Xie Lian's artistic side| Colors of the Heart ~ Hualian AU

Chapter XXV

"Thank you, break a leg today too." Xie Lian was stretching and throwing anxious looks towards anyone passing by the door of his dressing room. Coworkers were arriving one by one, but the one person he longed to see was kind of late. Well, he usually arrived earlier than everyone for rehearsals, so not being there first just before the premiere could be considered late for the director's standards.

"Why am I so anxious? It's not like I can hug him or anything." Xie Lian thought.

Walking out of the bus while coming to the theater, Xie Lian reflected about how quiet Jun Wu was after the last threat. Although feeling outraged, the actor decided to cooperate and push San Lang away for a little bit, mostly because he feared for San Lang's career. Would Jun Wu try something today? Or after the first performance?

San Lang and Shi Qingxuan were so unpreoccupied with the threat of the video. Xie Lian did not retribute the feeling. He could actually see the disappointed face of his father watching the news: 'Intimacy exposed - director Hua Cheng has an affair with actor'. Of course, his mind would go further ahead and add more breaking news, like 'Critics said the actor was trying to promote himself using the director's controversial image'.

Xie Lian sighed his frustration out for not knowing what would happen, but it just built up again when he next inhaled.

"Hey, sweetie, I'll be with you in a moment, okay?"

Xie Lian looked back and nodded to the stylist at the door, then went to check on his phone while doing vocal exercises. He lit the screen and read "Gege, can you come to my office?"

That took a moment to sink. When it did, his heart felt it was going to climb out of his throat.

Xie Lian rushed through the corridors. He showed up at the door of the director's office and his instincts were to go straight to him. Still, he held himself in time.

.

Hua Cheng was not late to start the day, but he definitely overslept. It was close to lunchtime already. Last night he completely blacked out, that sort of deep sleep that results from a mixture of stress, tiredness, and sadness. He looked at his face in the mirror the next morning and his lids were swollen. Great, the photos at the premiere would turn out marvelous. At least he managed to land some nice punches at Jun Wu's face. That made the corner of his lips in the reflection turn up.

He dismissed his self-image with a promise of putting extra effort for everyone involved in the play today. He would appear bright, even if fakely, because that's what they expected of him today. Coffee was his choice of 'liquid cheering up method'. When it went down his throat some moments after, all started seeming bearable again.

There were some errands to run before getting to the theater, then finally, at the engine turning off in the parking lot, he rested his head on the wheel. At first, he was going to surprise Gege today, but that idea did not seem to agree with the context they were living now. His fake resolute to look fine for the day emanated a timid yellow light in his mind, and that trembled when thoughts like brown and beige moths came flying around it. Would Gege really be disappointed on him for going to Jun Wu? Or maybe prefer that he did not go and this could cause him to never wanting to be with Hua Cheng again? Dammit, that guy managed to put an evil seed in his mind.

He was so immersed thinking about what to tell Gege that he forgot the 'surprise' element was missing a piece. It was the second most important thing today. He quickly drove away as fast as he could and managed to come back some fifteen minutes after. Now, rushing through the theater corridors, he typed fast, pressed the send bottom and entered his office.

.

Their gazes met somewhere in between the inside and outside of the office. For a millisecond, that place formed a flame, lit with their relief and desire to see each other. Their eyes widened, but reality ricocheted back at their faces.