Chapter 169 - Meeting Ms. Rae

[Music Recommendation: "Sunny Mornings" by Peter B. Helland (instrumental only)-available in Youtube or Spotify] ~ Please listen to it in a loop while you read this part to experience the utmost beauty of this chapter ~

[Please note: We're back to Senara's POV - the next morning after Hora finally got back from their short trip to Aunt Vora's house]

'Hora is not fine. There is something she's not telling me. And it's not something trivial… it's something very important.'

Yes. That's right. Hora had never been like that before. She told me that we shouldn't keep secrets from each other but she's the one breaking that right now. It only meant one thing—whatever it was with Silky and her family, or maybe something else too, was big enough for her to hide it from me.

I just hoped that she would tell me and trust me on the matter… but then again, I did the same when my dad got in trouble. If it's something that would risk my friend's safety, of course, I would keep my mouth shut. But it's with their family. I doubt anything could harm me in any way at all.

'Haaaah… If she can just tell me about it… I want to help, too. I feel like a useless best friend.'

With those thoughts circling in my head, I got up from bed and went to the bathroom to wash up. It was Sunday morning—dawn. I woke up earlier than usual again. I couldn't sleep peacefully knowing Hora was still carrying a heavy burden on her shoulders and she wasn't telling me about it. At times like these, I wished magic was real and I could just read her mind or something like that.

As I soaked my body in the warm water of the tub, I deliberated hard in my head on how to lighten up Hora's worry. If she wouldn't tell me the problem, then I should at least try to distract her from the issue and make her happy. I just want my smiling, worry-free friend to be back. Yes. Smiling suited her better than worrying.

Ding!

My phone, which I left in the pocket of my bathrobe, suddenly lit up. I could see its faint glow despite the thick cloth of the bathrobe. I reached out my hand towards it and checked what it was.

"July 11, 2010. Meeting with Rae at 1:00 pm," the notification said.

Right. I did have something scheduled today with Rae. If I wasn't worrying about Hora, I would be so excited after seeing this calendar notification, but since I was, all I could think of was… maybe I could ask her opinion on what I should do. Maybe she would give a better insight on this matter than I did.

And so, the rest of my morning was spent with me reviewing my first book and thinking of things I wanted to ask for our meeting. When breakfast came, we all gathered in the dining area as usual. Hora was overly energetic—which I knew was because she's forcing herself so we wouldn't worry, but she couldn't fool me. I let her be though and pretended that I believed her happy facade. Same thing happened during lunch.

After that, I went on my way towards Red Dragon Films where I'm supposed to meet with Rae. Kaiden knew of my schedule with her since he pestered me about it. He accompanied me and drove me towards the site. On our way there, he told me to stop worrying about Hora.

'Am I that obvious? I guess I should try doing that happy facade once more. I'm really not good at acting. I should take some notes from Crystal.'

The reason why I'm meeting Rae on a Sunday instead of a weekday was because I'm still studying. They were so nice to consider that fact in putting up the schedule of our meetings. I hoped that I wasn't ruining Rae's personal schedule though.

Once we're on the site, we went straight towards the meeting room reserved for us. Kaiden dropped me off there and he went away like last time, towards the higher up's office. He probably had something to discuss with them again or check on the status of the business. He told me before that from time to time, he would help Mr. Ma in managing the business. It's amazing how he could pull it off at a very young age. Maybe he was taught how to since childhood? Or was it because he was born a genius?

Anyway, I went inside the room and Rae was already sitting on the couch, busy writing things on her notebook despite having a laptop beside her. That was just like me. Maybe we're the same in that area.

"Good afternoon, Ms. Rae," I politely greeted her and sat on the couch beside hers.

"Oh, Senara, you're there," Rae flinched. She seemed to be too engrossed in her thinking that she didn't notice me arriving. "Good afternoon, too. And sorry, my mind was flying elsewhere."

"Not at all, it's fine. Sorry for disturbing your concentration."

"No, you're good. And please, just call me Rae. I feel old being called Ms. Rae. Ha-ha!" She smiled kindly.

Rae dropped her notebook and pen on the table and faced me, so we could talk. Her expression showed that she had a lot of questions in mind. Then, she unlocked her laptop and showed me the script she began writing. Wow! That was fast of her. I believe it wasn't that long when we last met and she already wrote so much. Amazing. That's what a professional screenwriter was like, huh?

"Can you read through it and see if there's anything amiss about each character's personality and all that? The script should show their unique traits and speech patterns so I hope I did it right. Let me know if there are any lines that the characters shouldn't be saying at all."

"Oh… okay," I nodded my head, surprised by what she's asking.

So… basically, my purpose was not to write the script but for this—getting my opinion on the story and characters? I see. That made sense though, since I didn't have any experience in scriptwriting.

I read over the script while Rae continued with her thought bubble. She managed to write a couple of chapters already.

'Amazing… so this is how a script looks like. I always thought that a script would only contain dialogues like…'

"Character A: Hello there!

Character B: Hi! How are you doing?"

'But instead, there were lots of elements on it—'

"EXT. TOWN SQUARE - DAY

All the citizens gathered at the square. Michael, holding a parchment, stands on an elevated platform, ready to give the announcement. Everyone murmurs as they wait.

DRUM ROLLS.

Everyone stops from murmuring and focuses on Michael.

MICHAEL

(serious)

The king has chosen the names of the candidates that will proceed to the next round of selection. When I call your name, please step forward.

Michael runs through the list of names—inaudible. Those that are called happily step forward and look proud.

Sound resumes when he calls the name of the protagonist.

MICHAEL

(smiling proudly)

And last on the list—Alexander Reeves.

Alexander beams and joins the rest of the chosen candidates.

FADE OUT."

'Wow! This is incredible! So it has like scene heading, the action or how the scene looks like, character names, the dialogue itself, and it includes a parenthetical—those adjectives or verbs used to describe how someone says a line. And then, the transition—fade out. Amazing. I have so much to learn.'

Another amazing thing was how as I read through the script, I could vividly imagine how she wanted the scene to appear on screen—once it becomes a movie. AND it fell in line with how I wanted the scenes to play out. Woah… truly brilliant! Rae was not an award-winning screenwriter for nothing. She's really top notch.

"Ahmm… Rae," I shyly called her name, because of all the respect I'm feeling towards her, "this script… I don't know what to say. It's—"

Rae looked at me with expectant eyes. She probably thought I would want to correct anything but there was nothing to correct.

"No, it's—there's nothing wrong with it. I'm just in awe of how perfect it is. It's as if you've become the author yourself! The scenes were perfect and the things I wanted to highlight were the main focus, the character's lines were all really good."

Rae sighed in relief and smiled. She didn't have to sigh at all. She's won lots of awards already. Don't tell me she's still unsure of her abilities after all that? Or she's just too humble.

"That's good," she replied. "I thought I added unnecessary things."

"No, you didn't. And that's why I think it's perfect. You're so amazing!"

"Ha-ha-ha. Don't praise me too much. I only managed to do it right like that because the way you wrote it was very remarkable as well. I wouldn't understand how you wanted scenes to appear if you didn't write it clearly yourself. So give yourself a pat, too. You did great—and for your first book, too. I'd say that's one hell of talent right there."

Awwww… that was so nice of her to say that.

"Thank you…"