hands on my cheeks again. Smiling so warmly. I could feel how grateful he was that I didn’t abandon my dream. “Linda…”

“Cut!” I blinked at the voice and all I saw was Mark again. I moved away from his hands and wiped my tears. Wait, what just happened?

I turned to the judges. Who said that?

And there he was, standing with his hands on top of the table.

Alex.