“Hey, newbie! Stop daydreaming in the middle of the set. Go do your work.”

 

Frank’s body jolted once he heard a man shouting. He felt a sudden pain in his head which made him grimace in pain. His hand massaged his forehead while his other held onto the rails of the stair.

 

“Hey, newbie!”

 

The man continued his call but no one answered.

 

“Frank! Hey Frank. If you’re not feeling well then move to the side.”

 

A hand grabbed his shoulder. Frank finally woke up from being dazed and looked at the person holding his shoulder.

 

“Andy?”

 

Frank was still quite confused as he looked at the person with furrowed brows.

 

Thwack~

 

Frank was hit on the back of his head with a hand. He reached for his head and rubbed the portion that was hit as he continued to look at the person named Andy.

 

“The least you could do is call me boss or leader when we are on the job. I know that me and your mom are close, but we need to keep things professional in the workplace.”

 

Andy said with a scowl. He gave a sigh and continued,

 

“If you’re not feeling well then you should have told me earlier. Go on a coffee break and come back once you’re feeling better.”

 

Andy walked away once he said his piece. He started going back to his original location and started giving orders.

 

Frank looked at the back of the person who went away. He started realizing something when he saw the young-looking face of Andy. The youthfulness from his demeanor and speech was something he vividly remembered. It was the time when he was interning in their company as an assistant to a team leader which was Andy. He was one of the first team leader in the company who was able to produce amazing talents.

 

Looking around where he stood, the place was very familiar to him. It was a set for a drama that was showing at around 2003-2004. It became a big hit that started the career of young and budding actors and actresses which their company handled. This was also the place where he met the very first talent that he should have handled.

 

Anger started to rose up his chest as he remembered the woman whom he put hit every effort to succeed.

 

“Amanda”

 

He whispered the name that he could never forget. How could he as she abandoned him once shit hit the fan. The movie that was supposed to be his saving grace, his salvation was dumped because the supposed-to-be actress did not accept the role. All the investors withdrew. Everything went down the drain. Since that day, Amanda cut all ties with him and moved to find a different manager to handle her.

He slowly went down the stairs and looked around the set. Everything was as he remembered. He felt a sense of dejavu as he observed the busy people going about their work. He was familiar with some, others not so much.

 

He stopped once he reached a resting area. There was a vending machine at a corner which includes hot coffee. He reached for his pants pocket and grabbed some coins, as he was about to put the coins in the slot, he could not help but stop once he saw his reflection.

 

A head full of dark brown hair, a chiseled face, piercing blue eyes. He was wearing jeans and a white shirt. A very simple attire and yet looked like something a model would wear as his height of 186cm. His clothes fitted his body perfectly. His hair was comb over which made his facial features stand out more.

 

He finally remembered everything. Today was the first day of his internship. He wanted to know the ins and out of their company so he decided to intern here. It was his last year of college which required them to intern in a company for six months. His mother wanted to give him a better position and introduce him to the company, but he decided that he wanted to start from the bottom and learn everything starting there. He did not want to use his family name which is why he did not introduce himself as the son of the CEO of the company. He decided to go for simple clothing to not stand out. Everything worked out well as most of the people from the company that knew his face were mostly the higher-ups.

 

Clink clink~

 

He dropped the coins in the machine and clicked on the coffee he wanted which was black. He got used to the bitter taste of the coffee without cream when he got older. It seems his love for sweet things has also subsided when he returned back in time. The electronic sound of a button being pressed was heard, the same time as water spilling on a cup.

 

Beep beep~

 

The vending machine finished its job and Frank reached for the cup of hot coffee. The place he was in is a resting area known in the company. It was outside, filled with trees that served as umbrellas from the heat of the sun, benches with simple tables can be found anywhere. There were a few people here and there, but no one seemed to care for the young man who was walking with a cup of coffee in his hands. Some few girls would glance at him but that was it.

 

He found a nice spot underneath a tree and decided to sit over there. Once he got closer, he heard sobbing sounds. The sobbing sound continued for a bit, he tried to ignore it by sipping his own coffee. In the end, he stood up from his seat and walked towards where the noise was.

 

He ended up diverting out of the pathway.

 

His feet stepped on some dry leaves which made his entrance known to the other person who was sobbing. The sound stopped as though afraid who the other person might be.

