Chapter 4 (1/1)

Charmaine walked into the apartment she shared with Natalie and dropping her bag onto the floor, she fell onto the sofa.  "I'm exhausted," she groaned and stretched herself against the full length of the sofa.Pushing aside Charmaine's legs, Natalie sat down on the space she emptied and asked with interest, "So, who was the mystery celebrity?"The reminder of last night brought a scowl to Charmaine's face.  "Don't ask," she grumbled and seeing the flare of interest in Natalie's eyes she quickly pulled her legs to swing around Natalie's body and scooted off the sofa.  "I need to shower.""Not so fast."  Natalie's hand shot out to stay Charmaine before she could take a step.  "Tell me who it was," she persisted and Charmaine's refusal only sparked her curiosity further."It's no one you're interested in," Charmaine responded evasively.  She didn't want to go into details and ruin Natalie's admiration of their idol Raymond Lam.  Ex-idol for Charmaine.  Thinking back to last night, Charmaine wondered why she even bothered to escort Raymond Lam upstairs to his apartment.  After the way he treated her and the insults he hurled, she should have left him sprawled on the floor in the parking lot.  What's worse was when she actually got him inside the apartment.  He began undressing immediately, throwing his clothes everywhere and when he wasn't making progress due to his drunken stupor, he ordered her in a nasty tone to finish undressing him.  Charmaine had enough!  Giving him a not too gentle push, she stormed out of his place.  During the drive home she was able to calm down and push aside the incident.  No sense in holding a grudge since she definitely won't be seeing him again.  Her mood lightened and with him completely forgotten she went back to her usual perky self.  That is, until she returned home and went into her room.  Posters of Raymond Lam screamed out to her from her walls and the sight of him smiling so innocently, sexily, and dreamily back at her when in fact, he was a two faced jerk, riled her up again.  In a frenzy of rage and humiliation, she tore the posters down and shred each and every one into long strips which she immediately dumped into the garbage.  Although doing that didn't demolish all her pent up anger towards him but it did make her feel better.  Now with Natalie asking her and reminding her of the horrible night, Charmaine could feel her agitation rise."I was hoping it might be Raymond Lam and you could share with me some personal information about him," Natalie said with disappointment on her face."Well it wasn't him," Charmaine answered in what she hoped was a casual voice.  Tugging at her arm she asked, "Now can I take a shower?""Who was it then?" Natalie pressed, oblivious to the glower on Charmaine's face.Charmaine shrugged her shoulders nonchalantly and said, "It's no one you'll be interested in hearing about."Natalie gave her a funny look that was a mixture of disbelief and surprise.  Judging by the tight lipped expression on Charmaine's face, Natalie concluded that it must be the opposite for Charmaine to be so reluctant in exposing the identity.  Pulling Charmaine back down on the sofa, Natalie's gripped tightened and she reasoned, "If it's no one important, you shouldn't mind telling me who it was."Coming up with an idea to end this topic with Natalie once and for, Charmaine blurted out, "Alright!  Alright!  I didn't want to mention his name but since you force me to… It's Louis Yuen.  Satisfied?""What?  Louis Yuen?" Natalie gasped with disgust.  "I can't stand that guy.  He can't act and I don't even find him funny at all."Charmaine smiled sweetly at Natalie and said, "I know and that's was why I didn't want to tell you who it was.  Can you let go of my arm now?"Natalie instantly released Charmaine's arm and gave her an apologetic smile.  "By the way, Jazz called before.  He tried calling you on your cell phone but you weren't picking up.""He did?" Charmaine retrieved her bag from the floor and rummaged through her belongings to pull out her cell phone.  She noted that she did indeed have some missed calls from him.  "I guess I didn't hear it.""He wants you to call him.  Said it's urgent," Natalie said and giving Charmaine a grave look she put in, "He didn't sound too happy."Charmaine could easily guess why.  Mr. Big Shot Celebrity must have taken his displeasure with her out on Jazz.  Well, he wasn't the only one who's upset.  "I'll call him in a bit," she said then hurried into her room.