Fourth day of arrival and they finished the last filming of the day.
The two were in embarrasing state, covered in the stench of rain mixed with sweat and went to take a shower in their respective rooms.
"Are my love scenes so bad?"
Katrina's hair hadn't dried, she was only wearing slippers and layered her pajamas with a bathrobe. She found a man sitting cross legged on her bed with crumpled hair.
I swear to everything holy! This job has no privacy at all!
"What do you mean?"
Wu Yige sent her a glare and something flashed through her mind.
Wu Yige leaned under a tree, Monica Ning in his arms. He covered her tender face with one hand, and said intermittently; "Are you.. are you, okay? Good.."
"CUT!"
The Director almost threw his headphones and ran to him. He said a few words to him and Wu Yige thought for a while.
Everyone knew the Director was dissatisfied and this would be the male god's turn to NG.
As expected, Wu Yige failed to show the emotion needed the entire afternoon. Each time, the director wasn't satisfied, but Wu Yige didn't get angry and was very cooperative.
"Wu Yige isn't very good with emotional scene,"
"Indeed God is fair,"
"But his debut drama got love undertone to it, doesn't it?"
"He played it with his girlfriend, of course it's different."
The scene goal was to show how the ML fell in love with the FL unknowingly. It was packed with a very traumatic flashback in the middle of adversity. It was a complex emotion with a hint of love.
He mastered everything but the last part.
"Katrina!"
Wu Yige sullen face frowning.
"Do you want to use the satellite phone to call Melanie? It can help evoke emotion."
"No, I don't want to get in touch with the outside world for now."
Katrina took her bag.
"Where are you going?"
"Bathroom, I need to change my clothes."
The man furrowed his eyebrow and realized he hit him, he immediately got out and left the room with a loud bang.
"Lunatic," This time she didn't hold her rolling eyes.
The rumor of him using Melanie to climb popularity was still there even after these years.
People were right, Wu Yige filmed the youth love scene because he was genuinely in love with Melanie. His projects after that never had an underlying love tone, he was annoyed by this because melo and romance were his achilles heels, yet the VP and Chairwoman sent him to this project instead.
Katrina was dressed and knocking on his door, "It's me, open up."
The man sat on his sofa and opened a few cans of beer.
"What's your favorite song?"
"Seriously? What the hell."
"Just answer me, I'm trying to help you."
"I don't remember, I hardly listen to songs since I quit singing."
"Look, I understand your concern and I think reminiscing with love songs might help. You mastered the movement and look, it is just too rigid. It felt too much like acting."
"I was acting."
"Just imagine her as Melanie."
"Are you crazy?! That's disgusting!"
"Fine, let's listen to this."
It was an FMV from a first love movie with Anne Marie's 2002 as its song.
I will always remember
The day you kissed my lips
Light as a feather
The leads were talking, laughing, and shyly holding hands
And it went just like this
No, it's never been better
Than the summer of 2002 (ooh)
Uh, we were only eleven
But acting like grown-ups
The leads were staring into each other's eyes, a flashback of their childhood memories.
Like we are in the present
Drinking from plastic cups
Singing, "Love is forever and ever"
Well, I guess that was true
"I don't get-"
Katrina grabbed Wu Yige's collar, pressed him on the sofa, and stared at him condescendingly. "If you can't imagine your opponent as Melanie, imagine yourself as the heroine. What will make you blush and feel the other party's love, then use it in reverse to your opponent."
Wu Yige certainly caught off guard and Katrina immediately stood up, "Sleep on it, your schedule is pushed to the last one tomorrow."
***
At eight o'clock the next day, after sending Wu Yige to the set, Miss Coordinator - Rachel Jang touched Katrina's shoulder, "Kat, is your phone working?"
Katrina took it out and said, "Yes, do you need it?"
Rachel Jang shook her head with some pity, "Check twitter."
Katrina just drove down the mountain to the vegetable market because Wu Yige had a runny nose when he woke up in the morning. She bought some ginger drink to ward off the cold for the entire crew.
She reserved the entire hotel's kitchen and brought over the groceries.
The moment she checked twitter, Wu Yige's name was trending. Not just nationals, but global trending.
The headlines on major entertainment websites were photos of Monica Ning cuddling up to Wu Yige!
Katrina didn't know what to say, the lover was in a quarrel and they still pulled this stunt? What the hell! How was the company gonna clean up the mess after this? If Melanie Lu didn't visit the set then the CPs fans would be riotting! They were the celebrity childhood sweetheart after all!
Katrina immediately called Du Chen, who was talking on the phone over there.
After a while, Du Chen's voice said: "I've seen it all. Stay calm over there. No matter what, don't let Wu Yige know about this. I'll go find the person in charge of the entertainment section."
Katrina said: "How about Melanie Lu?"
"Let's do this first." Du Chen said.
Du Chen obviously didn't even have time to get on the phone and immediately went to deal with Wu Yige's matter.
She used to read gossip just for entertainment, but when it was her artist that made the headlines, she felt like her biggest secret had been exposed. Most of the things written was speculation and baseless accusation, she knew it and people around the couple knew it.
The problem was, just like how she was just a reader, she thought the magazine and website must've done a fact check and everything written was probably true, BUT IT WAS NOT!
Katrina channeled the anger by crushing the gingers and in less than a couple hours, she was on her way to the set with dozens of new thermoses with Wu Yige's sticker on it.
At noon, the logistics team brought lunch and she distributed the thermoses with them.
The lunch time was universal and the actors finally came back.
Wu Yige was confused by the lunchbox on his table, "Didn't you cook?"
Katrina said, "I made everyone ginger drinks, please have this for now, Brother Yi."
Her good deed was his good deed after all, so he just shrugged and started eating. Wu Yige coughed a few times, wiped his nose, and stopped eating after eating very little.
The crew was unusually quiet today. No one spoke. Everyone was eating and scrolling on their phone. Wu Yige felt a little strange and glanced around, wondering what was going on.
The sun came out in the afternoon, and the lake was sparkling beautifully. Wu Yige and Monica Ning began to film a scene where Alex Fu and Kim Minyoung fell in love. Handsome man and a beautiful woman stood by the lake with rippling sunshine. Wu Yige held Monica Ning's hand affectionately. Monica Ning's face turned red and her eyes turned away.
"What are you blushing about?" Wu Yige rubbed the bridge of his nose with Monica Ning.
"CUT!" the director shouted, "NG! Your eyes are useless, Wu Yige. It's dead! What is wrong with you?!"
Wu Yige was completely exhausted. He was most afraid of acting in this kind of drama. The more he was told about it, the more he couldn't let it go. Every other genre was easy.. only this kind of affectionate play when the love was strong, once it was performed, although the atmosphere was right and the acting were right, it always seemed stiff.
Even if Monica Ning were replaced by a tree, a gold bar, or a lollipop, Wu Yige's eyes would still be the same.
"Director, drink this ginger water. I mix it with the Linjian tea you like. You are the pillar of the production, you must take care of your health."
The director was old, his youngest daughter around Katrina's age, but what softened his heart the most was the smell of Lingjian tea and ginger in the thermos.
The Assistant Director caught the look of the director and shouted, "5 minutes break!"
He muttered before drinking the tea, "Talk to your actor."
"Thank you, Director."
Wu Yige covered his nose and Katrina immediately rolled up a large roll of paper.
Everyone around him held their laughter.
Wu Yige went to the side and wiped his nose. His cold had aggregated.
Katrina was like ants on a hot pan, but she calmly poured the ginger drink and added another layer of blanket to - the busy reading his script - Wu Yige.