Chapter 408


    When afternoon came, the filming team of ‘War Dragon’ suddenly received a notice from the director; he


    felt that their progress wasgging behind. In order to speed up the timeline, it was decided that all their


    afternoon breaks would be canceled, and filming would stretch up to sixteen hours or more per day.


    Upon catching wind of this news, the entire filming team grumbled andined. They were already


    tired, yet they had to rush their filming schedule. Wasn’t the director running them into the ground with


    exhaustion?!


    Nicole didn’t say anything about it; she had always been a workaholic, and would have liked nothing


    better than to film 24 hours a day. It would be good for her to wrap up this show quickly since she still


    had many contracts to fulfill. Once she was done filming ‘War Dragon’, she would still need to report for


    another show’s filming.


    However, the supportingdies were whining about it. Not only that, among the supporting cast were


    names that Michael was familiar with.


    Joe had invested several billion into the Huffs as a form of repayment, so the Huffs managed to secure


    a supporting female role in ‘War Dragon’ for Faye, which was originally meant for Ka. While the role


    was pegged as a supporting character, it was akin to an extra with more screen time than usual.


    The general plot of ‘War Dragon’ described a former military man who changed his identity and ran a


    business in Africa after he was discharged from the army. By chance, he found out that a local human


    trafficking ring was smuggling a group of foreign girls as they crossed the African continent. They were


    being escorted by a band of mercenaries to the Middle East so that they could be sold off to several


    Middle Eastern moguls.


    The sister of the male lead’s deadrade was among this group of trafficked girls. In order to save this


    group of girls, the male lead waded into danger alone and ran into the female lead, who had followed the


    trafficking ring’s trail all the way to Africa from her home country in order to save her younger sister. The


    two of them joined forces to locate the girls, but they never expected a war to break out in the nation.


    Meanwhile, some of the girls were being escorted by the most elite of mercenaries…


    Harry yed the role of the male lead, while Michael was cast as the leader of the mercenaries who


    were hired by the trafficking ring to escort the girls. Nicole yed the female lead, while Faye and X


    yed two of the kidnapped girls, Kidnapped Girl A and Kidnapped Girl B.


    Faye was most displeased by this. “Why are we working such long hours? I’m quitting!”


    The director glowered at them. Why did they have so manyints even though they were just


    extras?


    Content property of N?velDra/ma.Org.


    “If you’re quitting, you can book a ticket back home tomorrow. Your parts will be cut.”


    If their parts were cut out from the movie, their earlier efforts would’ve been for naught; they had


    managed to wrangle a role in a movie with international coboration so that they could spread their


    names after much difficulty. If their parts were truly cut, that would be aplete waste!


    Faye shut up immediately.


    All Michael could think about right then was rushing back home; he was worried that if he dyed his


    return any longer, one of the random Fletcher men would actually steal his wife away.


    When night came, Michael returned to his hotel after a day’s filming work. He and Harry were thest


    actors to return; all the other actors had already gone back to the hotel earlier to rest. To their surprise,


    they saw someone standing in an empty spot in the gardens at the back of Nicole’s hotel. That person


    had a full-length mirror ced under a streetmp and was rehearsing her lines and actions.


    They already had very little time to rest, but Nicole was still using whatever limited break time she had to


    practice her craft. It was something tomend, and it was fortunate that such a hard-working actress


    was cast for the lead role; that was the only reason why their filming progress was making a bit more


    headway than scheduled. If it weren’t for those idiotic supporting actresses dragging things out, they


    would have been able to make even more progress.


    Seeing that Michael had returned, Nicole said to him, “Mr. Fletcher, someone was looking for you in the


    hotel lobby.”


    Michael nodded and patted Harry’s shoulder. “You two have a major scene tomorrow, so you should


    practice together.”


    Harry seemed a little reluctant to do so. Michael immediately said, “Come on now, Lord Winston—you’re


    a senior actor now. You should be guiding the newbies more.”


