Chapter 101 - BLANK CANVAS

REAS walked to his brother.  “Isn’t that costume too… revealing?”

The make-up artist turned to the ice-blue haired young man who had been standing silently since earlier.  She thought he was some kind of bodyguard but based on how he spoke with the teenager, that’s probably not the case. 

Anyway, how could that costume be called ‘revealing’?  There’s hardly anything could be seen.  Except for that small bit of white chest.  She had been working in this industry for years now and she had seen the real ‘revealing’ clothes.  This one could hardly be put in that category.

Astrid chuckled when he heard what Reas said.  “This is fine.  You have to get used to seeing me in different costumes, you know?  This will probably not be the most revealing clothes you would see me in.”

That respond just made Reas frowned even further.  He understood on the fundamental level what Astrid was saying.  But it’s really hard to just nod and accept it.  He really didn’t want to see his brother being treated like a commodity.  And that’s what would happen if he continued on in this path.  He just realized that now when seeing him wear this clothing.

But he couldn’t do anything.  Because if he did, then he would just be getting in Astrid’s way.  This was his brother’s dream.  As his twin, he should do his best to support him instead of obstructing him.

Seeing the expression on his brother’s face, Astrid had an idea what the other was thinking.  So, he just hugged his Reas’ arm. 

“Don’t frown, little brother.  You’ll ruin your handsome face.  Let’s go.  Cheer on your older brother as he does his first work.”

The make-up artist was a bit shocked when he heard what the teenager said.  Because she didn’t expect that the two were actually brothers.  Because they hardly looked related.  She would probably believe it more if someone told her that the two were boyfriends or something. 

Seeing the two walking out of the dressing room, she also followed.  Because she really wanted to see the first scene of the teenager.

The assistant of Mr. Rogers had been waiting outside the dressing room.  His boss told him to wait here and bring the black-haired teenager to the set of the scene the other was going to film today.  He didn’t understand why his boss had to take care of this newcomer too much.  The other had already signed a contract.  It’s not as if he could still refuse this role at this point.

If he didn’t know better, he might suspect that his boss was interested with the teenager.  But that’s pretty much impossible.  Considering how his boss was very much in love with his partner.  They even had a kid the same age as the teenager.  So, why put so much attention and care to this literal newcomer?

He heard the door of the dressing room opening.  He turned around and almost lost his breath when he saw Astrid.  He even felt his heart skipping a beat.  Suddenly, he understood a bit at that moment why his boss was so good to this teenager.  Because looking at the beauty in front of him, who wouldn’t be?

Then he suddenly felt a piercing gaze.  He glanced at the source and saw the young man with ice-blue hair glaring at him.  From what he heard, this guy was Astrid’s brother.  He probably thought that he was thinking something dirty while looking at his brother.  Which was totally not the case.

He cleared his throat and said, “Mr. Rogers is already at the set with the director.  I will take you there.”

Astrid nodded and smiled at the assistant.  “Okay, thank you.”

The assistant received another crit.  But he quickly shook it off.  He should be professional.  Professional!

They rode the land vehicle again to reach the cave.  There were a lot of people there compared to when Astrid auditioned yesterday.  And everyone who saw him passed by just automatically stopped and stared. 

Astrid was once again amazed by the aesthetic of the people living in this era.  Seriously, if he was the one in their position, he’d probably stared more at Reas.  His brother was so handsome and yet no one seemed to appreciate it.  What’s up with that?  He could only blame it on the fact that people here hardly ever saw someone with Asian features.  That fact made him even more eye-catching to these people.

His thoughts stopped when he heard Director Trevane’s call.

“Astrid, here!”

Daniel’s eyes brightened when he saw the teenager wearing the ‘Aether’ costume.  He thought that it would be hard to style the teenager because of how prominent his features were.  But who would have thought that just a bit of make-up and costume could actually change his whole atmosphere?  No- it’s almost as if his whole look change. 

This actually showed him that Astrid was not an already finished painting – beautiful and unchangeable.  He was a blank canvas.  Whatever paint you put on him was what he would be.  That’s just how he felt while looking at the teenager right now.  Daniel couldn’t wait to capture him on camera.

Astrid walked towards the director, Reas was just silently following behind.

“Astrid, we won’t take any make-up photos of you.  We also don’t plan to include you in the promotion.  The people will see you the first time during the premier of the movie,” Daniel started.  “Is that alright?”

He stared at the teenager to see his reaction.  After all, most newcomers would want to use this opportunity to hype themselves up.  It’s also the right timing considering how he just trended a few days ago.  But no- he didn’t see any of the expected reluctance.  Instead, Astrid just smiled.

“I don’t mind, Director.  I was actually thinking that we should do it that way.”

It would just be the right amount of mystery.  Besides, if the movie production announced that a newcomer like him would be playing this role, he would definitely receive more negative response instead of positive.  At least once the movie was released, people could see that he deserved this role and it was not just given to him on a whim.

Daniel also smiled, becoming more satisfied with the teenager.  “We will start filming once the others arrive.”

And as if on cue, the other casts of the movie arrived one after another.