Chapter 104 Bullying Lucas?
Orval clenched his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white.
If he had known Amelia was this good at makeup, he would have just let the original makeup artist do Lucas's makeup.
But now the makeup was done, and regretting it wouldn't help.
He couldn't just make Lucas remove his makeup and redo it for no reason, could he?
His own assistant, he could yell at or hit whenever he wanted, but Lucas was a colleague after all, and his senior in the industry.
If Lucas went around talking about it, not only would Lucas get attention from it, but it would also cause him a lot of trouble.
What should he do?
Orval's mind raced.
He used to be a street thug and had done plenty of bad things, so when it came to doing bad things, he had a natural talent.
So Orval quickly came up with a plan.
His eyes landed on a female artist not far away, then he smirked and sent her a message on his phone.
The female artist's phone buzzed, and she quickly looked over at him.
Orval gave her a slight nod, and though the female artist was reluctant, she nodded back anyway.
Within three seconds, the female artist suddenly clutched her stomach.
"My stomach hurts so bad."
Everyone looked over.
The female artist's assistant quickly asked, "Kennedy, what's wrong?"
The female artist named Kennedy said with a pale face, "My stomach really hurts. It might be my gastritis acting up. Take me to the hospital."
Her assistant hesitated and said, "But we're about to start shooting."
"If I could push through, I definitely would, but my stomach really hurts. Go tell Louie for me that I can't shoot today."
With that, Kennedy stood up holding onto the table, ready to leave.
Her assistant had no choice but to help her leave.
Kennedy's departure soon caught the attention of the manager, Louie.
He came to the makeup room to check on the makeup progress, then anxiously made phone calls to find someone.
"Yes, a female artist suddenly can't shoot."
"Can you check if the company has any other female artists in Goldenvale?"
"No? Not a single one? Even trainees who haven't officially debuted would work."
The person on the other end still said no.
Louie was incredibly frustrated.
Why did something go wrong at a time like this?
At this moment, Orval stood up, walked over to Louie's side, and whispered a few words.
Whatever he said, Amelia saw Louie look in their direction.
The next second, Louie walked toward them and said in a commanding tone,
"Lucas, remove your makeup. I'll have the makeup artist redo it for you."
Lucas was confused.
"I'm already done with makeup. Why do I need to redo it?"
Louie got straight to the point: "Kennedy is sick and can't participate in the shoot, as you just saw. I can't find a female artist to replace her on short notice, but I do have a male artist who can come. So, do the company a favor and dress as a woman like you did yesterday."
Lucas frowned immediately.
Dressing as a woman for a drama, he could convince himself it was for the sake of art.
Besides, the original character in the drama was also a male assassin disguised as a woman, and in the final scene, he would return to men's clothing.
But dressing as a woman for a promotional shoot was something he really couldn't accept.
"I can't do it. Please find someone else."
However, as soon as Lucas refused, Orval immediately followed up, "Lucas, isn't that a bit selfish of you?"
Lucas looked over.
He heard Orval continue,
"It's just dressing as a woman, not some big deal."
"Besides, Louie said he's asking you for a favor, to help the company out of a tight spot."
"You don't usually contribute much to the company, and now when it's time to give back, you won't even help with something this small?"
Lucas was about to speak when Amelia spoke first.
"Since you think dressing as a woman for a promotional shoot is such a trivial matter, why don't you do it?"
Orval blurted out, "How can I be the same as him?"
Amelia scoffed and asked back, "How are you different from my brother? Don't you both have two eyes and one mouth? If my brother can do it, why can't you? Or do you actually think this isn't a good thing to do?"
Of course it wasn't a good thing.
Dressing as a woman for a promotional shoot would only make people laugh.
Entertainment reporters might even speculate about his sexual orientation.
But Orval couldn't say what he really thought. If he did, he wouldn't be able to guilt-trip Lucas, and it might even expose his true intentions.
He glared at Amelia.
She looked pleasant enough, but her words were really annoying!
Lucas was no good, and neither was Amelia.
To think when he first saw her, he thought she was stunning.
Amelia met Orval's gaze without fear.
Orval took a deep breath, suddenly smiled, and said to Louie, "Louie, I was trying to help you out of kindness, and now I'm being misunderstood."
That light remark successfully triggered Louie's anger.
He coldly glanced at Amelia.
"This is our company's business. You're an outsider, so don't butt in. Otherwise, leave right now."
Then he turned to Lucas and said, "Your sister isn't from this industry, so she doesn't understand. But do you not understand either? I worked hard to get you this promotional shoot opportunity. Men's clothing or women's clothing, it's all the same—it's all a chance to showcase yourself. If you help out today, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future. But if you don't help, I'm afraid it'll be hard for me to fight for opportunities for you again."
Louie's words were a blatant threat.
Lucas was so angry his hands clenched into tight fists.
He knew that if he really participated in the shoot in women's clothing, all the roles that came his way in the future would be cross-dressing roles, making it hard to get ahead.
But if he didn't do it, just as Louie said, he probably wouldn't even get shooting opportunities anymore.
His contract with the company hadn't expired yet, and his family's situation was different from before—they couldn't afford such a high penalty fee.
He had no choice at all.
For the first time in his life, Lucas regretted entering this industry.
Seeing Lucas waver, Louie softened his tone and said, "Just think of it as doing me a favor. Help me this once, and I'll definitely repay you in the future."
This was reassurance after the threat.
Lucas closed his eyes and finally gave in.
He had no right to resist.
But having Amelia see him like this today made him feel truly ashamed.
As her brother, he had embarrassed himself in front of Amelia.
"So, have you decided?" Louie asked.
Lucas slowly unclenched his fists, having accepted reality.
"I—"
He had just said "I" when Amelia interrupted him.
"You need a girl, right? I can replace that female artist for the shoot."