𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚂𝚊𝚍𝚗𝚎𝚜𝚜

Chapter-19

My fun time in Suzuka was up, I had no time to think anymore. I was back at the set, working with the crew and making sure that this season did justice to the first.

Time literally flew by, we spent hours together making sure things were shot to perfection. Everyday felt the same yet so different, breakfast by myself, lunch with everyone on the team and dinner at my parent's home. I talked their ear off about what had happened, both of them nodded and Sofu was the only one who showed enthusiasm. My grandad asked me so many questions, it was adorable.

I promised to him that I'll take him tomorrow, when we started shooting closer to home, he would love talking to our cinematographer. She could answer all his questions about cameras and filming.

It was finally the day of shooting I was looking forward to the most, Yuki was going to be on location today. All of us were looking forward to see how his acting translated to onscreen, he was pretty much the first person present and beaming from ear to ear.

He was doing so much better than we expected, he was nervous at first but then couldn't seem to stop laughing every time he looked at the camera. Overall, he was just a lot of fun to work with and the whole crew was laughing the entire time, we wound up a little later than we were expecting. It was a small price to pay for all the joy and laugher this day had brought us.

I thanked him and invited to dinner with a team, I had attended his and now it was his turn to attend mine. We headed to the restaurant all of us had settled on earlier and basically filled the whole place.

This day had been good, in fact great! Just happiness all around, and it had ended on such a good note too. I went back home with a big smile on my face, really content with my day. As always I took a moment to reflect on the day, to be grateful for the things that made me smile today.

It had been a while since I had talked to friends back in Monaco and Baba too, I decided to call her up and see what she was up to. Her phone rung for a while but she didn't pick up, I got a little worried. And then I decided to text Kenji, who could definitely do nothing about it but I needed someone to panic with me.

Kenji: CALM DOWN! She answered my call, she's fine just a little busy.

You: doing what?? Why won't she answer her favourite Grandchild's phone?

Kenji: she's catching up with an old student and polishing their skills.

Kenji: also she answered my call not yours😌 your favourite grandchild claims are now false. Good night! Sleep tight 😘

I was relieved that she was fine, but a little hurt that she'd rather tell this moron she was busy than talk to me. I brushed those thoughts away and checked on my friends.

You: it's been a while, how are you all doing?

Gigi: tired. I can't wait for the weekend. How are you doing?

You: Tired but happy! Finished shooting Yuki's scenes today

Charlotte: that's great! I've been meaning to tell you I'm almost done reading the script and OH MY GOD GIRL YOU KNOW HOW TO WRITE!

You: ahaha thanks!

Teo: what's going on here?

You: I was just wondering how all of you were

Teo: oh my goodness. Emiko. Are you alright?

Gigi: ??

Teo: she could literally be dying to talk to us but she won't initiate conversation 😂

Charlotte: that's true 😂

Gigi: now that I think of it 🤔 that's a good observation Teo

You: 😭😭 I was just being nice!

Charlotte: okay then be nice by coming back for the holidays 👀

Teo: yes! Come on, be super nice! Come to Monaco right now!

Giada: that's the nicest thing you can do for us 🥺

You: If shooting runs on schedule, I'm 100% dragging my family to Monaco! It's been years since we celebrated there

Teo: crying tears of joy right now and praying that shooting isn't over just on time but in fact earlier 🙏🙏

I let out a chuckle and wished them all a good day before heading to bed, truth be told I was missing them a lot. I honestly felt like my summer in Monaco was the highlight of this year, I had fun, I met interesting people and I worked on my script with a new zeal.

Script! Screenplay! And then I remembered, I was meeting Katsumi tomorrow. My little notebook had still not turned into a screenplay, it was still just a bunch of thoughts. No plot, just a bunch of characters and vague incidents and tropes, I decided I wasn't going to lie to her.

She and Gabriel had worked so hard to stall Hippolyte, it's best to let him find another writer who wasn't as lost as I was. Of course I'd apologise to both of them for wasting their time, all the efforts they put in to buy me more time.

I didn't want this to be the last thought on my head when I was trying to sleep, I really believe that they set my mood for the next day. I definitely didn't want to show up to set all grumpy and ruin everyone's day, so I tried to once again recollect all the things I was grateful for today.

***

It was a pleasant day, the sun was being generous with light and warmth today. I was glad we were shooting outdoors, I made my way to my parents' house first. I had to bring my grandad to the location today so he could ask all his questions and look at what goes on behind the camera.

Like a little child ready for his field trip, he was already waiting at the gate in his best shirt and a big smile on his face. We talked the whole way, about the weather, about how excited I was to have him at the set and how he couldn't wait to see everything.

He was an instant hit among the crew, it would be fair to say they liked him a lot. His joy was infectious, his curiosity made everyone feel so important in their roles. He watched the shooting with so much enthusiasm, I loved being able to share this with him.

We headed home to grab lunch, after that I was off to Katsumi's office. I rehearsed what I'd say about the screenplay, she had asked me to come down to her office immediately so I guessed it must be about the lack of one.

I walked in and waited by the reception, I could sense the sly glances and see people murmuring to themselves under their breath. What could I have possibly done that got a whole office of talent agents gossiping? Was it my lack of talent?

"You're here! Come with me!" Katsumi waved, walking down a hallway.

I followed her and we entered something that looked like a closet, it was full of boxes. Neatly wrapped boxes, probably presents. I wondered why she brought me here.

"Call a moving company or something but please empty out this space."

"What?" I looked at her in confusion.

"These are all your presents! They've been coming in for the past week and I don't think we can just keep these here. Give this person your home address!" She pointed a shelf.

"I don't follow."

"What's there to follow? Someone has been sending these for you day after day. They probably don't have your address but they know the agency's."

There was no way I could bring up the screenplay right now, I apologised and tried to grasp something about who it could possibly be and why they were doing this. I picked up a small box and read the little card on it, the elegant handwriting, it gave away exactly who it was.