Chapter 13

“You are gonna wear that?”

“Really?” Tony asked again in wonderment. Mason looked at the suit he’d picked and frowned slightly.

“Ah, as expected it’s too fancy, isn’t it?”

All the suits inside Haley’s closet were either sparkling, hot pink, or claimed to be of post-modern style with strange shapes. So he picked up the least loud of them and yet, the fit was strange, sticking close to him.

The last time he wore a suit was when he worked as a bodyguard, about 10 years ago and since it’s been a while, he couldn’t get used to the feel of wearing suits.

“Fancy?”

“What? Where?” Tony eyes widened as he asked. Mason looked at the suit he’d picked. Tony’s expression said, ‘I’m not sure whether you genuinely asked me if it’s too fancy or just being sarcastic.’

“In fact, I was wondering when did you even own such a sensible suit. You always liked fancier things.”

Tony said, “You once said that, for your next “crank-in” movie party, you would wear this” and took out a hot pink suit.

“Do you want this?”

“….I’ll just wear this one.”

Mason suddenly felt tired and went inside with the suit he’d picked. Tony shouted from outside, “We need to go to the salon too, so get ready fast!”

“A salon?” Mason asked in a loud voice while putting on his pants. A salon? What salon?

“You need to do your hair and makeup.”

‘We really don’t have time!’ Tony screamed, and Mason tucked his shirt under the pants and put on the jacket. Ah, this is really strange. Mason looked at his own reflection at the mirror.

The suit was unexpectedly not a tight one. The width was small, so it had some tightness to it, but because his body was very thin, it was also a bit roomy. However, whether it was on purpose or because Haley wore this when he was little, the pants were a bit short and his anklebones were sticking out. And also he couldn’t pinpoint it, but the overall look had an erotic vibe.

Was it because of the high quality navy cloth or how it contrasted with Haley’s pale skin?

“You need to be fast. Are you done?”

Tony burst into his room and asked, and instead of looking at him, Mason was looking at the mirror and replied to him.

“No, I’m not going to a salon. What hair and even makeup…“

“What’s wrong with blow drying your hair and….”

Tony opened his mouth, as if to say ‘you should still dress up,’ but stopped. Mason shook the dust off the collar of his jacket and looked back at him.

“Huh?”

When he turned around, Tony’s eyes were wide open and he was staring at him.

“Do I look weird? Should I wear something else?”

“Would I be able to find something more sensible than this? Can’t I wear just a shirt and pants?” Mason asked, and Tony shook his head like it was going to fall off and said “No.” With his eyes sparkling, he said

“No. Perfect. It’s per-fect!”

He said ‘there is no need to touch up anymore’ and, “Not going to a salon. Why should we go to a salon, when you are this handsome?!”

“Let’s go and get some camera massage.”

Tony said, ‘You look so handsome, you should arrive early and get a lot of pictures taken’. He held Mason’s hand and dragged him to the car quickly. Tony’s Porsche headed to the Wilshire Grand Hotel’s banquet hall.

And a black truck followed them secretly.

***

“Wow, who is this?”

Vick greeted Mason with an exaggerated tone. He already looked a little buzzed. Mason bitterly smiled at the director who was moving towards him saying, ‘Ugh, my eyes hurt.’

“You really didn’t get anything done? How do you look so nice?”

“You shouldn’t do that anymore, director. Do you know there’s a rumor that you are gay?”

Because Vick was talking so much about Haley in the media, some people even started to say that he might have dangerous feelings towards Haley, for real. They knew that he loved his wife a lot, so they called it a joke, but anyway Vick was so into Haley that the rumors were beginning to spread.

“And there’s a rumor that you are not gay these days.”

Vick was sipping the champagne, and Mason shrugged his shoulders. It seemed like, because he wore more sensible clothes than was usual and acted calmer, such kind of talk was going around. But they knew that Haley was totally gay and again, they were just joking.

“I was actually worried about what kind of clothes you were gonna wear….. You know, there’s a magazine I enjoy reading and it had a full page of your suit collection and about your fashion”

Vick shivered even thinking about it. Mason understood his shock. Vick had only seen Haley’s cloth collection on a magazine page, but Mason had actually opened the closet and seen them only a moment ago. When he saw the rainbow colored suit, he was seriously worried whether Haley had a problem or not.

After parking the car, Tony went somewhere and walked into the hall with his nose held up high.

“All the reporters outside are only talking about you.”

Tony got closer and said in a very excited tone. Vick offered a champagne glass to Tony and said, “Understandable” and nodded his head.

“Our Liz was once well known as a model.”

‘He has a good body, so the suit fits him well,’ Tony seemed unable to close his mouth about how cool Haley looked. He poured so many praises that if someone else heard it, they would think he was haughty. And to top it off, Vick agreed with him, “Right? I have good eyes.”

Mason indifferently watched the two chatting and clasped a glass of champagne. He thoughtlessly took it to his mouth, but somebody tapped his shoulder and asked.

“Can you drink alcohol now?”

“Ah, Chase.”

When Mason turned around, a man who was tall like a bear smiled brightly showing his teeth and said

“You look really nice today, Haley.”