    Harry had no choice but to practice with Nicole. Even though he had been acting for over a decade,


    there weren’t many people with the drive Nicole had; if he nurtured her properly, she would blossom into


    her own in the future.


    Nicole was extremely nervous about practicing with Harry. She hastily gathered her wits and put all her


    sincerity into her rehearsal. This was her first time ying the female lead in a major movie, so she


    viewed it importantly. She knew how she ended up getting the role as the female lead—it was because


    that one person liked her. Even though she didn’t know who it was, the orphanage still received a


    monthly donation from that person.


    While she may have epted this role, Nicole still hadn’t received her paycheck yet. Hence, she had


    pretty much no money on her right now, and was relying on that person to support the orphanage’s


    finances. That person even helped the orphanage find a new permanent location to move to; they no


    longer had to worry about being forced to move anymore. That was why she had toplete the filming


    well!


    Right before Michael entered the hotel, he nced at Nicole’s serious and hard-working figure. A sense


    of deep understanding flitted across his eyes; after all, she was his wife’s idol. He was rather saddened


    by that. Only one actor could be Sophia’s absolute favorite, and it was Nicole—Taylor could only be


    second.


    Nicole’s lead roles in the past were mostly shows set in rural viges. Sophia would often grill some


    lobsters and whip out a bottle of red wine out of the blue, munching on her food as she watched Nicole’s


    drama in her home theater. Although Michael was reluctant to watch Nicole’s shows, he was forced to do


    so. Naturally, he already knew of Nicole before they met each other.


    Michael had worked with Nicole before, but she had been cast as an extra in their works together.


    Nheless, he had to admit that Nicole was quite a spirited woman. After working with her for a while,


    he thought that she wasn’t bad at all. It was incredible that he would think this way of an actress who had


    just gotten her first leading role in a major film after she had been type-casted as an actress for


    countryside dramas. He hoped that Nicole would be able to make her shift from roles sessfully,


    blooming from a country bumpkin actress to an acimed one on the silver screen.


    After all, dramas set in the countryside were freaking painful to watch!


    He never wanted to see any of Nicole’s countryside dramas in his own living room ever again!


    Michael pushed open the door to the hotel and entered. This hotel was the poshest hotel in town, and it


    had been fully booked by the filming team. The rooms were awful, but it beat sleeping on the streets.


    A woman dressed in military attire was seated in the lobby. When she saw Michaele in, she walked


    over instantly; her graceful figure entered his sight.


    “Hi, do you still remember me? I’m Irene, Joel’s girlfriend.”


    Michael looked at Irene. It took a few seconds for him to respond as he said, “Hello there.”


    “Our performance troupe just so happened to be performing for the peacekeeping forces here at the


    moment; I heard that you were filming nearby, so I just dropped by to see you,” said Irene.


    Michael didn’t have any other expression on his face as he smiled cidly. “Thank you foring.”


    The two of them chatted for a while before Irene handed over a thermal container to him and said,


    “Please take care of your health while you’re away from home; here’s some soup made with some stuff I


    managed to scrounge up from the grounds. If you don’t mind, have a taste of it.”


    Michael smiled as he took the container. “Thank you, Irene.”


    Irene grinned, her eyes crinkling up. She looked exactly the same as the dazzling girl in Michael’s


    memories; her smile seemingly brought Michael back to those days of his youth when he had been a


    clueless person. They had yed together without worries and with untainted feelings.


    “We’re not strangers—you don’t have to be so polite. Take care of yourself then. I’ll be heading off now.”


    After exchanging a few more words, Irene took a taxi home. Michael walked back to his room, the


    container of soup in his hands weighing him down. When was thest time such a gorgeous woman


    made soup out of concern for him? Irene may have given him the soup, but she was no longer the same


    person as before; everything had changed with the flow of time.


    He went up to the second floor and ced the container of soup on the lid of the bin by the elevator.