The House

Chapter 9

I flipped over in bed once again, sighing into the silence of the room. The moonlight and cool, wind drifting into the room through the windows, pushing the flowing white curtains on its way in. A bad habit, mom and dad were always hounding me to keep the windows closed and the blinds shut to keep away any wandering eyes and theft but I'm a sucker for some fresh air. It was the perfect atmosphere to get a good nights rest, but I lay in bed restlessly moving around already having kicked multiple throw pillows to the floor, and fidgeting with the blankets. No position felt comfortable enough to sleep in as nervousness ate away at my brain.

Friday morning I'd gotten coffee with Jihyo and we had gotten along surprisingly well to the point that we had an informal discussion about how she grew up in a shadow and her mother was very protective of her so she never got to meet people her age. Even in the company, and how philanthropy in the beginning was for college applications and a great way for her to get out of the house and for her to meet people her age but it soon turned into a passion that she tried to incorporate into park industrials as they now build hospitals and school in underfunded areas. It was also the reason why she wanted to expand into the health market because it disproportionally provided more for the rich and certain topics like rare diseases and mental health continued to b e looked over. I had told her about my own childhood and how my passion really lied in cinematography and she had yelped in excitement knowing that I was going to work on a project the next week.

I assured her that I would make sure to uphold all of her beliefs and we could always informally meet up. After which I had marched myself to Cole's office and confirmed my week long leave starting Monday morning.

But now I looked at my alarm clock, 2:16AM, 'That's it' I flung myself out of bed and stretched out my limbs. Making my way to the treadmill in the living room. I started it up, running at a medium pace before hiking up the speed to as fast as I could run, by the end of mile three my arms were pumping, my calves were burning, and my heart was pounding. With each step I motivated myself. "I'll be fine, It's just like all those internships, just. Breath. Breath. Breath." Four miles and a cold shower later, all the muscles in my body were sore and I fell asleep from sheer exhaustion till the next morning, when the nervousness came back and that too with a kick, I had light tremors all over my body, no thanks to the rigorous exercise I had done the night before. I tried my best to ignore it and got ready for the day.

An hour later I stood in front of the studio set once again, nervous out of my mind. I was reminded of 'fresh out of high school' Chaeyoung, working her first internship and clueless about the inner workings. I was rusty but luckily, now had a few notches on my metaphorical belt. This time prepared with my keycard and two coffees I made it onto the set, heading straight for the director seating area. I spotted Tzuyu right away, she was with a crew member, animatedly discussing something.

"Hey," I spoke, holding up a black coffee, two sugars.

"Hey!" She spoke before looked back at the girl with the head set. "So scene two, highlight these two filters and turn off all the background character mics. Also make sure the main female lead's mic is louder, she has a soft voice." The young girl nodded while writing down Tzuyu's instructions and soon enough she headed off on her way and Tzuyu's attention was solely on me.

"Thank you for the coffee!" Tzuyu dramatically gasped grabbing one from me, "These people know how to film movies but none of them can make a decent cup of joe. Come on."

We began walking to the lines of rooms. Until we came upon a room with a red door, it was the only one with the special color. Tzuyu knocked twice then spun the knob and inside stood very few people, but they were all parts of the head committee. Seemed as though we were in some VIP room that all the interns wanted to enter, but wouldn't never be allowed into. A familiar face made me smile. PR Yoo Jeongyeon, her hair had now gone back to a natural chocolate brown and she was looking over the camera monitors, before she looked to the side and spotted me.

"Chaeyoung!" Jeongyeon spoke, she walked over before pulling me into a hug. "How are you! Tzuyu told me you were going to be a part of the production team two weeks ago but I wasn't sure."

"Oh yeah I told her- wait two weeks ago? I didn't even know this was happening at that time." I looked up at Tzuyu, squinting my eyes a little.

She looked away from me, trying to avoid eye contact, before acting as tho she was needed somewhere, and walking off.

Jeongyeon laughed at the encounter, "Oh well, come on! Nayeon will be so excited to see you."

And she was, "I still can't believe you're here!!" She spoke, I held onto my cheeks that had turned red from her incessant pinching. She was smiling with both sets of teeth, and was about to go back to my cheeks before I swatted her hand away. "Yah Unnie, I bruise easily,"

"Okay okay, but I'm just so excited to see you Chaeyoungie" Nayeon pulled me into a hug and for a moment I thought, 'I'm so stupid to have been nervous, these people are my family.' But soon after that we got to work. Nayeon went back to fixing up the lead's makeup and I was given thorough details about the production vision, story line, and staff.

I even got a quick 'Good Luck' message from Dahyun along the way and it did greatly in calming my nerves.

Sitting in the director's chair I felt like Kash Arroya, everyone coming to me for instruction, setting up the actors to allow their best angles to reflect.

...

The week went by in what felt like a flash and I learned so much. I even got the chance to work on a technically challenging scenes, adding in movements into a handheld camera the actors had to move into the scene at different times as they were being interviewed by the police officers. They all worked together to give the same statement. Evading who the real culprit was. I stayed in awe of the actors who had to run into the scene and act as though their heart wasn't beating or they hadn't just accidentally crashed into the table while taking a seat.

We shot many more scenes that week, a meeting scene, a kidnapping, even a murder. I had to put myself into the mindset of Rick Robins, the murderer, as he evaded the cops but at the same time teased them just a little with his false location. I was completely stuck in the web of cinematography.

But eventually all good things have to come to an end. After the week ended I knew I had to go back to work, a party was thrown for me with a sheet cake from the convenience store. Though it was written in poor lettering and the frosting was slightly melted from being in the heat in some interns car. Seeing "Director Son" on a cake felt exhilarating.

I gathered my belongings into a crate, after heartfelt goodbyes and walked to my car, dragging my feet away from the set, knowing I wouldn't be able to come back anytime soon. I put my boxes in the trunk and was about to sit in the car when a familiar voice called out to me.

I turned to see Tzuyu running in my direction. "Hey! Stop mopping, come on, I'll take you to get drinks." I nodded my head 'No' before speaking "I'm a bit tired I don't know Tzuyu." I turned back and continued on with my work until I heard snickering and a sigh. I turned around with a somewhat irritated face to see a Tzuyu with a hand dramatically resting on her forehead.

"What?"

"Well, I was going to wait till we had drinks in hand but. I, well my mother, wanted to offer you a job as a Cinematographer at Chou Entertainment. And the best part... it matches your current salary."

My eyes bulged and I looked up at Tzuyu, my jaw going slack. I stared at her unblinkingly, before scrambling to get my phone, "It's not even April 1st, are you not joking?" I asked.

"I wouldn't joke about this." Tzuyu spoke in all seriousness, "So my friend, want to-"

"YES!"

Author's corner:

Two chapters today!!
Thank you for all of your support, I really really appreciate it :))

-V.C.K

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