Fake Datin Frances

02: Mozart

"How did you convince her to go back on set?" Arvie seemed relieved but there's an obvious trace of tension and anxiety in his eyes.

"I kind of... promised her something."

"Dean... what did you do?"

"Well, she told me I just needed to try..."

"Things are never simple with her."

"I know that, and I already regret this. I'm sorry."

"What did you promise her, Dean?" He stared at me looking all defeated and powerless. It was an expression where he knew I f****d up and that Frances was probably gonna do something worse and eventually mess up his entire weekend.

"I'm sorry..."

"Just... out with it."

"Hey Direk? Kelangan ka po namin-" (Hey Direk, we need you-) One of the crew interrupted us. But he brushed him off and focused back to me.

"Well, she wanted me to talk to you and convince you to change the ending."

Arvie averts his gaze and crosses his arms, breathing heavily.

"She's so stubborn. The producers did not approve because they still wanted to revive Alger's career in the process."

"Direk, kelangan ka na po talaga namin-" (Direk we really need you-)

"Give me a minute, okay?" He raised his voice to the poor guy who hesitated to leave, "Stop interrupting our conversation, I'm not gonna tell you again." The guy's face crumpled with humiliation.

"Yeah, I wasn't really planning on convincing you about anything because, I mean, that's not gonna change anything."

"Trust me I tried everything. I just wish that one of these days she'd start making things easier for me."

"Arvie! What the f**k?! I've been calling for you! Get your ass in here!" The same girl who was talking to Frances earlier marches in, "Are you on a mission to piss off the rest of your crew?"

"Dean..."

"Yeah?..."

"Whatever you do, do not talk to Frances. She's very manipulative and she has this... effect on people. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, of course."

I felt like I screwed up real bad that I already forgot about the art show.

Epal ka kasi, D. (It's ‘cause you're such a nosy butt, D.) Just stay in your lane next time. Stop getting involved in other people's businesses. You just made things worse. And now your brother hates you, congratulations.

Arvie is now talking to this girl who might be Kira, Kiera, she looked Japanese, I don't know how you spell it and it looks like they were a little calm now.

Then suddenly Frances busts out of the van.

Dean, whatever you do, do not talk to her.

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and looked away. I can hear footsteps nearing me and anticipated Frances standing from behind at any moment now. My heart was beating so fast, I felt like I wanted a hole to open up and just swallow me whole.

But I have a nifty talent in looking calm and reserved on the outside. Most of the time I just whip out my classical playlist on Spotify and start listening to it. Strings and piano music calms me down.

I start putting on my earpods and press play as I felt cold hands on my ear, grabbing one of them away. Her fingers were gentle and soft.

It was Frances.

I turned to face her very calmly, as if nothing was bothering me. The other earpod was still stuck to my right ear and it was playing Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major.

"So, did you talk to him?" She says in a very nagging tone as she raises both of her perfectly shaped eyebrows.

REMINDER: Whatever you do, DO NOT TALK TO HER.

The soft sound of piano playing in my other ear somehow made me a little oblivious as I stared in a different direction.

"Hello?!" She raised her voice and moved closer. I just glanced at her, sighed and focused back to my phone.

"Please carry on ignoring me and I'm gonna make another scene."

I tried my best not to look worried as she steps in front, facing me this time. She realizes I still had the other earpod on and she attempts to grab it. I ducked and she continued snatching and plucking it out of my ear. She didn't succeed, I was good at dodging and avoiding incoming threats, maybe it's the Aikido classes I've been attending for the past three years.

It's using your opponent's movements and momentum to your advantage. But even if I had that training, she still annoyed the s**t out of me. This girl is a nightmare.

"Okay, okay! God!" I gave up and she starts laughing.

"So? Come on tell me!" She gingerly punches me in the arm. If you were staring at us without context from afar, you would think she was flirting with me. I can see a few people taking pictures again.

"Seriously? What do you expect me to do? Nasisiraan ka na ata (I think you're completely losing it). But I tried, okay? I talked to him. So I don't owe you anything now. Please tigilan mo na ko (Please get off my back)."

"You're so pathetic."

"You're the pathetic one. Sulking in a restroom, talking to some stranger about her problems and expecting them to solve it. Crying like a baby in front of everyone. Get a grip!"

"You're the one listening to Mozart in the middle of an argument with a really cute girl- that's me. What a turn off." She saw the screen on my phone.

What the hell is she talking about, why would she be concerned, wait... is she into girls?

"First of all, I'm not trying to impress you, at wala akong plano (and I have no plans). Second, how dare you s**t on one of the greatest composers in history. He made some of the best operas ever written and-"

She starts making snoring noises.

"Okay, we're done here." I attempted to leave.

She scoffs, "What, are you just gonna walk away? And cry in a corner because you realized that not everyone listens to dull, pretentious music like you?"

I can feel my blood boiling with rage as my breathing came out raggedy. Most of it was because she's right, I was a little pretentious. I genuinely loved classical music though, it was the art show that got me thinking. What am I even doing trying to go to something just to impress a girl?

