In This Life I Will Die as an Actress Not a Villainess Chapter 89

The moment those words left his mouth, the eyes of the sound director who’d come from Canada looked ready to pop out of his head.

“Director…? We can’t record in this weather. We’ll have to do all the dialogue separately in ADR. And these are such important scenes.”

But Director Raymond stood firm.

“I’m sorry. Please understand.”

The director strode forward with determined steps.

The sound director’s face filled with frustration.

The cinematographer sighed and instructed the staff to move the equipment.

Today’s filming had exactly two scenes.

The scene where Bella storms out of the house during a stormy night after a heated argument with Emily, and the scene where the three of them clash over moving after Bella returns home from running away.

I resolved to be extra careful today to avoid any NGs, then headed inside the set.

Normally we’d get makeup done in the makeup trailer before entering the set, but since we’d obviously get drenched in rain during the move, we decided to use the upper floor of the set building instead.

Throughout the makeup process inside the set, tension naturally built—maybe because of the weather.

The sky kept rumbling continuously.

After hurriedly finishing makeup, I went downstairs to the first floor and stood with Aiden at the dinner table the staff had prepared in advance.

Chloe, who’d just arrived, also approached.

When Chloe greeted me brightly, I smiled and waved back.

Then I didn’t look at Chloe’s face anymore until sitting down in my chair.

I needed to build up the emotions inside.

I steadied my mind like that and took my seat at the table.

“Ready, action.”

I set down the fork I’d been holding on the table.

Then I looked at Bella, who was picking at her food, and asked.

“Why are you going around saying you’re adopted?”

“What does it matter?”

“……”

As if emotions surged at that answer, I bit my lip slightly.

Personally, this part connected deeply with Emily’s trauma.

Emily’s mind carried deep imprints of growing up experiencing racial discrimination as a child.

“People look down on you!”

“That’s what Mom thinks.”

Emily worried constantly that even her own daughter might experience the same thing, but unfortunately, for Bella, that concern came across as interference.

“Bella, I’m worried. Mom has seen things….”

“What things?”

I hesitated, unable to answer for a moment.

“Do your friends tease you for being Asian, for being adopted?”

“…No.”

“I saw it. On the way home, your classmates were teasing you.”

“Stop it!”

Bella couldn’t hold back anymore and raised her voice.

I raised my voice sharply as well.

“Me? Stop? If something like that happens, you need to tell Mom. Why didn’t you say anything? Why hide it?”

“Because Mom acts like this. Why do you only see my friends in a bad light?”

“Those are friends? Are they friends?”

“I want to get along with them. It was just a joke between us.”

“How is something like that a joke?!”

I finally couldn’t hold back and shouted.

“Mom doesn’t understand jokes.”

Then Bella refused to back down and shouted back.

“What?”

Hearing those words, I frowned as if my thought process had momentarily stopped.

“You’re always so serious. Always angry. So exhausting.”

Hearing that, I couldn’t hold back and slammed my fist down on the table.

“Bella!!”

Then Sean shouted from beside me.

“Emily!!”

That’s when Bella jumped up from her seat as if she couldn’t take it anymore and ran out.

The moment Bella flung open the front door and went outside, Sean hurriedly followed.

A storm was pouring down through the open front door.

I stared blankly at the door Bella had left through, then snapped to my senses and stood up from my seat.

In my haste to stand, the chair toppled over with a loud crash.

I quickly grabbed an umbrella and ran out, chasing after Bella.

The rain was coming down so hard I could barely open my eyes wide.

Faint silhouettes were moving in the distance.

I hurried and ran that way.

As I ran, one of my water-soaked shoes came off.

Emily and Sean were standing on the shoulder of a road where cars were whizzing past.

I hurriedly opened the umbrella over Bella’s head.

That’s when Bella spoke.

“I want to go back to the orphanage.”

The rain grew fiercer, as if it would pierce through the umbrella.

As silence stretched on for a while, Chloe suddenly burst into tears.

Both Aiden and I were startled and sat down where we were, looking at Chloe.

“Cut!”

The director’s surprised voice rang out.

Chloe, unable to control her emotions, sank down where she stood and began sobbing.

“I’m sorry. I don’t want to cry but the tears keep….”

Watching Chloe like that, I bit down hard on my lip.

I couldn’t readily comfort or hug Chloe.

If I hugged Chloe right now, all this heightened breathing and emotion would shatter completely.

For all three of us.

My heart ached so much.

No, Han Sena.

I forced myself to turn my back on the crying Chloe.

* * *

About thirty minutes later.

I sat alone in a corner of the set, listening to the sound of rain.

The whole time with my eyes closed to maintain my emotions.

That’s when a staff member came in and said.

“We’re going back into filming.”

I got back up and headed to where I’d been standing earlier.

The rain showed no signs of stopping.

In the distance, I could see Chloe, somewhat calmed down now.

I approached her.

“Want us to give you some time?”

The assistant director came over and asked.

Chloe, Aiden, and I all shook our heads.

We were all holding onto our emotions during the break.

“Okay. Ready, action!”

I held the umbrella over Chloe’s head.

Then Chloe changed her expression as if becoming Bella again and spoke.

