Chapter 161: Lights, Camera, Action!

Chapter 161: Lights, Camera, Action!

The end of March is upon us, and a lot of important but boring things have been going on these last couple of weeks after my remembrance of the hangover.

My five little rugrats keep my free time nonexistent, but they always put a smile on my face. Everyone in the mansion is absolutely loving them.

Mary, Nadia, and Nichole have been taking extra care in the aftermath of birth. They have been seriously following the doctor's advice, eating, exercising, and resting properly so they can get their optimal bodies back the way they want. My girls definitely have some vanity, which makes sense due to all of the stunning lovers running around the house.

Victoria, Mercy, and Jenifer are all confirmed to be pregnant as well, making the home even more stressful while I help them navigate their morning sickness and the like. I also received some more amazing news from the doctor! Victoria and Mercy are going to have boys! Jenifer was not sad at all about the news, due to the fact that she is only happy to have my child at all.

Hana and I are very ready for our son to be born very soon. It should be about a week and a half now, right after my upcoming marriage with Tina and my planned business trip to Central. On our last cuddle night, Hana was telling me she missed her super sexy outfits. She was wanting to go straight to the new Lang-Lee Raceway upon its completion, as she desperately misses our fast car rides.

Linda and her father have finalized her clothing company. It will be fully up and running by the end of the year, which is perfect timing since it will be after she has given birth and finished her first year of University.

Mary will have to go back to work in April, right after my trip to Central, so she is preparing for her big promotion. The advancement is all but officially confirmed, but Lucy told me the higher-ups have already decided and the promotion is a done deal.

Speaking of Lucy, she had been coming over to the mansion so much to play with the babies that Mary and Vicky actually offered for her to move into the home. However, Lucy politely turned them down. She explained that she needed to stay at the Velvet Tower for her work. Plus, she still has a husband of convenience in Black State, so it would look bad to the public if she stayed here permanently. Both women didn't press her for details. They know she and I are close, but her reasons for denying the offer must be for a good structural reason.

The real underlying reason is that she cannot be seen excessively with me, or her identity might get investigated more deeply by our dangerous foes in Central who are already aware of my movements. But she and I still find plenty of private time to make love while we work together on the Harem-Chat operations.

Valentine has collected a massive amount of personal information, vastly more than the web could have ever contained on the private lives of the people using the application. Also, Lucy and I have intentionally let Valentine get stolen—or I should say, copied—by foreign hackers. This setup will be a lot of fun very soon!

Kim has been absolutely adorable lately. Knowing that Hana and I are not having sex during her final stretch of pregnancy, Kim has been joining me and Hana on our Sunday night sleepovers. Waking up with her has been incredibly interesting. She drools a little bit, which is kinda cute. Well, she tightly clings to my torso while she sleeps, and that is the real cute part.

Well, I did get my wild memories back from that drunken night, but I did not bring up the specific incident regarding getting a kimono lap pillow from Hinata. I am just pretending I don't remember any of it, due to not knowing exactly how to feel about her acting as my student. She accepted that drunken request a bit too eagerly, behaving just like a loyal puppy.

Now, what are the others outside of my mansion up to?

Sam Sun seems to be traveling to the China Empire in April to marry a wealthy wife he was arranged to!

When I asked Mei about the match, she just smiled and said the fiancé was actually one of her former classmates. She also warned me that this woman was incredibly dangerous, noting that even Mei was second to her in overall combat skills, so I need to keep a sharp eye out for her if we ever meet.

Scott and Hope had finally gotten divorced, and Hope's reputation took a huge nose dive after all of her erotic movies were scattered across the internet. But in the wake of this disaster, she and Alex are going to marry anyway, due to the fact that she is absolutely certain it is his child she is carrying. But to be safe, the wedding will only happen after a strict paternity test, yeah... I think those two live in an actual soap opera!

Kate has been much more stable lately, knowing that I am not leaving her side anytime soon. She is a bit too busy with her Entertainment Tonight show and our current play to try and get physically closer to me right now, so we have just spent a healthy, supportive amount of time together. She absolutely loves my new babies, however, and constantly sings to them. I taught her some popular kid songs from my past world, so she sweetly sings them to the infants whenever she visits.

So now, it is Friday, the official day of our opening night for our Drama Club production of, The Vampire I Fell For.

The first show starts promptly at 7 pm, so we have exactly two hours until the main curtain rises.

We are all hanging out backstage in the dressing rooms, and I have a personal rack of clothing ready for the ten distinct roles I play during the show. I play the protagonist's best friend and a few other background male parts, like an old man sitting in the park. But my role as Howard Dong is the specific one that will get me the most respect from the audience. From a normal person's perspective, I am just a sidekick character, but the professionals in the crowd will see exactly how my timing makes Sam look good on stage.

My only real headache has been the intense romantic scenes between Lilith and Howard. Ana likes to get a bit too handsy during rehearsals, and during the park blood-drinking scene, she sucks on my neck for real. Speak of the devil, and she suddenly shows up at my door!

