It was the rainy season. The night self-study session ended, the skies opening up just as students started filing out of their classrooms. Groans of dismay and frustrated complaints erupted as the hallways flooded with more and more loiterers, no one willing to brave the rain because it was soon approaching the exam period.
Chen Wen yawned and grabbed the sling of his school bag, throwing it over one shoulder as he sauntered lazily towards the door. A couple of friends greeted him and asked if he wanted to game later on that evening but he shook his head. The weather made him even more lethargic than usual and right now, all he planned on doing was going home for a nice hot shower and a good sleep. He was one of the few students who didn't live on campus and had to commute back and forth every day.
The sea of people blocking the entrance of the building didn't stop him from noticing a small, hunched figure in the corner of the foyer. She was that girl he'd seen crying in the gardens that time, her face all blotchy and smudged over with messy tears. There had been dirt stains on her uniform and scrapes on her knees. Chen Wen hadn't had much experience dealing with members of the opposite gender and hadn't known how to be comforting. So he had fallen back on his trademark smile and voiced his concern.
Today, she looked like she was about to cry again. He wondered, was it because of the rain? Or had she been bullied again?
Perhaps on a whim, he found himself heading over. At this point, it didn't even occur to him that his popularity in school painted a target on the back of any female that he so much as paid even a fraction of attention to. Besides, she was en route to his exit, it wasn't like he was going the extra mile to make conversation.
"No umbrella?" he asked. It felt like a foolish question. She didn't seem to have friends, was keeping her head low and her presence small. She didn't appear to be waiting for anybody.
The girl started and looked up at him with…well, it looked like surprise but he couldn't interpret her expression.
Chen Wen glanced again at the torrential rain before making up his mind. He reached into his bag and took out a black foldable umbrella, which he gently nudged into her stiff arms.
She…she was supposed to react with stunned nervousness but her expression was rather wooden. "I—"
It was his cue to leave. Without waiting for her to say anything, he gave her a trademark sunny smile, which was at complete odds with the dreary downpour. He didn't look back as he stepped gaily into the rain, leaving behind a shocked wallflower and a chorus of furtive gossiping that grew louder and louder. Because he didn't turn around, he didn't know that the girl he showed such simple kindness to stood there and watched him until he disappeared beyond the gates—
"Cut!"
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The skies cleared up abruptly. Overhead, the rain tiles switched off.
Director Fu scowled. "Jiang Xin!" he shouted. "What's wrong with you today? You've been standing around like a blockhead for the entire scene!" He drew out the script, flipped to the relevant section, and very nearly threw it at her face. "Look at this! You're supposed to be shocked that the school grass is paying you attention, this is the first time he has interacted with you after your first meeting in the garden! At the same time, you're both surrounded by other students and you're worried that the girls around you will become jealous and bully you even more! Ask yourself honestly, what have you managed to portray?!"
The second Director Fu ended the scene, Jiang Xin's team came running up with a jacket to drape around her shoulders. She didn't reply to him, just sniffled slightly and tilted her chin to one side like a petulant, pampered princess. It didn't matter though, because her manager was there to do all the talking on her behalf.
"Director Fu," her manager said with a displeased furrow on his brow. "It's really late already, Xin Xin is exhausted." All the school night scenes had been compiled into back to back shoots for these two days. There weren't many of them but Jiang Xin had prior engagements that afternoon and was now really exhausted. On top of that, this stupid novel was set in four seasons and at the moment, this scene took place in a summery 'June'. As a result, all the actors had to dress in summer uniforms. But in reality, it was now approaching late autumn and the temperature fell steadily every night after sunset. Jiang Xin wasn't the only one shivering in the lobby from the cold, so why was Director Fu picking on her?
"Who isn't exhausted?!" Director Fu retorted. He jabbed a thumb in his poor male lead's direction. "We've already done this take three times thanks to Jiang Xin's mistakes, don't you think Wen Rui has more to complain about?"