“I want to go back to the orphanage.”

I looked at Chloe silently, saying nothing.

“I hate everything. Mom, Dad, this shabby house, this cramped neighborhood. I was actually more comfortable when I was at the orphanage!”

Each word Bella threw at me pierced my chest more deeply than when I’d read it in the script.

So deeply I couldn’t mount any defense.

So this is what having a daughter is like.

I wordlessly handed the umbrella to Bella and turned around.

Then I slowly walked along the shoulder, getting drenched in the rain.

With my eyes completely empty.

The cold, wet asphalt touched one foot that had no shoe.

A scene with no dialogue, no action—just walking.

But this moment was where Emily’s emotions reached their greatest culmination.

After walking for some time, even my other shoe came completely off.

But I had no time to care about such things.

I closed my eyes, lifted my head to the rain, and walked slowly.

Countless raindrops formed on my face then fell downward.

“Cut, okay!”

The director’s okay sign came through the megaphone from far away.

The moment I heard those words, I stopped walking.

I could hear the sound of staff quickly running toward me.

Then the tears I’d been holding back burst out.

They were tears I absolutely couldn’t show in front of Bella.

Emily was a mother who would never cry in front of her child for fear of worrying or hurting them.

Protecting Emily’s heart like that had been so incredibly hard.

My body even started trembling—maybe from the cold.

When I sank down onto the ground, a staff member rushed over with an umbrella and wrapped a blanket around me.

* * *

Back inside the set.

Just briefly composing my emotions, filming continued without pause.

This had been the most grueling shoot in recent memory.

Both emotionally and physically.

The house the three of them had returned to—water was pooling in the living room where rain was leaking through the ceiling.

Not only that, water was flowing down the stairs from the rooftop we’d failed to close properly.

The rainwater was soaking the bottom of all the furniture.

I stepped onto the living room floor with feet that had swollen up at some point.

Bella and Sean stood shocked at the entrance, not coming inside.

I went to the kitchen and brought back a mop.

Then I crouched down and scrubbed the floor hard.

The mop quickly became saturated.

I spoke slowly, almost muttering.

“We have to leave….”

Then Sean looked at me with an expression of incomprehension.

“We have to leave here! Right now!”

I threw down the mop and shouted.

“We have to leave, we have to leave here. If we just leave.”

Like someone who’d lost their mind, I muttered to myself and bolted upright.

Then I grabbed Bella’s wrist and headed toward the car in the backyard.

A prepared camera immediately followed right beside us.

I approached the car holding onto Bella, but the door wouldn’t open.

I hadn’t brought the car keys.

As I tormented the innocent door handle, Sean approached from behind to stop me.

I shook off that hand and finally let out a scream.

“We have to leave!!!”

“Cut…… Okay.”

The moment I heard the director’s sign, I sank down once again.

This time while pulling Chloe into my arms.

I forced the emotions that hadn’t yet faded to dissipate as I held Chloe tightly.

“I’m sorry, Chloe. You know this is acting, right?”

Chloe burrowed into my embrace and nodded.

Chloe sniffled as if crying again.

We were both trembling from the cold.

Sean approached and embraced both of us.

All three of us were completely soaked.

Though our bodies were cold as ice, warmth bloomed in our hearts.

Very gradually, my mind began to settle.

* * *

Meanwhile, in front of the monitor.

The sound director was grumbling heavily to Director Raymond.

“Because of you, Director, we’re going to have to re-record all these great dialogue takes. How are we supposed to capture these emotions?!”

Director Raymond expressed sincere apology with a serious expression.

“I know, it’s all my fault. I’m really sorry. But….”

Raymond looked at the three people on the monitor.

Then he silently stroked his rough beard.

It felt as if an invisible thread was weaving the three people together.

The three were clashing violently in the process of becoming a family, but the way they looked together already seemed no different from any other family.

Even the director hadn’t envisioned things up to this point in advance.

‘How can they have this kind of chemistry on only day three of filming.’

He’d been on edge because of the shooting schedule that had packed all the important scenes at the beginning, though he hadn’t shown it.

Plus he’d been somewhat distracted by articles creating a rivalry structure with Warners.

Just when he’d been racking his brain over these external problems…

Han Sena had made those worries disappear from the very first day of filming.

Right now, Han Sena was leading this shoot proactively, two—no, several times more than he’d anticipated when casting her.

He could feel Aiden and Chloe being completely drawn along by Han Sena’s emotions and breathing.

He could hear staff outside the monitoring room praising her repeatedly.

“We’re saved thanks to Sena! The equipment was seriously on the verge of breaking from the rain.”

“Sena’s acting is truly amazing. I’ve been on countless sets, but I’ve never seen an actor pull this off like this.”

“Wait, wasn’t she a rookie actor? At this level, we don’t need to feel intimidated by Warners at all! We’re filming such an excellent work.”

The sound of thunder roaring echoed.

The staff paid no mind and fostered a cheerful atmosphere.

Han Sena was at the center of it all.

Raymond listened to those voices and grinned.

‘Right, this is what I wanted to film. That’s all there is to it.’

It was the moment he realized he didn’t need to let his mind get distracted by other problems.

“I really owe Sena a huge debt.”