Love Contract

Chapter 181 Acting Again (P art Two)

Though Mary rolled her eyes and shook her head, she had a huge grim on her face. "It's natural because they haven't done it as many times as you, Archer."

"Hey, Vivian! How do you know I'm experienced in that field? Seems like you're paying attention to me more than you'd like to admit." Archer deliberately leaned into Mary as he donned a meaningful smirk on his lips.

"Oh my god, Archer..." Mary looked visibly annoyed as she forcefully pushed him away. "Where is the substitute, by the way?" she immediately asked to change the subject.

"She didn't come today."

"What?" Mary felt a headache coming on, and so she took a deep breath to calm herself. "It's okay. I'll see what the situation is and I'll iron things out."

"Sure. Thank you." Victor shrugged.

"I..." Ena bit her lips.

"Ena, I know you're uncomfortable with those kinds of scenes. I understand, trust me. But every actor and actress has to do it at one point. If you want to be successful at what you do, you have to face those scenes fearlessly," said Mary. "You need to learn to overcome the discomfort it brings. Do you understand?"

"I do, Mary." Ena nodded slowly before turning to Victor. "Then let's do it again!"

She and Victor went back to their positions and readied themselves to be shot. Once everything was in place, the director shouted, "Light, props, and we're rolling!"

"Mila," Victor grabbed Ena's arm and asked, "where have you been? "

"I..." Pretending to be drunk, Ena faltered, "I... I just... went to see... a friend..."

"Are you drunk?"

"Yes... yes I am." As she said that, she tried to free herself from Victor's grasp. Unfortunately, she was not a match for his strength. "Let go of me! I want to go to sleep!"

"I won't let go of you!"

Ena tried to turn away from Victor, her eyes full of emotions.

Behind the camera, Mary couldn't help but be incredibly impressed. 'These two are great at acting!'

"Mila..." Victor sensually whispered as he held Ena in his arms. Ena's heart began pounding hard against her chest. The scene felt so real to her, especially because she was doing it with Victor! As they began to kiss passionately, she felt all the more lost in the moment.

Victor then slowly and sensually led her to the bed, where he successfully pinned her down.

"Victor, let go of me!" Ena suddenly yelled as she kicked him on his knee.

"Ouch!" Victor cried out in pain, "Cut! Cut the cameras!"

Mary was shocked and confused. 'What the hell just happened?' she thought as Victor got up from the bed, visibly upset.

"I'm so sorry..." mumbled Ena as she sat up on the bed. "I just... can't. I really can't..."

"You almost broke my leg there!" Victor hissed as he massaged the area Ena kicked.

Mary quickly came up to Ena with a copy of the show's script in her hands. "Ena, what's happening? Everything's in the script- you know what will happen next."

"I just..." Ena shook her head. "I just couldn't!" "What? Why not?"

"I... I couldn't bring myself to do it," said Ena, biting her lips. "I once auditioned for a minor supporting role in a play. I was so excited back then that when the director invited me out that evening, I agreed. Apparently, he had a different plan that night... If I hadn't run fast, I might have..."

Ena, now looking extremely distressed, wrapped her arms around her torso, as if trying to keep herself together. Mary didn't know what to say, but she felt sorry for her deeply.

"I'll do it," she suddenly said after staying silent for some time.

"I'll do the scene. Just zoom out a little bit, no one will notice it."

Archer was caught by surprise. "What? You don't have to do that!"

Mary shook her head. "It's fine. I'll do it. I acted with Victor in a play before, so I don't think we'll have a problem. I just want to show Ena that she could do anything as long as she overcomes the barrier in her heart."

"Mary..."

"Do you really want to act?" asked Victor.

"May I?" Mary smiled at Victor teasingly. "Or do you think it would be difficult for you to act if you're doing it with me?"

Victor let out a chuckle. "Of course not. Actually, I think if I were acting with you, I wouldn't be acting at all." "Oh quit it, you." Mary blushed.

As this development unfolded before Ena's eyes, she couldn't help but feel annoyed at herself and her uselessness. It was made worse by how intense Victor was staring at Mary—slowly, she felt her

heart get filled with envy.

"Vivian," Archer lamented. "I, too, have an obstacle in my heart that I need to overcome. You also have to act with me so that it goes away. Please..."

Archer's audacity never failed to make Mary cringe. She shot him a nasty glare and hissed,

"Never!" This, however, did not stop Archer. "Why the attitude? And why do you treat that brat Victor so well?"

"I have no other choice!" Mary retaliated, now staring directly into Archer's eyes.

This seemed to have finally shut Archer up, as all he did was pout and look away.

Mary once again rolled her eyes, shook her head, and left to have her face made up.

As soon as Mary was out of earshot, Archer hissed at Victor. "Hey, you —I'm warning you. Acting is just acting, bro. Don't get too carried away!"

A shiny black Maserati pulled up right outside the filming set. When the door opened, a man with black leather shoes and long, model-like legs got out of the car. It was William, and he looked dashing in his suit and tie.

