As Lilia's figure disappeared into the distance, Shirley finally loosened her fist. She took only a step forward when she heard the voice of a man behind her.
"Did someone really hack your account?"
Shirley jumped and immediately turned around. She was faced with a well-built actor whose presence completely felt the opposite of Lilia. William's expression was grim as he repeated his question.
"Is it true?" William insisted.
Shirley looked at the actor warily. Although they both had been in the movie industry for years, she had never spoken to William before. But Shirley knew about the man's admirable reputation and the many awards he had received. So she decided to be friendly to this actor.
"Yes, my account was hacked by someone." Shirley replied while lifting her chin.
But William instead gave her a look of disgust, "You and I both know that the photo content of the conversation is not fabricated."
Shirley's face paled and she opened her mouth to refute William, but the man preceded her.
"You don't need to pretend in front of me. The two pictures have been widely circulated on the internet. Everyone can easily check whether the photo was fabricated or not."
Shirley gritted her teeth and glared at William, "Then why are you telling me all this? Are you trying to defend Lilia Pangestu?"
To Shirley's surprise, William replied, "That's not what I meant."
The man stepped forward, narrowing the distance between the two. William leaned towards Shirley, as if he was about to whisper a secret into her ear.
"I just thought that the ability of the film queen from Berlin was not as good as your title. I had high hopes for you, but you let me down." William said in a low voice.
"What do you mean?" Shirley distanced herself from the man. Her expression was colored with intense anger. Who did William think he was?! How dare he lecture her like this?!
Seeing the anger on Shirley's face made William straighten his body. He turned to leave, "I just wanted to give you a small favor. If you want to secretly take photos of me with Lilia next time, don't forget to signal me."
Hearing that, Shirley's anger immediately vanished. She stood stunned as she watched the actor walk away, "William, are you saying that ...?"
The end of Shirley's sentence was blown away, as did the answer William gave her.
*****
When Lilia arrived in the hallway of the locker room, she saw Clifford guarding at her door. The man nodded at Lilia and opened the door for her without a word. Merry immediately greeted him as soon as she set foot into the room. The assistant helped Lilia to change clothes into her costume deftly.
"Sis Lilia, what did Shirley say to you earlier?" Merry asked while tying the belt around Lilia's waist with expert movements. Her tone blatantly showed her dislike for the actress.
Lilia tried to wave her arm to make sure that her wide sleeves could fly gracefully. When she heard Merry's stern tone, a faint smile graced her lips, "The content of the conversation is not important at all. You don't need to think about that."
Merry frowned, opening her mouth as she was about to protest. But when she saw Lilia's calm expression, Merry swallowed back her words. The actress sure uttered unnecessary nonsense. That's why Lilia insisted that Merry needed not know the contents of their conversation. Merry nodded with a bitter expression.
At that time, Lilia's cellphone rang. Merry immediately took out the model cellphone from her bag and handed it to Lilia. She happened to see the name of the caller on that cellphone screen. Her eyes suddenly widened in shock.
'Mother'. Why did Lilia's mother suddenly call?
Merry knew Lilia's relationship with her mother was not very good. After Lilia received the cellphone, Merry immediately pointed to the door and made a gesture signalling that she was going to get out of this room.
Lilia hesitated for a moment before finally nodding her head. She respected the privacy Merry had given her. She didn't know what Sylvia wanted from her this time, but she didn't want anyone else to listen to their conversation.
After Merry left the room, then Lilia picked up the phone. "Hello, Mother?" She said worriedly.
While waiting for Sylvia's answer, Lilia remembered the last time her mother called. The woman demanded that Lilia lend her two hundred million Rupiah. What else did she want now? And did Sylvia recover the stolen company money?
"I heard from your father that you went to Jakarta to shoot?" Sylvia's voice from the other end of the line sounded neither warm nor anxious. Instead, there was irritation in her voice, as if Lilia had done something she shouldn't have done.
Lilia raised her eyebrows when she heard Sylvia's question. She'd been here for a week and the woman just asked where she was today? Maybe Sylvia wouldn't even care if Lilia suddenly disappeared for a month without a word!
She suppressed the irritation and hurt she felt before replying in a voice as calm as possible, "Yeah, I've been here a week shooting."
Sylvia was silent for a moment. When she spoke again, her tone sounded stiffer than usual, "How long are you going to shoot there?"
"I don't know." Lilia deliberately avoided the question, "Mother, do you need something from me?"
She felt something strange about this conversation. What did Sylvia want from her?
Sylvia cleared her throat and replied, "No, I don't need anything. I just wanted to let you know that your uncle is coming back to Indonesia next week. The plane will land in Jakarta, so if you have time, go and pick up your uncle."
Before Lilia could respond, Sylvia continued her words.
"Lilia, isn't it difficult for you to shoot alone in Jakarta? As soon as your shooting is over, go back to Surabaya. Didn't you say that you have no plans to enter the movie industry? I don't know why you suddenly got interested in filming for no apparent reason."
Hearing that last sentence made Lilia swallow back the bitter laugh that almost escaped her mouth. Was he interested in filming for no apparent reason? If Sylvia had known her daughter's nature, she wouldn't have said that!
Lilia took a deep breath to calm herself down, "Okay, I'll pick up my uncle next week. Regarding shooting, you don't need to worry about it."
'I can take care of myself'
Lilia didn't say that last sentence, but she was sure that Sylvia got the point.
But Sylvia's reply made Lilia's heart tear, "You think I care enough to worry about you?" Her reply was scathing before hanging up the phone.
Lilia slowly lowered her phone and stared at the screen in disbelief. Then the disbelief turned to anger. If that's what her mother wanted, then fine! After all, Sylvia had never cared about Lilia since she was a child! She didn't need that woman's worries now!
She suppressed her urge to throw the cell phone across the room. Lilia put her cell phone on the table carefully and took out the script. She was trying to bury the conversation just now by concentrating on the dialogue lines she had to memorize.
At times like these, Lilia really missed the warmth of Jean's hand and the soundness of his embrace. But she couldn't possibly leave the shoot just to seek comfort from Jean.
Lilia bit her lip and forced herself to focus on her work.. She had learned from experience that she could get rid of her negative feelings and thoughts by immersing herself in work.
This 𝓬ontent is taken from fre𝒆webnove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