Chapter 74:

“Where are we going?”

June asked, sitting beside him in the car. She knew that Will must have a lot of questions regarding her strange behaviour. But she didn’t know how to break the ice.

“You will know.”

“Okay. Well, I’m sorry. I am acting strange these days. It’s because I am doing a lot of auditions and in one of them, the director–”

“Don’t worry about it. As I said, we can talk after I stop the car.”

Will interrupted June mid-sentence and said. There was a strange expression on his face, and June was worried, seeing him like this. But she still sat quietly.

He drove for a while, and suddenly, he parked beside a restaurant. Seeing the familiar restaurant, June couldn’t help but glance at Will.

“It’s the Lakeside restaurant. Remember I called you here to talk about [The Blair Witch Project]?”

“Yeah, but why are we here?”

“I just thought it would be a good place to talk. Especially with the memories associated with this place.”

June nodded her head, and they walked inside. Fortunately, the waiter didn’t recognize him. Though, he did glance at him a few times, finding them quite familiar.

They soon got a seat close to the window and sat down.

“What do you want to order?”

Will asked, but June shook her head. Slowly, she parted her lips and said.

“I think we should talk before we eat. I know you have questions, and let me explain myself. I was not ignoring you or anything. There were just a lot of auditions I needed to prepare for and…”

He stopped her from saying anything more by waving his hand.

“John already told me everything.”

“What?” June yelped in a louder tone this time.

“How you felt inferior because I was moving too fast in my career, how you felt like you weren’t enough, how the tabloids were bothering you.”

“Will, I…”

June hesitated to speak while cursing John in her mind. She had told him several times not to tell Will anything, but her agent had betrayed her in the end.

“I know you are angry at John but don’t be. It’s good that he told me because I know you would have never told me the truth.”

June didn’t say anything hearing that. Her expression dimmed, and she sighed after a moment of silence. Lowering her head, she spoke after a minute.

“I… I just didn’t know what to say. Yes, I was bothered, and sometimes I felt like I wasn’t equal to you; I felt like I didn’t deserve you. It was like I was chasing your shadow and failed in it.”

Will didn’t blame June for her thoughts. Other girls in Hollywood would indeed feel like they had hit the jackpot after getting him as a boyfriend.

They would even use every opportunity to get him to help them in their career. With him being a director, he could at least give the lead actress role in his movie.

But June hadn’t said anything like that, neither did she ask for any favours.

It was because she wanted to stand on her own. She was too proud of a person to rely on Will, especially when everyone thought that she would use her connection with Will to get better roles in Hollywood.

“Still, June, you should have told me about it. Nothing good comes out with not speaking up. In a relationship, communication is the key.”

Will voiced out with a little bit of anger. He wasn’t happy with himself because he had not noticed June’s growing inferiority complex, yet he chose to ignore it. However, he still felt she could have at least said something.

“I know that. I’m sorry, but I just felt like I would be able to get a lead role sooner or later, then I can talk about it with you.”

He sighed, his anger released. There was no point blaming anyone here. It won’t solve the situation.

Glancing around the restaurant, he smiled weakly and asked.

“Do you remember the first time we met?”

“Yeah.”

“The first thought in my mind that day was that I was meeting with a beautiful girl. Though, I never expected things to go so fast, it almost felt rushed.”

June nodded her head to that and chuckled.

“Yeah, even I was shocked. It happened so fast that I felt like I was making a mistake. After all, we had only known each other for a little over a month. But it just felt right.”

Will agreed with her and said, “Yeah, cause I know that the relationship is different. It’s not like I never had relationships in the past. Maybe because of that, the paparazzi articles never bothered me.”

He had a few relationships before transmigrating to this world, and even the previous owner of this body had exes. But June was still the best among every girl he knew.

He continued his words seeing that she was listening intently.

“It’s just I know that you are not with me for money. I know you better than anyone else, so there’s no way that thought will cross my mind. Those paparazzi articles are bullshit, and I will even sue them first thing tomorrow morning.”

The last line wasn’t a baseless threat. Since he had read the article, he was always going to sue the company.

