Chapter 273: Best Foot Forward

Mina listened as director Porter and Peter, who was still on the phone, tried to convince her of why she should fill in as the rival pianist. The rival only appeared in six scenes and all of them could be shot in one day, but Mina was completely uninterested.

Director Porter tried to think of a way to tie filling in for the actress who quit, to Mina's contractual duties, but there was nothing he could think of offhand. He was forced to turn to the universal motivating factor, cash.

"Mina, if you take on the role, I will pay you and give you a return on the amount you were paid as an investment," Director Porter said. He could tell that his statement caught Mina's attention by just a little.

"How much?" Mina asked, she already knew the actress who had quit was only being paid $1,000, and the woman had to remain on set, unpaid, for most of the production.

"$3,000 up front, and 1.5 percent return on the investment of an equal amount," Matthew replied. Mina knew that all the figures being added was taking away 5k from the surplus budget, which was still 5k less than if they lost an entire day.

Not wanting to seem desperate, Mina put on a poker face. She pretended to be unmoved until her boss upped the return to 1.8 percent. Mina did not immediately jump at the offer though, she wanted to make sure everything was legit before she moved any further.

"I'll need to call my manager first," Mina said. She did not have a manager, but she did not see why someone else could not benefit from the unforeseen event.

----

When Eric received the call from Director Porter, he rolled his eyes. The man, like many others, had relentlessly called him regarding Mina, but his answer was always the same. Eric had gotten so annoyed with the calls, that he seriously considered changing his number, but his daughter Jay, convinced him not to.

Eric was also under the impression that Mina wanted to have nothing to do with his family. His niece, Rachel, had told him about the 'white lie' she told and how it may have gotten Mina into trouble with President Ian Lee. Rachel had been beating herself up for what she had done, because since the day the truth was revealed, she had not seen Mina at the Lee building again.

Eric ignored the call, but the phone started to ring again.

"Hello," Eric answered with an attitude.

"Mr. Eric!" Mina shouted into the phone. "How are you?" She asked enthusiastically.

"Who is this?" Eric asked.

"Oh sorry, it's me, Mina Harlow."

"Mina? What are you doing calling from Director Porter's phone?"

"It's a long story, but I need a manager. Can you help-"

"Send me the address," Eric said without waiting for Mina to complete her sentence.

"And Bring Jay with you!" Mina said. If she was going to take one for the team, there was no reason why Mr. Eric should not get a little credit.

----

Mr. Eric arrived on set before his daughter, he and Mina discussed her boundaries and the basic agreement regarding payment, before the man disappeared with Director Porter to work on a contract.

Jay arrived a short while later, she was huffing slightly and Mina got the impression that she must have been so excited for her father, that she dropped everything and came running. Mina approached the woman who was downing a bottle of water, and Jay pulled her into a hug.

"Thank you so much Mina. This is going to look great on my resume," Jay said. Mina- replied with a confused expression. "I don't just do this because my father does. I actually like it," Jay said. Mina made a noise of acknowledgement.

"Is it really that big of a deal?" Mina asked. "I only appear in six scenes."

"Do you know who Director Porter is?" Jay asked, and Mina rolled her eyes.

"Word of advice," Mina said. "He doesn't like people who suck up to him. He prefers people to be open and upfront."

"I love you," Jay blurted out, throwing Mina off. "You just stopped me from making a terrible mistake," Jay said. "I was definitely going to come into this shy and cute."

"And now?" Mina asked.

"I'm going full Jay," she said, making Mina laugh, before her face turned pensive. Jay noticed Mina's expression.

"You knew, didn't you?" Mina asked.

"Huh? Knew what?" she asked.

"You told me the market was teens, but you forgot to mention why," Mina said, and Jay flashed a guilty expression.

"Sorry?" Jay said as a question, and Mina stomped away, leaving Jay to chase after her.

----

Director Porter was absolutely elated to have Mina act in one of his productions. Even though the role was tiny, he knew it was the gateway to having her lead in something. Curvy women were in vogue, and curvy women with beautiful faces were always coveted.

Even if Mina were a mediocre actress, director Porter was sure that the amount of money she could pull in from girls who wanted to emulate her, and boys who wanted to do things to her, would be great.

All Matthew needed was to boost Mina's confidence in herself, and the two of them could ride the wave of success he believed she could bring. If all else failed, Mina could still be profitable to him. The same way she had brought in money to a half decent web series, she could bring it to his large-scale films.

----

Mina and Jay sat discussing the basic scenes Mina was in. She was excited to play a rude and arrogant person.

Mina had always found unlikeable characters interesting on film. She had also encountered enough women with haughty attitudes to know she could and would make a convincing antagonist.

As they spoke, Jay was busy going through the several costumes on set. She was looking for something that would make Mina's character appear stuck up.

"Try this on," Jay said and Mina removed her clothing to change. Jay could not help but to stare. Mina had an amazing body, and she did not even flaunt it.

"How does it look?" Mina asked. Jay tilted her hand from side to side.

"It's not annoying enough," Jay said. If they were going to make Mina's character unlikable, they could not have her look cute.

"Change into this," Jay said while handing Mina a black puffy sleeve shirt. The sleeves were made of imitation leather and the skirt that Jay had given Mina was made of the same material.

Satisfied, Jay sat Mina into a chair and pulled her hair into a tight bun at the nape of her neck with a part in the middle. Once Mina's hair was done, she tried to replace Mina's earrings with faux pearls, but Mina stopped her.

"I cannot remove them yet. They are new," Mina said. Jay tapped her lips in thought. Eventually she came up with the idea to tint Mina's lips bright red. She then darkened Mina's lashes and sighed in satisfaction.

"You look like a complete shrew," Jay said and Mina got up to check herself out.

Mina could not help but to laugh at herself. She looked ridiculous. Not that the outfit was ugly, because it was not, but the overall look was so pretentious that Mina was judging herself.

"I'm not sure I can do this," Mina said nervously.

"No, no. You better go out there and put your b*tch foot forward," Jay said. Mina appreciated the pun, and it helped her to unwind.

'Time to channel spoiled,' Mina thought.