The Alchemists

Chapter 418 - The Professional Actor

After being together for more than a dozen years, Jean's relationship with Billie was special. They were not husband and wife and they have never lived together, but the closeness between the two was like best friends or brother and sister - similar to a couple who had long been married.

Usually, after a few years, the relationship between a husband and wife was no longer filled with love driven by lust, but rather love for a companion or life partner, and that was what happened to Jean and Billie Yves.

They understood each other and supported each other well. It's just that Jean had no wish to be a father and raise a family with Billie; he also no longer had a strong physical desire for the beautiful girl. He greatly admired Billie, but he no longer wanted her physically ... So, they decided to part ways.

Jean saw how different his relationship with Billie was, when compared to Caspar and Finland's marriage. After 21 years of marriage, they still doted on each other and were obviously still very much in love - they still had a lot of desire for each other.

He saw that the two were still very intimate with each other, still showing lust and passion, and always touching - they even often make outsiders grumble for being thrown so much dog food by the couple.

And what was crazy was that, this couple very often went on honeymoon. This year was already their umpteenth honeymoon!

Jean wanted to feel love like that. He didn't want to settle for less than love, chemistry and magic, like what he saw from Caspar and Finland.

***

Two weeks later, Terry and Jean left for Singapore. Jean fulfilled his promise to help Terry's short film project. For the sake of privacy, he stayed at the Continental Hotel while studying the scripts from Terry. They would start shooting as soon as Terry gathered his crew.

Terry's return to campus invited much attention. Few people had discovered that he and Aleksis were related by blood. There was also that horrendous event that caused Aleksis to disappear from campus, which made many people wonder what had really happened.

Coupled with Nicolae's disappearance into thin air, Terry became the target of so many people's questions when he first returned to campus.

"Big Brother Terry, what happened to Nicolae? Why isn't he coming to campus anymore?" asked several juniors who managed to approach him during lunchtime. Terry just raised his hand as a sign that he didn't want to answer any questions.

"Sorry, I'm not Nicolae's babysitter, you guys can just ask him yourself," Terry answered nonchalantly. "Excuse me, I'm busy. Please go and bother other people."

His short film was already two weeks late and now Terry had to work extra hard to ensure that his final assignment could be finished on time to be screened at the local cinema. He had contracted a reliable assistant and two editors to work like horses to edit his footages. They were members of the campus theater and film club in which he was the president of for two years.

When he postponed the filming due to family affairs, and with the disappearance of Nicolae who was supposed to play in their film, the enthusiasm of his crew had dissipated and he had to hold a meeting to convince them that they could do it in such a limited time.

During the meeting in the hall he borrowed, Terry reassured them that he had succeeded in finding a replacement actor who was far better than Nicolae.

"The only person who is more popular than Big Brother Nicolae is Big Brother Terry himself, does this mean you have decided to perform?" asked Masawe, one of the production assistants, his junior.

"No, I managed to get a professional actor for this movie." Terry seemed to smile very mysteriously. He half wished that he had installed a hidden camera to record his crew's reaction as he brought Jean into their midst. "We will start shooting tomorrow in the usual place, so please don't be late."

Singapore was a really small country and its entertainment industry was not very advanced compared to Korea, Japan, and Western countries, so Terry's crew could only guess which of the few Singaporean actors that Terry had successfully persuaded to help him in his short film project.

As the main female lead, Terry chose a sophomore student who had often played films at the national level. His junior was very interested in working with Terry because she had admired Terry since she was a freshman.

She believed that someday Terry would have a bright future in Hollywood and she wanted to experience working with Terry before he became very famous.

When they gathered for a pre-production meeting, the crew finally discovered who the professional actor whom Terry successfully extorted to join their production was. Jean casually entered the hall and for a few seconds the students didn't realize who he was because they were too shocked to see the familiar-looking person.

"Uh, that ... that guy looks like Jean. Is there anyone else with a face like that?" James whispered to Isla next to him. Isla, the female lead, blinked several times as if it would help her see Jean better.

"He does look like him, but why would that person come here?"

"Hello, everyone! Let me introduce you to the professional actor who will help us for this film and guarantee our success ... hahaha," Terry said, smiling broadly, "This is Jean."

The crew looked at each other, dumbfounded.

"No way!!" they exclaimed.

They were all completely wrong. They thought the actor who would help them was from Singapore or maybe from a neighboring country. It turned out ... it was actually one of Hollywood's biggest stars, who only recently announced that he was taking a leave from acting.

"Wow, he looks so young in person," Robert said admiringly. "I honestly thought the photos were heavily edited in Photoshop, you know ..."

"Well, it's not uncommon for celebrities to do that. They can afford the exorbitant cost of skin care and facial treatments, so they can stay looking young," Isla whispered. "He looks just like a senior in our campus."

"Whooaaa ... I also want to be a famous actor so I can stay young," James exclaimed enthusiastically.

Terry had to clear his throat a few times so his crew would stop gossiping. Isla hurriedly got to her feet and greeted Jean enthusiastically.

"Hello, my name is Isla. We will star together in this film. Please help me to do well,"

Isla immediately was shouted at by her friends who knew that she just wanted to approach Jean. The girl smiled shamelessly and gave them her middle finger.

"Hello, Isla." Jean welcomed Isla's greeting but did not give her any more attention, making the girl a little disappointed.

"Alright, we should start the pre-production meeting, and tonight we will start shooting some main scenes."

Terry clapped his hands and all the crew and actors sat neatly and waited for instructions. Jean sat next to Terry and observed his son in action.

He was a proud father.?Terry had often come with him to the set and was familiar with the various film production processes, so he was used to all the activities he was doing now.

Jean felt that Terry was very talented and that someday he would definitely become a great movie maker. As a father he couldn't help feeling proud.