Hollywood celebrities had a history of suing paparazzi, so Will won’t even be the first on the list.

“As for you feeling inferior, I know the feelings won’t go away easily. But I also know that you are a great actress and you will be one of the leading actresses in the whole of Hollywood one day, earning millions from just one role. This will happen with or without me supporting you!” He sighed before adding. “And I know you feel like the distance between us is growing, and I will be honest, I plan to direct and produce even more movies from now on. So, it’s inevitable that anyone with me might feel it more and more. But I’m not going anywhere or changing into someone else. I’m still here with you!”

As Will said all that in a serious tone, June couldn’t help but feel a warm feeling. A little bit of clarity returned to her as she found herself silly for worrying over such stuff.

“I’m sorry. It’s all my fault. I made you worried, right?”

June asked as her face relaxed to a brighter tone, and at the corner of her eyes, he could spot droplets of tears.

“More than that, I thought you would break up with me. It was pretty scary.”

“I will never.”

She chuckled, and for a moment, she didn’t say anything, slowly thinking of something in her mind. After a while, June brightly smiled and opened her lips.

“You know, I will become that top actress one day, and at that time, I will make sure you can rely on me.”

***

“There is a lot of noise around this project since it’s the first time we will see you as a romantic hero. But how do you see this movie, and why did you think this was the perfect role for you?”

Jared smiled brightly hearing that question. He was currently in an interview with one of the leading celebrity magazines, ‘Hollywood Now’.

This was a part of Z studios and ICM marketing plan for his movie, and it was working well for now. There was a genuine curiosity about his image change, and he enjoyed every moment of it.

“I always wanted to do a romantic comedy after going through so many intense roles in different movies, and [Sleepless in L.A.] seemed like the perfect film. The main character has everything in his life, but he still spends sleepless nights because he doesn’t have any love. I feel like it was a charming but vulnerable character, and this suits me a lot.”

The Reporter smiled at his answer and went on to the next question. But this one made Jared’s face furious, and he could barely conceal it.

“There are rumours that you were in talks with Will Evans for a role in his next movie before signing this movie. Do you regret losing out on it as it is being touted to be a big project?”

The Reporter had asked this question mainly to get a headline out of Jared, and unfortunately, he even fell for it.

“Regret?” Jared laughed, shaking his head. “I was actually happy I didn’t get this role. Will is a good innovative director, and his first movie did well, but I think it’s pretty soon for him to direct a multi-million dollar movie.”

“So, by your tone, it seems like you rejected the role contrary to what we heard.”

Jared nodded, and the Reporter couldn’t help but smile, thinking about the article he would write.

“The role was good enough, and I feel that Will’s scriptwriting ability is top-notch, but we couldn’t come to a common ground, and I rejected the role.”

“But apparently, Ewan Rees is now playing that character?”

Jared’s face contorted hearing that. He finally realized that the Reporter was trying to throw him into the fire.

He could downplay Will, and seven out of ten people would even agree with him because the latter still had a lot to prove.

But he can’t say anything bad about Ewan, a more experienced and famous actor than him. Otherwise, he would just face the wrath of the latter’s fans.

“Maybe he liked the character more. Anyway, I’m pretty sure Ewan would play this role very well. Next question, please.”

He quickly said and urged the Reporter to go ahead with other questions. The Reporter sighed, moving on with the next question but secretly thinking in his head that this much was enough for a headline.

…

//DreamNote//

Hi y’all, I think there’s a misunderstanding between us regarding last week’s bonus chapter. There was a mistake in the chapter note, because the first chapter of the two uploaded wasn’t of Saturday, but of Sunday itself. There was no chapter on Saturday because of shab-e-barat, neither on webnovel, nor on -patreon.

However, I had some miscommunication with my editor and he misunderstood my words, thus writing something else in the chapter end-note, and because I was in a hurry, I didn’t read the note. By the time I came to know about it, it was already too late because many of you had read it. I apologise for this misunderstanding, and of the two chapters I uploaded on Sunday, the second chapter was the last week’s bonus chapter. 🙂

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