A Night of Desire

Holly Summers heard the undertones, of course. She bit her lip and said, "How do you know Clara took a day off without a good reason? I’m sure everyone has seen how dedicated Clara is to her work. Maybe she really does have an emergency this time."

The moment she spoke, someone immediately chimed in. "Yeah, I believe Clara must have a real emergency, or else she wouldn’t have taken the day off."

"Right, I believe her too."

"..."

Seeing so many people defending Clara Grant, Holly Summers was fuming, and even Faye Jennings’s face flushed red then turned pale.

But she quickly composed herself. Smiling faintly at everyone in the mirror, she said, "Alright, alright, we all know what kind of person Clara is. We were just joking around. Let’s not argue. The important thing is to get ready for the shoot."

As she spoke, Faye Jennings raised a hand to signal the makeup artist to pause. She turned to Sandra, but just as she was about to speak, she spotted the lipstick smear on her face. "Sandra," she said quickly, "don’t just stand there. Go fix your makeup."

Sandra was confused. "What’s wrong?" she asked as she turned to look in the mirror. When she saw the state of her face, she immediately blew up at the makeup artist beside her. "What did you do? How can you mess up lipstick like this? Do you even know how to do makeup? If you can’t do your job, then quit! Stop getting in everyone’s way."

The mistake was her own fault. The makeup artist had been trying to warn her, but she had been too busy arguing with Holly Summers to pay him any mind.

’And now she was taking it out on him. Besides,’ he thought, ’it’s not like Sandra is some A-lister. She’s a nobody, a D-list actress at best, yet she has the nerve to lash out at everyone and say such nasty things.’

’No wonder almost everyone on set prefers Clara Grant now. Not only is Clara a good actress, but she also has a great personality. She’s respectful to her seniors and always friendly with her colleagues. She’s so easy to get along with. Nothing like this woman, who just snaps at everyone!’

The makeup artist had had enough. He tossed the lipstick onto the table. "If you hadn’t jerked around so suddenly, the lipstick wouldn’t have smeared on your face! You’ve got some nerve criticizing Clara. Maybe you should take a look at yourself first. You say I don’t know how to do makeup? Fine. Do it yourself."

Seeing the makeup artist turn on Sandra as well, Holly Summers was so furious it felt like a physical pain. She was about to keep arguing with him but was pulled back by Faye Jennings, who stepped in to play the peacemaker.

"Alright, that’s enough from both of you," Faye said. "Sandra, rein it in. Eric, you calm down, too. Just finish her makeup quickly. You know how much Director Keane hates to wait. If he loses his temper, none of you are safe."

Sandra reluctantly sat back down, grabbing a tissue to wipe the lipstick smear from her face. Eric picked up his tools again and continued with her makeup.

Although Sandra’s expression was calm again, the hand gripping the tissue squeezed tighter and tighter, as if she wanted to crush it into dust.

’Her heart was filled with hatred for Clara Grant. She wished that during the gunfight scene they were about to film, the gun aimed at Clara would be loaded with a real bullet—one that would pierce her heart and kill her instantly!’

And yet, at that very moment, Clara Grant was still happy about having secured the right to help Sandra choose her next role.

Halfway through the drive, Clara Grant started to feel drowsy. She leaned her head back against the seat, and just as she was about to close her eyes for a moment, her phone chimed with a message notification.

Without moving her head from the seatback, she fished her phone out of her bag and held it up to read.