136 At Jasper City 2

"Second Miss?" A female dressed in a white sleeveless blouse and black slacks came to the woman's side and asked, concern and worry mixed in her inquisitive tone.

The young woman staring at the direction Chris went to did not immediately reply to her, prolonging the mental agony of the other. The assistant was quite fidgety because it was not an everyday chance to see this rich Missy getting dumbfounded like this. Yet every time the young miss does, there would be tons of jobs or heartache waiting for her, the assistant.

The slightly dreaded came true.

When the young woman in yellow dress recovered from her daze, she furrowed her brows for so long before turning to the person who rushed to her side, "Miss Aura."

The beautiful actress wannabe blinked her large hazel eyes and said in a soft voice,

"I'm confused. What gave it away to him? I thought I'm doing it properly because no one before him did not fall for my acting. So what mistake did I commit this time? I was so close to celebrating another successful case. But then he suddenly turned around and told me that my acting 'just' nearly fooled him..."

The assistant shook her head, replying, "Miss, don't think too much about it. Don't also pressure yourself so much. Director Julia said that for a rookie who is just about to debut, you're already very excellent, comparable to actresses who have been in the industry for two or three years. It's already something which you should feel happy and proud about."

The assistant's reply made the girl sink into silence for half a minute, drowning in her thoughts. However, her mind did not focus on her flatteries.

Miss Aura's last remark made sense. She also knew that she was aiming too high for someone who hasn't yet acted in anything but small plays in theaters. It was just there's a huge sense of urgency in her heart due to who she was. She was someone about to be crushed by the huge stone looming above her head which always turned larger and drew nearer the more she grew in age.

It was the pressure of having to prove herself to her family... in order to obtain her birthright, freedom, and identity.

This was the reason why she, the one people around her called Second Young Miss, wanted to perfect the only skill she could best her older sister at.

Acting.

She frowned. No matter how she thought about it, it should be hard for an 18-19 years old young man who was not an insider in the Entertainment industry to determine whether she was just acting earlier or not. How did he do it? How did he detect that she was not really someone left by a jerk, but merely playing that role?

The woman sulked because she could only think of two answers. That young man had very good eyes and was also good at acting, better than her in fact... Or her performance was just flawed and just had too many rooms for improvement...

Honestly, she would rather accept the second. Anyway, that was most likely the truth. She knew she still has a long way to go because even if she has the talent, it doesn't immediately equate to skill mastery. Talent is just something which tells if someone has potential in a particular field. But it doesn't mean that those with talent always end up reaching the peak.

'In short, I really have to work harder and become wiser...' she concluded in her mind.

As for the first possibility...

The woman smoothed down the hair gently blown away by the passing wind, her thoughts wandering again to what happened earlier.

In the midst of it, Aura's voice softly echoed next to her ear.

"Miss, let's go back to the van. Forget that one setback. Don't be too hard to yourself. Remember, out of 10, 9 fell for your show. Look at the bigger number. Nine is greater than one. The successes are greater than the failure. You've already worked hard enough today, so I suggest you treat yourself to something. Ice cream or a cake, perhaps? I know a nice place where we could have some. Don't worry, this will not be enough to ruin the figure of a future Film Empress."

The response from the yellow dressed girl came after five seconds. And it was after a sigh.

"Fine. But I really can't rid the questions in my mind so I want you and Diaz to investigate that boy."

Aura leaked out a bewildered voice. "Miss?"

"Do it. Before I fell asleep I will be reading scripts and scenarios in preparation for my upcoming movie. I also want to read the report before that."

The assistant did not show anything on her face. But inwardly, she grimaced and felt pity for her boss who finds it hard to get over anything that remotely challenged her acting skills. As they said, when passion meets inspiration, an obsession is born. It seemed her boss was already at that stage. Her passion for her goals became an obsession. And she, the assistant, must work hard too in order to be of great assistance to this girl's quest.

Resigned to her fate, the assistant bowed, "Yes, Miss. I will tell Diaz to work on this with me. Within four hours, we will compile a comprehensive report and send it to you ."

The young woman softly smiled and walked back to where the black van was parked. The assistant followed behind her with a determined look on her face.

....

Meanwhile...

....

"Son, I'm glad you're back!"

After Chris parked the bicycle next to his father's white old model car, he picked up the bags of groceries and paper bag containing the cough medicine. That was when his father's voice rang loudly from the porch to the parking space. As he strode into the house, he nodded to the other man in the house then walked straight into the kitchen situated on the living room's right side.

The new home for the Meyer family was in a community village located Southeast of Jasper City. This was where cheaper and affordable houses could be found. If he remembered correctly, this house was already the last one on sale and they were lucky to have bought it. Aside from its price to area ratio, the other good thing about their new residence was its security. This village was like a subdivision, but there were proper guards stationed at the various entrances and exits of the whole community. The guards were not mere muscle-bodied decoration because they had undergone quality training before and were only a bit inferior to the bodyguards of VIPs.

