Well, the rainbow didn’t usher in the sun at once. 

The rumor fermented for a couple more days. And during that time, The Fall of Eden continued shooting.

~~~

Under the guise of the moonlit night, a ramshackle warehouse stood erect in peace.

Nocturnal animals roam the woods as they hunt for food. Their heightened senses and night vision made them the overlord of the night. 

An owl was perched on a tree in front of the warehouse. There it rests, observing its surroundings for an unsuspecting prey. 

As such creatures continue on with their lives, under its claws, where the roots of the tree settled, a commotion was taking place. 

“The bullet... bleeding… stopped… prevented…” Hannah, who was under anesthesia, opened her eyes and sensed people talking around her. She couldn’t distinguish who they were with her hazy eyes as she laid on the bed debilitated.

She lasted for a few seconds before she caved in to the drug that invaded her body. But before she fell again into darkness, she called out in her head, Mom…

Hannah’s mom was listless, waiting for her daughter to get pushed out of the operating room. Beside her sat Margaret. “I—” 

“I don’t want to hear a word from you.” Hannah’s mother, Mary, interjected. “I just wanted to live in peace with my daughter, watch her get married, and have a family of her own. I want her away from bloodshed.” Mary tore her gaze from the door of the operating room and looked fixedly at Margaret. Her red eyes brimmed with tears. “But I failed. I already lost a husband. I’ll lose my mind if my daughter gets taken away, too.”

Margaret’s heart tightened as she noticed her older sister restraining her tears from flowing out. She lowered her head and her hands were tightly gripping on her pants. In her faint voice, she painfully uttered, “I’m sorry.”

None of them spoke a word more.

Mary looked back at the time her little sister first dropped to their family house. It was five days after her husband died. There, she learned that Margaret joined the rebels and wanted her and Hannah to go with her. 

Both of them know that her husband’s imprisonment and death were unjust. There were enormous hands behind it. But Mary was scared. Margaret was fine, since she had no one to worry about. But she has her sweet and lovely Hannah. She didn’t wish to ruin her life by bringing her into all of this. 

She wanted to protect her daughter, even if that means letting the mastermind behind her husband’s death roam freely in this world. She was sure her husband would understand. 

Alas, in the end, Hannah entered the rebellion on her own.

Mary got up from her seat and paced in circles in the hallway, waiting. 

In the corner of her eye, she saw Mike and Liam. Both were Hannah’s companions as they led the hounds away. 

“Auntie,” they called. 

Mary nodded her head at them.

They were about to pay respect to their leader, Margaret, when Margaret raised her hand at them. No need for that. 

The two men stopped at their tracks and took a seat two chairs away from Margaret. Both of them waited for Hannah and Stephen to be released from the operating room. 

Hannah was parched. In her disoriented state, she struggled to open her eyes and was met with a bright light. She squinted and gradually got used to her environment before turning to the right.

She reached out for the jug on the bedside table, but before she could do so, she noticed the myriad of wires connected to her. Hannah frowned from discomfort.

As her movement was impeded, Hannah tried to use more force, only to fail. She laid on the bed, irritated and powerless. 

Then she heard a click. Hannah swiftly turned her head to the left, alert. With her gaze hardened and body taut, she found herself face to face with Stephen, who was in a better situation than her. At least he had fewer wires.

Surprised, her aura slowly mellowed out. “You,” a staccato of dry coughs came through, “you should’ve said something.”

“You were so enthralled with that jug of water that I couldn’t bear to break the tension.” Stephen grinned.

Hannah rolled her eyes as she looked at that cheesy grin. “What was that click?”

“I called for assistance. You should stay put; you’re in no shape to move.”

“I don’t think you should be telling me that.”

“Well, at least I could fetch a glass of water for myself.” Stephen’s words were coated with smugness.

Instead of being annoyed, a stealth smile broke out from Hannah’s lips. Thank God we survived that. 

The curve on her lips ceased from moving. Lyka’s bloody face flashed in her mind, and her breath was cut short. 

We will succeed. For all of those who sacrificed and became a victim of this oppression, we will triumph.

~~~

The tension didn’t precipitate, not one bit. Fortunately, Irene was there; no one dared to act. 

Others believed the rumors, some sided with Lilian, yet most people kept to themselves and stayed quiet. They knew they had no capability to protect themselves once they dip their toes in this murky pond.

Four days later, the sun finally made itself known. 

A newly promoted manager was the one behind the chaos.

He propagated the news that Alex was sponsoring Lilian out of jealousy. 

He wasn’t always envious of him. In the beginning, Alex was his role model. He wanted to be Alex, just like Alex; a successful manager that could bring his artist to the top. 

He worked from being an assistant manager into his current position. 

However, the road was worse than he thought. 

His artist was not as great as Irene, not as tall as Irene, and not as beautiful as Irene. 

But that was fine. He could enroll her in an acting workshop, she could wear heels to make up for the height difference, and his artist could undergo plastic surgery. 

The first two were great. His artist was enthusiastic about it. But when he suggested she go under the knife, she firmly rejected him. 

But he still kept insisting. 

They had a big fight over this. He couldn’t believe that what he was suggesting was for her own good; for her to get popular and be loved by the people. 

