Chapter 5

"Now I want you to form groups." The director ordered while everyone stood around her. "Jian, Hua Lin, and Wang Yan, you are the first group." She pointed at the drama siblings and their best drama friend.

"The second group is Wen Xiulan, Jack and Yi Bai." The director continued to call out names but Xiulan stopped listening. There were four groups in total, each with three members.

"I'll now explain the activity, pay attention." The director yelled over the small talking. The level of curiosity rose up. "Choose one from your group that will go first. It doesn't matter who it is because you'll take turns. Each one of you is now your drama character. You were all assigned to read the script and you should already have a good grasp of your role. All of you are in a group with someone you have scenes in the drama. I'll switch the groups several times, so you don't have to worry about that."

She took a deep breath before continuing.

"I'll give each of you a few pieces of paper. On each one is written a specific situation. The person whose turn it is will randomly pick one of the papers he's holding and show it to everyone. The remaining two have to act out their reaction according to their drama character. There is no wrong answer when you act, but think carefully and try to match the actions to your role as close as possible."

The director was finally done talking. She looked around at a few puzzled expressions before deciding to carry out an example. Her explanation wasn't as clear as she imagined.

"Wen Xiulan, Jack, come to the front." She demanded promptly and Xiulan flinched. He wasn't even paying that much attention since this exercise was one of the basic ones.

"Now, Wen Xiulan will draw randomly from this pile." She extended her hand towards him while holding a few small papers.

He obediently listened to her request.

"Chao Zhen just broke up with Li Feng. Uuuu, that's interesting. Jack is your best friend in the drama. I'll give you a few moments to think this through." The director grinned with excitement.

"Your name in the drama is also Jack, am I right?" Xiulan asked to make sure while he had already an idea how to act it out.

"Yeah. Quite a coincidence." He chuckled softly while showing no signs of nervousness. ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต'๐˜ด ๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ ๐˜ช๐˜ต ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ.

"I'll start the scene and you catch up," Xiulan suggested which more looked like a command. Jack didn't seem to mind.

"Okay, they're ready! Set aaaand... action!" The director yelled and clapped once. There was complete silence in the room while each pair of eyes looked at the acting duo.

Xiulan took a deep breath and then flipped out his phone. His expression changed from neutral to worrying. He bit his thumb while he was browsing his phone.

"Damn it." He cursed under his breath, yet it echoed in the big space. Each pair of eyes was on him at that moment, everyone waiting for the scene to unfold.

Ringing filled the room when Xiulan put the phone to his ear. The sudden and loud sound startled most of the present people. Jack, however, pretended not to hear it for a while and only then 'picked up' the phone.

"Yeah?!" Jack yelled while plugging his other ear with a finger.

"I messed up, bro," Xiulan said quietly.

"What? I can't hear you, hold on! The music is too loud!" Jack continued yelling while walking to the side for a bit.

"I said, I messed up." Xiulan repeated himself a bit louder. His voice was sharp and full of pain.

He took a few steps and slowly walked around in a circle to relax his tensed body. Xiulan wasn't in the room anymore. He was standing on the side of the road in the dark while the rain poured. Meanwhile, his best friend was in a club having fun.

"What do you mean? What's up?" Jack's voice softened while he frowned his eyebrows. His best friend wasn't being himself.

"I don't know what's up. I'm so confused now, I-... I don't k-know." Xiulan's voice cracked and he brushed his hair with fingers out of frustration. "I didn't want things to end up this way..." his eyes slowly began to fill with tears.

"Where are you now? I'll come to pick you up right away." Jack quickly suggested while signing to his imaginary friends that he needs to go.

"Donโ€™t botherโ€ฆ It's not you who I want to see right now." Xiulan decided to finish the scene off and his piercing gaze searched the room. His teary eyes landed on Jian Lan. Their looks met. "You're not ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต person."

***

There was a short silence before the others came to themselves. The mood in the room changed from serious to easy-going while everyone clapped.

"That was impressive! Wen Xiulan even made himself cry."

"I know, right? I wouldn't be able to change my emotions so quickly. He even looked at Jian Lan while saying the last phrase, I saw it."

The loud talk was all about Xiulan. ๐˜ˆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ๐˜บ ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ ๐˜ง๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ค๐˜ญ๐˜ถ๐˜ฃ? He thought to himself, yet he felt a bit flattered by the admiration.

"The club was a very good idea. It helped me to visualize the scene even better." Xiulan praised Jack and nodded as approval.

