Filed To Story: Finding the Secret Daddy for My Baby Novel
“How is this trifle?! I’m doing you a favor here!” Lisa deliberately faked an event just so she could stay a little longer in his room.
Meanwhile, Jessie had left her room. Though they had agreed to meet at 2.30PM, she still wanted to show up a little earlier. In her hands were two cups of freshly ground coffee she eagerly wanted to share with him.
Just as Jessie wanted to knock on the door, it opened from inside, startling her. The next second, she found Julian answering the door with another woman.
Being an old trouper, Lisa acted practically seamlessly the second she saw Jessie at the door, pretending to have blacked out as she held her forehead and fell limply into Julian’s arms.
As Julian failed to react in time, Lisa successfully hugged him after turning around.
Jessie, on the other hand, quickly realized she had interrupted them. Awkwardly, she said to Julian, “I- I’ll come back later.”
“Jessie!” Julian called out to the young woman, but she still shrewdly returned to her room while her mind was filled with images of Lisa hugging Julian. Lisa was the female lead in Julian’s last production and also an A-lister. Her looks and performance were considered the best.
Meanwhile, Lexie was sorting Jessie’s clothes out when the latter returned. “Hmm? I thought you left to see Young Master Julian for a read-through. How come you’re back?” she asked with surprise.
“He… He’s in the middle of something else.” Jessie sat somewhat absent-mindedly on the couch. “Lexie, you’re a sucker for celebrity gossip. Do you know of any past dating rumors between Young
Master Julian and Lisa Powers?” Jessie asked with curiosity, to which Lexie pondered for a moment before answering. “If my memory didn’t fail me—there was. But it was debunked very quickly.”
“What’s the story?”
“Don’t quote me on this, but Lisa had gone into Young Master Julian’s neighborhood in the middle of the night and only left two hours later.” The next second, Lexie covered her mouth. “No, wait. Hold on. I think I’ve gotten it wrong. That never happened.”
Knowing Lexie like the back of her hand, Jessie remarked, “If it happened, it happened. No need to hide it from me.”
“Okay. There was word about it, but it was deleted pretty quickly; only suckers for gossip like me saw it. Then again, it doesn’t mean anything is going on between Lisa and Young Master Julian, right?”
“Lisa was in his room just now.”
“What?!” Lexie’s gossip mode turned on instantly. “What were they doing?”
Jessie hadn’t even had the chance to relate what she saw when someone knocked on her door. With that, Lexie answered it. “Hi, Young Master Julian.” She beamed when she saw who it was behind the door.
“Is Jessie inside?”
“Yeah.”
“Tell her to come to my room,” he ordered before waiting outside.
Meanwhile, Lexie looked over at the young actress on the couch. “Jessie, Young Master Julian asked you to go to his room.”
At that, Jessie got up with the two cups of coffee in her hand. “You’re done with your business?” she asked reflexively after coming out to find Julian still standing by his door.
“Yeah, come on in!” Julian pushed his door open and entered right away with Jessie following behind him. At that moment, Lisa had already left.
“Have a seat first. I’m going to get changed.” He had an innate psychological cleanliness disorder toward women, and he had grown uncomfortable when Lisa threw herself into his arms, causing her thick perfume to be caught in his shirt.
Jessie then sat down like a good girl. Suddenly, something sparkly on the couch caught her eye, and she picked it up to find it was an earring.
Is this Lisa’s? How could she have dropped it? Jessie couldn’t help imagining what had gone down. Could they have possibly made out on the couch just now? Only when a man cups her face and ruffles her hair can the earring drop by accident, no?
At that, the dating rumor Lexie mentioned popped into her mind. Lisa stayed in his neighborhood for two hours. What could they have done during that time?
She had seen far too many set couples in this industry and getting into a romantic relationship during filming was even more common than she’d like to admit. Witnessing so many of these scenarios, she was bound to overthink.
Can Julian and Lisa also be in this kind of relationship? That’s why they’d make out as soon as they meet up, which ended up in the earring being dropped on the couch in the process, right?
While Jessie was deep in her thoughts, an alluring male voice traveled to her ears. “Is the coffee for me?”
“Ah, yes. I got it for you,” she answered at once after being pulled back to reality. “Oh, I found this. You should return it to Miss Powers later.” With that, she showed him the earring in her hand. Julian furrowed his brows in response. “Where did you find it?”
“On the couch. It’s Miss Powers’, I assume,” she answered with a smile. “Just throw it into the trash can,” he ordered. Is he not going to return it?!
“It looks pretty expensive. Are you not going to return it to her?” Jessie asked with surprise.
Julian, for one, saw through Lisa’s act right away. So, even if the earring was hers, she had dropped it here on purpose. Obviously, she wanted to use the excuse of finding her earring to get close to him again.
“Leave it on the table then. I’ll have my assistant return it to her.” Returning it to Lisa will save her from having to come up with another excuse to find me again.
“Miss Powers looked a little unwell earlier. Is she alright?” Jessie asked. “She’s alive and kicking,” he answered.
She had run away so quickly that she didn’t see Lisa leaving in discomfiture under his sub-zero gaze. “Let’s get down to the read-through.” At that, he took out two scripts and handed one to her.
Jessie didn’t chit-chat anymore either and started reading the first page, for it was a flashback scene. The lines were of the female lead expressing her love for the male lead as she stood leaning in his arms by the lotus pool.
The male lead’s name was Alioth while the female lead was Estelle.
“Why aren’t you reading?” Julian looked up to find her gawking at the script in her hands.
Jessie wasn’t an actor, so it was only natural for her to be nervous when she was reading her lines in front of Julian for the first time.
“Cough… I don’t care if you’re a king or the ruler of the world. I love you. There’s never a day that I don’t, and the universe can prove it. Even if I’ll be damned forever, I will still love you.”
Jessie blushed after she was done reading the line, and she dared not even look at the man across from her.
Meanwhile, Julian riveted his alluring gaze on her. “Not enough emotions. Again.”
She choked in response. But aren’t they just doing voice-overs?!
“Cooper wants to use our original voices this time. So, you better be prepared.”
The revelation rendered Jessie stupefied for a few seconds before she regained her senses. “Our original voices? But my voice doesn’t even sound good!”
Her insecurity was acting up again.
To that, Julian smiled. “I think it’s pretty good.”
“But I-I’ll stutter. I’ll slur when I’m nervous. I… worry things will get awkward.” Jessie bit her lip and lowered her head. Yes, she wanted to act, and she threw herself into the industry as well. However, it was only after joining showbiz that she realized she was still incompetent. She was even thinking of chickening out now.