Chapter 63: Chapter 63: Two Airdropped Assistants
"No, it’s okay, Jessica. I can find some ice to put on it myself in a little while."
Suzanne Sawyer was both flattered and intimidated. Jessica Reynolds was a huge star, yet she was being so friendly, even offering to get her an ice pack.
Though her words were a refusal, she was secretly delighted and smug.
Jessica Reynolds smiled. "It’s no problem. I happen to have one ready. It’s no trouble at all, don’t mention it."
Her demeanor as a kind senior greatly improved both Lily Sterling’s and Suzanne Sawyer’s impression of her.
But as soon as she turned away, the smile on Jessica’s face was ripped away in an instant, like a mask, replaced by a disdainful curl of her lip.
After getting the ice pack, Suzanne Sawyer knew the priority was to ice her face, so she shot Lily Sterling a cold huff and turned to leave.
Lily Sterling remained impassive and returned to her dressing room.
Winnie wasn’t there, so Lily went to the mini-fridge, grabbed a bottle of water, and started drinking.
The cool water instantly chased away the summer heat, making her feel much more comfortable.
Just then, there was a knock on the dressing room door. "Come in," Lily said, her curious gaze turning toward the sound.
The door opened to reveal a staff member with a work badge, who poked his head in before entering. Two young people followed behind him.
A young man and a young woman, neither looked very old.
"Ms. Lily Sterling?"
The man in the lead startled Lily as soon as he spoke. She quickly waved her hands. "Please, don’t call me that. Just my name is fine."
’She hadn’t even debuted in an official project yet; she felt she didn’t deserve such a respectful title.’
The man smiled and nodded. "I’m the head of the Promotions Department at Locke Entertainment. My name is Dylan Diaz."
"Hello, Mr. Diaz. Is there something I can help you with?" Lily asked politely.
Locke Entertainment & Culture Co., Ltd. was the production company for the drama, and Dylan Diaz had come under instructions from his boss, James Lockwood, to bring Lily her new assistants.
"Well, Lily, we were thinking... since you don’t currently have an agency or a team, right? To help you focus completely on filming, we’ve arranged for two temporary assistants for you."
As Dylan spoke, he stepped aside, and the young man and woman stepped forward. The man spoke first. "Hello, Ms. Sterling. I’m your personal assistant, Finn."
The young woman followed immediately. "Ms. Sterling, I’m your on-set assistant, Yuna."
Lily was taken aback for a moment before it dawned on her. She quickly said, "Please, don’t call me that. I’m probably younger than both of you. You can just call me Lily."
She then turned to Dylan Diaz, a troubled look on her face as she tried to politely decline. "Mr. Diaz, I’m just a rookie. There’s no reason for me to have two assistants. I can manage on my own, really. You don’t have to go to all this trouble."
"Lily, it’s true you’re a newcomer, but you’re one of the main stars. Things on a film set can be overwhelming. Assistants can help you handle a lot of the small stuff so you can focus on your work. The company arranged all this; you don’t have to pay for anything."
Lily didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. "It’s not about the money. In fact, if I’m not the one paying, I have even less of a reason to accept."
’Isn’t that just freeloading?’
Dylan just said, "Don’t be so quick to refuse. You just joined the cast today, so you might not feel the need yet. After you have them around for two or three days, you’ll understand the benefits of having assistants."
Before Lily could refuse again, Dylan quickly added, "If you still feel it’s unnecessary after three days, I’ll help you file a request with the company for them to be reassigned. How does that sound?"
’He’d already gone this far; it was a generous offer that was hard to refuse. If I kept saying no, I’d just seem ungrateful.’
Lily could only nod lightly. "Well, thank you for all the trouble. I feel a bit bad about it."
Dylan said, "It’s our pleasure," and before he left, he shot Finn and Yuna a sharp "be on your toes" look, then pushed the door open and departed.
Suddenly, Lily found herself alone in the room with two complete strangers. She blinked, a little unsure of what to do.
But before the awkwardness could set in, Yuna sprang into action. With sharp eyes and quick hands, she spotted the bottle of water Lily had half-finished and left on the table. She went over, felt the bottle, and shook her head, gently advising, "Lily, this is too cold. You should try to avoid drinking water that’s this icy. It can upset your stomach and give you diarrhea."
Lily nodded blankly. "Oh. Okay."
Yuna then found the air conditioner remote, switched it to ventilation mode, set the temperature to 24 degrees, and put the fan on low.
Finn, meanwhile, dropped his backpack and, under Lily’s dumbfounded gaze, began pulling out a bewildering array of items: a parasol, a handheld fan, a folding chair, a first-aid kit, an electric mosquito racket, and more.
There was even a healthy diet cookbook inside.
Lily was completely floored.
「That evening」
Upon hearing that Cecilia Sterling had returned, Lily’s aunt and her family of four all came over.
Jasmine Sterling and her younger sister, Yvonne Sterling, were busy in the kitchen preparing a feast. With the conflict between her older sister and niece finally resolved, Yvonne, both as a younger sister and an aunt, was happy from the bottom of her heart.
"Cecilia, it’s been a while since you’ve had your aunt’s beer-braised duck, hasn’t it? Have some more today." Yvonne placed a large duck leg on Cecilia’s plate, her eyes turning a little red as she spoke.
Cecilia Sterling smiled and nodded. "Thank you, Auntie. I’ve been craving this for ages. A lot of the big restaurants in Lorcain can’t make beer-braised duck as well as you do."
Her uncle, Bernard Harris, chuckled at the sight. "Are we not waiting for Ethan?"
Jasmine Sterling smiled and shook her head. "Let’s not wait. His evening study session ends late, and he’ll go to an internet cafe to play some games after. We can just go ahead and eat."
Hearing this, his cousin Ronald Harris looked at his own mother and said, "See, Mom? My aunt doesn’t even care that my cousin Ethan plays video games."
Yvonne glared at her son. "What are your cousin Ethan’s grades? And what are yours? Your score on the placement test at the beginning of the semester wasn’t even as high as your dad’s blood pressure! If I scattered rice on your test paper, a chicken would have pecked out a better score than you. And you still want to compare yourself to Ethan?"
Ronald Harris pouted but knew he was no match for his cousin Ethan.
Yvonne grew worried whenever she thought of her son’s grades. She looked helplessly at her older sister. "Sis, what am I going to do? Neither of my children gives me a moment’s peace."
"Sarah’s grades have always been poor. She barely scraped into a vocational college. Luckily, she got her dad’s height, so once she graduates from the flight attendant program, becoming a flight attendant is at least a respectable-sounding career."
"But what about Ronald? He’s all height and no brains. It’s not like he can become a flight attendant. Bernard and I worry about it every single day. We have no idea what he’ll do if he can’t get into a university."
Sarah Harris, who had been focused on her meal, chimed in, "Being a flight attendant only sounds respectable. To put it bluntly, you’re just a server in the sky."
"Good, as long as you know," Yvonne said, giving her daughter an exasperated look. "Slack off when you’re young, and you’ll be serving soda when you’re grown. Isn’t that your own fault for not trying harder?"
Comments