“Wow…. Did everyone plan this? What’s wrong with everyone?”

Since they’ve only ever seen Haley wearing a rainbow colored suit or a hot pink suit or the one showing belly button, it seemed like they were not used to him wearing a normal suit.

Actually Mason wasn’t used it either. ‘Why are this neighborhood people’s reactions so strong? Just hear them talk with sparkling eyes?’ Everybody acted as if his face had changed dramatically, even though what changed was on the inside.

Today, the party was happening in LA, at the Wilshire Grand Hotel and it was a “crank-in party” for ‘Real.’ “Crank-in” parties happened when the first scene of a movie was filmed and everybody usually went out and partied afterwards. But the “crank-in” party for ‘Real’ already took place a month ago, so they decided to have a simple party instead. They said they were going to keep it simple, but recently the media got interested in it and so, it got a little loud.

“But seriously can you drink champagne?”

Chase asked again, and Mason said, “Ah,” and stared at the champagne glass that had yellow liquid in it. Come to think of it, he didn’t know what Haley’s limit was. Since Haley had a history of being an alcoholic, even when he wanted to drink a can of beer after a work out, Mason couldn’t have any until the body was detoxified.

“Won’t it be okay today?”

Mason hesitated holding the glass, and Vick, who already drank a lot, coaxed him, and Tony agreed with him.

“We are gonna be very busy tomorrow, so just play however you want, at least for today. When you are done, just don’t drink and drive and just sleep here.”

Tony took out a hotel key like he’d already prepared it.

“Aaah.”

Mason chuckled and received the keycard and stared at it. What did he mean ‘do whatever, just don’t drink and drive?’ Tony was a real nice guy, but definitely not a person who could control Haley. It’s forbidden to say drink however you want to a person who had a history of addiction.

Mason put the champagne on a table and the card key into his pocket.

“You are not gonna drink it?”

“A little bit later. I want to stay sober for a while.”

Mason said jokingly and looked around. Definitely, they got in through somewhere. Earlier, while driving to the hotel in Tony’s car, there was a car tailing them all the way. They probably saw it somewhere because they had let a car in between them, changed lanes and kept following them. But in Mason’s professional eyes, he could see clearly that the car was just following him.

The paparazzi already knew he was coming to the hotel, so they didn’t have to secretly follow him. It’s probably Joy or other relatives. They said to watch out, so probably they were trying to catch a weakness. Mason felt indifferent at their obvious intentions.

It wasn’t even child’s play; he wasn’t stupid enough to make a mistake when he knows them very well.

Not drinking was one of the reasons. If he gets drunk and makes a mistake, it’ll get difficult.

If he doesn’t let them catch anything after several tries, they will figure out that handing out newspapers is more profitable than tailing him.

Chase just said hello and got rushed over to the other side by the other actors and moved to a different table. Tony said a funny goodbye, ‘Please take good care of Haley’ to Vick and left.

He had too bad a face, but then he’d told Mason a few days ago that it was his wife’s birthday. He probably felt disappointed that he couldn’t stay long in the world’s most perfect “crank-in” party, with the likes of Vick Procter, Chase Miller and his own actor. But he said he didn’t want his wife to be in a party where she doesn’t know anyone and would have to blend in with the wall.

Mason stopped Tony when he was trying to leave the hall.

“Tony. I almost forgot. There’s a shopping bag in the trunk, –give it to your wife.”

Mason smiled and said, ‘You can even say that you bought it.’ Tony blinked and closed his mouth. Mason saw his eyes were slightly getting red and told him to leave quickly.

“Tha, thanks!”

“Don’t give Chanel bags only to the writers –Spend a good day with your wife too.”

Mason mentioned the incident where Tony had bribed some writers with Chanel bags and sent him away. Tony looked as if he was moved, and he kept looking back several times. Mason felt a stare right next to him and turned back to find Vick.

“Hm. Isn’t giving a Chanel bag to a manager’s wife too much?”

Vick asked while sipping the champagne, and Mason stared at Tony for a while and said

“But he was the only one who didn’t leave me, when I was having a hard time.”

While living as Haley for about a month, Tony didn’t turn away from him, and he was the only person who didn’t hate Haley. Since he was the only one he could trust, this was worth it.

Vick said, “He does look like a nice man. But so-so as a manager” and laughed.

Mason chuckled and drank a punch without any alcohol in it.

“By the way, isn’t it better for you to go to another table? If you are with me this much, the rumor mill will get worse.”

“Are you really gay? The gay men around me are all sticky, but you are-“

Vick looked at Mason, from head to toe, and said

“You look like, you like women with big breasts.”

“…….”

Mason drank the punch instead of answering. Vick mumbled aimlessly, “When you saw Melisa, you looked at her boobs first, like a man. Actually, even I couldn’t do like that.”

Do they call geniuses, a “genius” because they can see everything that others can’t? Mason held his breath at Vick’s sharp observation.

Vick, who was sipping the champagne, changed the subject like he didn’t care whether Mason was gay or not.

“By the way, what’s your relationship with Raynoah?”

“Who?”