"Nervous, Rick?" Ana asked, leaning against my mirror. "I can massage your shoulders to help relax you? I want you to do your absolute best tonight, so you will be in the next movie with me."

After saying that, Ana stepped forward and started to firmly rub my shoulders. I just ignored her blatant flirting, letting her play her little game while I kept my composure.

"No, I am very calm and have memorized everything," I told her, keeping my voice steady. "I am more or less just meditating on everything I must accomplish in April, sigh."

I sensed her approaching the doorway, but Ana was completely unaware of the jealous Kate stalking up from behind. Kate just shot around the corner and hugged my neck from behind, forcing Ana to stop her attempts at seduction. Kate smiled widely, squeezing my head tightly into her breasts.

"Best friend, here is a hug for good luck tonight, fufu," Kate announced loudly.

Ana narrowed her eyes, her voice dripping with irritation. "Kate, you need to stop trying to get between Rick and I becoming friends," Ana snapped, crossing her arms. "You are acting just like a jealous lover, and you two are not even a couple. So what exactly makes you special? Rick, am I right?"

While currently trapped by Boobzilla, I look over at Ana and offer my assessment. "I am convinced Kate has itchy breasts," I joked, winking at Ana. "And she just uses my head to scratch her itch."

Ana started to laugh out loud as Kate instantly froze, hearing my ridiculous joke.

Kate turned completely red, realizing my head was buried deep in her mountains and that my words were definitely not appropriate for backstage. Then Kate pinched my side in pure anger, huffed loudly, and stomped right out of the dressing room while muttering to herself. "Rick, you're a big dummy!" Kate shouted.

Then Ana quickly followed her out into the hallway, because she actually has her own things to prepare, and her allotted time for seducing me was officially over...

Closer to showtime, a few of the backstage classmates came into the room ready to work, and to my extreme irritation, I had to sit down and put on damn makeup, sigh.

The girl applying the face powder just grinned at my annoyed expression, tapping the brush against her hand.

"We girls have to wear normal makeup everyday," Tonya noted. "But you guys—well, not Sam—are not used to makeup at all, so you get uncomfortable. But trust me, without it, the stage camera and lights would make you look washed out and bad. Oh, you actually look pretty handsome with it on, damn!"

I look directly into the glass mirror, and sadly, she was completely right. I look borderline handsome with the professional stage makeup on.

"Tonya, I don't know if I should be happy or sad about this?!" I muttered, inspecting my reflection.

The orange-haired woman looks at my face and admits the truth of the trade. "We women all feel the exact same way when ours comes off," Tonya answered with a chuckle. "But once we tag and bag our man, it doesn't really matter anymore, fufu. Good luck out there. You have the second scene, so let's get you dressed."

Tonya, for the rest of the show, has only one single job, and that is to keep my quick costume changes in check and maintain my makeup between scenes. So I head off toward the wings as the opening scene begins, and the smooth transition to the school hall and classroom opening happens on stage.

June Song, who is directing from the wings, gives the sharp hand signal for the heavy curtain to rise.

I watched Kate and Ana executing their scripts perfectly on the castle wall set, building up the tension right before Luna would leap off the fake cliff. She has professional wires attached to her harness to make it look like she is flying off into the darkness, and the pulley crew is standing by, waiting for the scene's exact audio cue to fly her over to our side of the stage. I am kinda just watching them closely from the dark wings in case something goes wrong with the equipment, but fortunately, everything went off without a hitch.

Soon, Kate swung over to us through the air, and the backstage crew quickly moved in to get her out of the wire harness because she had to rapidly change into her high school uniform for the upcoming classroom sequence. She smiled directly at me already, her eyes bright beneath the stage lights as she spoke. "Remember, you are Action Star, Rick Lee!" Kate whispered, her voice surprisingly steady. "I need you to impress the play critics out there for me."

Her normal, playful side is completely gone right now, and she looks entirely serious about her craft. I suddenly had a strange illusion that Kate has never actually been an idiot. What if all this time she is just a cunning trickster fooling the whole world, starting with that ten-year-old version of me? But I shook the thought away because that would be impossible. No one is that good of an actress, right?

"Got it," I replied, giving her a reassuring nod. "I will do it for you then, so good luck."

The heavy curtain fell to signal the scene transition, and the props are being moved quickly across the stage floor while the fake school lockers and desks are slid into place. Sam goes and stands directly on his designated floor mark, and I stand exactly where I need to be in the wings. Then June's authoritative voice was heard echoing from the intercom system again.

"And Action!" June called out.

I just make my mind believe the lie, forcing myself to fully become Howard Dong. I walked out under the bright stage lights and greeted my fellow schoolmate and friend, Kristofer Long.

I felt my performance was passable as the dialogue flowed naturally between us, but theater is all subjective until the professional critics write up their morning reports. I am sure that Sam's mother, Pam Sun, probably bought off some of them to favor her son, but we can only do so much from our end.

Little did I know at that exact moment, my lovely Lucy Shen had already quietly threatened every single one of those critics with devastating blackmail just to ensure they give completely honest reports. Lucy seriously needs to find more hobbies than just focusing entirely on me, right?

