Chapter 119
Obviously, knocking her head repeatedly on the ground indeed accounted for that.
“Good grief… You really knocked your head as you were told?” For some reason, Calvin was rather ticked off all of a sudden.
“What do you suggest, then? I can’t possibly refuse, can I? If I’ve done that, I wouldn’t have been paid a penny as a background actor today,” retorted Rosalie.
The man’s breath hitched at that. He naturally knew that background actors were the most vulnerable of the entire film crew. Once they were asked to do some extra work, there would be absolutely no room for negotiation or discussion.
“How much do you get paid a day as a background actor? His tone was sullen.
“I’m getting 16 dollars a day. But today, I got an extra 10 dollars because of the kneeling scene. And then, I was asked to personally demonstrate prostrating and knocking my head against the floor, which netted me another 40 dollars,” revealed Rosalie.
In other words, she actually knelt and banged her head on the floor again and again for a measly 65 dollars. Calvin glared at the woman, feeling royally upset.
“Doesn’t she know how herself at all he grumbled inwardly.
Then came his question. “Is there a feud between you and Loretta?” A moment ago, he could also tell that Loretta was making things difficult for Rosalie on purpose.
Yet, not a single soul in the film crew had the gall to utter a word. That went without saying, for background actors were never valued by anyone. To make matters worse, the film crew was made up of only astute people, so no one would want to speak up for a background actor to risk offending Loretta.
After all, Loretta had Calvin himself backing her.
At the thought of that, Calvin felt as though something was stuck in his chest. It was suffocating for him, to say the least.
“She’s my half-sister. As for the feud between us, I guess I could say we do share one. She always thinks that the fact that I’d been to prison lent impetus to ruining her future,” commented Rosalie.
Even if she did not let those words slip, Calvin could still easily find it out, given his capability. Because of that, she reckoned she needed not to keep it from him.
A trace of surprise flashed across his eyes. Although he had roughly known about Loretta’s background and knew that she had a half-sister with whom she did not live together.
Even so, he had never cared in the slightest about the name of her half-sister. Besides, he had never paid much attention to Loretta, to begin with. It was only because the shape of her lips bore some semblance to that of the other girl in the past that he kept Loretta by his side.
Never in a million years would he anticipate that the woman before his eyes and Loretta would be sisters.
It was at that juncture that the door to the lounge was pushed open. Loretta stepped inside with her face as white as a sheet.
Loretta eyed Rosalie, whose hand was wrapped in gauze, before directing her line of sight toward Calvin, who was frowning slightly and staring unhappily back at herself. As quickly as possible, she snuggled up to the man and pretended to beat herself up.
“Thank you, Calvin, for bringing my sister here and allowing Dr. Lynch to see her. I happened to run into Dr. Lynch when I came over just now, and he said she’ll be fine. What a relief. As she spoke, Loretta turned to Rosalie and went on. “I’m truly sorry for what happened a while ago. I was to blame for letting the hand warmer slip out of my hands and hit your hand.”
Rosalie regarded her so-called half-sister with a placid mien. She recalled treating her sister well enough from the bottom of her heart and even trying to pave the way for her sister’s acting career with all her heart, just because they were family, or so she thought.
Be that as it might, a car accident taught her a lesson and made her realize that everything was nothing more than her own wishful thinking.
Right at that moment, she finally understood how Loretta made the leap from a mere C-list actress to becoming the second fernale lead in that big production, to the extent that even Samuel had to play by her rule.
“So, Calvin’s Loretta’s backer now?” she wondered.
“All right, I’ll send you a copy of the receipt for my medication and the statement of lost income, among other things. Please reimburse me by then.” As she dropped that, she said to Calvin, “Thanks a lot, Mr. Gunner. I’ll take my leave now.”
After saying that, Rosalie left the lounge. Suddenly, Calvin and Loretta were all who remained there.
With a frosty gaze, Calvin shot a glare at Loretta, scaring the heck out of that woman.
Loretta mustered a smile and asked, “Why are you looking at me like this, Calvin? By the way… You and my sister… Uh.. Do you two know each other in the past?”
“Why? Trying to sniff out information, are you?” Calvin answered with a question instead.
“L. I’m just a little curious. I haven’t heard Roxie mention a word.”
“Fair enough. Your sister already lives in a seedy, tiny rental home, making a living as a trashman. Today, she took on the gig as a background actor and was forced to kneel before you to knock her head on the floor again and again, only to make 65 dollars in return. How would she ever mention that to you? Calvin’s voice reeked of one-of-a-kind iciness.
At least for Loretta, it was the first time Calvin spoke to her in such an ice-cold voice.
Loretta could not help but shudder. “Calvin Rosic and I had some misunderstandings last time-”
“Oh? What kind of misunderstanding would call for a need to bring her to her knees and make her smack her head repeatedly like that? Calvin put forward an interrogation.
On that note, Loretta panicked. ‘L.. 1-1 only wanted the take to look better, but Rosie’s act is realistic and up to the mark, so I thought… I simply wanted her to give a demonstration I-I wasn’t even thinking of anything else…” she stammered.
Even though Loretta tried her best to make herself look innocent, under Calvin’s scrutiny, she became more and more
nervous.
Calvin interrupted her. “That’s quite enough. Say no more of such things. Do you actually expect anyone to buy that story of yours? Just who are you trying to fool?”
In an instant, Loretta’s countenance turned a ghastly white. She felt as if she had been seen through by that man
Calvin casually lifted Loretta’s hand. On the latter’s alluring wrist, there was a branded watch embellished with diamonds. If anything, it was a limited edition worth 400 thousand dollars in the market.
“Do you think you’ve turned your life around, so you have what it takes to be smug about it in your sister’s face? You must be dying to show her how capable you are right now, so much so that you can easily make her bow to you and do whatever you want her to, while seeing that she couldn’t even light back, right?”
The
way Calvin talked to Loretta was as if he was having an idle chitchat with her. To Loretta, however, those words could not terrify her more.
“Speaking of which, I’ve given you quite some stuff these days, not to mention the gifts that those people inferior to you have also given you secretly just to please you. Pick any item that’s on your body right now, and it’ll most probably be worth way more than several years of income your sister could earn. What about you? Do you not even consider helping her out a
little
“I… Loretta’s eyes widened, unable to spit out a complete sentence. Her body was shaking like a leaf.
She thought that she had been keeping a low profile and accepting bribes from others. Those people purely wished for her to put in a good word for them with Calvin so that the man could make an exception when they needed it.
In fact, she did fulfill their wishes and successfully sorted a couple of matters out for them. As long as she deliberately said nice things about them in front of Calvin, whatever favors they had asked would have already been granted.
A