But this wasn't just any ordinary girl. Arvie introduced us and she's kind of big in the movie industry. I didn't think she would say yes when I asked her out, but you know, life's full of surprises.

"Frances enough philandering! Come over here we gotta talk!" Kiera yelled at us. She glances back at me and whispers, "We're not done, grandma."

Her voice was a little husky and she had this annoying smirk that irritated me but at the same time I couldn't stop staring at it, her face was perfect. If I didn't hate her so much then that "We're not done" minus the grandma part might've turned me on a little bit. She had these full, pinkish lips, cute little nose and you can see a hint of flat and small tan freckles concealed by her light makeup.

She probably has freckles on her shoulders too, spread across her back and...

Aaaahhh Dean... brush those thoughts off. She just called you grandma.

She was talking to Arvie and Kiera while pointing at me.

Fuck. She's probably blaming me for everything and now my brother might lose his job because of that and he'll end up depressed and probably drunk for the next five years and yes I will totally ruin his life.

"I want Alexis Lattre!" She yells, shakes her head, glances at me then walks inside the van. The entire crew is staring at me now, some checking their phone and smiling.

What's going on? And she has the nerve to think someone like Alexis Lattre would wanna work with her? What a total dipshit.

Arvie walks towards me, grabs my arms and drags me to his car.

"God I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for this to-"

"Please shut up and get in the car."

We had a long drive back to FBC's headquarters. Filipino Broadcasting Corporation, it's the biggest media and entertainment network in the Philippines. If you so much become an extra on one of their tv shows, you automatically have an elite pass to anything. You can brag about it and people would be like 'oooh' you're definitely something, let me go buy you a drink.

Not to be shallow or anything, but I kinda want that. I'm currently doing acting workshops under them, one of the perks of having a brother who's a well known director.

We reach the place and he still won't talk to me, but just drags me outside this room where it says, EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, KIRA TAHASHI on the door.

Ohh... so that's how you spell her name, and she's an EP.

"Stay here, don't talk to anyone, don't post anything on your social media." Arvie reminds me then goes inside the room. I put my earpods on and just stared at the people passing by. A few minutes later I see Kira with Frances walking towards me, then enter the room. She acted like she didn't see me, but Kira tried to fake a smile.

After maybe thirty boring minutes of trying to avoid human interaction, the door opens and Arvie asks me to come in.

Yup, I'm doomed. This is how I die, they grill me and blame me for whatever s**t Frances told them and I get a heart attack.

There were a total of four people inside. Kira, Frances, Arvie and some mestizo who looked too happy to see me.

Oh, maybe this isn't what I thought it was.

"This is Dean, my sister. Dean, this is Andre, our showrunner. Kira our executive producer, Frances," She rolls her eyes and shakes her head.

Andre stares at me intently and asks, "You've been taking acting workshops, right? For how long now?"

"It's been almost a month..." My voice cracked from being unused.

"We're doing a chemistry read tomorrow. That's going to test your connection on screen with Frances. We're desperate to get our show back on top of the ratings."

I'm sorry what?!?!

"Just so you know, I absolutely despise her. She has no personality, she's boring, no offense-" Frances glances at my brother who shrugs, "And the first thing she did earlier was call me a bitch."

Everyone in the room suppressed a laugh.

"Oh, so everyone thinks that's funny, huh?" She adds, but no one responded.

"Dean, I wanna be blunt. This show is one of the biggest things on tv right now but lately the ratings have dropped. There have been leaks on the show's previous screenplay about Frances ending up with a female character for the second season but unfortunately we had to change that. Now I think we're reverting it back based on something that's spreading online right now." Andre sounded calm and sophisticated

What's spreading online?!

"If your chemistry read goes really well tomorrow, will you be willing to work with us?"

"Yeah I'm cool." I immediately answered. My imagination went straight to people buying me drinks in bars, and the girl I'm dating is suddenly super into me.

"I am not working with a nobody." Frances butted in.

"Stop being rude, Franz." Andre dismissed her.

"I'm rude to everybody, don't take it personally." She glances at me.

"Do you wanna keep working with that," Kira air quotes, "Brainless man? Or we continue with the story that you want?"

"I wanna work with Alex."

"She declined the offer."

"Well, do something about it."

"We can't. She already signed with a project along with some Thai actor. It's not happening, Frances."

She sighs, "This is bullshit." And walks out of the room.

"Don't mind her, that's just how she is but she always comes back. This show is her bread and butter." Kira tried to make me feel better.

"We'll see you tomorrow. This is not yet final, we still need to talk to a lot of people but we want to get a head start. So I'm not promising anything, okay? Everything that we talked about stays in this room." Andre finishes off. I nodded while Arvie gives me a blank stare.

My brother was silent the entire time, I couldn't figure out if he was happy or not.

Then I get a text from the girl that I'm dating: "Hey, I saw some stuff of you and Frances online. Are you dating? "

I smiled and thought, okay so that's what's spreading on the internet... this is gonna be interesting.