The moment the staff noticed his arrival, they immediately made their way to him to greet him. "Mr. Lan! How are you? What brought you here today?"

"I..." William coughed a bit. "I just want to have a look around the set. It's the first movie we're doing with GM and so I wanted to make sure everything's okay."

"Mr. Lan, you're truly so dedicated! We all know you've been so busy with other things, but you still made time to come here in person. This way, please."

"Okay." William nodded. Unbeknownst to the people fawning over him, that could not be farther from the real reason he came to the set: he came mainly because he heard that Mary was there. 'If I apologized to her here, maybe she would find it her heart to forgive me. She can't just ignore me in front of all these people, right?' he thought.

Inside the studio, Mary sat silently as the warm spotlight shone on her. Her eyebrows were knitted, as if she was pondering about something.

"What's wrong?" Victor asked as he stood beside her. "Don't say you regretted what you have said." "It just occurred to me how impulsive my decision was," Mary replied, her expression dark. "I have no experience whatsoever in acting."

"You're overthinking this. Just follow my lead and we'll be fine."

"Fine." Mary flashed Victor an unsure smile but she nodded in agreement nonetheless.

Soon enough, the two of them were called to the set. "Scene 10. 15th Shoot. Action!"

"Mila."

Victor longingly and lovingly addressed Mary by her character's name. With much gusto, he swept her off of her feet, literally.

At that exact moment, William walked into the studio. He walked up to one of the staff to ask something but he was quickly shut off.

"Shush!" The man pointed towards the set where Mary and Victor were filming and indicated that there was an ongoing shoot.

"I'm sorry," William whispered. He looked at the set, only to see two people lying on the bed.

It seemed he had chanced upon a good show.

Slowly, he made his way towards the staff's station behind the director—he wanted to find Mary. When he reached the area, he spotted a script on the table and picked it up to read. Two pages in, however, he felt that the story was somehow familiar to him.

It only took a few moments for him to be hit with the realization that the scene being filmed was parallel to when he had sex with Mary!

Mary wrote the script for this, didn't she? Was she basing it on her own life? Their life?

"Mr. Lan, why are you here?" Director Jamie's assistant saw William and asked. "Have you just arrived? Why didn't you tell us you were coming!

"There was no need for that," William responded, putting down the script.

"Would you like something to drink?"

"I'm fine." William waved his hand, paused, and asked the assistant, "Have you seen Mary? I heard she's here."

"Mary? She is over there!" the assistant answered, pointing at one of the actors. "Our female lead could not do this intimate scene and so Mary volunteered to be her substitute."

William was confused.

As he looked at the two actors, his eyes widened. 'Holy shit! It's Mary and Victor! What the fuck! What is happening?'

Slowly, a hellfire of anger started burning at the bottom of William's heart. Reason had left him, and he started seeing red. Suddenly, he called out, like a growl, "Mary..."

"Shush!" The assistant grabbed his arm and reminded him, "Mr. Lan! We are filming! You should be quiet!"

"Fuck off!" William raised his hand to push the staff away as he began walking forward.

"Cut!" It was Director Jamie who shouted, and he sounded ecstatic. "OK! We finally got a good shot! Very good, you two!"

Victor immediately turned to Mary and apologized. "I'm so sorry, Mary."

"What are you being so sorry for?" Mary then promptly stood up. As she was about to pull up her clothes, she saw a figure rushing over in her peripheral vision.

William rushed to her, took off his suit, and put it on Mary. He then pulled Mary away, angrily saying, "Come with me!"

"William Lan? What are you doing here?"

Mary was so surprised that she couldn't process what was happening around her at all. "What's wrong with you? Let go of me!" she shouted, trying her hardest to get free from his grip.

"Mary!" called Victor. He chased after them, and when he caught up, he immediately gripped Mary's hand. William stopped all of a sudden and turned his head to look at Victor, rage all over his eyes. When he saw Victor's lips red from what seemed to be lipstick, he immediately wanted to beat him up to a pulp.

Mary stood awkwardly in the middle, each of her wrists held by a different man. Everyone in the studio was now staring at them.

"William, let go of me!"

"Why don't you ask him to let go of you?" William grabbed her arm more tightly. "He should let go first!"

"Then, let go of me first, Victor," Mary said, turning her head to look at Victor.

"No way!" Victor only stared at William. "Mary, just ignore him. Let's go back."

"Mary. I came here to apologize to you!" William softened his voice. "I have something to tell you alone."

"Mary, don't listen to him."

Since neither of the two men was willing to let go of her, Mary began to feel furious. "You two! Let go of me!" she suddenly shouted.

The two men were stunned. Immediately, they looked at each other and released Mary's wrists at the same time. Copyright Nôv/el/Dra/ma.Org.

"William, I accept your apology, okay?" She rubbed her already sore wrists before taking a deep breath. "But please, never come near me again!"

"There is no way I'd do that." William sounded firm and determined. "I told you that I'll get you back, and I will. The mother of my children will be my wife!"

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