Silver Linings

Chapter Eleven - Why Don't You Rip It Off And Take A Look?

[5 JUNE 2020]

⁂ZHANG ZHE HAN⁂

It was the first late night shooting and the clock had just passed midnight. After finishing all the scenes inside the inn, they had moved outside to the inner courtyard. This was where the two protagonists would meet, after Wen Ke Xing had beaten Zhou Zi Shu to the punch and killed a few assassins, and was now leisurely drinking wine, and watching the corpses cool down.

Zhang Zhe Han was waiting for the final parts before it was hopefully time to call it a day. Or maybe night? He was tired after what felt like a long day, even though he had managed to squeeze in a nap after his dinner, whilst they waited for the night scene to be set up. He turned to look at Gong Jun, who was standing further away from him than the one meter he was supposed to. There was a big red X taped on the ground in between the two of them, and that was his co-lead's mark.

"Handsome man, look at where are you standing!" Director Sing teased from behind the cameras.

Gong Jun swerved instantly, dropped his gaze and moved in over the X in just a matter of seconds. Gong Jun was smiling and his gaze flickered up to meet Zhang He Han's. He looked a little bit embarrassed as he responded, "Who is the handsome man..."

"Both of you, right?" Director Sing happily replied and there were a few laughs around the team.

Instead of answering, Gong Jun cleared his throat and correct his posture, the sleeves falling perfectly both on the right arm behind his back as well as the left arm that was holding the wine bottle. "Okay, I'm ready."

"Okay, beautiful! Are we ready to shoot?" Director Sing asked, still with humor in his voice. The day had been full of shameless flirting and they were ending it with a romantic evening rendezvous, even though Zhou Zi Shu might not see it that way.

The assistant director moved in and checked the bottle in Gong Jun's hands, "Are we filling the water bottle? It's empty."

Whilst they waited for the bottle to be filled, Zhang Zhe Han studied Gong Jun's profile. His co-star had gotten more and more relaxed throughout the day. He was now laughing his signature laughter and joking with the staff about not filling the bottle with poison or boiling water. All this flirting and being in each other's personal space early on in the production, was clearly helping to build their connection. He could see that Gong Jun was still hyper aware of everything around him, but they were making progress—and it was only day two. Plus, the fact that his co-star would sometimes blush or look away during their discussions made for excellent build-up of chemistry, which also transferred on to the screen.

He had not only felt their chemistry, but also seen it when they had re-watched some of the takes during the evening. He had watched his co-star call him beautiful again, and again, and again. Well, no—not Gong Jun and technically not him either. Wen Ke Xing had called Zhou Zi Shu beautiful. But this time, it was just the two of them with no one else around, it was late at night and his voice had been different. Though it was still that deep and masculine voice, it had been softer and somewhat sensual. He decided to ignore the fact that he had just described his co-lead as sensual for the second time in just a few days.

Even though he knew the script well, being called beautiful in almost every single take so far was frustrating him a bit. Especially since he was in his beggar costume, which was purposefully soiled and torn. He was also in disguise with his face tanned, dirty and a fake two day stubble rather than a five o'clock shadow. He was anything but beautiful.

The water bottle return and they finetuned their positions for filming. Wen Ke Xing was holding the wine bottle in his left hand with the arm stretched out towards Zhou Zi Shu, ready for him to swipe it away.