Love Contract

In mid-June, it was the start of the plum rain season in A City. Therefore, it was constantly drizzling or raining.

On the shooting site of the 'Past of Republic of China', Mary was sitting as she watched the filming from afar. The main actors and actresses were all on their way on today's flight, so for the moment, the crew focused on shooting only the supporting roles.

At that instant, a young woman in an ancient costume could be seen on the camera. As she shifted her oil-paper umbrella a little, a few drops of rain fell from its edge, and she muttered, "If you can see the landscape in my eyes, why do I need to speak so many words and let my intelligence go to waste?"

'Are all the women who suffer from unrequited love so pitiful?'

With a sigh, Mary stood up and took out a regular umbrella as she got in the car to pick the main actors and actresses up.

Lucas happened to be on a flight of that day.

After speaking to William over the phone earlier, he couldn't help but be curious and confused. He wanted to ask him what was going on and why he was in a fake marriage. But William kept his mouth shut, forcing him to book the earliest flight to A City.

Before he got on the plane, however, he told William to get ready for his questions.

Because of the rain, delays were a possibility, but, fortunately, every airplane managed to land at the airport within its schedule.

During the whole trip, Victor sat with his eyes closed and rested to get ready for the scene he would have to shoot as soon as he got off the plane. By the time he walked through the airport, Victor still felt tired but didn't hide his surprise at seeing Mary.

Meanwhile, the fans who had been waiting at the airport surrounded the exit. The staff had to escort them all the way, while Victor, with his sunglasses on, greeted everyone with a smile. It was a while until he could get out free.

As soon as he walked out of the hall, he saw Mary standing by the nanny van. She was wearing a pair of simple blue jeans and a loose coat. Although he could see with precision her black curly hair, her eyebrows and eyes seemed a little blurred under the rain at first.

However, once Victor saw the smile in her eyes, he couldn't help flashing her a wide smile of his own.

Pressing down his hat, Victor strode towards Mary. "Hey, you haven't opened the umbrella yet!" Jorge shouted behind him.

Nonetheless, in three or two steps, Victor was standing before Mary as he asked with a smile, "Why are you here?"

"Why did you come without an umbrella?" Mary hurried to cover him with an umbrella and added, "Let's get in the car first." "Okay."

The moment the two of them got in the car, Jorge rushed over. "Victor, you..."

As if he didn't expect to see Mary, Jorge stopped talking all of a sudden, and with a slight nod, he greeted her, "Hello, Mrs. Lan. You're also here." "Jorge," said Mary with a faint smile. "Today, it's Mary, not Mrs. Lan here."

"Well, okay," Jorge complied, raising his eyebrows.

Mary looked at Jorge in confusion. She had always had this nagging feeling inside that he didn't like her. Or had she just imagined it all along?

"Oh, it's raining so heavily." As the silence fell among them, Summer, squeezed through the crowd as she made her way to the nanny van. "Can you take me to the shooting site, Victor? My nanny van is stuck in traffic." Victor frowned slightly. "The car is full."

"No, it isn't." Summer looked around the car and said arrogantly, "Just let Jorge sit in the passenger seat."

Upon hearing this, Jorge was furious. "Miss Zhao, you're asking too much! You really can't take a hint that you're the outsider here, can you? Why should I sit in the passenger seat?"

"You!" Summer pointed at him with her slim finger. "How dare you bully me like this?!"

Mary frowned at the actress. "Many journalists are just outside the airport. Do you want to cause trouble again?"

As soon as Summer's assistant took in Mary's words, she immediately intervened and warned the actress not to be so annoying. After all, Mary was the CEO's wife. It would be quite troublesome if she decided to banish Summer.

"I'll sit in the passenger seat. You guys sit here please!" Mary said.

Yet, when she was about to stand up, Victor stopped her. "You don't have to go."

Surprised, Mary turned to look at Victor, who suggested to Summer, "Let your assistant sit in the passenger seat, or you may take a taxi to the set."

"Okay, Victor." Summer's assistant spared him a grateful look as she pulled Summer back. The actress snorted and sat next to Jorge reluctantly.

After everything was settled, the car began to move away from the airport.

Meanwhile, in another car, a phone started to ring.

"Hello."

"William, where are you? I'm getting off the plane."

"Okay, I'll be right there." William hung up the phone but didn't get out of the car immediately. Instead, he kept his sharp eyes fixed on something else. Through the glass window washed by the rain, he observed Victor's nanny van driving farther and farther away from the airport.

Although he had been there for a while, William didn't expect to see Mary coming to pick the actor up. Did that mean that she had a good relationship with Victor?

From his car, William had watched Mary holding an umbrella as she waited for the actor in the rain.

The whole time, it seemed that Victor was the only thing that Mary saw.

At the thought of it, William couldn't help but feel angry in his heart. For what he had witnessed, Mary had been living a good life these past few days. At least, she could still find reasons to smile. 'I deserve to be troubled by the bullshit you said to me, don't I? Well, you did a good job, Mary.'

Pulling out an umbrella, William finally strode into the rain.

"Hey, William!"

As soon as William got into the hall, he heard the surprised voice of Lucas calling him.

