CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

As soon as Adonia got home, she refused to have a long topic with her mom under the excuse that she was tired as she had a very long day. The older woman could sense her anger and refusal to talk so she let her be. It was unusual of Adonia to book a flight home on a Monday morning when she was supposed to be shooting her role, some things didn't add up. The woman decided to ask her later when she was relaxed and she had gotten rid of her all her pent up anger, for now, they would leave her to herself.
One would think that she would go straight to sleep as soon as her head hit the bed but no, she slid her phone on and logged into her wonder account. Maybe she needed a distraction and nobody would do it better than her anonymous friend. He might not know the genesis of the whole issue but he knew how to say the right things without having to try at all.
She immediately clicked on the Sheepcraft12 account. He had changed the spaceship to another one and she giggled. This one was an NFT she had seen on sales last week when Mzxine wanted to force her to buy a copy. Adonia had felt the whole idea of them is boring, she wondered if Sheepcraft was the one who bought it and he used it as his display picture. Maybe he was some rich kid, but what really mattered here was that he is her friend.
She wanted to have a talk with someone regarding this topic since she couldn't directly talk about it to her mother who could magically make the worse things better. She has her cellphone turned off because she was avoiding any contact from Bella Diez, she had no idea how she was supposed to face the older woman so the best thing to do was to leave it to fate, let God do his job.
She started to type and she paused, what if she gave away too much and Sheepcraft decided to take advantage of her, that would be really sad in her opinion. Sheepcraft didn't look like who would do that to her especially now that they are both really good friends. He was the one her mind went to each time she had issues just like now. He was really her own person. She could imagine this going wrong and Maxine would taunt her till the ned of time.
Celine23: Remember I told you something about my boss being grumpy? Just yesterday, he complimented me but today he got really mad and suspended me from acting on the set. He even gave my role to an understudy!
She took a deep breath as she watched the message showed he had read it, she thought he would be at work or something but she thought wrong. It took a while and she got no reaction from him and she waited for him. She was starting to get anxious and she was starting to draw conclusions if this was a totally bad idea and she could have done better than wait for him to read her messages. Adonia let air through her mouth and she thought about deleting the entire message she sent but to her surprise, it started showing he was typing. She had thought he aired her por something.
Sheepcraft12: Typing.
Sheepcraft12: Are you an actor?
Adonia paused for a while and she thought of revealing her identity to him, he wasn't pestering her to do so and he wasn't ready to reveal his to her too so there was really no point removing the anonymous barricade. She decided to reply that she was one since they were over two thousand actors all over the world. It was practically impossible to know who she was. Plus she had a thing for keeping a low profile.
Celine23: Just a small one, I'm kinda just starting out. I worked really hard to get this role and suddenly, it's gone.
Sheepcraft12: I'm sure it can't get any worse than that. You can build back a career but not a broken friendship. My best friend of over six years broke off our relationship recently and I've never felt this low in my entire life. She was like my family and now it's like, our friendship never happened.
Adonia didn't know a friendship could be that painful. She always felt like intimate connections like the one she had with Quincy was the one that could hurt the most. Apparently she was wrong.
Celine23: Some relationships are meant to be broken for new ones to come in, don't feel too bad about it.
Sheepcraft12: You know what, you're right.
Adonia smiled. Comforting someone else comforted her. At least, she had a solid foundation like her family. Many didn't have anyone or a job to lean on.
Apart from this movie she was supposed to star in, she had other opportunities.
She would take her own advice.
If something broke, it was for something new to come in.
Beep!
A new notification.
Sheepcraft12: Don't worry too much Turtle, I'm sure your boss will realize how wrong he was and give you back your role. Didn't you say he complimented you yesterday? Maybe he just had a bad day today and said the wrong things. He's human too and he might have some rough patches, I hope you get my point. I'm not supporting him cause I would never throw my friend under a bus for a stranger I don't give two fucks about. He is the one at loss, you're the best turtle.
Celine23: True.
Adonia smiled because her friend knew how to comfort her, maybe opening a wonder account was the best thing to have happened to her and now she has a friend who wouldn't poke nose and would always have her back without knowing her personally or her father's wealth.
Now she was sleepy, she threw her phone next to her and fell into a deep sleep.
***
'Wake up, honey. Don't you have a shoot today? you said work was busy yesterday.. why are you sleeping in right now? From what I know, you can't have a break anytime soon."