He was just doing his job. He wanted them to succeed. 

Fast forward to the audition day for the female lead of a new movie. This was also the same day when news about Lilian grabbing the second female lead of Director Vince’s movie went out. 

He prayed his artist could also land this lead role today. 

A sob echoed in his ears as his artist poured her heart out. 

“They- they… They said I wasn’t pretty enough.” Her voice shook as she ended that sentence.

She continued to hiccup. “They said that I would’ve been perfect for the role, except that I wasn’t pretty enough.” 

He knew this day would come. “You should’ve listened to me when I told you to do a procedure.” He exhaled. “You could’ve gotten the role if you had listened to me.”

She was in disbelief that he said this to her. Her cries stopped, and she snapped. “Well, if you were a better manager, I would’ve gotten that role right away. I wouldn’t need to sit through such an embarrassment!”

Silence.

It was a five seconds long overwrought silence. 

She staggered. Her eyes were wide as her trembling hands slowly crept up and covered her mouth. “I, I, I didn’t mean—”

The door was slammed shut.

In this dizzying dancing colored lights, music at full blast, and rowdy crowds, hid the manager, who was drowning himself in liquor.

The glass knocked into the counter and his body swayed like a pendulum. 

He slid the glass to the edge and laid his head on the counter, looking at the bartender. 

His words slurred as he said, “Another.”

The bartender closed his tab when he saw the wasted man. “You’ve had enough.”

“No. More.” The manager buried his head in his arms and continued to mumble to himself.

The bartender just looked at him and gave up; he had seen countless similar episodes. No matter what, he wouldn’t give him more. He would just let this guy sit there; he didn’t look like a troublemaker.

The manager was in his own world, grumbling. In his drunkenness, his suppressed intrusive thoughts came barreling down. 

You’ll never be like Alex. While he was there securing roles for his artist, you’re here lamenting on your incapability to support your artist. 

What an amateur.

How did you even get this job.

The manager screamed his heart out, which caused some customers to jump on their feet. 

The bartender looked at his way and had second thoughts. Maybe I should’ve kicked him out. But he didn’t need to think more since out of nowhere the manager bolted out of the bar on his own, without forgetting to pay for his drinks.

As the manager passed by, the bartender could see his lit phone with his messaging app open. 

 

 

***

 

 

With the clouds cleared, everything—almost everything—came back to normal. 

The crew continued to shoot until they were in the last pages of the script. 

During this time, Hattie kept her tail tightly behind her, not moving, and made her presence scarce. 

At this point, Lilian shined like the protagonist that she was. 

She improved her acting with the help of Irene and created fewer mistakes, to the satisfaction of Vince. 

As gratifying it was to witness this, Vince’s smile would easily transform into a subtle scowl once he saw Max buzzing around Lilian. 

This unexplainable emotion was making Vince uncomfortable. 

Looking at Max sitting close to Lilian and engaging in a conversation, Vince impulsively cut their break time in half. 

“Get ready in a minute. Let’s do Irene and Lilian’s scene first.”

The crew got ready and Max was left in his seat by himself. 

In these past few weeks, he had an inkling feeling that Vince was targeting him. Yet, he couldn’t pinpoint why.

He has been constantly running through the scenes that he had done and found them still up to his standard. Did I miss something?

After completing a few scenes, Irene could finally go back to the hotel. 

In the middle of the night, where virtually no pedestrians were roaming in the streets, Irene was at ease enough to just walk towards the hotel with Alex in tow.

“Congrats.” She turned to her left and smiled at Alex. “You defeated those old geezers exquisitely.” Irene said that while throwing an OK gesture. 

Alex clenched his hands in the pocket of his hoodie. He shook her head and chuckled at her antics. “Thank you. You were also the perfect older sister for Lilian; you deserve praise yourself.” His gaze wandered to the moon as he lost himself in his thoughts. 

A few seconds later, he jolted himself alert and noticed that he had been walking alone for quite some time. 

Alex’s heartbeat sped up, and he rapidly retrieved his hands from his hoodie. Thankfully, when he looked back, Irene was just a few steps away. 

His pulse slowly went back down, and he exhaled deeply. 

He walked towards her and examined Irene carefully. He saw in her eyes house a tinge of sadness. “Are you cold?”

Irene looked at his worried face and let out a small smile. “It’s cold.” She rubbed her arms to support her words and drew a step closer to Alex.

Alex, without second thoughts, took off his hoodie and put it on Irene. “Don’t struggle. Don’t refuse. We’re already near the hotel, I’ll be fine. I swear.”

He attentively covered her head with the hood and petted it before removing his hands off of her. 

His gentle, fixed look enveloped Irene with more warmth compared to the hoodie that had garbed her body right now. 

Alex seized her hand as they continued to traverse the path to their destination. 

After dropping Irene off to her room, Alex went to his. 

While taking a bath, his phone on the nightstand lit up with a text notification. 

[Unknown: Please accept my deepest gratitude. I don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t stepped in. I’m now at the boarding gate waiting for my flight. If you still need me in the future, please don’t hesitate to text me. I’ll always respond.”]