Chapter II - New Acquaintances

Tom's visit came to an end and another new day has come. They watched a total of three Disney movies and ate many snacks until their stomachs became full. Tom waited for Rebecca's sleeping time and started to talk to Chelsea regarding her story.

Tom told her plan that when she had finalized her work, he insisted for her to call him so that he can start editing with his other colleague to do the 2nd and 3rd editing. After that, he will return the edited works to Chelsea so that she can approve the change in her works. Finally, he mentioned her publisher so it can go public for the people to read her book.

Tom bid farewell to Chelsea knowing that it was getting late. He gave his love to her family and then left to get in his car.

At the present time, Chelsea was preparing herself to arrive at the school. She decided to watched Rebecca's progress in acting. The school allowed parents to attend their child's rehearsal, encouraging them to support the child who's participating in extra activity.

Chelsea headed to her car and drove to her destination. She had gotten in the right time and saw Rebecca running to her car. She opened the door of her car and Rebecca climbed to the passenger seat next to her mother.

"How's your school, honey?" Chelsea asked her daughter while she wiped the sweat dripping down on her daughter's forehead with a clean towel placed on the back seat of the car.

"We have a lot of homework," Rebecca said frowning.

" Mommy's here, you can ask me about it," Chelsea offered to her daughter. "And... Tomorrow is Saturday!" she continued happily and clapped her hands.

Rebecca widely smiled and repeated her mother's actions.

"Now, where do you want to eat?" Chelsea asked.

"Can we go to KFC?" Rebecca said hoping for her mother to agree.

"Okay, but we will have to eat fast. We only have an hour and your practice is going to start," Chelsea reminded Rebecca who immediately nodded when she heard her mother.

Chelsea fastened their seatbelt and started to drove away from school to go to another location. They arrived, ordered their food, and paid for them. Starting eating quietly and finished it fast as Chelsea said. They got back at the school and entered the theater where the activity will be going to take place.

"Mommy, I will go get dress," Rebecca informed her mother, staring innocently at her.

"Okay, honey," with this, she releases her daughter's hands and watched her daughter went to backstage.

Chelsea had been in this place but she can't help to wander her own eyes. She noticed from the corner of her eyes, a tall person coming her way.

The man smiled towards her and Chelsea smiled back.

"You must be Mrs. Collins?" the man guested as he saw Rebecca running away from the area he is now.

"Yes, please call me Chelsea, Mrs. Collins is my husband's mother," she said kindly and not looking directly at the man she's speaking to.

"Well, then, I hope you will love Rebecca's performance," he said smiling at her for a short while, nodded lightly, and abruptly turned around to walk towards the stage.

"Okayyy..." Chelsea uttered to herself.

'That was weird,' she thought in her mind. She looked around and noticed that she was the only one who's standing. Getting self-conscious, she took a comfortable seat for herself.

"Let's start from the beginning! In 5, 4, 3, 2, and ACTION!" the man she talked earlier instructed to the children.

She watched the different roles that the children played and she was fascinated by it. She saw some children the passion in their actions and the wild determination in their eyes. When it came to Rebecca, she doesn't know how to act at how proud she is of her daughter, being a mother watching her daughter felt like seeing Rebecca as a professional actress already.

She can't help but feel overwhelmed and happy about it.

"So, that's your child, she's really great," an old woman seating 1 meter away from her began to say.

"Oh, thank you. I know she will do great, her love for acting gives her happiness," Chelsea replied to the woman.

"A bright future ahead of her," the woman continued.

"Yes, I believed in that," Chelsea said focusing back on watching the performance of her daughter.

The woman didn't talk back, ending their conversation, and continued to watch. Suddenly the instructor, the man she talked to earlier, shouted, "Stop... Stop!, Nonononono," with this, Rebecca stopped her dialogue and took a look at her instructor.

"Am I doing it wrong, Mr. Severn?" Rebecca said worriedly and looked directly at him.

"It's not you, Ms. Collins," the man or better yet, Mr. Severn said smiling lightly at her but he immediately changed it and frowned towards the side stage. "Where is the right background music for this scene?!" he shouted clearly for the operators to hear.

A man emerged from the right side of the curtain and went to Mr. Severn to discuss the problem. The man timidly stood explaining the problem, "The performance is nearing! We need to finish all the technical issues, the children are perfect but, this!? Please fix this as soon as possible," Mr. Severn harshly said, resulting for Chelsea to hear it.

