Chapter 156: He’s Not My Real Daddy

Director Thomas got to his feet, a look of pure fascination in his eyes as he watched the woman on stage.

He looked down at the model image of Astrid on a large tablet, her lightly indifferent expression with the faintest hint of softness in her eyes. A woman like Astrid had closed off her heart to people, hence she usually appeared cold to people but she was a very warm person on the inside. The woman on the tablet was just an illustration, but none of the artists who had entered this room so far had been able to embody half the amount of accuracy in her character as this actress.

Celine Roberts.

He’d heard of her comeback to the industry, turns out it wasn’t just baseless rumors after all.

“She’s perfect.” Director Thomas said to the board of men next to him, “Cancel the other auditions left for today, I think we’ve found our Astrid.”

Several members of the panel nodded in agreement but one person maintained a troubled look.

“I agree she’s very talented, but there’s another actress already guaranteed the lead role. We don’t just need talent in film, we need influence as well, over the past few years, this miss Roberts has only been swimming in scandals, Lilian on the other hand is clean and fresh to the public, so that makes her perfect for the role instead.” Dylan Roderick had a special ongoing deal with Lilian where he had already assured her the lead role, the audition was just to fulfill formalities and nothing else.

“Who is this Lilian?” Director Thomas asked cluelessly, when it came to stars he remembered them better by their performances, not their popularity and influence.

“The star who played Estelle in Divine Lovers, sir.” His assistant whispered by his ear to give him the information and an image immediately settled into the man’s mind, his face turned somewhat sour.

“Her? As far as I know, her acting is just passable, I don’t just need a pretty face to play Astrid, I need real talent, and that’s rare among all the pampered dolls you all promote in this industry.”

Dylan was rendered silent, an awkward look in his eyes.

“Get in touch with her manager and set up a…” Director Thomas was just giving instructions to his assistant when Mr Roderick chimed in again.

“Lilian isn’t just a pretty face, she has pure talent too. She has been lined up for the auditions, at least see her performance first.”

Mr Roderick didn’t expect Thomas to be here today, the latter usually never showed up at auditions like this. However since this was the highest budget film for this year, the man seemed to have decided to be very thorough in choosing the leads.

Director Thomas believed in following protocol, so he didn’t complain or reject the man’s suggestion and gestured for Lilian to be called into the room.

On her way out, Celine caught the sharp displeasure in Lilian’s eyes, and she sent her a warm greeting in the form of a knowing wink.

Her grudge with Lilian ran deep, If Ian had nothing to do with those rumors about her that caused crazy fans to come after her, the only other person it could be was Lilian, hence slowly snatching off her role felt extremely satisfying.

Lilian never prepared to give her best in these auditions, after all, she had a deal with Mr Roderick, but seeing Celine’s performance, if she didn’t outdo Celine, people were going to talk, she was already hearing whispers from the smaller actresses auditioning for minor roles whispering praises about Celine’s acting skills, she had to give her absolute best now.

When Lilian entered the room, she wrapped her confidence up in a ball, showing a kind and friendly smile to the panel.

Mr Roderick sent her a secret look of assurance and she let out a relieved sigh knowing she wouldn’t have to do too much after all since he was here. She chose a random scene in the script and began to play her role.

The scene required other people to play the role with her, so some of her assistants walked in to stand in.

“Oh fuck, her acting skills have improved!” Elise whispered to Celine as she watched Lilian’s performance with a slight look of awe in her eyes.

Celine tilted her head watching the scene, a light smirk playing on her lips as If she knew exactly what the outcome of the audition would be either way.

“Let’s go.” She said, suddenly shocking Elise.

“What, you want us to leave? We have to wait to hear what the director will say.” Elise said.

“Director Thomas is fair and just unlike many in this industry, I can say for certain, the best actress will definitely win these auditions.” Celine said as she walked away.

It took Elise a few seconds to grasp the meaning in Celine’s words, she grinned happily before hurrying after Celine.

With Lilian’s mediocre skills, could she really beat Celine at getting a role if the game was played fair and square?

*****

“Mommy, where are you going?” Leah asked her mother when she saw her packing that evening.

Celine smiled at her little girl, “I have to go out of the country on a business trip for a few days.” Celine explained but halted her actions of folding a dress when she noticed her daughter’s slightly sunken expression.

“What’s wrong baby? Don’t worry, Mommy will be back really soon, I won’t take long, it’s only for a few days, and when I get back…”

“When you get back, you’re going to get married to uncle Julian.” Leah completed.

Celine froze, she hadn’t told the children that yet. “Who…who told you that?”

“Uncle Julian bought a ring, he said it’s your engagement ring and he wants to be our Daddy.”

Celine dropped what she was doing and carried the little girl, “Why do you look sad, don’t you like him?”

A big part of the reason Celine was doing this was her children, not getting their approval would make her feel like she was making sacrifices for nothing.

“No, I like him, uncle Julian is really nice. But…”

“But what baby?” Celine urged her to speak gently by caressing her hair.

“But he’s not my real Daddy.” The girl’s words caused something to crash into Celine’s heart.

“Mommy, why can’t you marry our real Daddy?” Leah plucked up her courage to ask.

Celine went stiff, she was taken aback by her daughter’s question. The girl continued.

“A lot of children have their real Daddy and Mommy together, they have a happy family, why can’t we have a happy family as well?”

Celine gazed at her daughter’s innocent blue eyes, at a loss for words. What Leah said broke her heart immensely, but she couldn’t even bring herself to say anything at all.

“Mommy, don’t you like my Daddy?”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep