Chapter 64: A Shoot From Hell (1)
Henry looked a little startled, as if he had completely forgotten that I was Lando’s wife, not his pretend daughter.
"Of course, Young Madam," he said quickly, clearing his throat. "How could I forget something that important?"
I laughed softly. "I know, it sounds a bit silly." Then I added with a grin, "Alright, since Young Master isn’t home, I’ll celebrate my followers with you instead!"
Even though I said we should celebrate with cake, my body still couldn’t handle desserts without feeling like throwing up.
So, in the end, I celebrated with a bowl of fruit salad instead. While I was happily eating, a notification suddenly popped up on my phone.
[You’ve just received $5,000!]
[Remaining Balance: 118,915]
I nearly dropped my spoon. I didn’t expect Vivienne to give me such a big bonus.
More importantly, my balance had finally gone over one hundred grand!
I still had some debt left, but Lando had messaged me earlier saying that tomorrow he wanted to introduce me to a good lawyer who could handle my case.
Since I had a commercial video shoot scheduled for Rosélle Beauty tomorrow, Lando agreed to pick me up before dinner.
I placed my hand on my chest, feeling my heart beat faster at the thought of Lando picking me up again for the second time.
If he kept doing that, we’d really start to look like a real married couple.
"What’s wrong, Young Madam?" Henry’s voice snapped me out of my daydream. "Are you feeling sick? Your face looks a little red."
"Oh, no, no." I shook my head quickly, waving my hands. "I just feel a little hot, that’s all."
Henry nodded. "I’ll ask the maid to turn on the air conditioner." Then, with a smile, he added, "Don’t forget to use your daily credit card, Young Madam, or my poor daughter might have to eat instant noodles."
I gasped dramatically and smacked the table. "I forgot to talk about that with Young Master!" I said through clenched teeth. "Don’t worry, Henry! I’ll make sure to tell him to stop threatening you like that!"
"You don’t have to go through the trouble, Young Madam." Henry smiled kindly, his eyes curling like crescent moons. "You just have to use the card, and everything will be fine."
Why was he so calm about this ridiculous rule? How dare Lando bully this poor man like that!
"Still, I’m going to talk to him later," I muttered, pouting a little.
After that, I went ahead and checked out my online shopping cart using Lando’s card, only to buy cute clothes for my cats. It cost about thirty bucks, but honestly, it was worth every penny.
I didn’t have any plans for the day, so I decided to film a short video of the cats running in the flowery garden behind Lando’s manor. I made sure not to show the manor in the shot so everyone would think I was just strolling through a normal little garden.
"Lingo! Stop smacking your brother!" I cried, laughing and a little annoyed, as Lingo kept batting his paw at his brother’s head like he had a secret grudge.
Day by day, I felt this cat was becoming just like his dad. Lando often fought with his brother, Maxwell. But honestly ... if I ever met that bastard, I’d smack his head too for daring to bully my sweet husband!
After adding a dreamy filter and a song that sounded like something from a fairytale, I uploaded the video. It didn’t take long before the first few likes appeared, followed by comments asking to see the raw clip of Lingo smacking his brother.
I couldn’t help but giggle. Everything about that day felt calm, easy, and warm, like nothing could go wrong.
But the next day? Total disaster.
The atmosphere at the video shoot was a mess from the very beginning because the prop team still hadn’t finished setting up the background.
One of the fake palm trees had fallen over, and someone had painted the backdrop a dark orange instead of a light one.
What was supposed to be a simple, breezy shoot had turned into a full-blown disaster because of the mix-up.
"Helcia, I’m so sorry," Margareth said, looking like she was one second away from passing out. "We’ll need another thirty minutes. I just found out Vivienne’s coming to the set today, and—oh my god—I don’t understand how the prop team could mess up this badly!"
"It’s okay," I said gently, trying to calm her down. "Take your time. We’ll make it work."
Everyone seemed on edge after hearing that Vivienne was coming, and because of that, a few people started making mistakes they normally wouldn’t.
"Some people told me Ms. Roselle is really strict," Marissa whispered as she sat down beside me.
She handed me a glass of orange juice and gently reminded me to use the straw so I wouldn’t mess up my lipstick.
"How strict are we talking about?" I asked after taking a sip. "I’ve only met her once during the audition, and yeah, she did look like someone who’s hard to impress, but she didn’t seem that bad."
Honestly, Vivienne had always been kind to me. Not only did she offer me twenty grand, but she even added a five-grand bonus just because she liked my photoshoot.
"I just want you to be prepared," Marissa said gently. "Some people only show how strict they are once work actually starts. Today’s shoot might not be as easy as the last one."
She was right, of course.
The last one was just a photoshoot, all I had to do was control my expressions and find my best angles. But a video shoot? That was a whole different world.
A photoshoot only needed one perfect frame, but a video shoot demanded constant perfection; every move, every blink, every breath had to look graceful.
By the time the crew finally finished fixing the backdrop, everyone was already drenched in sweat and out of breath. To my surprise, the videographer turned out to be Zayne, which meant we were meeting again.
Honestly, it made perfect sense. He had another social media account just for making product ads, so it wasn’t shocking to see him here.
"Helcia," he said with a small smile when our eyes met. "You still haven’t given me an answer about my last offer."