Chapter 197: Chapter 194: I Want to Be Your Fan
"It looks to me like you’ve had your fun," Seth Quinn said, looking for an outlet for his anger. He turned to River Sterling with a cold threat. "You must be dying to go back and take over the Sterling Group. How about I give your old man a call and tell him to come drag you home?"
River Sterling immediately shot him a "you’re ruthless" look, then made a zipping motion over his lips and sullenly shut up.
Linden Jennings, sitting on the other side, hadn’t said a word. Seeing River Sterling get shut down, he smirked in amusement.
Liam Keane had expected Clara Grant to be a little emotional after he rejected her request, and he worried the next take might not go smoothly.
He decided that if they couldn’t get a good take after a couple more tries, he would call for a break and resume in the afternoon after she’d had time to compose herself.
But to his surprise, they got it perfectly on the very next take.
Clara Grant, her eyes full of affection, delivered her line to Miles Quinn, "Young Master Kingston, I like you." Then, she quickly pecked him on the lips, turned, and shyly ran away.
Not only did she show no sign of being upset, but she was completely immersed in the role, and her performance was spot-on.
After Director Keane yelled "Cut!", he inwardly marveled at what a promising talent Clara Grant was. At the same time, he couldn’t help but sigh in admiration. ’Looks like President Quinn really does know his own woman. That method of his really worked!’
What he didn’t know was that Clara Grant was thinking, ’Since the kiss scene can’t be changed and the show must go on, I might as well just be professional about it.’
’Who cares if Seth Quinn is here! Who cares if he gets angry!’
’Right now, I’m an actress, and my only job is to do what’s expected of an actress!’
With that thought, her mind was suddenly free of distractions.
When she heard Director Keane yell that the take was good, Clara Grant still let out a small sigh of relief.
After watching Clara Grant’s kiss scene, River Sterling couldn’t keep his mouth shut again. "Seth, I thought you went to see Director Keane to get him to change the scene."
Seth Quinn didn’t even look at him. He just glanced at his brother, who was still standing in the same spot, then his gaze shifted to Clara Grant in the distance. He let out a sullen grunt.
"What’s that grunt supposed to mean? Ah, don’t tell me you asked to change the scene, but she refused? Pfft... Hahaha... No, no, no, Seth! I’ll stop talking, I’ll stop laughing, okay? Just don’t call my old man."
When River Sterling saw Seth Quinn take out his phone, he knew exactly what he was about to do. He quickly suppressed his laughter and begged for mercy.
’Damn it! All he ever does is threaten me with my old man and dragging me back to the Sterling Group. He can’t take a joke at all. So lame!’
"Alright, that’s a wrap for this morning! Everyone, go get some lunch. We’ll resume shooting this afternoon." The assistant director clapped his hands and cheerfully announced the end of the morning’s work.
Clara Grant let out a huge sigh of relief. She turned and went to the dressing room to remove her makeup. Since she had no scenes in the afternoon, she didn’t have to eat with her makeup on.
Miles Quinn, meanwhile, jogged over to greet Seth Quinn and the others, but he didn’t quite dare to meet his older brother’s eyes. Even though he knew it was just for a scene, he couldn’t help but feel guilty.
Director Liam Keane also came over to tell them to go to lunch. But just then, Poppy Vance grabbed Linden Jennings’s hand, excitedly asking him to take her to the dressing room to find Clara Grant.
Linden Jennings always indulged her, so he agreed to take her. Hearing this, River Sterling wanted to tag along. He sent Miles Quinn and Liam Keane back to the hotel first, then "casually" dragged Seth Quinn along to join in on the fun with Poppy Vance.
They had barely taken a few steps when Faye Jennings caught up to them. After a few pleasantries, she said to Poppy Vance, "Miss Vance, I’ll have those autographed photos sent over to you in a bit."
But Poppy Vance just waved a hand dismissively and said, "Whatever."
This left Faye Jennings in an awkward position. Just a moment ago, Poppy had been enthusiastically asking for more autographed photos, and now she was so dismissive?
