CHAPTER 009

“Do you have to come here with me?” Ciel rolls his eyes as he walks into the studio building with Lucas by his side, who is juggling a phone, and a coffee cup.

“As your manager, I need to make sure everything is going as planned.”

Again, Ciel rolls his eyes and combs a hand through his hair. “Yeah right.” As if he doesn't know the real reason Lucas decided to follow him to the shoot. “As if I don't know why you're here. I don't need a babysitter. It's already bad that everyone knows Xerxes is responsible for my cleansing, now I need to have my manager following me around.”

“Well, if you behaved like you were supposed to, I wouldn't be here to babysit you. Like seriously Ciel, do you have to do that? Imagine being awakened by a call at 6 in the morning from Mr. Laurent's assistant, warning me to keep you in check or we won't like the consequences, then I opened my emails to see photos of you kissing a costar?” Lucas rasps as if everything is unbelievable but with a Ciel, anything is possible.

“I nearly banged him,” Ciel says with nonchalance.

“Of course you did. Like seriously, do not pull another stunt like yesterday. I don’t care if they insult your mother, your acting, or your taste in shoes—keep your hands and your lips to yourself. Mr Laurent is doing us more of a favor than you to him.”

Ciel pokes his inner cheek. “You ruin all my fun. I thought you didn't even like this guy in the first.”

“Well, I do now as he's repaired your career.”

Ciel rolls his eyes. Of course, expect Lucas to lick the man's boot just to repair his damaged career.

Nothing else is said as they step into the main set area. Ciel expects the usual chaos of a pre-shoot but he's welcomed with an oddly subdued atmosphere. He's not receiving any glances and murmurs, everywhere is dead silent, with no familiar face in sight. It is as if the people he met yesterday at the shoot are gone from the surface of the earth.

Ciel leans toward Lucas. “Is it just me, or does it feel like someone died?”

Lucas opens his mouth to respond but the director appears, his face tight with a forced smile.

“Ah, Mr Reid! Good morning. We’ve had... a few changes to the cast.”

Ciel raises an eyebrow. “Changes? What kind of changes?”

The director gestures to the far side of the room, where a group of unfamiliar, yet familiar faces are being attended to by stylists and makeup artists—Ciel’s new co-stars, Ciel notices most of them are A-list stars.

Ciel stares back at the director in disbelief. “You replaced them? All of them?” it's just yesterday he met them and now, it's a whole bunch of different people! “But why?” Is it possible to change a movie cast overnight?

The director clears his throat, looking awkward and anywhere but Ciel's face. “Yes. After reviewing some... incidents, it was decided that a fresh dynamic was needed. Meet your new castmates.” then he walks away before Ciel questions him any further.

Ciel turns to Lucas, his voice dripping with sarcasm as he says.  “Do I smell like death or something? Because people seem to vanish after spending time with me.”

Lucas tsks and retorts dryly. “Maybe it’s your sparkling personality.”

“Ah, isn't it the famous Ciel Reid?”

Ciel sharply turns, his eyes widen as he sees Milo Ashford, his favorite actor of all time, walking majestically towards them. Ciel tries his best to conceal his excitement as the man comes to a stop in front of them.

“Hi, I'm Milo Ashford, I'm part of the new cast.” He reaches his hand out for a handshake, Ciel stares at it blankly for a moment till Lucas jams his elbow at his side. Ciel immediately shakes the man's hand, his smile widening. “I'm glad we've finally met, I've heard a lot about you and seen a lot of your movies, you're a great actor.”

“Thank you, I've heard about you too. “ Ciel tries not to blabber out the fact that he has a poster of the man on his bedroom door.

“I will see you around.” He says and with a nod to Lucas, he walks away, joining the other cast members.

“Did you just see that?”

Lucas looks down at his phone. “Yeah, you just met your favorite actor. Congratulations.”

Ciel crosses his arms over his chest, a smile taking over his face while his eyes stay glued to Milo. “Seems like the change isn't a bad idea.”

Lucas shoves his phone into his pockets with a sigh, then he grabs Ciel's hand and forces him along till they are at a corner, away from earshot.

“Ciel, please for the sake of everything you hold dear, behave.”

Ciel sneers. “Relax, I'm not gonna jump on the man and kiss him.” he might be a horny ass but he isn't a pervert.

Lucas exhales a deep breath. Ciel can tell he's ready to go into a full rant. ”Do you think it's a coincidence that the whole cast was changed overnight?” Lucas doesn't wait for him to respond as he continues. “It isn't, Ciel. Xerxes Laurent did this and that's because of what you did. This man can turn your whole life upside down and you're taking it as a game. Xerxes Laurent is a scary man, he's been in the business world for decades and he's feared by everyone, one snap of his finger and we’re gone.”

Ciel knows Xerxes is a scary man alright. His icy yet emotionless gray eyes, his clenched jaw, his calm and composed posture, his physique, everything about the man is terrifying. The man even smelled like blood.

“I know you do not want to do this but this is all we got to save your career and once the year is over, it will be like this never happened. We can not afford to be a liability, Ciel. So please, Ciel, for me, for us, be on your best behavior. This is your only means of escape, remember?”

Yes, Ciel remembers. Those memories have been stuck with him, giving him sleepless nights most of the time; making him doubt his worth and increasing his insecurities.

He will do anything as long as he doesn't fall back into the pothole he crawled out of.

“Fine, I will try my best not to be self-destructive.”