Defying Fate: The Unstoppable Eileen novel Chapter 33

There were barely any reporters at the opening ceremony, with just one showing up. He snapped a few pictures, tossed out a few questions to the crew and then took off in less than five minutes.

Fancy Island was directed by a guy named Lenwood. He was in his thirties, prime of his life. Though he was pretty average looking, he did have a great head of hair.

Before they started shooting, Lenwood had a chat with some of the lead actors to get everyone acquainted.

The lead actress for this movie was Eileen. The male lead was a handsome fella named Bartley. No matter how hard she tried, Eileen couldn't remember ever having crossed paths with him before.

Bartley was ridiculously good-looking, not a single flaw on his face. He was even better looking than Hubery and Kenley, who were no slouches themselves. Oddly enough, he hadn't been in the limelight before.

After Lenwood introduced him, Bartley turned around. His handsome face was hard to ignore. He extended his hand towards Eileen, his voice crisp and clear, "Hello, Miss Lopez."

Eileen was taken aback for a moment before responding with a smile, "Hello, Mr. Bartley."

Bartley paused, unsure of what to say next.

Lenwood glanced at the two of them, script in hand, and said, "The overall tone for this film is light-hearted and fun. You two have to portray a very close and intimate relationship, so I'd suggest you get to know each other better off the set to make things look more natural."

Eileen nodded and turned to look at Bartley.

Bartley also looked at her, a smile on his face as he said, "I might be asking you a lot of questions. This is my first time acting and there's a lot I don't understand."

Eileen shrugged, "No problem, it's my first time too. Let's figure it out together."

Of course, it wasn't Eileen's first time acting. She'd been in many films in her past life and was once even nominated for a prestigious international award for her outstanding performance.

But in the end, she didn't know whether she'd actually won the award because by then, she was already dead in a room in the underground broadcasting factory.

For the first couple of days, there were no scenes for Eileen and Bartley. The other actors were the focus. Bartley spent his free time on set, learning from the others' performances.

Lenwood was impressed with him. Even though Bartley was cast by the investors, he was really putting in the effort. Then he asked, "Where's Eileen?"

Bartley replied with a smile, "Miss Lopez? I think she's still catching some Z's."

Lenwood checked his watch. 3:30 in the afternoon, and still sleeping?

Eileen was indeed still sleeping. It wasn't until Lenwood inquired around that he found out Eileen hadn't shown up on set since they started filming. Apparently, she slept in every day until the afternoon and wouldn't get out of bed until 4 o'clock.

Lenwood started to worry. Was Eileen slacking off now that she was gaining some popularity?

With that worry, on the third day, Lenwood finally caught sight of her.

Eileen arrived right on time. Her hair was a mess. Lenwood looked displeased and said sternly, "Go get your makeup done."

They didn't have a dedicated makeup room. Eileen had to sit on a stool in the corner while a makeup artist did her makeup from a portable makeup case.

The conditions were tough. After makeup, she had to change into her costume.

A makeshift changing room was set up with a ragged curtain. People were coming and going, and the costume designer led Eileen to the neighboring set's resting room.

Eileen asked, "Where are we?"

The designer replied, "This is the resting room of the lead actor from the neighboring set. They're reshooting some scenes. The lead actor is busy with other work and hasn't had time to come over, so the room has been vacant. You can change here."

Eileen was a bit uneasy, "Is it okay for me to change here? After all, this is someone else's space."

The designer casually explained, "No one's using it anyway, so we're just borrowing it. If you don't change here, you'll have to change in the public changing room."

Eileen thought about the distance from the public changing room to the shooting location and the walk back and forth, and she felt somewhat helpless, "Fine, I'll change here. You can go first, and I'll come over later."

The designer nodded, "Okay, be quick."

After the designer left, Eileen went into the changing room. She was down to her underwear when she realized that the tie on the back of the dress was knotted.

Eileen had to squat down to slowly untie it but despite several attempts, she couldn't undo the knot on the dress. She was getting impatient.

Just as she was debating whether to go outside and find a pair of scissors to cut the knot off, there were footsteps outside the changing room. Eileen froze. She immediately stopped what she was doing and listened carefully.

After the footsteps, she heard the sound of a door closing. Then, a strange man's voice came from outside, "You're really busy, aren't you? I've been waiting for you for a while. I was about to give up."

Eileen was stunned. Didn't the designer just say that the lead actor from the neighboring set was always busy? How did he show up all of a sudden?

What were the odds that the first time she sneaked into the changing room, something like this would happen? Could they give her a chance to correct her mistake?

Not caring about the knot on her dress anymore, Eileen quickly put on a random piece of clothing. The changing room was so small that she accidentally kicked the stool behind her when she turned around.

Suddenly, everything quieted down.

Eileen didn't dare move, as she listened nervously to the sounds outside. The man's voice she had just heard was gone, and the sounds outside had suddenly stopped.

Eileen couldn't hear clearly, so she leaned closer to the door to listen more carefully. Just then, she heard the sound of a lock.

Looking down, Eileen saw that the door to the changing room, which she had clearly locked, had been unlocked from the outside. She instinctively reached out to grab the doorknob, but the person outside beat her to it.

The next moment, the door was flung open. Eileen, disheveled and with a look of pure terror on her face, stared at the stern man outside.

"Egbert, who's out there?" The previous man called out again.

Eileen didn't have time to think. She immediately reached out, yanked the man outside into the changing room, and quickly locked the door.