Chapter 40

No sooner had Eliza’s message been sent than she received a call from the chief director. “Eliza, where are you now?” “I’m so excited that you have agreed to take on the role of the second female lead!” “Are you free now? Come to Parson Media and I will get someone to explain the script to you!” Eliza frowned slightly. “There’s no need for that.” She had done many years of script analysis, and she didn’t need anyone’s help with that. The director paused. “But you’ll still have to come over to Parson Media. How else can I pass the script to you?” Eliza hesitated for a moment and agreed. The director asked to meet her in the conference room on the third floor of Parson Media’s office.

After she entered the conference room, she realized that not only were the chief director, producer, and assistant director waiting for her… But among these people, there was one person whom she was particularly reluctant to meet: Jay Carr. 2 As soon as he saw Eliza enter the room, Jay smiled at her from across the room. “Eliza, I’m so glad that you’re willing to take on this role.” “With your ability, I believe that you will be able to portray this character very well.” Eliza felt faint. She was just there to get her script! Why must Jay show up before her? “Look how professional Mr. Carr is! He’s so considerate of Eliza, the newcomer!” The chief director couldn’t help but sigh. “Eliza, when Jay heard that you were coming to get your script, he postponed his filming today just so that he can personally guide you on your character!” “So I gave it some thought and decided that since you have agreed to play this role, you will have many scenes with Jay in the future, so it would be good for you to develop some chemistry with him.” As he spoke, he gave his seat up to Eliza and gestured for her to take the seat next to Jay. “Congratulations on having a good mentor like Jay when you are just starting on your career as an actual actress, Eliza!” Eliza could not help but laugh but when she heard the term ‘mentor’. She lifted her eyes and looked straight at Jay. “Well, should I be addressing you as my mentor now?” When they first started seeing each other, Jay was just an inconsequential entertainer who had no experience with performing.

After they got together, she had been the one who taught Jay all about acting and helped him improve his performance bit by bit. She went through all of his performance with him and analyzed every one of his scripts, expounding every character and every emotion. But he was now putting on an air of benevolence, pretending to be her mentor? How ironic!

“I don’t qualify to be your mentor.” Jay probably sensed that Eliza did not like having him too near, so he simply smiled and scooted away from her slightly, keeping a distance between them. “But we can help each other.”

“If you ever need any help, you can come to me, and if I have any questions, I will come to you.” It was then that Eliza understood. Jay had set her up. o She had refused to analyze his script for him no matter how much he asked her before. O But now, he had an excuse to discuss the script with her.

However, even though she saw through his scheme, she could not expose him in front of so many people. O She could only scoff and busy herself with reading the script.

Eliza was indifferent to Jay for the entire day. She did not ask Jay any questions about the script, and when Jay asked her anything, she would just answer that she had no idea too. After they were done going through the script, Jay went into the same elevator as Eliza as they got off work. Eliza was a little annoyed since there were only both of them in the elevator. She began to surf the net on her phone. To her surprise, she found a trending post online entitled ‘Jay Mentors Eliza’s Acting’. D She frowned and tapped on it. The photos attached were of her and Jay reading their scripts in the conference room.

Several of them were taken so that she seemed very intimate with Jay. The caption for the photos was very suggestive too. Jay and Eliza Giving off Good Chemistry. A Couple in the Making?” When were the photos taken?

Eliza bit her lips and turned off her phone. She looked up at Jay, who stood nearby. “You were the one who arranged for the photos to be taken, weren’t you? Were you also the one who spread the news online?” “It was Madeleine’s idea.” Jay looked forward breezily, no longer the polite gentleman outsiders knew him for. “If I spread news about you and me online, the public will gradually forget about Madeleine.” “After everyone forgets what happened yesterday, Madeleine can make her debut again.” Eliza drew in a breath of cold air. “So, your act today… That was all for Madeleine?” His affection for Madeleine seemed to run deep. Eliza had been with him for five whole years, and not only had Jay refused to bring their relationship to light, but he refused to even let the world know about her existence. With Madeleine, however, he was quick to let the public in on their relationship. What’s more, now that Madeleine was in trouble, he had the nerve to make use of Eliza to take the heat off her? Eliza’s heart sank. D “I wouldn’t say it’s purely for Madeleine.” Jay smirked and said, “It was for you and me, too.” “After this incident, netizens will adore me for being a responsible and kind man.” “And you can use this as a stepping stone to go from a stunt double to an actual actress.” He looked very pleased. “We killed three birds with one stone. This will benefit all of us, Eliza. You have to cooperate with me.” The elevator reached the ground floor. “Cooperate with you? In your dreams!” Eliza spat those words in Jay’s face and left. The main entrance to Parson Media was empty and deserted. Eliza stood on the pavement and waited for a long time but there was no taxi in sight. “I’ll send you home.” A black BMW pulled up beside her and the window was lowered, revealing Jay’s face. He took off his sunglasses and looked at her with a smile. “You previously said that you lived with your husband in a posh area that my car was too shabby to enter.” Then, he looked around and grinned. “Well, why didn’t Mr. Valentine get you a car if he loved you as much as you said he did?” Eliza rolled her eyes at him, walked away from his car, and continued to wait for a taxi further up the pavement. But there were just too few taxis that passed by the area. Half an hour had gone by, but there was still no car passing by.

The sky gradually darkened. Jay leaned against the window stylishly with a snarky smile on his lips. “It will be dark soon. There are a lot of mosquitoes here in Parson Media at night.” “My car might be shabby, but for the sake of your face, why don’t you put up with it for a while?” As he said that, he yawned lightly. “Eliza, you probably don’t know how important an actress’ face is because you’ve never been an actual actress before.” “But if you get mosquito bites on your face… Tsk tsk, you’re going to get an earful from the director!” Eliza rolled her eyes at him again, then turned around and walked towards the Valentines’ villa with her backpack. If there wasn’t a taxi, she’d rather walk back herself! But with every step she took, Jay’s car would follow closely behind. When she hastened her pace, Jay’s car would speed up a little. When she slowed down, the car would slow down too. In the end, Jay said lazily, “Eliza, I almost bought what you said. I thought that the psychopath, Mr. Valentine, really treated you well.” “But now, it seems…”

“You got off work so late, but he did not even arrange to have you picked up. I guess you are not living a good life after you married him.” As he said that, he raised his hand to stroke his chin haughtily. “Why don’t you continue being with me?”

“I can keep you and Madeleine away from each other so that you won’t have to meet and interfere with each others’ lives. How about that?”