She could only force a calm smile and say, "Well, I’ll get them to you later then."
Poppy Vance gave a careless nod and urged Linden Jennings and the others to get going.
When they reached the dressing room, Clara Grant, having just changed her clothes, was walking out. She looked up and saw Seth Quinn’s group of four.
She didn’t recognize anyone except for Seth Quinn, so after a brief moment of surprise, she addressed him as "President Quinn" and simply nodded at the other three as a greeting.
Holly Summers, who was waiting to go to lunch with her, recognized River Sterling and Linden Jennings and quickly greeted each of them.
’Wow,’ she thought. ’Are all three of these handsome presidents here to see Clara?’
Seth Quinn was cold and silent. Clara Grant didn’t know the others and felt she had nothing to say to him, so she remained silent as well.
Just as Holly Summers was wondering if she should introduce the other two presidents, Poppy Vance enthusiastically stepped forward, took Clara Grant’s hand, and exclaimed, "Brother Qui—"
"AHEM..." Linden Jennings covered his mouth and coughed twice, successfully cutting Poppy Vance off.
’Brother Qui? Brother Qui-what?’ Both Clara Grant and Holly Summers were baffled, looking at Poppy with confusion.
Poppy Vance was quick on her feet. With a bright smile, she continued, "Brother Quinn and the others have such great taste. The artists under their company are all so beautiful, one more than the next. And you, Clara, you’re especially beautiful and talented! I’ve decided—I’m going to be your fan."
Clara Grant felt a little uncomfortable with Poppy Vance’s forwardness, and she was a bit embarrassed by the compliment about her acting.
’The first time she ever saw me act, she watched me mess up several takes in a row. If she calls that good acting, her standards must be incredibly low!’
"I’m not an artist signed with Aegis," Clara Grant explained, a little awkwardly.
"Huh? Aegis hasn’t signed you yet? Well, that’s their loss." As she spoke, Poppy Vance turned to Seth Quinn and asked, "Right, Brother Quinn?"
Seth Quinn ignored her, but Poppy Vance didn’t seem to mind. She just giggled and said, "But it doesn’t really make a difference whether you’re signed or not. We’re all one big family here."
Before Clara Grant could even begin to process what she meant by that, she heard Poppy add with an "Oh!", "Clara, I haven’t even introduced myself yet. My name is Poppy Vance. You can call me Poppy."
After introducing herself, she went on to introduce River Sterling and Linden Jennings. "You probably don’t know these two, right? This is River Sterling, and this is Linden Jennings. They’re both General Managers at Aegis and good friends of Brother Quinn."
Even if Poppy Vance hadn’t said anything, Clara Grant could tell that the relationship between River Sterling, Linden Jennings, and Seth Quinn was anything but ordinary. Otherwise, with a personality like Seth Quinn’s, there was no way he would be hanging out with them, let alone allow River Sterling to drag him along without a hint of annoyance or resistance.
"President Sterling, President Jennings, Poppy, hello," Clara Grant said, formally greeting them.
"Holly, why don’t you go on to lunch first? It looks like Poppy wants to chat with Clara a little more," River Sterling said to Holly with a smile.
Although Holly Summers wanted to wait for Clara Grant, she had no choice but to leave after President Sterling had spoken.
Clara Grant wanted to go with her, but River Sterling was using Poppy Vance as an excuse, and Poppy herself was so enthusiastic that Clara felt it would be rude to just leave.
The moment Holly Summers left, River Sterling turned to Clara Grant, his eyes full of mirth as he began, "Clara, that scene of yours today was pretty good. Despite the little hiccup in the middle, it went smoothly enough.
"After all, you’re a newcomer, so it’s only natural to be a little awkward and shy filming your first kiss scene. Hey, besides this being your first on-screen kiss, it couldn’t be your actual first kiss too, could it? Oh, but that’s actually great! Your first kiss and your first on-screen kiss were with the same person... Hey, Seth, what are you doing? Where are you going?"
