It waste afternoon when we left lunch.


    Early spring in the Holy City is always warm but not cold.


    Nico stood on the hotel promenade and looked up at the sky, which was very dark.


    The air is still eerily cold and dreary from the winter.


    Campoverde stopped the car, got out and opened the door to the back seat, only to see Nico standing in front of the hotel with a momentary wobble.


    Campoverde called out to him, “Mr. Nico? Get in the car.”


    With one hand in his pocket, Nico didn’t rush into the car and instead said something off-handed, “It’s springtime, why is it still so dark?”


    Campoverde didn’t think anything of it, just smiled and joked, “The darker the sky, the brighter the stars are.”


    “Do you think there are stars that bright in Los Angeles?”


    Campoverde replied without thinking, “Los Angeles is a Mediterranean climate, mild, dry and less rainy year-round, sunny year-round, and on a good day, the stars in that part of the Los Angeles sky should be brighter than at home.”


    “I want you to talk more.” Nico shot him a look before getting into the car with a cold, cloudy face.


    Campoverde: “…”


    Oh, Los Angeles …


    Are you thinking about Miss Mica?


    The ckmercial vehicle moves smoothly.


    Nico hadn’t had too much to drink tonight, but not too little either, he was slightly drunk.


    Campoverde stole a nce at him from the rearview mirror, staggered for a moment and said, “Mr. Nico, I remember … your birthday is in two days, the thing is that you are not busy these days, why don’t I book you a ticket to Los Angeles to see Yan Xiao…”


    Before Miss Mica’s title could be uttered, Nico had already spoken with a sour face, “I never have birthdays, didn’t you know that?”


    “…” Damn, what a night to hit the beam repeatedly!


    It’s not even as urate as a minesweeper!


    Nico closed his eyes and leaned back in the back seat, eyes closed, unhappy and wretched in a way that made Campoverde feel on tenterhooks.


    Saying something or remaining tight-lipped and silent is a question for Campoverde.


    Nico had a leave me alone look on his face and Campoverde had to shut his mouth, not daring to say anything else.


    In the back seat, Nico was always distracted.


    Maybe it was the frustration of running into Carlita at dinner tonight, or maybe it was Campoverde’s insensitive mention of Mica.


    Nico frowned and pulled out his phone, opening WhatsApp, swiping his finger and finally tapping on Mica’s WhatsApp.


    As usual, Mica bid him goodnight, but never replied.


    The man’s long, slender fingers typed into the input box: good night.


    He tapped his long finger on the top of the submission and, after a long pause, finally edited the word “good night,” exited and closed it.


    As I cannot see you, it is better not to return, as it is useless to miss you.


    He wished, more than anything else, that she would press herself against his chest, look at him, squint her eyes and smile at him and say, “Good night, Nico.”


    Then cuddle and sleep.


    …


    He was across the ocean.


    Nine o’clock in the morning in Los Angeles.


    Mica sends goodnight on WhatsApp, when in fact she is in a situation where it is the good morning and the time difference between Los Angeles and The Holy City is fifteen hours.


    In other words, it had just dawned on Mica’s side when night fell on Nico’s side.


    But ording to Nico’s nighttime routine, he couldn’t be sleeping at those hours, so he never answered his WhatsApp messages, not because of jetg, but simply because he didn’t want to or didn’t know how to.


    This is the second month that Mica has been away from Nico.


    Fifty-eight days and nine hours.


    Although Mica is confident, she is no longer sure when she is separated from the other side of the ocean.


    In the Los Angeles home where Mica now lives, there is a calendar on the table, and for every day that passes, Mica tears off a calendar.


    Mica’s heart calmed a little as the calendar got thinner and thinner.


    But with a calendar this thick, can’t you wait until it’spletely broken to see it?


    If he doesn’te to see her, then there’s nothing wrong with her going to see him.


    Mica looks at the calendar and realizes that Nico’s birthday is in two days.


