King of Hollywood

Dennis, having worked in a café for a year, knew more about the waitstaff's job than anyone else, so he suggested to Adrian that he could explain the details of the job to Kate. After all, there wasn't much difference between café waitstaff and bar waitstaff. Dennis had always had an issue with Adrian casually filming waitstaff work, but since Adrian was the boss, he had to keep his opinions to himself, only now finding an opportunity to speak up.

In short, it was about redesigning the bar scene, with Dennis figuring out how to translate the required emotions into the work and then teaching Kate. Adrian thought about it and agreed to give it a try.

The results proved this suggestion effective. Although Kate still had to do several retakes over the next two or three days, it was much better compared to the beginning. Adrian felt relieved. The supporting actress mainly had three scenes: the bar, the house, and the restaurant. As long as Kate maintained her current state, he believed they could finish by the end of the week.

However, absorbed in filming, Adrian overlooked some things, but fortunately, Dennis reminded him.

"I think you should check on Kate, Ed. She seems to be in a bad mood these past two days," Dennis said to Adrian as he packed up after the third night of shooting.

Adrian was startled for a moment before he remembered how cross he'd been with Kate these last couple of days. Well, not exactly cross, but repeatedly expressing dissatisfaction could be quite a blow to Kate. After all, she was only 17, and the one constantly negating her was her lover.

"Thanks, Dan. I'll go right away." Adrian nodded his thanks, knowing that others must have noticed too. Some crew members had worked with him in London and knew about his relationship with Kate. Nonetheless, Dennis was the only one who came forward to remind him, and why that was didn't need to be said.

After putting aside what was in his hands, Adrian got up and left. But a few steps away, he turned back, "Oh, Dan, as a token of my appreciation, you can have some meat tonight, but not too much, and pray the filming wraps up this week."

Dennis was stunned for a couple of seconds, then cheered and ran quickly toward the crowd. Adrian shook his head with a silent laugh. It seemed the diet meals had tormented him enough. Shaking his head again, he refocused his thoughts and walked quickly inside. Today they were shooting the supporting actress's home scene, so he soon found Kate in the kitchen of the rented house, holding a plastic bottle of purified water, staring blankly out the window at the street view slowly sinking into the night.

"Are you upset?" Adrian asked softly, leaning against the doorway.

Several seconds later, Kate turned her head with a wry smile and shook her head.

"Then what's wrong?" Adrian asked curiously as he walked over and hugged her from behind.

"I'm really dumb, can't be of any help, always NG again and again, and then… have to let Dan teach me how to act. I thought that after watching my parents perform, with some stage play experience myself, and even having a minor role in your film before, this time I wouldn't be too bad, but…" Kate lowered her head and sighed deeply.

Adrian, however, laughed, planting a kiss on the back of her neck, "Silly, everyone learns to act from not knowing to knowing. You see me like a genius, spending less than one million US dollars to make a low-budget film, then winning tens of millions at the box office. But all of these were pushed out—remember how hard I worked back in the editing room in London?"

"I know, but…" Kate still wanted to say something, but Adrian quickly interrupted her, "Don't worry, darling, if it doesn't work once, try several times; through repeated practice, you'll eventually succeed. I'm the same. Without the previous accumulation from watching movies and reading books, I couldn't have made 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.' The key is to understand why you fail and not dwell on how many times you've failed but to tell yourself that next time you'll definitely succeed. See, these past few days, haven't the NGs been much fewer?"

Kate turned her head, looking at Adrian with eyes still bright but seemingly flickering with something.

Adrian smiled slightly, lowered his head to brush her lips, and then pinched her chin lightly, "Look, you've already been made up to look quite ugly, if you get uglier because you're unhappy, that would be terrible."

Kate finally giggled and lightly punched him on the chest, "Didn't you insist on this makeup?"

"Alright, alright, if you think my words hurt you, then I apologize," Adrian said in a slightly exaggerated tone, but soon added, "Honestly, Kate, after you cut your hair short and dyed it black, you look more pure and beautiful."

"You like it? Then I'll keep it this way," Kate's smile returned.

After exchanging a few playful words, her expression turned serious, "Honestly, Ed, I suddenly want to apply to the California Institute of the Arts after I graduate next year."

