Chapter 264: Pleased

Mina patiently waited for Director Twan to finish speaking to the lead actress before he came back to her side. Unlike what Mina had once believed, movie scenes were not shot consecutively, and the actress was having trouble immersing herself into character.

The scene the pair was working on was one in which the female lead's character first loses her passion for piano. The actress did not know if she should portray anger or sadness in the scene and Director Twan had instructed her to go with a mixture of both.

When the scene concluded, Mina and Peter went to find Director Porter who was working on the other side of the set with the male lead.

Mina struggled not to laugh as the man slammed his fingers onto the keys of a piano, doing his best impression of a music prodigy. He was animated and enthusiastic, but his performance was over the top and if he had really been playing, Mina was sure he would have missed a few notes.

Peter must have noticed the judgment in Mina's smile because he nudged his boss and both men studied her expression.

"What do you see?" Director Porter asked, and Mina was honest.

"He is doing too much," Mina said. The actor stopped his ministrations and turned to face her. The man looked annoyed and spoke with a hint of bitterness in his voice.

"Can you do a better job?" He asked sarcastically, and Mina answered in the affirmative. The actor stood up and gestured for Mina to take his place and the woman obliged with a smirk. She loved proving people wrong.

Mina sat behind the piano while another film assistant played music through a speaker, but she asked him to cut the sound. Once the room was quiet, Mina began to play the simple sonata and as she did so, she explained to the actor why what he was doing was wrong.

No longer arrogant, the actor listened to Mina. He was carefully watching her movements which Mina had made more exaggerated, knowing that it would look better on camera. When she was done, she beckoned for the actor to take her place and the man did his best to mimic Mina's actions. It only took two takes before the scene was captured.

Director Porter was pleased with his actor, and even more pleased with his assistant. She handled herself well, and she also saved him the time of trying to find a body double, who could play the piano, to take his actor's place.

Small web series' had even smaller budgets, and Director Porter was already nearing the edge of it. The improvement, while small, was saving him lots of money. He was not surprised to find that Mina could play the piano because he had seen the video of her from Faryta. He had originally assumed it was some sort of marketing technique, but after speaking with Mina, he found that it was all impromptu and he could not have been more pleased

----

Mina went around the set, helping here and there, taking correction when necessary and correcting where she saw fit. Her bosses were nice so far, but she was still unclear on her actual duties as a Managing Budget Director.

Mina fished out the inactive phone from her bag and connected it to the local Wi-Fi. She scrolled through the equipment list and used the internet to familiarize herself with its average cost.

About midway through the list, Mina felt the presence of someone approaching her, and turned to face the person. Her eyes narrowed at the man, and she quickly went back to her work.

----

Cylus had been looking for Mina for over twenty-four hours, he had almost begun to believe that President Lee had gotten rid of the woman. He had even showed up at the Lee mansion, where he was told that Mina was asleep, no matter what time he came.

Eventually, Cylus was no longer allowed through the front gates, which had only confounded his worry. It had been another full day and he still had no information and going to a Lee to inquire was out of the question.

It was by sheer dumb luck when the manager of one of the actors signed under Rouge Entertainment texted a photo of a woman, he had never been happier to see. The Manager had sent the image to Cylus wondering if she should approach the woman and offer her a contract. Cylus warned the manager not to engage Mina, and instead he made his way to the studio where he knew she was located.

When Cylus laid eyes on Mina's back, he felt relieved. He had not gotten to apologize to her and after explaining to his mother what had happened to make Mina so apprehensive around him, he received a strong flick to the forehead. Madam Rue had changed her mind regarding Mina, when she realized that the information she received was tainted by jealousy.

Mina was hard at work on something, but she came to a pause and turned to face Cylus who was making his way toward her. She narrowed her eyes and turned away going right back to whatever she had been doing.

"Mina, please give me a chance to explain," Cylus said with a little more softness in his voice than Mina expected.

"You have two minutes," Mina replied. She did not stop writing and she did not turn to face the man.

"Can you at least look at me?" Cylus asked. Mina put down her pen and met the man's eyes. He was now standing in front of where she was seated. "There is no excuse for what I said, so I won't apologize, but I can tell you that I only said it because I was angry."

"What did he tell you?" Mina asked. Her voice was a whisper, and it was an indication to Cylus that she wanted to keep their words private.

"Nothing good," Cylus admitted.

"Why are you here?" Mina asked and Cylus sat in the chair next to her.

"Do you know how worried I have been about you?" Cylus asked and Mina chuckled.

"You don't even know me," Mina said and Cylus nodded.

"Then allow me to get to know you." Mina looked into Cylus' eyes and a frown appeared on her face. He was very handsome, extremely flashy, but very handsome. Sadly, he looked a little too much like her father, and Mina wondered if perhaps their parents actually had an affair.