 

Frank was now sure that the other person was hiding behind the other side of the tree. He peeked over and saw a woman hunched over while wiping her eyes with her hands. Her hair was a mess while her face was buried close to her knees. She looked like an abandoned person in her state.

 

Sigh~

 

Frank released a sigh and reached for his pants pocket, but to his dismay, he found that he was not carrying any handkerchief or tissues with him.

 

“Cough cough.”

 

He pretended to cough which prompted the woman to look up to him. Her eyes were swollen red from crying. She looked at the person who coughed and saw a young man with eyes wide open in surprise. She was wondering what might be the problem which made her ask,

 

“I’m sorry. Was I disturbing you?”

 

She asked with her still swollen eyes and teardrops still falling. She started to stand up and move away from her place when a hand grabbed her wrist. She could not help but look back in surprise by the young man who stopped her from walking away. The young man must have figured out her surprise which made him let go of her wrist.

 

“I’m sorry. I just thought your face was familiar. I did not mean to frighten you.”

 

Frank said and bowed in apology to the woman. He grabbed her wrist in instinct because he knows who this woman was. Her name was Elizabeth Duval. Right now, she was not famous, but once she accepts the main lead role of his dad’s new movie, her career would blow up. She was a rising star just waiting to happen. He started to wonder why a woman like her was crying over here and to his surprise, it was someone who will become so famous in the future that he could not stop himself from reaching out to the woman. He knew her quite well as she and her father will be working in a lot of successful films in the future.

 

Frank was once again full of doubts as to why Elizabeth was here. The audition for the movie will start in less than in two hours, but her appearance does not look like someone who was prepared for an interview. He decided to carefully ask Elizabeth this time.

 

“I heard someone crying and I could not help myself from looking for who it was. Is something the matter?”

 

He asked in the most caring voice he could muster. He softened his facial features and gave a warm smile towards Elizabeth.

 

Elizabeth was still a bit wary about the young man but she soon found out that he had good intentions for coming over.

 

“You are?”

 

“My name is Frank. I’m actually a new assistant. Well, an intern to be exact.”

 

He gave a refreshing smile while showing her temporary intern ID.

 

Elizabeth could not help but smile at the young and energetic Frank. Frank seeing her smile decided to ask her.

 

“Do you want a cup of coffee? I’m seated over there.”

 

He pointed at the bench where his coffee was still on top of.

 

Elizabeth thought that there was no harm in having coffee with him so she gave a nod and followed him to his seat. Frank excused himself for a bit to get her coffee, he also made sure to get some tissue from another vending machine to give to Elizabeth.

 

“Here’s your coffee. I also got you some tissues.”

 

He handed them to Elizabeth with his sweet smile before sitting down across her. He observed her first and made sure that she was calm and composed before asking.

 

“May I ask why you were crying?”

 

He saw Elizabeth furrow her brows when he asked he then added,

 

“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

 

Elizabeth once again looked at the harmless young man in front of him and decided that there was nothing to lose in telling him. It seems her day was full of disappointment and she might not see him ever after today so she decided to unload her misgiving in front of him.

 

In a low voice, she started to share what happened.

 

“I was supposed to have an audition today.”

 

She looked at her watch before continuing.

 

“It’s in less than two hours from now. This was suppose to be a big break for me but something happened.”

 

She bit her red cheery lips as though she did not want to continue. However, having mustered her courage, she continued.

 

“But while I was in the waiting room a group of interviewees also came in. One of them was chewing gum and accidentally got it in my hair.”

 

Frank looked at her hair which looked like a bird’s nest and saw a big chunk of gum almost near her scalp. Unfortunately, there was nothing else you could do with that but cut it.

 

“My hair has always been long and this time the role I’m auditioning for, well her part was someone with long blond hair.”

 

Tears started to well up her eyes once more when she said that.

 

Hmmm. Well, I guess women in this era prefer long hair instead of short, but if I remember correctly.

 

Frank thought of something and stood up from the table. Elizabeth was surprised by his sudden movements.

 

“Come with me. I know someone who can help.”

 

Frank became assertive and started pulling on her hand as they walked. This made Elizabeth blush as she looked at the face of the serious-looking Frank walking ahead from her.