"Haha, Jack is a bit of a player so I thought this would suit him the most." His junior explained while wondering how weird it was to talk about himself in the third person.

"Now that we've seen how it's done, let's get started! I'll go around and give you notes if needed." The director commanded and everyone returned to their previous places since they made a place for the previously acted scene.

"Whoa, you were both so good! I wonder if I can catch up..." Yi Bai, a drama girlfriend of Jack sighed once they came closer.

"You wouldn't be here if you could not catch up." Xiulan muttered while turning to Jack. "You can go next." He suggested which yet again also sounded more like an order.

Xiulan wore a neutral expression most of the time while encountering people he wasn't familiar with. It appeared more like a cold glare though.

"Okay, let's see." Jack didn't protest and picked a paper. "Jack fights with a close person." He read out aloud. There was a shorter pause during which they thought about the scene.

"I got it. I'll start the scene with Wen Xiulan and you, Bai, will barge in later, is that okay?" Jack explained his plan. They both agreed.

Jack then proceeded to take a few steps backward and created a distance between himself and the two others.

"Zhen! Chao Zhen! Where's that bastard?!" He suddenly yelled and looked around. Then he charged against Xiulan as if he just saw him.

"Hey bro." Xiulan greeted him with a small smile.

"Don't you call me that." Jack's expression seemed truly angry. "I heard about what happened last night."

"What are you talking about?" Xiulan asked and took a step back. Jack was awfully close.

"You and Lina (๐™™๐™ง๐™–๐™ข๐™– ๐™ฃ๐™–๐™ข๐™š ๐™ค๐™› ๐™”๐™ž ๐˜ฝ๐™–๐™ž). How could you do this to your best friend?!"

"What the hell do you mean?" Xiulan also raised his voice. He was wondering what his 'best friend' came up with.

"I can't believe you're playing dumb here. I have witnesses that saw you two hugging!" Jack was barely containing himself. To calm down, he took a step back and hid his face in his palms.

"It's not how it looks like." Xiulan's voice softened.

Jack chuckled.

"So you don't deny it. You son of a bitch." He intended to say bastard but the flow has already absorbed him.

"Maybe if you paid more attention to your girlfriend, you'd know what is going on!" Xiulan snapped back.

Jack's head shot up and he grabbed his best friend by a collar.

"Repeat it." He squeezed the fabric tighter and Xiulan coughed involuntarily. A little more and he would be choking for real.

It was around this time Yi Bai was supposed to join in. Someone was, however, faster.

"Excuse me." A deep and husky voice said right next to the fighting pair. Jack's hand holding Xiulan's collar was grabbed a moment later. They both turned their heads in surprise. It caused Jack to loosened his grip, which gave Jian Lan a chance to push him away. There was a red mark left on Jack's hand when he let go.

The whole room was, yet again, paying attention to them.

"I still have some business with him." Jian Lan stood in front of Wen Xiulan, as if to protect him. His appearance changed completely and the aura around him was tense. He also seemed a bit taller and wider than before, as Xiulan noticed. The awkward boy was nowhere to be found.

"I'm afraid you have to step in line, I'm not done yet." Jack smirked, continuing to be in his character, things were getting interesting. The drama Jack was supposed to be a bit of gangster, so starting a fight was on point.

"I'm afraid my matter is more important." A very hostile vibe was around Jian Lan as he snapped back. His voice caused chills ran down his seniorโ€™s spine.

Xiulan couldn't understand what was going on. ๐˜ž๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ฑ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ฌ๐˜ช๐˜ฅ? He wanted to stop the acting as soon as he interrupted him but Jack kept going.

"Zhao Chen." Jian suddenly turned to him and grabbed his chin, forcing him to look up. Xiulan's mind was going blank when the kid's nose almost touched his. Their eyes were glued together. The look he was giving him was far from the one he had before. It was as if Jian Lan's evil and mature twin appeared.

"Haoran..." Xiulan whispered the other's drama name and felt the urge to push him away.

"You're truly driving me crazy, Chao Zhen."

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๐Š๐ž๐ž๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐œ๐ก๐š๐ซ๐š๐œ๐ญ๐ž๐ซ๐ฌ:

(Name = drama name (their role))

Jack - Jack (best friend of Chao Zhen and boyfriend of Lina)

Yi Bai - Lina (girlfriend of Jack)

Wang Yan - ? (best friend of Li Feng and Li Haoran)

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