Mason asked unconsciously at the name popping out of nowhere.

“Not much? What kind of relationship would I have with Noah?”

‘Ah. Because I flirted with him?’ Mason asked back, and Vick ‘hmmed’ and closed his mouth.

“That’s right. What kind of relationship would you have with Raynoah? Even if there was, it’s just you following him around.”

“Well, yes.”

Mason didn’t have anything to feel bad about and nodded his head. To have a relationship with Noah as Haley, or even with the actual body of Mason… something felt off-balance. It wasn’t like he was self-deprecating, but Noah’s side was too high class and there was no helping it.

At Mason’s calm reaction, Vick tilted his head.

“Then why did he put you in my movie?”

“Put me?”

“Yeah. It was NLC that pushed you for the killer role, in the beginning. I just put you there, even though I didn’t want to, only because the biggest investor said so.”

‘And they were the only investors who were positive and backed me up this time.’ At what Vick said, Mason questioned–

“Who knows… Did you see Noah’s interview? He said he sympathizes me.”

“Is that it?”

Vick sipped the champagne and questioned.

“What else can it be?”

Vick said, “That’s true” at Mason’s placid and boring reply, and lifted his head. His stare was fixed at something behind Mason’s shoulder.

“Then if it’s not even because of you, why did that man come here?”

Mason turned around to look at where Vick had been staring. People were chatting and through the banquet hall door, a tall, blond man walked in. The man, who was wearing nothing special, but a classic black suit and clean red striped tie, stood out among the rest who were all dressed up nicely.

He really was handsome. Mason stared at the beautiful man walking in with a bright smile, Noah, and looked back at Vick.

“Because he is the biggest investor? –Isn’t it obvious for him to show up?”

“There are so many things that Noah is investing in. He’s probably sponsoring countless events. How can he appear in everything? And he doesn’t even come to this kind of events often.”

Vick said while sipping from a new glass of champagne. Mason nodded, ‘I see,’ even though he didn’t think that Noah came to specifically see him.

“Anyway, isn’t it better for you to stop drinking more champagne?”

Mason asked Vick, whose face was starting to get red, and behind them another voice interfered, “That’s right, it seems like others seem to have started now.”

When he turned around, Noah was standing right behind him, smiling.

“Originally, the director needs to get wiped out for the party to proceed smoothly.”

Vick said smiling, and Noah replied, “Indeed. You are even considering the staffs’ feelings” and held his hand out.

“We couldn’t properly greet each other last time –I’m Noah Raycarlton.”

“I was worried you might not make it since you are so busy, I’m grateful. I’m Director Vick. This– you know Haley, right?”

Vick dragged Mason, who was standing farther away and smiled, and Noah turned around to look at Mason while holding Vick’s hand. Mason swallowed the punch he was drinking and looked at Noah.

“You’re not drinking today?”

Noah asked smiling, and Mason felt stares from everywhere and said, “….Thanks to you.” It implied that, ‘because I got drunk and misbehaved with you, I quit drinking,’ and Noah laughed quietly.

Now the whole attention was focused on Raynoah, who had suddenly appeared in the party, and on Mason, who formed an uncomfortable relationship with him. It was no mistaken that their surroundings got quiet. In that uncomfortable atmosphere, only Vick and Noah had normal expressions. Even Mason could barely manage a calm look.

“Ahh. The director is leading like this, but the main character is not drinking. What a waste.”

Noah told Vick, and Vick nodded his head. Wasn’t the main character of this movie, Chase Miller? Mason just smiled with the flow and kept his mouth closed

“If Mr. Raycarlton gives in, won’t everyone appreciate it?”

The actual main character, Chase, handed Noah a glass of wine with a bright smile. Noah smiled apologetically.

“Ah, I have to meet a business partner in this hotel a while later. Thank you for the offer, but I’m pretty weak at drinking.”

Noah politely declined Chase’s glass and turned to Vick.

“Since this movie is the strangest process of work among other movies I’m investing in, I’m expecting a unique and fun premiere from you.”

Vick shrugged his shoulders, and Noah smiled with his eyes and continued.

“I don’t have that much time left, so I have to leave. I feel bad, just showing up for a short time. I’ll pay for the cost that goes into this party so don’t worry about the cost and just enjoy.”

Woahhhh! There was a cheering from the staffs and actors who were eavesdropping their conversation. Afterwards Noah smiled at Vick, who had a puzzled look, then turned around and walked into the elevator in the banquet hall that Phil was holding open.

Indeed, he set an excellent example for an honorable superior; generously paid for everything and left quickly.

“….. He’s too cool and I don’t like it at all.”

‘I don’t like him, that man’. Vick murmured, and Mason stared at Noah’s back and nodded. Noah didn’t look this way and went inside the elevator and disappeared, and Mason felt a little disappointed but forgot about it soon.

—————————————————————————–

Today is very long… I didn’t know where to cut. Since it’s just some conversation I just put up the whole thing haha.

Crank-in means when the movie started to film for the first time. I don’t know the term in English… I don’t think Americans use it. I looked up if there’s any term, but I couldn’t find it… If you know, please tell me!\n