Hackers are absolutely terrifying when they have a motive.

Because Logan only has his major fight part near the very end of the play, he has been helping out with the physical work backstage. Seeing me finish my eighth frantic costume change of the night, he shook his head with a chuckle. "I think you would have worked significantly less playing the lead role of Kristofer Long, ha-ha," Logan teased, handing me my next prop.

I let out a heavy sigh, looking at this thirty-year-old guy, and then admit the bitter truth.

"Sigh, yeah, I didn't want to even do Drama in the first place," I muttered, adjusting my jacket. "And now I have two more full nights of this chaos to endure."

Logan didn't know the backstory behind my enrollment and asked in confusion. "Wait, you didn't want to do it?" Logan pressed, his eyebrows raising. "Then why put in all this intense effort? Just to piss on Sam?"

I looked past his shoulder over to Kate, who was currently running her lines diligently in the dark corner of the stage, and told him the real motivation. "My number one fan begged me to do my best," I told him, my voice softening. "So as long as I have that one fan, I cannot let her down. Plus my wives are sitting in the audience filming me right now just to tease me about it later, sigh..."

"Kate is your number one fan?!" Logan asked, looking like he had just heard something completely incredible.

I only nodded in response to his shock. She absolutely loved my ridiculous tree play back when we were kids, and she has remained my most loyal fan even during the years when she thought I was dead.

I point toward the stage entrance and shift the topic. "Your Boss fight is up next," I warned him, giving him a pat on the shoulder. "Get ready, break a leg!"

And soon enough, the final climatic fight sequence began to play out under the spotlights.

And in the end, both Ana and Kate did their dramatic, tear-filled scene perfectly as Kristofer Long died on stage. Well, he, like me, will eventually reincarnate in some sequel, and the next exciting movie will be filmed. I then had a strange, fleeting thought looking out toward the dark audience.

"I wonder if the next version of me will be happy?" I mumbled to myself. "I hope he does not suffer and lose his family too. Maybe he will find just one true love and avoid multiple complex romances? Will he or I be happy with what I picked for his life? Well, I will never know, but I wish you luck, man!"

Then the heavy curtain fell to a brief silence before the applause erupted. All of us were immediately called back out to the stage floor, and I am still in my Howard Dong costume for the traditional group bow.

When I got up there to line up with the cast, Kate had suddenly taken and firmly held my right hand. As the curtain began to raise for the bow, she leaned in slightly and whispered. "If the critics see me holding your hand, you will get significantly more spotlight, trust me," Kate murmured.

"And a shit load more public gossip," I retorted under my breath.

The crowd erupted into a deafening roar of clapping and cheering, giving our production a full standing ovation. We all bowed deeply to the audience, and then the heavy curtain dropped down to separate us from the seats again.

The exact second the fabric hit the floor, Kate immediately turned and hugged me tightly around the neck, whispering directly into my ear. "I can tell you did your absolute best for me tonight," Kate whispered, her voice trembling slightly. "Thank you..."

Sam was standing just a few feet to the side, watching Kate hugging me closely. I clearly saw his fist clench in pure anger, which prompted me to whisper a playful tease back to Kate. "If I star in the next movie, I can love Luna Yue," I joked. "I think I actually had that exact fantasy as a fan once."

Her smile grew a bit creepy at my words, and then she completely leaned in to kiss me. I, and all the cast members standing around us, were completely not ready for Kate to suddenly lock her lips with mine right there on the stage. It felt incredibly eerie because it was Luna I was actively kissing while she was still dressed in her high school uniform. For a brief moment, her intense acting completely convinced me I was kissing a real vampire.

Kate and I were both entirely unaware that Jean Jia was standing in the wings filming our impromptu kiss on her phone to use for getting Kate more media publicity later.

Since November and the wild New Year's Eve Bash, the two of us have been actively holding back our romantic feelings for one another out of respect for the mansion setup. But all of a sudden, we both were completely overwhelmed by the proximity. The rest of the world simply ceased to exist for us, and only our private pink world remained. Ana and Sam did not even register in our shortsighted brains as the kiss deepened.

I even started to exchange our tongues, getting completely lost in the pure pleasure of first love. But just when our hands would start to roam around each other's bodies, we were sharply reminded exactly where we were standing.

"Cough, Mr. Tang and Miss Kong, your kissing practice should probably end," June Song interrupted, her voice dripping with playfulness. "Because Howard and Luna just don't have a romantic scene like that in the script, fufu."

June Song, being her usual teasing self, just shook her head at us. She has seen the way Kate always hovers around me like a moth to a flame anyway, so she just turned around and walked away to check the props.

Kate continues to hold my hand tightly, looking up at me with her red eyes challenging me to deny her now. "Rick, can I graduate from childhood friend to girlfriend now?" Kate asked softly.

Seeing the intense look of expectation on her face, I only nodded my head in agreement. I said absolutely nothing aloud and just smiled back at her, choosing to plead the fifth.

Well, I guess that officially counts as my missed New Year's Eve kiss.