Chapter 2 : First Love, Misunderstanding, No Intelligence.

Caleb was Christopher''s first love, the white moonlight in his heart, the cinnabar mole in his palm. He had a crush on Caleb for ten years, from middle school to college.

In the second year after Christopher graduated from Boulder College, he was already a hot young actor with both popularity and acting skills in the entertainment industry, while Caleb was just an unknown young director. To put it nicely, he was a promising young director; to put it bluntly, he was a stubborn guy with no connections, no money, and too much pride, destined not to succeed.

Christopher had mentioned investing in his films, but Caleb refused. He said he wanted to rely on himself. If his films never gained market recognition, it would only mean he wasn''t good enough.

Caleb went abroad the day after Christopher confessed to him. Before leaving, he left Christopher with one sentence, "If you really like me, then wait for me."

Christopher asked, "How long?"

He said, "Two years."

In the end, he was gone for a full six years, and during those six years, he never came back, and Christopher never went to find him.

After the promised two years passed, Christopher met Adrian, who looked very much like Caleb, and quickly took him in. This arrangement lasted for almost four years.

And now, Caleb was coming back, and Christopher felt it was time to end this abnormal relationship.

"Yeah, he''s back," Christopher admitted.

In the dark, Adrian covered his eyes with his arm. Christopher had told him from the beginning that he took him in only because he looked like the person he loved. He knew this from the start, so why was he feeling sad?

But he could still feel warm liquid sliding down from the corner of his eye. "Congratulations," he heard himself say.

"Thank you," Christopher said.

After that, there were no more words.

That night, the two of them slept on opposite sides of the bed. After all... there was no reason to sleep holding each other anymore, right? When Adrian woke up, he even regretted it a bit. If he had known, he would have done it last night. As a result, there wasn''t even one last time to savor.

When Adrian got up, the bed next to him was already cold. On the dining table in the living room, there was the same note as the day before: Breakfast is in the kitchen, heat it up yourself.

Feeling a mix of nausea, he finished his breakfast and called Adam: "Come pick me up and take me to the set."

Today, he had a scene with the third female lead. Originally, the third female lead was a newcomer, but that newcomer somehow offended someone and was replaced. The new replacement hadn''t been announced, and Adrian only saw who it was when he got to the set.

It was Alice.

Just a few days ago, she was rumored to be involved with the award-winning actor Christopher, and now she was immediately joining the cast to shoot, and as the third female lead in a popular show. No one would believe she didn''t have some powerful backing.

When Alice joined the cast, she brought two assistants, each carrying several bags filled with snacks, which they distributed to everyone on set, earning quite a bit of goodwill.

Adrian received an almond-flavored pastry, but unfortunately, he was allergic to almonds, so he handed it to Adam. He thought he did it discreetly, but Alice''s assistant still saw it.

He didn''t care, it was just a pack of cookies. He didn''t think Alice would be that petty.

However, he was wrong. Perhaps Alice really did have some powerful figure backing her. When Adrian approached her to rehearse lines, she refused without hesitation.

Adrian frowned and was about to ask why when she said, "An unknown, bottom-tier actor wants to rehearse lines with me? Do you think I''m here for charity?"

Her words were merciless. Adrian was almost amused by her astonishing lack of intelligence. In the end, he said nothing and turned to leave.

The result of not rehearsing was frequent NGs during the actual shoot. Adrian was relaxed; with his acting skills, this kind of scene was a piece of cake for him. But for Alice, it was an insurmountable gap, especially with Adrian as a comparison. The effect was simply unbearable to watch.

Finally, after who knows how many times the director yelled at her, she broke down, squatting on the ground and crying loudly. Adrian didn''t even look at her and turned back to the rest area.

The director, Bruce Williams, was a rough man in his early forties, with a loud voice and a bad temper. Seeing the young girl cry, he didn''t know how to comfort her and almost wanted to kick her.

No one on set dared to comfort her, not even her assistants. Everyone wished they could stick a dog head on their faces to save their lives. Alice, whether she was addicted to crying or what, cried louder and louder, her sobs echoing in the set, giving everyone a headache.

"Bang!"

Bruce kicked over a chair next to him and was about to start cursing at her when Adrian spoke up, "Mr. Williams, everyone is tired. I had my assistant buy some ice cream. Let''s cool down a bit before we continue."

Bruce glanced at him, waved his hand impatiently, and went back to the rest area.

Adam distributed the ice cream to the crew, even Alice''s assistants got some. The two young women held the ice cream, unsure whether to eat it or not, completely at a loss.

Adrian ignored them, took one and walked over to Alice, squatting down, "What''s the use of crying? Will you be able to act after crying?"

Alice immediately cried even louder.

Adrian sighed, "Instead of wasting time crying, why not come with me to go over the lines? Once you get the lines right, the feeling will come."

He unwrapped the ice cream and started eating it, patiently waiting for a while. After eating half of it, he didn''t dare to continue, fearing the baby inside wouldn''t agree. He put the remaining ice cream back in the bag and threw it into a nearby trash can. When he came back, Alice had stopped crying. She looked up, her eyes blackened by tears and mascara, looking somewhat comical.

"Will you go over the lines with me?" she said to Adrian, her voice trembling like a child''s.

"Let''s go," Adrian said.

Alice stood up, but probably because her legs were numb from squatting for too long, she stumbled. Adrian instinctively supported her, "Careful."

Alice held onto Adrian''s arm for a while, then limped towards the rest area on the side of the set.

After going over the lines, the subsequent filming went much smoother. After spending the afternoon together, Alice''s attitude towards him improved significantly. Before leaving, she even offered to treat him to dinner, which he declined.

"What''s the matter? Got plans?" Alice asked inquisitively.

Adrian didn''t like Alice. Even though he thought she was somewhat simple despite her low emotional intelligence, he still didn''t like her. Helping her in the afternoon was purely to avoid delaying the filming schedule, but it ended up giving her the wrong idea.

"Am I not good enough?" Alice blinked at him, showing no signs of the crying mess she was a few hours ago.

"Sorry, I really have something to do. Miss Zhou, if you have time, you should go home and memorize your lines. Don''t delay tomorrow''s scene with the male lead."

After saying that, Adrian turned and got into the car. As he closed the door, he heard Alice say, "No wonder he''s a nobody, even his car is unimpressive."

Adrian shook his head with a smile and said to Adam, "To Bliss Restaurant."

"Got it," Adam responded and drove off.