Chapter 104
Eileen asked repeatedly, “What?”
She was so confused, suspecting she might have misheard. She looked at Galen, her eyes full of
doubt.
Seeing her gaze, Galen explained, “We’re just checking the proportions, doing a blocking exercise. No
need to freak out.”
Only then did Eileen relax. She thought to herself, how could there possibly be a kissing test for an
audition?
Since it was just blocking, Eileen didn’t mind. She turned her head, looked at Egbert, and bluntly asked,
“How should I kiss you? What position should I take?” The way she said it made it seem as though she
knew a lot of positions.
Egbert walked up to her, his right hand gently held her chin, lifting her head.
Eileen was forced to look up. She stared straight at the man close at hand and asked again, “Do I need
to close my eyes? Whatever you say, I’ll do. I’ll follow your lead.”
Egbert spoke in a deep voice, “Close them.”
Then he added, “And also, close your mouth.”
Eileen nodded repeatedly, obediently closing her eyes and stopped talking. The man’s fingers were
slightly cold, pressing lightly on her lips. Eileen, with her eyes closed, couldn’t see, and could only feel
the man’s breath getting closer to her.
She knew this blocking method. It was often used in previous shoots. The man would press his thumb
on the woman’s lips. While kissing, it would look like he was kissing her lips when in fact he was kissing
his own finger.
Eileen waited for a bit, guessing he probably had already applied the ‘kiss’. She was very professional
and remained still. After a while, she heard Galen’s voice, “That’s it.”
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtEileen opened her eyes and met Egbert’s dark gaze.
He hadn’t yet moved away. He was very close to her, and his finger was still between them.
Eileen felt Egbert’s warmth and saw her own reflection in his dark eyes. Only then did he move away.
He lowered his hand and calmly turned his gaze towards Galen, who was sitting.
Galen thought for a while and then said, “The proportions are good, the height and shape are a good
match, and the kissing scene will look good.”
Having said that, he signaled to the staff, “Get them a chair.”
Someone brought over a chair.
Galen said, “Let’s do a read-through of scene twelve.”
Hearing this, Egbert silently sat down.
Eileen had no idea what the content of scene twelve was; she had only seen the three-page audition
script.
So Galen explained to her, “The female lead, Hertha, is the secret love of the male lead Palmer for
three years. Palmer originally planned to confess to Hertha before graduation, but he witnessed Hertha
being hit by a car and declared dead on arrival. Ten years later, you, as their classmate, meet Palmer
again at a reunion. You both are single, you actively pursued Palmer, and the next year, you two got
married. However, during your pregnancy, you found out that Palmer might be having an affair, and
later you found out that the woman is Hertha.”
After finishing, Galen took a sip of water.
Then he continued, “That day, Palmer comes home, and he seems very down. You need to ask him.
Your only line is, ‘What’s wrong?”.”
After finishing, Galen indicated that she could start.
Eileen adjusted her mindset. She turned her head, surprised to find that Egbert had already started
getting into character. He was sitting in the chair; leaning forward, his elbows on his knees and his
hands clasped together tightly. His slightly lowered face made it hard to see his expression; all she
could see was his tense chin and tightly closed lips.
She was pregnant, her husband might be cheating, and the woman he was cheating with was the
woman who died ten years ago. All these things were known to Palmer’s wife. So how should the wife
treat her husband knowing all this? What kind of expression should she use, how should she portray
her mindset? And what should her mindset be? That was what Galen wanted to see.
There was only one chair in the room, so the wife couldn’t stand by her husband like usual. However,
the height difference between sitting and standing would inadvertently show a confrontational emotion.
Eileen didn’t want this confrontation.
This wasn’t a scene of confrontation; Galen wouldn’t want to see confrontation either. The lack of a
chair for her was like a setup.
While thinking about these issues, Eileen walked in another direction, turned her back to her husband,
and began to pretend to pick vegetables,
She heard her husband come home and knew he had sat down on the sofa. She didn’t respond to him,
just kept cooking in the kitchen.
She was thinking about the things she had found out today, sometimes she would stop what she was
doing and look out the window. Soon, she turned back, her expression becoming anxious, and she
slammed the vegetables on the chopping board. But she kept picking vegetables and cooked a dish.
She was conflicted, yet she still kept doing the housework.
After the meal was ready, she served it to the dining table as usual. She busily served all the dishes
and then stood by the table, looking at the man on the sofa, who seemed to be lost in his own world,
frowning.
She looked at him from the side of the table for a long time, her eyes cold.
After a while, she smiled faintly, stroked her belly, and approached the man. First, she tilted her head to
look at him, then gently stood next to him, one hand on his shoulder, one hand stroking his head, she
lowered her head and asked him, “What’s wrong?”
Her tone was teasing.
At this time, the husband lifted his head, took her hand from his shoulder, brought it to his lips, and
kissed it.
Then he stood up, his face wearing an indulgent expression. He looked at her belly, took her hand, and
walked towards the dining table.
“Cut.”
Galen yelled “Cut”, his complicated gaze fixed on Eileen’s face.
She pulled her hand out of Egbert’s. She stood in place, waiting for Galen’s evaluation. She seemed to
still feel the warmth of Egbert’s lips, so Eileen wiped her hand on her clothes.
Egbert saw this action. He turned around coldly and walked straight back to the judges’ table.
Galen was silent for a while, before he finally spoke, “We will let you know our decision.” That was his
way of not giving a review.
Eileen pursed her lips subtly, then gave a polite bow to everyone. Afterwards, she left with the
assistance of a staff member.
Once she was gone, Galen surprisingly pulled out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He lit one, took
a puff, then turned to Egbert and asked, “What do you think?”
Egbert, leaning back in his wooden chair, took his time and said, “I have some thoughts.”
“Hmm, she’s clever. Knowing she can’t express a variety of emotions with limited lines, she took the
initiative to add a scene of doing housework as a setup. And her understanding of the supporting
female role is very interesting.”
Egbert replied, “Indeed.”
Galen continued, “I thought she would portray an impulsive wife, or a wife who swallows her anger,
both rather monotonous. But she, unexpectedly, portrayed a scheming wife.” “Definitely interesting,”
Egbert commented.
Galen chuckled, “Yes, quite interesting. Let’s have a meeting when we get back. If nothing unexpected
comes up, let’s pick her.”