Or at least that was what he heard from his braggart father.

As for the downside. Aside from they were new here and had no other acquaintances yet, he couldn't think of others. Their new home was near to the supermarket, school, public transits stations, and church - the biggest one at that in the city.

And most of all, very far from troubles and bad memories.

What more could he ask?

"Chris, you're here! Gosh, what you took so long? I'm almost wondering if you ride your bike back to Alina City to buy the groceries!" his mother greeted when she saw him entering the place.

He wryly smiled as he placed the bags, even the one containing the blister pack, on the kitchen countertop. "Sorry."

His mother raised a brow, then laughingly shook her head,

"My son, Chris. You're already so big yet still so directionally challenged."

He reasoned with a serious face. "I'm not. Just not familiar with the place yet."

"Fine. I'm sure you're going to say, it's not like you grow up here." His mom replied without not shaking her head and laughing.

Chris merely stayed silent then excused himself from the place. Anyway, it was not like his mom would let him help out in the cooking. He could cook. Anybody could. It just depends on how good or bad the finished product would be. His was on the bad side and everyone in the house was aware of it... even Felicity.

While shaking the thoughts away from his mind, he sauntered back to his new room, planning to spend the free time before dinner there. To what he would do there, what else but surf the internet, play pretend with the system, or nap?

He froze for a moment. And when his mind returned to his body, he almost cursed the system and icily stated that it was really an idiotic, insensitive bastard. Almost.

"Chris! Come here, I think the news is about someone from your former school," said his father when he passed by the living room.

For a couple of moments, the young man furrowed his brows, staring at his father absorbed in watching the 6 pm news on the TV.

"Someone from Holy Child Academy?" he asked, to confirm.

"Yeah. It's kind of sad. Come here and see if you know the person so that you can send your condolences later."

He didn't know why his heart suddenly felt heavy after hearing what the older Meyer said. Still, he found his feet heading to where his father was, his eyes narrowing at the modest-sized screen in front.

He suddenly felt as though cold water was splashed all over him when he saw a very familiar face plastered on the left.

As he was now closer to the TV, he could hear the female reporter's voice-over about an incident that took place within Alina City.

And he indeed knew who the subject of the news report was.

Actually, everybody from his school knew her.

'She died... just like that?' he asked himself when he saw the larger right side of the screen showing professionals analyzing the state of a body pixelated on the video. The background was a bit dark. Chris assumed it was because it was a live newscast and the scene was being filmed at the same time as the report. But actually, none of these details mattered to him because his mind was already far away the moment he saw the picture.

"It's so pitiful. This girl is the same age as you, so I'm thinking maybe she used to be your classmate. I heard that she was staying at a music competition venue before she mysteriously vanished, only to reappear later as a corpse mutilated by bullets... somewhere in Alina's dumpsite," commented his father before clicking his tongue. "I can't believe how vile those people who did this to her are. When I learned what happened, I just couldn't help but doubt humanity as a whole. What wrong did that girl commit?"

Chris only stood there with a very grim expression on his face. Seated on the arm sofa beside him, his father continued commenting about the poor girl. Her face displayed on the picture was smiling so radiantly like a sunflower. Now, this beautiful smile would be forever gone. Its owner had passed away, and Chris was suspecting that it was only because she unknowingly got caught in the crossfires between two damnable hosts...

With a heavy heart, he took a deep breath, then sadly shook his head. After this, deeming that he needed time for himself, to think everything through, he turned around and started walking to his room's direction.

"Dad, I'm sorry. I'll go back and check on my former classmates," he said to excuse himself, all without turning his head back. Actually, he simply could not due to the gloomy expression covering his face.

Behind him, the older Meyer still absorbed in the news only replied, "Oh, then, okay. If you're going to message your condolences to them, include mine too. Also, if you're messaging this poor girl's friends or family, don't insensitively ask if they're okay. Just say that we're sorry to hear what happened to her. Emphatize then ask if there's something we can do even if we're far away here."

Ten or so seconds before Chris completely disappeared on the hallway leading to the stairs, his father's voice echoed behind him again, this time with a bit of urgency.

"Wait, son! I forgot to ask, do you know who this pretty girl is?"

Chris waved a hand but did not reply to satisfy his old man's curiosity. However, within his mind, a certain foreign entity trailed off,

Chris sighed but did not reply to it too.

Of course, he knew who the girl was. It was not like he lived in a cave before they immigrated here.

Titled HCA's Music Goddess. The one always participating in the music competition hosted regularly at Alina Victory Hall. A pretty gossipmonger queen who befriended, albeit without her knowledge, an immoral host.

He sighed and whispered, 'Rest in peace, Clea Luizon.'

...

...

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