The One in My Heart

4

After getting the number, An hesitated between taking the initiative to text or not. He even went online to search: [Who should text first in a same-s*x relationship?]. At the same time, he checked the map to see if texting the other person might annoy him.

An took a deep breath and decided to send the message, inviting him out for a meal after their meeting and farewell a couple of days ago. As soon as he sent it, he regretted it, worried that the man might find it bothersome and not respond, and then he would have to hide his face in the river.

"Hey, are you free this weekend? I'd like to invite you to a meal > /v <) /."

The message came from an unfamiliar number. Tần frowned for a moment, but then relaxed as he remembered that this was Thiên An’s number—the one he was supposed to marry at the end of the month. He opened his phone, saved the number, glanced at the message, and then looked at his secretary who was organizing documents.

“Doanh, can you check my schedule to see if there’s anything coming up?”

The secretary, who was sorting through the papers, looked up when Tần asked, "There's a lot. Don't worry, the meeting this afternoon is the quarterly internal meeting, tomorrow morning I have a partner meeting, and in the evening, I need to approve the documents for an upcoming project. The day after tomorrow, there’s a meeting with the media department, and then..."

“Stop, I get it,” Tần interrupted, waving for her to continue working. He was thinking about how to respond to An’s message. "I’m busy." It was a bit blunt.

Tần sighed lightly. He was tired of the marriage, and of entering into a relationship just because of it. He wasn’t good at talking about love or daily matters. His best friends often called him blunt, celibate, and indifferent, and Tần agreed with them.

“Sorry, I don’t have time. Maybe next time?”

Looking at Tần’s rejection, An felt that he was simply marrying to fulfill his parents’ wishes. The idea of building a relationship was gone. An sighed lightly and replied, “Okay, see you next time. Good luck with work!”

“Thank you, An.”

Well, at least being polite and handsome was a huge bonus, An comforted himself. He got out of bed and started preparing for his afternoon class, which was acting practice.

Despite his experience from his past life, he always put in effort, even if it was just class practice. Today, he drew the role of a "homewrecker," a guy who intrudes on a romantic relationship and steals the girl the main character loves. An took a deep breath to stay calm. He disliked playing roles with questionable moral values, maybe because he had been betrayed before and didn’t want to play someone who causes harm. Though in the original movie, the character he was playing had a miserable ending.

He watched the male and female leads perform their scene. In this scene, the guy would take the opportunity while the couple was arguing to block a slap aimed at the girl and then leave with her.

“Why are you treating me like this?” The girl sobbed and asked, a scene that required crying, though not everyone could easily shed tears.

The other actor scoffed coldly, speaking in a detached tone: “Look at what you did. Tuyết is just my adopted sister! She didn’t do it on purpose. What’s wrong with me hugging my sister to show affection? You’re making a big deal out of nothing. You’re not the same as before!”

“You… How could you…” The guy interrupted as the girl trembled in anger: “How could you say that to her?”

“Again with you?! What gives you the right to keep interfering with us just because you’re younger?” The other actor was furious, pointing at the girl. “Did something happen between you two? Is that why you keep picking fights with me? Is that your intention?”

After the actor pointed, he angrily slapped his hand: “You traitor!”

To perform the slap correctly, An followed the motion, shielding the girl. He pretended to fall to the ground from the impact, while the male actor clutched his face in apparent innocence and choked, “You… When Tuyết took care of me, you didn’t want her to feel jealous. Now, when I take care of her, you get physical… We’re not blood relatives, so why do you have double standards, brother?”

The guy sneered, slowly stood up, and looked at the girl: “Are you okay? I’ll wait for you to leave.”

The girl hesitated: “I... I’m sorry…”

“It’s fine! If you’re breaking up, you should have done it sooner. Let me take you home!” The guy then grabbed her hand and pulled her away, leaving the other actor stunned by his words, full of sarcasm.

The performance ended, and the instructor gave feedback to each student. An was asked to stay after class for a private talk. He obediently agreed.

Back at his seat, Thy sighed: “Damn! You’re totally the model ‘green tea brother’! Your tone was perfect hahaha!” Thy laughed, making An embarrassed. He didn’t like the role at all, though while performing, he couldn’t help but think about how, from the perspective of someone who had been intruded upon in the past, he could relate to the character.

The acting went well.

An was lost in thought, watching the others finish their scenes. Since the instructor only kept him behind, Thy and Kiều left the class and waited outside. The instructor patted An on the shoulder: “In the future, the acting industry will have people like you who are experienced but still eager to learn—young talents.” After praising her student, she smiled and asked, “By the way, I have a role in mind that I haven’t cast yet. It’s a supporting role, but it has quite a bit of screen time. Are you interested?”

“Yes! I’m very interested!”

She smiled and nodded: “Good to hear! As for the audition and script, I’ll take you to meet the director and the scriptwriter this weekend. They’ll explain everything, and you’ll understand better then.”

An listened carefully, marking the date on his calendar for the meeting with the director and the instructor. His instructor, Miên, was a talented actress who had won Best Actress two years in a row and Best Screenwriter the year after before she became a teacher.

Moreover, she was close friends with the artist An admired—Thụy Khởi. An had been a part of the "Peach Garden" fandom for so long, it almost felt like a second life.

After scheduling the meeting with his teacher, An quickly left class and went home with Thy and Kiều. His friends teased him a bit, reminding him to let them know if he got the role. An agreed, since this would be his first real supporting role after the random small parts he’d played since his first year.

In his past life, it wasn’t until he left home that he really started to pursue acting, and even then, he had to give up better roles for Phúc, who said, “My friend really likes this role, you’re so talented—you’ll get even better roles!” Later, he found out that this “friend” had been the one who intruded in his previous relationship.

An felt nervous and anxious as the weekend approached. He carefully picked out his outfit, choosing something suitable, respectful, and in line with his character. He fixed his black hair, put on a coat, and left the house.

He gave the address to the driver and arrived at the restaurant where Miên had sent the location. He saw her waiting at the door, ready to take him inside.

“Hello, teacher!” An greeted her. She smiled and said, “Hello, you look great today! Let’s go inside!”

“Yes, thank you.” Miên was wearing a long dress, sunglasses, and had her hair tied up. Since the restaurant was in a high-end area with top-notch security, they didn’t have to worry about paparazzi sneaking in.

She quickly led An to a private room that had been reserved, and when An greeted the two people inside, he was stunned. There, sitting before him, was the artist he had admired—Thụy Khởi. He smiled and stood up, extending a hand to Miên, and then greeted An with a smile: “This is the student you mentioned, Miên? From what I can see, his look is perfect for the role!”

The other person nodded: “Yes, the look is perfect. Now we just need to make sure the acting is solid!”

“Haha, the student I trained. If he’s no good, I’ll let Giang Ý have the role of the queen instead!”