CH 3

13.

For the following days, the film emperor did not contact the psychiatrist to invite him over since he had to rush to an outdoor shoot.

The outdoor scenes he had to film were set in the mountains. It was quite a remote location. After the shoot was wrapped up, all the staffs could only rest up in a hostel at the foothill. Even that was considered the best option they had nearby.

On one night, a thunderstorm raged on. Lightning accompanied by thunder could be seen outside the window. The film emperor got up and swallowed two Valium pills, but he still felt restless.

He called the psychiatrist.

“Sorry for disturbing you so late at night.”

It was obvious that the person on the other end was awakened from his sleep by the phone call. His voice sounded a little hoarse. He said, “It’s alright. Is there something wrong?”

“It’s thundering outside and I can’t sleep.”

14.

The psychiatrist told him, “Try turning off the lights first.”

“Okay.”

The film emperor did as he said.

“Close your eyes and relax your body.”

The film emperor laid down in bed. His brows were furrowed together, his breathing hitched.

He heard the psychiatrist ask, “What do you see?”

“A car. The highway.”

“Is your mother there?”

“Yes.”

The psychiatrist’s voice was gentle. “Don’t be afraid, it’s okay. There are no other cars on the road. Your car is going steadily, you’ll get home really soon.”

“Mhmm.”

“Shall I sing you a lullaby?”

“Okay.”

15.

A soft, gentle singing came from the other end of the call.

It was a very old song that the film emperor’s mother often sang to him when he was a child. In his memories, he never told anyone that he liked this song. But from the looks of it, he probably did tell the psychiatrist before.

The psychiatrist sang it quite differently from the way his mother did. It lacked a sweet, feminine touch but more of other emotions.

The film emperor couldn’t quite tell how it felt like, but one thing’s for sure, he really liked it.

He fell asleep listening to the song.

16.

When he woke up the next morning, the day had already cleared up. The film emperor was still holding his phone tightly, and the call was still going on.

He held it up to his ear and vaguely heard the slow, steady breathing sounds from the other end.

A soft smile graced the film emperor’s face. Then, he carefully hung up on the call.

Even though there was no difference if he did it roughly.

During the day when the film emperor was filming a fighting scene in the forest, the starlet came to visit.

Only then did he remember he had a boyfriend. One that he hadn’t contacted in many days.

17.

Thanks to the film emperor’s influence, the starlet had gotten many offers lately. His popularity rose without a stop and he glowed like an entirely different person.

The starlet brought along a lunchbox for him which caused all the staffs to look over with envy.

The film emperor opened the lunchbox but his chopsticks remained untouched. When no one was around, he whispered to the starlet, “I don’t eat carrots.”

The starlet glanced at the lunchbox filled with nothing but fried rice with carrots. His face turned red from the awkwardness.

After that, the starlet did not come by again even till the end of the outdoor shoot.

When the film emperor had a break from shooting, he searched up the few shows that the starlet had guested on recently. He realized that the starlet had quite a good variety sense and was quite smart too. His interactions with the other guests were amusing and natural as well.

He thought to himself: Forget it. Giving him a push wasn’t a bad thing either.

18.

The film emperor stayed in the mountains for nearly a month. When he got home, he enjoyed a comfortable, hot bath and soaked in his jacuzzi. After a change of clothes, he went to the clinic to meet the psychiatrist.

The two girls at the reception desk knew who he was and informed him, “Dr. Song is with a patient right now. Please wait in the lounge area for a while.”

The film emperor said ‘okay’ to them, turning around and taking two steps ahead before making a U-turn. “Does Dr. Song have a partner?”

The girls exchanged a look, then gossiped with the film emperor.

“We think he does. During lunchbreaks before, we could always hear him on the phone with someone. That tone of his was so sweet…tsk, tsk, it must be his partner.”

“He even called him ‘baby’. The other party must be a lot younger than him and is quite clingy.”

“But recently, we haven’t heard him talking on the phone anymore. Who knows if they’ve broken up already.”

19.

The film emperor sat on the bench in the lounge area while waiting. His conversation with the girls at the reception ran back and forth in his mind.

The psychiatrist was such a gentle person. He must be good at taking care of others when it came to dating them, right? The other party seemed to be really young too, they must be really happy being together with him.

At this time, the office door opened and the psychiatrist walked out from inside. He was really surprised to see the film emperor, “Why are you here?”

The film emperor pointed at the large bag of stuffs beside him. “I’m here to drop off some souvenirs.”

They were the dried bamboo shoots and wild vegetables that he bought in the mountains during the shoot.

The psychiatrist let out a loud laugh.

20.

“Do you know how to cook?” The film emperor asked.

The psychiatrist nodded. “A little. Do you want to try my roasted pork with bamboo shoots?”

Of course, the film emperor said yes.

He stayed in the clinic for a while longer until the psychiatrist got off work. Then the two of them went to the supermarket to buy some pork belly meat.

The film emperor wore a mask the whole time, but it was still hard to hide his superstar demeanour so many passersby would look back a few times at him.

The psychiatrist paid for their stuffs at lightning speed, dragged him along and ran back to the parking lot.

The film emperor placed the stuffs in the trunk and laughed at him, “If people didn’t know better, they would think we’re having an affair.”

The psychiatrist blushed upon hearing that.