Chapter 129 - 127: A Little Angel on Earth
Starwood North Second Hospital.
Accompanied by Yuna and Finn, Lily Sterling put on a hat and mask and bought some health supplements to visit the actor who had been injured the day before.
She already had a considerable amount of buzz before the show had even aired, so she was deliberately keeping a low profile. She hadn’t even brought the bodyguards assigned by her company.
Finn went to the nurses’ station to ask and found out which room the young man was in. But when they got to the door, they discovered someone had beaten them to it.
"Drake?" Yuna blurted out in surprise when she saw him.
Drake was talking to the young man. He turned at the sound of her voice, then feigned surprise. "Oh? What are you all doing here?"
"Lily doesn’t have any scenes today, so she came to see our injured colleague." As Yuna spoke, her gaze fell on the supplements on the bedside table, and she froze for a moment. They were basically the same as the ones she was carrying; a few were even the exact same brand.
"Oh." Drake nodded lightly. He subconsciously glanced at Lily Sterling before saying, "Andrew was worried about him too, so he specifically told me to come check on him today."
"Ms. Sterling..." Just then, the young man lying in bed finally, belatedly, recognized the masked Lily Sterling. He grew emotional and tried to sit up.
Lily Sterling saw this and quickly went to his side. "Don’t move. Your foot is still injured."
Looking at his injured foot, which was wrapped in thick gauze, Lily Sterling couldn’t help but ask worriedly, "Is your foot okay? Is it serious?"
"It’s fractured," Drake interjected. "But the doctor said it’ll heal fine over time and won’t affect his mobility in the future. He just needs to be careful and not try any more dangerous stunts. A repeat injury to the same area would be much worse."
Lily Sterling nodded in understanding. "Then just focus on recovering. I bought you some supplements, remember to take them."
The young man was deeply moved, especially because Lily Sterling was so approachable and gentle. Filming was exhausting and stressful, yet on her rare day off, she had actually thought to visit him in the hospital personally.
He was just an insignificant background actor. He had been in dozens of movies and TV shows but had barely ever been on screen, and the number of lines he’d spoken could be counted on one hand. No one had ever noticed him.
"Ms. Sterling, thank you for making a special trip to see me."
"Just call me by my name. I’m not a teacher," Lily Sterling said with a helpless smile.
Although people on set often inexplicably called her "teacher," she still wasn’t used to it.
"I’ve seen you act on set. You’re amazing. You are a teacher," the young man said bluntly, his words and expression revealing a simple, honest nature.
Through their conversation, Lily Sterling learned that the young man’s name was Yuri Tucker. He was only twenty years old, from a rural village up north, and had left home to work and make a living at fifteen.
He didn’t have much of an education and, being a minor at the time, was an easy target. He was once even tricked into a pyramid scheme, but they apparently decided he wasn’t worth the food to feed him and let him go.
He’d made his way south, washing dishes, washing cars, and even learning to be a bathhouse scrubber. It wasn’t until he reached Starwood and discovered the profession of a background actor that he started taking jobs from a crew boss.
But the competition among background actors was fierce. In the beginning, he earned so little each day that most of it went to the crew boss. He managed to get by, at least, by filling his stomach with the free boxed meals from the film crews.
Later, he gradually discovered that he could earn double or triple the pay—sometimes even more—by taking on scenes where he gets beaten up or roles with more difficult stunts. So he begged the crew boss for those kinds of opportunities, and that’s how he slowly saved up some money.
Listening to his story, Lily Sterling found her eyes welling up with tears several times. She had long known how difficult it was for background actors, but it wasn’t just the cruelty of the industry that moved her; it was everything he had been through before.
’Leaving home to struggle for a living at just fifteen... That’s so brutal.’
Seeing this, Drake walked over to the windowsill by himself and sent a message to Andrew Sutton, who was in Lorcain: "Lily is here."
Andrew Sutton was attending a brand event and didn’t reply immediately. Drake felt conflicted. ’Can I leave now?’
"Ms. Sterling, c-can I get a picture with you?"
Yuri Tucker hesitated for a long time before finally asking in a shy, low voice. He had seen a few of Lily Sterling’s scenes on set and thought her acting was simply incredible. He actually idolized her.
’This is a rare opportunity,’ he thought. ’If I miss this, I might never get another chance.’
"Now?"
Lily Sterling looked at him lying stiffly in the hospital bed, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. "How about we take it after you’ve recovered? You can come find me on set then."
Hearing this, Yuri Tucker lowered his gaze, his expression falling. "I probably can’t go back."
Drake walked over again and explained to Lily Sterling, "The production team will definitely take care of him since he got injured. They’ll cover his medical bills and compensation. But because of that, they probably won’t use him again."
"Besides, our shooting schedule isn’t that long. They say it takes a hundred days for bones and sinews to mend. By the time he’s fully recovered, we’ll probably be close to wrapping up filming."
Lily Sterling nodded in understanding. Drake’s words seemed both reasonable and unreasonable at the same time, and she felt conflicted.
"Let’s take the picture, then."
In the end, she was too kindhearted to refuse Yuri Tucker.
But she hadn’t forgotten Connie’s advice to avoid taking photos alone with people. Sometimes, photos like that could be exploited by those with ulterior motives. So just as Yuna was about to remind her, she took the initiative and said, "Let’s all get in it!"
And so, a photo of Yuri Tucker lying in his hospital bed, surrounded by Lily Sterling, Drake, Yuna, and Finn, appeared on Yuri’s own social media account and feed.
"Finn, get his WhatsApp," Lily Sterling said, looking at Finn. Then she turned back to Yuri Tucker. "I’m new to this industry too; this is my first show. If you haven’t switched careers by the time you’ve healed, I’ll have Finn contact you if a suitable opportunity comes up."
Yuri Tucker was stunned for a moment. A few seconds later, a look of shocked delight spread across his face. "R-Really, Ms. Sterling?"
"Don’t get too excited. I’m just a newcomer, and I don’t have much say. I might not be able to get you a particularly great opportunity..."
"That’s okay! As long as there’s a chance, I’m willing to take any role, no matter how small," Yuri Tucker said, his eyes already red.
Seeing this, Yuna and Finn exchanged a glance and both sighed silently.
’Our Lily... How can she be so kind and soft-hearted? She’s practically an angel.’
Even Drake felt a little helpless. He thought Lily Sterling was just too pure. But in this industry, being pure and kind wasn’t necessarily a good thing. You never knew when you might get backstabbed.
He’d been in the business for years and had seen too many newcomers slowly become corrupted, consumed, and assimilated by their environment.
’I wonder how long she can hold onto that innocence.’