    Strangely, she never seemed to remember her birthday when she was around him, nor did she give him one, and Nico, who was so calcting with his feelings, didn’t get mad at her for forgetting his birthday.


    When Mica arrived in Los Angeles, she quickly signed a contract with Universal Pictures and worked with her agent Kelly for two months to work out a deal.


    Kelly is a Scandinavian who has been in the Hollywood economy for over ten years and has been in Los Angeles since she was 20 years old. ording to Kelly, she has devoted all of her best youth to thend of Hollywood.


    Kelly is a highly regarded top-notch agent at Universal Pictures, and has single-handedly brought up several Oscar winners over the past decade.


    As for Mica, Kelly admires her and rightly so, it’s been a long time since we’ve seen a Scandinavian actress of Mica’s aptitude and unique profile.


    As a Scandinavian, Kelly naturally loves her country more than blondes, and would of course prefer the Scandinavian actress to go international and win a few Oscars.


    At nine-thirty, Kelly appeared at Mica’s door and rang the doorbell.


    “Honey, open the door, what are you doing? It’s nine-thirty, it’s time for us to go to the set!”


    Standing in the doorway, on her hated feet, right after yelling, Kelly picked up the phone and got back to talking to someone in the industry on the phone in an extremely flirtatious and soothing voice.


    Busy takeoff.


    Mica hurried to open the door.


    When the door opened, Kelly saw Mica in her pajamas, eyebrows raised, and she didn’t even have time to switch between English and Chinese, spitting out a mix of Northeastern and Los Angeles ents, “Miss, why don’t you change? You think the crew is your home? That you cane and go as you please? If the director has an aunt today, you’ll be finished.”


    Aunt? Do male directors still have the rule?


    Kelly pushed Mica into the closet, “Get changed! You have three minutes, okay?”


    Mica signaled “OK” and Kelly stood outside the checkroom waiting.


    Mica was changing in the checkroom as she argued with Kelly, “Kelly, can I take two days off tomorrow?”


    Kelly’s eyebrows furrowed like two caterpirs, “You just walked onto the set, big sis! You just shot a scene and you’re running off, what do you want the director and producer to think of you? Sister, do you still want to be in Hollywood?”.


    “Just two days, and when Ie back, I’ll focus on work, okay?”N?velDrama.Org (C) content.


    “No! This is non-negotiable! By the way, are you going to take some time off toe home?”


    Mica changed and came out of the checkroom, “Yes, I want to take some time off to go home.”


    “What are you doing home, for your boyfriend’s birthday?”


    Kelly made up a random rant, not expecting Mica to be really quiet.


    Kelly yelled, “No way, sis, I really guessed it, didn’t I, do you really have a boyfriend?”


    Mica defaulted.


    Kelly looked at her and said, half jokingly and half seriously, “I’m not opposed to youing home for your boyfriend’s birthday, but you need to think hard about whether you want a short-lived love or a career that will be with you for the rest of your life. At your age, I understand, going home to spend a birthday with your boyfriend for two days in style and depravity may move your ego to tears, but honey, you should know that you may lose a great opportunity by going home for two days, and this opportunity may cause you to take a step forward in your career and win a little gold medal or something.”


    Kelly is thirty-five years old, single, unmarried, a strong woman to the core, not maritalistic, career-oriented, and men are just a floating cloud in her eyes.


    Mica understands what she means and, in the end, is also swayed by Kelly.


    She also hesitated.


    Indeed, it was very unprofessional, unmotivated and apocryphal to have to take time off to go home right after joining the group.


    Kelly looked at her, reached out and patted Mica’s shoulder, and said lightly and meaningfully, “Youngdy, I would advise you not to pretend to work hard, because the results don’t follow. Sometimes you strive for what you want the least in order to get what you want the most. You have taken some time to go home to spend your boyfriend’s birthday, you can go, I won’t stop you, but don’t cry to me if you lose something. You have a very rare opportunity, hold on to it.”