"Lucas!" The moment he saw him, William rushed towards him.

"You brat!" Lucas smiled and thumped William's shoulder.

"It seems you've got stronger!" William patted him on the back with a smile.

"Of course!" Carrying a big bag on his back, Lucas suddenly put his arm around William's shoulder and said, "We haven't seen each other in ages. Let's go home and catch up on each other's news." "Okay, let's go."

Next, they headed to William's car, where Lucas opened the topic he was dying to learn more about. "Hey, tell me what happened, man. What's up with this fake marriage of yours? Hurry up!"

"It's just a fake marriage." "Of course. But tell me the details!" Lucas urged with contempt. "Who did you marry? Why did she agree to it?"

"For money. Her mother has advanced cancer."

"Oh," Lucas paused. "Yes, I've almost forgotten that I came back to cure your mother-in-law. Wow... You're living a true romance trope." "Romance trope?"

"A fake marriage," clarified Lucas. "Have you fallen in love with each other despite your relationship being fake? If so, this is definitely a cliche romantic drama in which the boss falls in love with an ordinary

girl!"

"Fuck off! You think we've been shooting a TV show or something?" William was immediately enraged by the words 'fall in love'.

"Art imitates life!" Lucas explained patiently, "Haven't you ever heard that love comes with time? Fate intervened for you to get married, now it's up to you to make it real. I trust your taste in women. The person you chose must be very refined."

"If you like her, you can have her." William glanced at him and added, "I'm leaving for Norway in a year. I don't care about any fabulous love story."

"Damn it! Are you serious?" Lucas blurted annoyed. "What? Are you still messing with Frank? Do you really want to live with him for the rest of your life? Why are you going to Norway? For getting married?"

"Yeah."

"What do you mean about 'yeah'?" Lucas was confused. Then he said angrily, "Don't tell you're gay now! Are you with Frank?" Lucas looked at him in shock.

"No, I'm not," William answered.

"No? Then why are going to marry him? Are you really going to devote your whole life to him? Are you willing to do that?" Lucas kept shooting questions at him nonstop. "I know Sansa is dead, but you're not responsible for her brother. Why is it so hard for you to see that Frank is only a burden to you?" Lucas finally asked.

"I did it voluntarily," William declared. "Anyway, I'm not interested in women right now."

"What about Frank? Are you interested in him?" Lucas sneered, "What kind of feeling do you have for him?"

"I don't know."

"You are impossible," Lucas stated, shaking his head. "If you don't find yourself a woman, you will be forced into a gay marriage one day. And that's none of my business!"

"Exactly," William agreed as a smile showed at the corners of his mouth. "I didn't mean to have you meddling in it anyway. How about I buy you a drink tonight?"

"Okay, fine." After a pause, Lucas said, "Bring your wife."

"Fuck off!"

On the way to the set, the atmosphere inside the nanny van became quite awkward. Only Victor seemed unaffected by it as he joked with Mary like the playboy he was known to be. "Why did you pick me up today?" Victor asked, "Did you miss me?"

An awkward silence followed his words. Mary sighed and said sternly, "It was for the work."

"Oh, I see. But it really breaks my heart to hear you say that." Victor smiled, showing no sign of sadness in his heart.

"I'll be on the set for the whole next week," she added.

"Very good then. You should watch me filming," Victor invited her with a smile.

"Okay, fine." Mary couldn't help laughing.

"By the way," continued Victor. "Have you watched the 'Past of Republic of China'?"

"Ah, I..." With embarrassment, Mary confessed, "I forgot to watch it."

"It doesn't matter," Victor told her with a magnanimous smile. "I'll act for you in person."

Another awkward silence followed his words. With her face dark, Mary told him, "That's not necessary."

"Ha-ha," Summer suddenly mocked. "I've never seen Mr. Qiao care so much about anyone! Mrs. Lan is so charming."

With a frown, Mary was ready to refute her, but Victor was faster.

"In fact, I wish I could give you my full attention, Miss Zhao," Victor told her with an evil yet attractive smile. "But since you're under the protection of a senior officer from the company, I didn't want to create any trouble for you!"

Summer's face grew red with anger, so she tore her gaze away from them without saying anything further.

Biting her lips, Mary thought to herself, 'This 'senior officer' of the company shouldn't be William, right? I can't believe he would have such a bad taste.'

"Victor, it's not easy for Summer. Please stop talking about her," Summer's assistant requested from the passenger seat.

"If it's not easy for her, then it's our job to make it so for her, right?" Jorge couldn't resist speaking his mind at that moment. "After all, who would dare to offend the heroine? We don't want her to get angry, or else she won't shoot. It's her fault that Victor hasn't had a good rest in days. How capable she is!"

As their argument seemed to be only getting started, Mary sighed silently in her heart. No wonder Victor didn't like Summer. She deserved his scorn. Otherwise, he might have already flirted with her a long time ago since he was such a playboy, right?

Mary had thought that fierce conflicts were restricted only to female artists. But as she could see, in the entertainment industry, everything was unexpectedly more complicated than she first deemed. Therefore one should be careful when stepping into it.