"How much longer are you going to hold on?"
The final scene of the video was the boy giving the girl a rose, their hands clasped together. Amelia Lockhart hadn't let go.
Amelia Lockhart quickly let go, giving him a slightly guilty smile.
It wasn't that she wanted to be so shameless, but The Immortal Pool had given her a new task: hold his hand for ten seconds. She had no choice but to play dumb.
'That was close. I just barely completed the task.'
The magazine office was bustling with people, and Ethan Quinn was the center of attention. Someone with an agenda snapped a photo of Amelia Lockhart deliberately not letting go of his hand and posted it on Weibo.
"She's taking advantage of our man again!"
"Is she addicted to holding his hand or something?"
And so, Amelia Lockhart was once again trending for all the wrong reasons. She didn't dare argue, and she had to admit—the High God's hand really did feel nice to hold.
While lamenting her fate, Amelia Lockhart started another prize draw in The Immortal Pool. This time, she drew a Stupid Pig Card.
Stupid Pig Card: After use, the target's IQ will become that of a stupid pig! Can be used on yourself or on others!
Amelia Lockhart felt as if her own intelligence was being mocked. 'Who would use this on themselves?'
This prize draw from The Immortal Pool was truly worthy of the Lord of Fate. She had originally considered the Beauty Hair Card to be useless, but she never expected something even more useless.
The second live episode of *Fated Love* was next Saturday. It aired live every weekend. Amelia Lockhart didn't have much work at the moment, so her daily routine consisted of going from one film set to another, trying to land extra roles and auditioning.
Thanks to her experience from the video shoot, Amelia Lockhart was getting the hang of acting. During one of her gigs as an extra, the director even singled her out to play a supporting female role.
It was only a villainous side character who gets killed off in one scene, but she had several lines!
What's more, her co-star for the scene was a familiar face: Anna Summers, from the cast of *Fated Love*.
Anna Summers hadn't expected to see Amelia Lockhart. A gentle smile spread across her face. "I didn't expect to see you here, Amelia!"
Amelia Lockhart smiled shyly. "Anna, your outfit is gorgeous!"
This was Anna Summers's new project for the year, one she was reportedly aiming to win Best Actress for. It was a female-centric drama.
The character Amelia was playing was a villainous side character being used as a pawn. She is in love with the male lead, so she falls for the real villain's trick and tries to poison the female lead, thinking she can be with the male lead once the heroine is dead.
But the female lead had already seen through her scheme. She pretends to fall into the trap, then tricks the villainess into drinking the poison herself, making her suffer the consequences of her own actions.
Since her part was small, filming began as soon as she had familiarized herself with the plot and changed into her costume.
"Cut! What's wrong with you? It's just a few lines, can't you remember them?"
...
"Cut! Don't just sit there like a log!"
...
"Cut! If you can't act, we'll find someone who can! How many NGs for such a simple scene? We'll go again in one minute. If you can't get it right this time, you're replaced!" the director roared in frustration.
Anna Summers glanced at her with a worried expression. "Amelia, are you tired? Maybe we should just get a replacement?"
Amelia Lockhart just smiled. "Sorry for wasting your time. I'll try one more time. If it still doesn't work, you'll have to replace me."
A flash of triumph crossed Anna Summers's eyes, but on the surface, she offered a few more words of comfort before an assistant came forward to touch up her makeup.
'I was just deliberately upstaging her. A newcomer like Amelia Lockhart would never know what's happening. The others on set won't notice either. They'll just think it's Amelia's fault for not being able to keep up.'
'The director might be able to tell, but I'm the female lead. Of course he's going to side with me.'
'Amelia Lockhart, you really think you can make a name for yourself in the entertainment industry? You just got lucky getting paired with Ethan Quinn, and now you even stole the Charm Magazine opportunity from me.'
'If it weren't for the final like count, that Charm Magazine shoot would have been mine!'
The minute passed quickly.
Amelia Lockhart took a deep breath.
"Action!"
Anna Summers drank the tea that had been swapped, her eyes bright with a cheerful smile. "This really is fine tea. You should try some, too. Thank you for going to the trouble of finding it."
Amelia Lockhart gave her a strange look. 'It was clearly a fast-acting poison, so why is there no reaction?' At Anna's urging, Amelia took a sip from her own cup. A moment later, she sprayed a mouthful of blood, clutching her chest as she stared at Anna in disbelief.
Anna Summers's smile had long since turned cold. She threw the teacup in her hand to the ground, where it shattered with a CRASH. "You wretched Sadie Sullivan! I have never done anything to harm you, yet you dare try to poison me? How does it feel to get a taste of your own medicine?"
At this moment, Anna Summers was radiating a powerful aura. She was upstaging her with full force, intending to get Amelia Lockhart kicked off the set and put on the director's blacklist.
But Amelia Lockhart just clutched her chest and let out a low, crazed laugh, her eyes wild as she stared back at her. "Why wasn't it you who died? If you were dead, Senior Brother would only have eyes for me! But... at least I'm finally free..." Her crazed words trailed off, leaving only bleak sorrow.
Clutching her chest, Amelia Lockhart collapsed weakly to the ground.
Anna Summers was stunned. For a moment, she even forgot she had another line!
But the director shouted excitedly, "Cut! That's a wrap!"
'I can't believe it. This Amelia Lockhart actually countered Anna's upstaging, channeling that obsessive love into her words and her gaze! She changed the lines a little, but the effect was clearly excellent!'
'Anna's stunned silence at the end was perfect, too. It conveyed her complex emotions. Silence is more powerful than words here. This scene is great!'
As soon as she heard they got the take, Amelia Lockhart scrambled up from the floor, spit the blood pack into a trash can, and beamingly accepted a red envelope from the director.
It was customary to give actors who "die" on screen a red envelope to ward off bad luck. Amelia Lockhart gave it a little squeeze. 'Wow, there's quite a bit of cash in here!'
"Thank you, Director! If you have any more small roles like this in the future, please let me know. My schedule is wide open!"
"Very good. Keep practicing!"
"I will!" Amelia Lockhart waved goodbye to everyone cheerfully and left, happily clutching her red envelope.
As she was leaving, though, Amelia Lockhart made a point to glance at Anna Summers's expression. Just as she expected, Anna didn't look very happy. The smile on her face was completely forced.
'So this is the 'upstaging' my sister was talking about, huh?'
'Good thing my sister taught me how to handle it and even had my brother-in-law help me rehearse. But why would Anna deliberately upstage me?'
'I'm just playing a minor supporting character.'
* * *
Time passed quickly, and on Friday, Amelia Lockhart received a text message from the production team. After packing her bags, she waited for the staff to pick her up and take her to the filming location.
Because their destination this time was Riverbend Old Town, a drive of several hours, the production team was sending a bus to pick them up. They were scheduled to depart that afternoon.
When Amelia Lockhart got on the bus, she saw that everyone was already there except for Ethan Quinn. She smiled and greeted everyone before choosing an empty seat and sitting down.
Ruby Sawyer seemed to have been waiting for Amelia Lockhart to board. The moment Amelia sat down, she eagerly asked, "Last episode's on-screen couple has finally been revealed! So, Amelia, how did it feel shooting that video with Ethan Quinn?"