Bab 20: Chapter 20: Steal Her Thunder
The reporters had planned to ask questions like: "Kylie Finch, do you think you're qualified to be the leading actress?" and "Kylie Finch, did you become part of the crew through a personal relationship?" and "Kylie Finch, what is your advantage over someone like Lily Lawrence?"
But all these questions vanished amid the applause, which made Khloe, who was standing at the other end, clench her teeth.
Fine, she thought, you can enjoy your fifteen minutes of fame for a little while. Let's see what you can do to attract their attention during the Q&A session with the reporters later.
In Khloe's mind, Kylie had fallen and maintained that elegant smile on purpose. Kylie Finch only wanted to steal her thunder!
But only Kylie knew how much her ankle ached after she had slipped and twisted it...
Kylie walked to the furthest tip of the stage, and bowed respectfully in the direction of the media, then stepped towards the signature wall, with the guidance of Cliff Benjamin.
Cliff whispered beside Kylie's ear: "That was great make-believe." Kylie looked at him calmly and didn't explain anything.
She understood that it was highly unusual and commendable to have Cliff speak kindly towards a newcomer. He usually ignored a newcomer, even though everyone always wanted to ride on Cliff's coattails.
The most important factor for him was a person's acting skills. If she was a poor actor, Cliff would absolutely be affected. Not only would she be a complete waste of time, but she would lower the box office returns.
The two turned around as though nothing had happened. Cliff Benjamin presented himself to the cameramen with a cool posture, and one hand in the right pocket of his pants, paying no attention to Kylie, who stood beside him.
Most of the time, if an actor and actress were a couple in the film, they would pretend to be very close, even if they didn't get along in private, like the couple from Blossom. The media needed material with which to create a publicity stunt!
The ignored Kylie didn't feel embarrassed at all. Instead, she looked at Cliff with a smile, and said in a mild tone: "Is this because I married a tea businessman without your agreement?"
Cliff Benjamin was stunned, and so was the media, because this was a line from Tea House. Luckily, Cliff had deeply studied the script, so he immediately responded with his line, to avoid embarrassment: "I don't blame you. I'm the one who's to blame..."
After that, Cliff walked towards Kylie Finch and grasped her jaw with both his hands. "Miss Tea, I hope we can be a couple in the next lifetime."
Cliff Benjamin's eyes were full of love, and the pain of forbidden love was vividly portrayed in front of the camera. Kylie Finch, who was forced to meet his eyes, was not at all timid, but seemed full of persistence. Even though she couldn't be with him in this lifetime, she looked like she would spare no effort to find him in the next.
The two suddenly started acting their parts, right there in public...
The flashbulbs were going off like crazy. That spectacular moment covered Kylie's embarrassment, and Cliff had a new opinion on Kylie due to her acute reaction. This woman had outstanding acting skills and knew when to use them.
Seeing that the opposite side had successfully stolen her thunder, Khloe Finch furiously glared at Lucas Jackson, who was standing in a corner. Lucas frowned, not knowing quite what had happened. He waved his hand at Khloe; all of this was none of his business—he had simply followed her orders.
Khloe quietly clenched her teeth. She was the one who had asked Lucas to invite Kylie at the last minute, to prevent her from coming. She wouldn't have been able to get here in time by train—so, how had she made it to the opening ceremony?
Kylie was Khloe's nemesis. If she hadn't shown up, she wouldn't have snatched the reporters' attention, again and again! Khloe was too angry to think properly.
Her sight landed on a few reporters, who had stayed behind. One of them was especially paid by Khloe only to follow her around.
That reporter got the hint when she noticed Khloe's expression. She was the first to ask Kylie a question at the Q&A session: "Kylie Finch, may I ask—is this cheongsam you're wearing from Henry Alexander, the master of national culture?"
Everyone was silent after the question was asked. Khloe Finch looked at Kylie with indifference to see how she would justify herself. Wearing a knockoff at an opening ceremony would be the most shameful thing for an actor.
Kylie was speechless. The master of national culture? She had briefly heard of this master, but she had never once met him...
Kylie unconsciously looked down and focused on the cheongsam with the blue and white porcelain pattern. A cheongsam from a master's hands couldn't possibly be packed in a cake box. It hadn't even been a particularly nice cake box. So...this one was definitely not authentic.
Cliff Benjamin, who was sitting across from Kylie Finch, looked at her in a meaningful way. It was actually easy to recognize whether this dress was from the master at first glance, simply because Cliff had one masterpiece himself.
The master was accustomed to sewing his symbol, a capital' Z,' at the bottom of his clothes. Men were on the left, while women were on the right. Cliff had clearly seen the symbol the moment Kylie almost fell.
The actor calmly opened his mouth: "Whether this is from the master doesn't really matter. The point is that the dress fits her well." It was unexpected for Cliff to come to anyone's rescue like that. Kylie smiled at him to show her appreciation.
Then someone had something to say about her makeup: "Miss Finch, is Jimmy, your makeup artist?"
Jimmy? Kylie blinked, trying to remember the strange man who had pulled her into the makeup room. Was he Jimmy? No way...
"Sorry, I have bad eyesight," the reporter said before Kylie could offer any explanation. Cliff, who had been wearing a large smile, had made a face at the reporter. Jimmy was Cliff's exclusive makeup artist. Most importantly, Cliff was from Peak Pictures.
Peak Pictures had recently started and was developing with dramatic speed, threatening to topple Garcia Entertainment, the current alpha company, within the next five years.
Thus, the actors and makeup artists from those two companies were deadly foes. They vigorously competed with each other whenever they could. How could the top makeup artist from Peak Pictures be doing makeup for a newcomer from an enemy company? What a joke!
Kylie calmed down a little, and spoke, through her own initiative, and to avoid more difficult questions: "Today's opening ceremony of Tea House. I bet you have lots of questions about the movie itself."
Reporters were finally on the right path. "Miss Finch, it's said that you're a newcomer. Are you a professional actress?"
"My major in college wasn't exactly acting, but something related to it. As for being a newcomer, you can tell from my face that I'm not 'new' enough," she replied.
Everyone laughed, given that no actress would admit that she was old. Most would never reveal their true age. So, Kylie's outgoing personality left a good impression on the media.
"Can you tell us some of your previous work?" A reporter followed. Kylie wasn't embarrassed at all and directly talked about her past roles.
In high school, Kylie had received some aid through Star, but she hadn't wanted to rely entirely on the help of others, for the rest of her life. So, she had started to be an extra in TV and films, to earn some extra money while studying in college.
Actually, she has been in some successful TV series, in countless scenes. But the reason she didn't tell anyone about these, is that Laurence Finch had deleted all of her parts after he had discovered the name of the investor.
Besides, she didn't want anyone to know that her father was the boss of Garcia Entertainment, because Laurence Finch had never publicly revealed that she was his daughter.
After some serious consideration, Kylie simply discussed several of her normal roles, which shocked the reporters a great deal.
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