Mr. CEO, You Look Strangely Familiar

Mrs. Grant patted her hand. ”I’m glad you understand. When the time comes, I’ll need you to put in a few good words for me with your mother.”

”Of course. Have you managed to contact my parents yet?”

Mrs. Grant shook her head. ”No. It’s very difficult.”

”There’s no rush. Let’s take our time,” Catherine Callahan said.

Nora Ainsworth was playing a woman who would sacrifice anything for love. Even though it was a supporting role, and her character died for the man she loved in the end, it was a great part overall.

It wasn’t one of those villainess roles.

The scene they were shooting this afternoon was one where another villainess frames the female lead, Lillian, and Nora’s character steps in to help.

After the director yelled, ”ACTION!”, the three women began their scene.

The female lead, Lillian, walked in carrying her purse and ran into the other villainess. The two traded insults, which led to a frame-up. After the deed was done, Nora Ainsworth’s character personally stepped in to quell the disturbance.

Just as the scene was ending, the hot coffee that the lead actress, Lillian, had just asked her assistant to buy, suddenly tipped over, spilling all over the back of Nora’s hand.

”AH!”

She screamed. Seeing what happened, other staff members immediately brought over a basin of cold water for her to soak her hand in. The agonizing sensation of the burn followed by the cold was almost unbearable.

The director came over and snapped, ”What happened? Nora Ainsworth, you have a scene tomorrow where you’re wearing the sponsor’s watch. With your hand like this, how are we supposed to film?”

Nora glanced at the lead actress, Lillian, knowing that nothing she could say at this moment would be right.

”I’m sorry, Director. It’s my fault. I didn’t see Lillian’s coffee was there. This is all on me.”

The director knew exactly what had happened, but he had to de-escalate the situation and prevent it from becoming a news story.

”Forget it, just forget it! Don’t let it happen again. That’s a wrap for today. Go home and get that treated.”

Nora nodded.

She left in a hurry, not even taking the time to remove her makeup.

The lead actress, Lillian, was secretly gloating. She shot Nora a disdainful look before heading off to remove her own makeup.

Nora left the studio and sat on the bus, tears welling in her eyes. She looked at the back of her hand and saw that large blisters had already formed. It was terribly red and swollen, and the pain made her gasp.

After getting off the bus, she rushed home. She had some burn ointment there.

The moment she pushed open the door, she was greeted by the sound of cheerful laughter.

Leon Lynch saw her and said, ”You’re back?”

”Yeah.” She looked around. ”Oh? Is little Melody White here too?”

Melody White hopped down from her chair and came over to greet her politely. ”Auntie, I came over to play.”

”Okay, go on and play. I’m just going to my room for a minute, then I’ll make dinner for you.”

Melody White nodded, a smile on her face. ”Thank you, Auntie! You’re so pretty, so I bet your cooking is delicious too.”

Nora pursed her lips. ”Such a sweet talker. Go on, keep playing.”

She hurried back to the bedroom and found the ointment. Just as she was about to apply it, the door opened, and Leon stood in the doorway.

When he saw her hand, his eyes narrowed. He strode forward and took it in his. ”What happened? Who did this to you?”

”I accidentally knocked over some coffee. It’s not a big deal. It’ll be fine once I put some ointment on it,” she explained.

Leon squeezed out the ointment and began to apply it for her. ”Your hand was perfectly fine,” he said, his voice full of distress. ”How could you be so careless and let this happen?”

Nora let him tend to her wound without a word, her eyes fixed on him.

Once the ointment was on, he stood up and gave her an order. ”You stay put. Don’t touch anything. I’ll make dinner.”

”Okay.”

Nora followed him out and sat at the table, looking at Melody White. ”How old are you?”

She answered sweetly, ”Auntie, I’m two.”

”Then can you tell me, is our Elmer a troublemaker at school? How is he compared to his big brother?”

Melody glanced back at Dylan, her little face turning shy. Nora thought she must be seeing things. ’Does a child this young even know what it means to be shy?’

”Dylan gets good grades. He can recite all the poems the teacher teaches us, and he always follows the rules. But Elmer is always causing trouble. He even changes the words to the poems, and it makes our teacher laugh.”

”Oh? How does he change them? Can you tell me?”

Elmer pouted. ”Don’t tell her! And why do you call him Dylan but you just call me Elmer? Call me Brother Elmer!”

Melody’s little face tightened. ”I won’t!”

Nora shot Elmer a look. ”You be quiet. Mommy’s listening to Melody.”

”Go on, Melody.”

Melody thought for a moment and said, ”The teacher taught us, ’Slack off in your youth, and you’ll regret it in your old age.’ But Elmer doesn’t say it like that. He says, ’Slack off in your youth, and you’ll be a surprise dad when you’re old.’”

Nora let out a PFFT of laughter and gave little Elmer a light bop on the head. ”You’re so young and you’re already rewriting famous poems!”

”Mommy, I was just kidding!” Elmer rubbed his head where she’d tapped him.

”Melody, are there any more?”

The little girl nodded eagerly. ”There are, Auntie! He also said, ’A long road tests a horse’s might, and in time you’ll be a surprise dad.’ And Auntie, did you know? He even put me in one of his poems!”

Nora was a little embarrassed. ”How did he put you in a poem? Tell me, and I’ll teach him a lesson for you.”

Melody said, ”He said: ’The sun on Incense Peak creates a purple haze; Melody shows up at the roast duck place. Her drool flows down three thousand feet, but she fumbles in her pocket and finds no money for a treat.’”

Nora looked at Elmer. ”You’re so clever for someone so young. Why don’t you use that brainpower for your studies?”

Elmer hung his head. ”Mommy, I won’t do it again.”

Nora sighed. ”Look at your brother, he doesn’t act like you. Elmer, you really can’t do this anymore, understand?”

He shook his little head and nodded, his eyes welling with tears.

After dinner, Melody went to use the bathroom on the second floor. Elmer toddled after her, making his way up the stairs.

He stood at the bathroom door, waiting. When she opened it, he was right there.

She said, her voice small but angry, ”I was just telling the truth to your mommy.”

He stood there, puffing out his chest with all the authority a toddler could muster. ”I’m not saying you weren’t telling the truth! But why did you have to tell my mommy? You’re supposed to be my chosen bride, you know! If you do this again, I’m going to play with Cindy at preschool tomorrow, not you! Then you can just cry your eyes out!”

Melody huffed. ”Fine, do what you want! I never said I wanted to be with you anyway. When we play house, Cindy is always the bride and I always have to be the daughter. So there! Hmph!”

Seeing her reaction, Elmer stammered, ”Well... fine! Next time, I’ll let you be the bride, okay?”

Melody nodded. ”That’s more like it. In that case, I won’t tattle on you to your mommy anymore.”