-----------------------------------------------Raymond had finished his last scene for the day.  It was already well past 9:00 pm and he started shooting early in the morning.  Still reeling from his hang over, he moodily jumped into Jazz's van and slammed the door shut.  Jazz immediately jumped up from his seat to pass Raymond a towel and a bottle of water.  With his eyes glaring frostily at Jazz, Raymond uncapped the water and drank half of its content before lowering it from his mouth.  "What's my schedule for tomorrow?" he clipped.  He was still angry with Jazz for finding that hellcat from last night.  Because of her, Raymond had woke up on the floor of his kitchen, half dressed and with a big bruise on his arm which still hurt every time he accidentally touches it.  He didn't even remember how he got the bruise or how he ended up on the kitchen floor when he should have been sleeping in his own bed.  She didn't even have the responsibility to make sure he was in bed before leaving.  What kind of assistant is that?  When Jazz came to pick him up this morning, Raymond went into a full blown tirade cursing and screaming foul things about her and Jazz had kept quiet.Jazz shivered slightly under Raymond's hot glare.  He knew Raymond still hasn't gotten over what happened last night.  He has only heard Raymond's version of what happened and Jazz knew Raymond had a tendency to overreact to the smallest thing.  Charmaine must have had a good reason for doing what she did.  But to placate him Jazz didn't bother to defend Charmaine in front of him.  He simply remained silent and let Raymond throw his tantrum.  Jazz was immune to his tantrums by now for Raymond practically throws one or two tantrums every week.  He is what some may refer to as a drama king.  Shifting uncomfortably under Raymond's scrutiny, Jazz gulped and said lowly, "Your scenes for tomorrow are less so you don't have to report to the studio until afternoon."Pushing the bottle of water into Jazz's stomach, Raymond turned from him and pulled out his cell phone.  He punched in some numbers and waited.  A smile formed on his lips after a few seconds and he spoke into the phone, "Hi, it's me.  Are you available for a drink?"  His smile broadened as he listened to the voice on the other end.  "Great, I'll meet you at Club 21 in an hour.  Wait for me inside."Jazz waited for Raymond to finish his call before sitting down on the seat opposite of him.  "Ray, I have something to tell you."Raymond gave him a brief glance and then turned to stare indifferently out the window.  In a bored tone, he said, "What is it?""I need to take some extended time off.  My mother is still very sick and I need to tend to her," Jazz gushed out in one breath.Raymond turned his gaze on Jazz and the skepticism on his face had Jazz shifting his eyes around nervously.  "Time off.  You already took last night off," Raymond reminded gruffly."I know but my mother is really sick.  I have to take care of her," Jazz cried fervently.  "I won't take that long, a few weeks, two months at most.  I'm all she has!"Raymond softened somewhat seeing the emotion on Jazz's face when he spoke about his mother.  Looking grudgingly out the window again, he said, "Fine, take the time off but make sure you find me a competent assistant before you take your leave."As if that would be an easy task, Jazz thought with strain.  While Raymond had been shooting his scenes, Jazz spent the time trying to find a suitable temporary replacement.  All the ones that got along with Raymond were taken and even the ones who Jazz thought Raymond would approve have other things lined up already.  The only available person Jazz could think of was Charmaine.  She was reliable, trustworthy and best of all, quick thinking.  In their line of work you must be able to adapt to any situations and make the most of it.  But after what happened last night, Jazz was afraid to even bring her name up to Raymond.  Still, there was no other choice.  Risking his wrath, Jazz cleared his throat nervously and said, "I-I already have someone."With his eyes still looking out the window, Raymond asked, "Who?  Is it someone who assisted me before?""Yes!" Jazz replied at once.  "Although you guys had a rough start I truly believe it'll work between you two the second time around."That statement got Raymond's attention.  Turning to look directly at Jazz, Raymond asked coolly, "Who is this person?"Trembling under Raymond's probing eyes, Jazz responded hoarsely, "Charmaine Sheh, the one from last night."