"Please continue, Ms. Collins," Mr. Severn said facing Rebecca with the same smile he displayed earlier.

"What a two-faced man," Chelsea commented loudly to herself.

"I think he's a perfectionist doing his job," the woman from earlier said to her.

"You really think so?" Chelsea asked the woman for elaborating her observation of the man.

"Yes, dear, sometimes a person gets irritated from a little mistake but inside he knows that it also helps him in doing his job well enough and have a great result in it," the old lady reasoned and Chelsea thought that it was a great observation and explanation about the situation earlier. "Did you noticed that he's pleasant to your daughter?" the woman continued and Chelsea thought 'Yes, because if he shouted at my daughter, I will sue him to the owner of this school,' but she didn't say that, instead she nodded to the woman. "It's because he knew that your daughter is an aspiring actress and already professional doing it," the lady said answering her own question, elaborating it for Chelsea to understand.

"Oh, wow... I didn't think of that," Chelsea was surprised at the comment of the lady. "I realized that I didn't fully believe in the ability of my daughter and now, you made me realized it. Thank you for that," Chelsea said facing the woman with a smile on her face.

"No need to thank me, dear, I was merely pushing you to see the different perspective," the lady said kindly smiling at Chelsea with a motherly gaze.

"Not to bother but... Can I asked your name?" Chelsea said nervously to the lady while she played around with her hands and not looking directly at the other.

"Of course, just call me Pam, short for Pamela," Pam said still smiling at Chelsea. "Can I also know your name, young lady?" she asked directly looking at Chelsea, looking for an answer.

"Umm... Call me Chelsea," she said widely smiling at Pamela. "Nice to meet you, madam," she continued with a chuckle. "May I ask, who are you here for?" Chelsea said changing the topic.

"I'm here for my son," Pamela answered calmly facing now the stage, Chelsea copied it and noticed that the performance will come to an end.

"You mean, grandson?" Chelsea asked confused because she thought that Pam looks like a mother of her age, not like a mother like her daughter's age. She didn't mean to judge but she will be glad to hear the full story. Pam shook her head still smiling looking at the stage. "Oh! He must be working backstage?" Chelsea said guessing that she made the right choice.

"Perhaps..." Pam started to look at Chelsea with mirth in her eyes but Chelsea just nodded. She saw Pamela turned her head again on the stage and it makes Chelsea copy the action. She waited for the performance to end.

13 minutes had passed, the acting was finally finished. Chelsea first stood and faced Pamela. "Nice to meet you again, Pam," she said while Pamela nodded telling that it was mutual. "I'm going to get my daughter, if you want, I will introduce her to you," Chelsea continued.

"That would be lovely," Pam said delightedly, her wriggly face light up hearing Chelsea's statement.

Chelsea left her current position to find her daughter. She thought that Rebecca might be near the stage so she decided to go there. Once she got there, she immediately saw her daughter's dark brown hair.

"Reb!" Chelsea shouted enough for her daughter to hear.

"Mommy!" Rebecca ran to her mother excitedly.

"Honey, I'm so proud of you! You did great back on the stage!" Chelsea exclaimed while kneeling and looking at her daughter happily with her right hand on Rebecca's left shoulder.

"Really!?" her daughter said not believing her mother.

"Yes, really! And I want you to meet someone," Chelsea said resulting in her daughter's confusion on her face.

"Who, mommy?" Rebecca asked confused mixed with excitement.

"Just wait, hon," she said to her daughter with a smile plastered to her face.

Chelsea retraced her way towards her seat earlier and smiled widely when she saw Pamela is still there, waiting for someone. 'I think she's waiting for her son,' Chelsea thought.

"Pam! Meet my daughter, Rebecca," Chelsea introduced her daughter.

"Hello, Rebecca. I'm Pamela but you can call me Grand Pam," Pamela said to Rebecca, smiling warmly at her.

"Nice to meet you, Grand Pam!" Rebecca replied with her full smile shown to her.

"There you are, mother. I've been looking for you," a familiar voice was Chelsea heard.

Rebecca turned around and said, "Mr. Severn?"

