You are my super star

Social Media Spotlight (2)

Willet sympathized with Jules. "I contacted the company two days ago, and they told me your senior, Jesse, got the lead role in Crystal Lovers. That character should be yours! Why is it in Jesse's hands now?"

"It's not a surprise," Jules was honest about it. "Even if I wanted to be in the play, I wouldn't have enough time for it. Besides, I've read the story and I'm not interested."

"What's wrong about with the story?! I've read it a long time ago! I was so happy that you would get the chance to play the hero!" Willet felt sorry for Jules. "Do you know how cool the hero is? His father is a CEO and his mother is a star. His IQ is almost 200! He skipped five grades! After his graduation, he took over the family business and fell in love with a girl working in his company. However, the girl didn't love him at first! Then he stood outside her house in the rain, calling the girl's name. In this moment, the rain stopped, and they hugged..."

After a few moments of silence, Jules responded with sincerity. "I regretted missing out on the remuneration package, but after listening to your story just now, I'm totally over it."

"You!!" Willet was too angry to speak.

"Hahaha... don't worry, I have a plan." Jules tried to comfort Willet, "I will post a tweet later, and after finishing work today, I will call Tony to see if he could suggest anything."

Jules lowered his voice. "The company won't ignore me since I can still make money for them. They are giving me the cold shoulder because they're angry about what I did, but everything will get better soon and I won't be labelled a has-been."

Willet sighed. "You better be right about this."

"Come on! Since the sun hasn't set down, take some photos of me so than I can post them on twitter later." Jules took out his cell phone, wandering inside and outside the room. "Where should we do this?"

Willet looked around, then pointed at the terrace. "How about we use the breadfruit tree as the background?"

Jules did not like that idea. "We shouldn't use anything outside as the background, or someone might work out which hotel both Leon and I are staying in."

Willet was frustrated; Jules would miss out on a great opportunity to become more famous because he was reluctant to use his association with Leon for it.

"Jules..."

Willet had worked with Jules for years, and he sincerely hoped that the young actor had a bright future ahead of him. Willet straightened his back. "I know you don't want to use Leon's reputation to gain popularity and... I think I know about your secret thoughts."

Jules' cheeks went red and he smiled. "Tony told me to try to prevent you from promoting yourself, but don't worry, I won't do that. But you're too quiet these days. I'm so worried..."

Then Willet looked around, making sure no one else could overhear their conversation, then whispered. "Posting photos won't help much. But listen, I have a plan. Let's..."

An hour later, after getting a haircut and makeup done, Leon sat in the interview room that was temporarily changed from the meeting room, browsing websites and waiting for the reporter.

"There's no script. Angela has already told reporters what to do. There'll be no difficult questions. This interview is only for entertainment. You can handle it." Vivian fixed Leon's neckline again. "Don't forget to greet fans after the interview. The new year's approaching. Remind your fans to be careful when going out. Are you listening?"

Leon was looking at his cell phone. "I know, I know." He replied.

On seeing a notification about a new tweet from a friend, Leon opened it.

It was Jules. He posted a picture with some text:

"May I sleep for one more minute?"

It wasn't the caption that captured Leon's attention, but the picture itself:

In the picture, Jules had messy hair, as if just having awoken from sleep. The loose, unbuttoned white shirt revealed his chest and lower abdomen. The fluffy quilt was hung around his waist, making his mermaid line tattoo partly hidden. The sight of the skin disappearing behind the quilt left nefarious thoughts to Leon's imagination.

Jules sat on the bed, rubbing his eye with his left hand. There was weariness in his eyes. He smiled at the camera with resignation, begging for the photographer. "May I sleep for one more minute?"

Jules' clean and childish face made the photo less erotic, and brought out feelings of sympathy from viewers.

Since Jules' debut, he maintained an image of innocence. This was the first time he showed a steamier side of himself. Not long after Jules posted the tweet, he received many comments, shares and likes.

Vivian noticed Leon's expression and the second she saw Jules' picture on Leon's cell phone, she exclaimed. "Is that Jules' twitter? It's too out of line! So racy!"

Vivian thought for a second, then smiled. "He wasn't like that before. But after spending time with you, he became more seductive."

With his lips pursed, Leon said nothing.

Vivian couldn't help looking at the photo over and over again. "It's really eye-catching. Maybe we can have a meeting with Angela to see if we can do something like this... what do you think, Leon?"

Leon concentrated on the phone and did not give a response until Vivian repeated her question. "What did you say?"

Vivian repeated with a smile. "What do you think of the photo?"

"Me? I think it's great." Leon lit up a cigarette, taking a puff. "He needs to get laid."

(956 words)