Four

Okay, in all honesty, France doesn’t know what to expect. He’s been into this kind of meet-ups before but it’s always for business—technically this is somehow business-like too but not entirely. Plus, he’s been with people, like his manager, when this happens. His whole situation now still falls to the fact that this is the first time he will meet someone in broad daylight alone, because in all honesty part two, he has never gone out with anybody before.

Perhaps it’s because he knew that going out publicly with anyone alone is never going to favor him in any way. Maybe, he can be. He always wanted what’s best for his career then so he never really even thought about going outside for this kind of meet up with anyone. Damn, he was that careful before.

Was it better if he called his manager with him? No. That would make him like a child needing his parents. He has to settle this on his own because he has already bothered his manager too much and he really wouldn’t like to look like a kid with his mom.

Damn. This is harder than he thought and all he actually needed to do is meet-up with his neighbor to settle down their long overdue argument.

He doesn’t care anymore what people say because his career is almost non-existent. What he cares about is not embarrassing himself in front of his neighbor. He hates being clueless and he’s not really confident with this.

He can’t even imagine what would be that person’s reaction when he embarrasses himself because of the trivial things. He certainly doesn’t want that to happen.

Chill, France, he said to himself, just pretend that this is just one of your roles. A role where you need to face someone—more like a date. Yes, you’re a great actor, just think about this like a date.

He looks at his wristwatch, twenty minutes more. He shouldn’t really have way earlier than their original time.

He’s really hopeless, damn it.

* * * * * * * * * *

Lev is late.

He didn’t mean to be late but he underestimated the traffic and now he just parked his car. He can’t imagine his neighbor to be a patient person but that man will not walk out on him, right? Though he hopes that he wouldn’t, he’d still not remove it on his list of possibilities. He hates wasting time and if that man is not here anymore, he just wasted his time. But he isn’t really in the place to demand or be angry about anything because it’s his fault for being late.

It’s his fault in the first place.

He’s almost two hours late.

He entered the café and immediately went ahead to the first waitress he saw. “Hello, excuse me, is the person called G still here?”

The waitress smiles at him and nods. “You must be Sir France’s guest. Please follow me, sir.”

France. He said it in his mind a couple of times and it’s weird that it’s too familiar to him yet he doesn’t seem to remember from where immediately. France—where in the world did he encounter that name?

The waitress led him to the farthest corner of the café and from there, he saw him. The person who has his back on him, that person must be his neighbor.

The waitress told him that that is France, no doubt, and left him to go there on his own. He did and just when he was about to apologize and introduce himself—he was starstruck to this very man sleeping with his head pillowed on his arms on the table.

He quietly sat down on the seat in front of France and even though he knew that staring was rude, he couldn’t help himself. He stared at this man just because it seemed the rightest thing to do. He even didn’t order just yet in fear that he might beat this man up.

How can this very man, who’s looking like a complete angel right now, be the same man who brought hell for him in the past two weeks?

Then it hit him—he knows exactly who this man is.

He is France Nam.

* * * * * * * * *

Are people supposed to wait for more than an hour for this kind of meet up? France doesn’t really know so he waited and he also didn’t know that he fell asleep while doing so.

He dreamt of the days when he was just a rookie actor that grabs every extra role he can have. Those days aren’t all pretty and easy—hell they were the hardest times he had to face but all of it was worth it. He was always tired but each end of the scene was rewarding for him. At least he knew then that he was seen on cam even for a few seconds.

He was happy with that and what warms his heart even more than was that, as he makes his name for himself, the first fans who noticed him were continuing to support him no matter what.

He was happy to see and remember that—but that is just a dream. It is a dream and he was sleeping for Pete’s sake!

That jolted him to wake up.

“Sleep well, sleeping beauty?”

“W-Who…?”

“I’m Lev Li. Your neighbor.”

* * * * * * * * * *

“Goodness, Sir Lev, you’ve been staring at nothingness the whole day and it’s starting to creep me out.”

Lev laughed at his acting president Devika. “I’m sorry, pres. Something is just bothering me.”

“And that is…?” Devika is still looking as serious as ever.

“Do you know actor France?”

“France Nam?”

He said yes and asked more about France. At first, Devika was a little hesitant to answer him but eventually sighed and told him all there is to tell about the young actor. Just like what he read before; France seemed to be the bad guy in all the news stories about him.

“Don’t you think that what happened to him is a bit suspicious?” He asked, out of his final speculations.

“Well, to be honest, sir, we both know that showbusiness is a messy place to be. Whatever the news about him holds, may it be true or not, it’s not really like we can do anything about helping him. He’s into deep shit.” She answers, nonchalantly. “Why are you suddenly curious about him, sir?”

“Nothing in particular.”

If he remembers it correctly, France has been their clients’ favorite actor slash model to hire for their commercial. It just happened that he never really took that kind of projects because he likes focusing on the smaller ones. He employed the best people for his company’s big projects like those.

He suddenly remembers their last conversation and he immediately smiles.

“Now, you’re really smiling, sir, and it’s creepier.”

That made him laugh louder. “I just remembered something.”

There’s something wrong about the young actor and before he can stop himself—he’s too curious now to ignore it.

He will find out the truth about France Nam.

---------

[From Room 411]

Knock Knock

Do you have some extra meds? I'm dying pls help asap