From Reel to Real

XI. Hualien 2

Yue watched with delight when all the F4 boys gathered at the lobby for a briefing with the director of the travelogue company. They have grown and looked even better now as grown up adults, vs boys. She did not realize she was staring until Jia Qi nudged her.

"Yue Yue! Are you feasting your eyes?" She teased her.

"Absolutely. It's different when I see them individually and when they are together. No wonder their fans are still adamant for them to do a second season of Meteor Garden." She smiled as she noticed Dylan being the loudest and right now he was laughing over something.

"I don't think they are ever going to do season 2 given Shancai's relationship with Daoming Si off screen."

"Have they ever dated?" Yue asked feeling curious. She had never heard Didi mention anything.

"The last rumour I heard was Wang He Di liked her and even wanted to date her but nothing happened. They are still friends." Jia Qi said.

Yue Yue listened and nodded. "But they are professional actors, this will not affect them, right?"

Jia Qi sighed "Life as an actor and celebrity is not what it seems to us. Behind the scenes, many sacrifices had to be made to be best of the best."

Yue Yue noticed Jia Qi looked a little glum when she spoke. She squeezed her arm. "For anything's worth, let's just enjoy the present and what we have now! Do you want to see the beach?"

Jia's eyes brightened up "Let's go!"

———-

"Does anyone have a question? We will start tomorrow leaving here by 6am. Our first destination is Toroko National Park. Would you like me to brief your assistants too?" Director Zhou asked.

Dylan nodded. "Yes, please. You can run through the next day's events too."

While waiting for the assistants to arrive, the boys caught up with one another.

"Didi, I heard you got a temp assistant, who has a double degree and highly intelligent," Kuan said casually, while sipping his coffee.

Dylan grinned. "Since when this kind of news travel in our company? Even though yes, Yue Yue is highly qualified for the job."

Xi Ze chipped, "And she is cute too. She reminded me of our Shancai."

"Shancai?" Kuan asked. "You mean Yue Yue is short, and blunt?"

Everyone laughed, with Dylan the loudest. "She does have similar characteristics but Yue is more assertive. And she nags. She is worse than my mom!" They laughed again. "Let's change subjects. What kind of projects are you guys working on?"

They were still chatting animatedly when the assistants arrived. Besides Yue and Jia, the other two assistants were in their late-30s. Hua-jie had helped to replace Yue once when she was sick while Hui-jie worked with Kang since he debuted. Yue Yue looked up to them for their professionalism. They had never once complained or gossiped about anyone.

Kuan whispered to Didi "Wow, she even looks like Shancai. What's with you and short...?" Didi elbowed him before he could finish his sentence. "Ouch!" "Be nice, Kuan." Didi smiled but his eyes were menacing.

Director Zhou once again did a summary for the assistants before wrapping up the meeting. One of her advisors came and whispered to her ears. "Oh, Wang He Di, I mean Didi. You cook well, right? We would like to film you in the kitchen. With the other boys, we will film them touring the villa and the beach."

Dylan was excited. "You mean, right now?" Zhou nodded. "Yes, the head chef actually need a sous chef for tonight's welcome dinner. Why look so far ahead when we have one in the house?" She winked and waved at everyone. "I will give you 30 minutes to change and do your make-up but I prefer as casual as possible. After all, we are in Hualien!"