"Don't call me 'mother'! You always call me 'mom'," Pamela suddenly said, scolding her son, leaving Chelsea shocked. 'So the one I called 'two-faced man' is her son!? And she wasn't furious about it?!' she came to a realization about the event that had taken place. Pamela seemed to notice this and said, "Don't worry Chelsea, I know my son is a two-faced man when he got this job."

"Mom!" Mr. Severn exclaimed clearly embarrassed about her mother.

"Oh, now you call me 'mom', not 'mother'?" Pamela said shooting a glare at her son.

"Women..." he whispered, rolling his eyes. Chelsea who was muffling her laugh heard his statement while Rebecca was confused at the situation happening around her.

"What was that, mister? Don't you roll your eyes on me!" Pamela said still intensely looking at her son.

"Nothing, mom," Mr. Severn said sighing getting done with the conversation with her mother.

Pamela faced Chelsea who started to compose herself. "Dear, would you like to join eating with us? Just a snack, Rebecca must be hungry from acting," the old lady suggested to Chelsea.

"Can we go, mommy?" Rebecca whispered to her mother, displaying her pleading eyes.

Chelsea looked down and directly at Rebecca's eyes knowing that she can't resist that, she sighed. "Sure, this little monster just used her spell on me," Chelsea said smiling at Pamela while her right hand rubbed the back of her daughter.

Pamela laughed at this while Rebecca hid behind her mother, shy about what Chelsea had said. Pamela decided for them to go buy pizza and ice cream. She was a bit childish herself and also wanted Rebecca to feel comfortable around them.

While Rebecca was busy eating, the adults came up with a conversation that kept them entertained for a while.

"What did you do for a living?" Pamela asked curiously to Chelsea.

"Oh, I do writing. Novels, mostly about fantasy, drama, and romance, sometimes horror and tragedy stories," she answered shyly. Chelsea didn't want attention focusing on her, it makes her uncomfortable and a bit nervous.

"That's fascinating! What's your pen name? So, I can buy some of your books and read them!" Pamela said excitedly, willing to hear Chelsea's answer.

"C. Hale," Chelsea answered simply and shortly.

"You wrote 'Living with the Undead'?" Mr. Severn asked speaking for the first time since her mother decided to invite them to eat. He seemed shocked over the knowledge he witnessed by the information Chelsea said.

"Yup," Chelsea said timidly not looking at him.

"I love that book, the wickedness of the main character!" he said getting hype but composed himself when he realized his actions, clearing his throat. "The psychological and mental topic it surrounds, entertaining but also educational," he said to her calmly but his eyes said otherwise, it was twinkling with fascination to her.

"Thank you for the insights," she said, a blush forming both on he cheeks so she ducked down for her hair to fall down and cover most of her face.

"When will your next new book come out?" Pamela said, changing the topic. Chelsea sighed and thank Pamela mentally.

"It will be next year, hopefully," she said now, facing them both in a calm manner. Chelsea decided to thank Mr. Severn regarding her daughter's acting. "Mr. Sever-," she was abruptly interrupted.

"Please call me Michael, I felt old hearing that in a casual setting," he said smiling a little to her.

"Michael, I would like to thank you for pursuing and teaching my daughter in the form of acting," Chelsea said with appreciation flooding in her eyes.

"You don't need to thank me, Ms. Collins did most of it and she has the passion and natural talent in her," Michael said truthfully and staring at Chelsea's eyes for a moment. "I observed that it was your first visit to the theater, hm?" he said wanting to know the reason and the answer that she will provide to him.

"Truthfully, I had been busy with writing in my office and today's only my free day. Maybe, I can write in the theater while Reb is acting," she said, drifting when she said the last sentence.

"Mmmm, I understand. You are free to stay in the theater," he said nodded at her, indicating he understands her situation.

"It's getting dark," Pamela commented.

"If you excuse us, little one here is getting sleepy," Chelsea said, glancing at her daughter who was leaning on her left side. "Thank you and nice meeting you again, Pam, and you also, Michael," she said, nodded to them with a grateful smile, and finally stood up. She carried Rebecca to her car then, placed her daughter in the back seat, and fastened the seat belt.

She drove back to her house, parked her car, and carried Rebecca towards her daughter's room. Chelsea changed her daughter's clothes to comfortable ones and left with kissing Rebecca's forehead. She went back to her office and continued to write her story.