Wen Rui had jogged back after hearing the director's cue. His heart had sunk when he realised that they still weren't done with the take. This was pure torture.
For the last two weeks, he'd endured having to adhere to a ridiculous schedule. It had been painful but was still bearable. These two days, however, really tested his tolerance for rubbish. There weren't many night scenes in school, just those of the self-study period. But this one scene, which marked the first sign of special interest that the male lead showed in the female lead, was supposed to be iconic. Back when he'd been reading the novel, he'd felt that the image of Chen Wen stepping out into the rain was admirably carefree.
Now that he had stepped out into the fake rain three times, in nothing more than a thin summer uniform even though it was ten degrees Celsius, he couldn't like the scene anymore. What had felt like the carefree option was starting to degenerate into the stupid, Zhuang B option. The kind he would have turned his nose up at.
Jiang Xin pouted. "I'm sorry, Director," she said without much sincerity. She didn't even so much as spare Wen Rui a glance, having dismissed him a long time ago as a useless handsome face that didn't have much support in the industry. Such a failure wasn't worth making connections with, even if he was attractive. "But it's too cold."
"Xin Xin has a frail constitution," her managed added, the both of them piling on excuses one after another in a self-righteous tone like it wasn't Jiang Xin's fault that an entire cast was being kept back to almost midnight. Together, they were singing a duet at allegro, so quickly that Director Fu couldn't keep pace and lost some of his steam.
"Forget it, forget it," he said with a heavy sigh. "Let's try and get this right in one last take." He spared Wen Rui a sympathetic glance. "Are you up for it?" He'd noticed that Wen Rui had no personal assistant on set to take care of him and hurriedly signalled for someone to bring a towel over.
Could Wen Rui say no? He nodded impassively and tried to clear the fog from his mind. Fatigue was setting in. He'd been up since 5 that morning and had to be up at 5 again tomorrow. That left him with almost no time to sleep and he still had to get home from the set…
"Sure," he mumbled. "I'll head over to Wardrobe first." They had prepared several sets of uniforms for him to change into but no one had predicted needing this many takes for a rather straightforward scene. Wardrobe was already at its wit's end trying to dry the previous two sets just in case they became crucial again.
"Hang in there," his makeup artist encouraged, her gaze softening with pity when he shuffled in looking like a drowned rat. They had to restore him to a 'dry' state before they could film again and this rapid change from warm to cold to warm only made things more uncomfortable for him.
Wen Rui closed his eyes for a moment's rest. It felt like he had barely dozed off before he was being shaken awake again.
"Done," the makeup artist said, her voice even quieter now and laced with worry. "Are you sure you're all right? You don't seem well."
Wen Rui could feel it too, manifesting in a slight itching at the back of his throat and a stuffy ache in the bridge of his nose. But they had already stayed back for so long to try and finish this scene, he didn't want to make everyone's efforts go to waste.
When he finally made his way back into the hallway, Jiang Xin shot him a poisonous look that left him wrong-footed. What had he done?
"There you are," her manager said irritably. "What took so long? Jiang Xin has to report by 7 tomorrow—"
"I have to report at 6," Wen Rui interrupted. He ignored the outrage on the manager's face, brushing past him to walk up to the director. "Apologies, the other uniform wasn't dry yet."
The director patted him on the shoulder. "You've worked hard," was all he said, before turning his attention back to Jiang Xin. "My decision is final," he said coldly. "Your character is so poor that she has to mend her uniform. She fretted so hard about the scholarship applications that she developed anxiety. What part of that sounds like it would own a luxury jacket?"
"Or you could consider having wardrobe come up with a simpler jacket design, we don't have to use Xin Xin's personal one—"
Director Fu talked over Jiang Xin's manager. "Everyone back to your stations! Let's try and make this the last take!" He shot Jiang Xin one more warning look before heading off.
Wen Rui sucked in a deep breath and held it. It was fine. He could do this.