"Really?" Adrian was a bit surprised. He knew Kate "had" majored in literature for two years at Oxford but left for her film career. Whether it was worth it, only she knew at the time.

"Have you really made up your mind, Kate? You know you still have more than half a year to think it over. Besides, didn't you want to go to Oxford?" he asked her seriously.

"I considered it when coming on leave, and these experiences in the past few days have confirmed it. I do lack systematic knowledge in acting. As for Oxford, compared to doing what I love, it's really nothing." Kate gave a firm answer, then circled her arms around Adrian's neck, leaning closer, with her breath brushing against his face.

"I want to stay with you, Ed; I want to see you when I open my eyes in the morning, instead of calculating when you'll call from across the Atlantic." Kate murmured, cupping his face.

Adrian said nothing, just lowered his head to kiss her lips.

In the ensuing five or six days, filming was still a bit rough and eventually didn't finish before Thanksgiving. Even though Adrian had deliberately eased up, being less strict with some of Kate's scenes didn't help.

Nonetheless, Adrian didn't mind much. Kate's role wasn't large. To put it simply, her bartender character's boyfriend was a drug dealer who partnered with a cop, played by Joe Pantoliano, to sell drugs. After a certain deal, Joe attempted to take the entire 200,000 by himself, using Dennis, who had short-term memory loss, to kill the boyfriend. Joe had previously helped Dennis find the guy who raped his wife, whom Dennis killed, but due to his short-term memory loss, Dennis forgot he'd avenged her and continued searching for the rapist. Joe exploited this fact.

In short, after Dennis killed the boyfriend, he noticed something odd about Joe, so he put on the boyfriend's clothes, took his car, and snapped a photo of Joe with the word "untrustworthy." Later, for various reasons, Dennis drove to the bar where Kate worked and was mistaken by Kate for her boyfriend, leading to a small conflict. Subsequently, Kate discovered his short-term memory loss, felt sympathy, and took him home, but then they had another conflict.

Later, Kate, having left, was beaten by another drug dealer associated with her boyfriend, and out of sympathy, Dennis, forgetting everything due to his memory loss, decided to help her deal with the other drug dealer. Later again, for various reasons, Dennis and Joe together took care of that drug dealer. Kate, wanting to repay Dennis, helped find the owner of the car he was looking for, only to discover the owner was the cop played by Joe, leading Dennis to trick him to the place where he killed Kate's boyfriend, and kill the cop. Unfortunately, a new cycle would start again.

As mentioned before, Kate's scenes were mostly indoors: the bar, home, and restaurant. By putting some effort into lighting and camera transitions, they could afford to be lenient. In addition, over the previous three-plus weeks, they'd shot most of Dennis's scenes, so continuing after Thanksgiving wasn't a big deal. More importantly, with Kate finally making it to Los Angeles, Adrian couldn't just let her leave so easily; spending a Thanksgiving together for just the two of them was a nice idea.

"Hey, don't run so fast, Kate. You're like a lively Little Rabbit," Adrian said with a smile, watching Kate skip ahead lively on the wide street. After spending a decent Thanksgiving night eating turkey made by Mrs. Galen at home yesterday, today he was out strolling Los Angeles with her.

"Are you saying I look like this?" Kate held the bunny plush toy to her cheek and shook it gently. It was bought at a flea market and, though not as meticulously made as those in boutiques, was very appealing.

"I was just saying, I'm still holding stuff," Adrian raised the bag in his hand to emphasize. After a few hours at the flea market, Kate bought quite a few things, which naturally were carried by the gentleman.

"Is this little bit too much for you? You are a man, Ed." Kate playfully stuck out her tongue.

"Hey, I was just mentioning it; no need to take it to some level," Adrian's tone carried a hint of helplessness.

"Alright, alright," Kate said languidly as she returned to him, affectionately hooking her arm through his, "So, shall we go eat something, Ed? I'm a little hungry."

"Here?" Adrian glanced around. There was a decent-looking small restaurant not far away, though it seemed to be near…well, never mind, more after eating, and it should be fine.

(Well, asking for some recommendation votes, thanks~)