Before Adonia woke up, she could hear her mother luscious tone fill her ears. It pissed her off but when she realized the content of her mother's words, she knew she had to get her wits together.
'Mom.." Adonia sighed as she sat up on the bed, 'Can't I stay in today? I don't have much to do on the set today."
'Darling.." Adonia's mom said with a smile and sat on the side of Adonia's bed. 'You can't keep running from your problems, this is the start of your acting career. You have to guard it jealously."
Adonia teared up and threw her arms around her mother. She had a feeling that her mom knew about her suspension and she chose not to say anything about it. Instead, the older woman pulled her daughter closer and comforted her. It was hard adjusting and they all knew that, Adonia was putting too much pressure on herself, she needed to breathe for a while. This was why she doted on her mother the most. She always had the right thing to say. She knew how to push her buttons perfectly without making her ever feel like a burden. She had no idea how Bella Diez would react.
Adonia's mom chuckled and patted her shoulder, 'Now, now, go get ready. I already picked out your clothes. I spoke to Bella Diez and she promised that she was working hard to rectify the situation. She said next time, don't run away from your problems, stay to fix them. I don't care what the mean director said to you, he was probably having it rough. That doesn't justify him saying those hurtful words to you. You are talented myu love, you know you are"
Adonia freezes as she held on to her mom, she should have known her mother would investigate the whole issue now speaking to Bella was out of it and she needed to brace herself for going back on set and facing the same director again.
____
Adonia stepped out of the limousine as they arrived at the location. She looked around as cold shivers attacked her skin, the weather wasn't really favorable but she knew she had to face her nemesis whether she liked it or not. A little suspension had nothing on the great Adonia Konstantinos. She was a full blooded Konstantinos queen and nothing would beat that.
She has dressed in a tiger print short-sleeved jumpsuit with a long black jacket that freely hung on her arms. Her stilettos heels were red, matching the red on her lips with a shade to match her black jacket. She had no idea why she decided to step away from her usual pants and shirt collection and rock this new baddie from her mom's collection. With the whole stare, she knew it was surely a hit. This was part of the reasons her mom loved it when she bodied her designs, she said Adonia knew how to bring designs to life without stress.
Maxine also got out of the car while holding an iPad. She was dressed in a thigh-length skirt with a gray top and high boots. Maxine had always been the fashionista in their high school days, Maxine watched more fashion shows than anyone Adonia knew and that was how she clicked with her mom. Everyone knew Maxine could detect a bad design from a mile away.
Together, they went to her trailer. Adonia was only temporarily suspended but it didn't mean she couldn't show face at the shooting location at all. What really mattered was the director's rules and she had never been suspended from a workplace before, she had no idea how the whole stuff worked and she wasn't willing to risk it at all. She knew Jordan Wilder was mean and he could embarrass her put of the environment but Bella Diez had instructed her to go back to set.
Also, what if the director changed his mind? What if he rejected Bella's apology and insisted she was fired, all those weeks of constant practice would go down the drain, she clenched her hands together to remind herself not to overthink things. Firing her wouldn't be that easy because Bella used to be friends with the director and her dad was a major investment in the movie. She took quick deep breaths and she made sure not to falter in her steps before she made quite a show for her neighbors.
Maxine pushed the door open and her mouth instantly went agape.
'What is it?" Adonia asked and pushed past Maxine into her trailer. There, the biggest collection of flowers were wrapped in a simple bouquet.
She instinctively walked towards it and grabbed the note by the side of the bouquet.
'My best Turtle, it's a new day today and it's okay to have some fun even in your workplace. That's the essence of acting. Experiment with your character and let yourself loose. I believe in you. Yours faithfully, Sheepcraft12.'
Adonia heart skipped a beat.
He'd found her. Sheepcraft12 from her fake wonder account. Not with the way her heart was racing quite fast and different lines of ‘what ifs' attacked her head. What if Sheepcraft was a serial killer and he lured her to kill her? What if he started harassing her and he stopped being friends with her? She blinked back in anger as she tried to forget whatever her mind was coming up with. Maxine was shocked to why Adonia stood staring at the flowers as if it was from mars.
He must be very intelligent to discern who she was by just a few clues. Or maybe, the two of them had the same line of jobs so it was easy for him to dissect who she was.
No, the mystery man, Sheepcraft was on the same set as her. That was how she was easily discovered. She took quick breaths as she tried to convince herself that he wasn't a killer nor is he a harraser. He was a popular person just like to her. The ultimate question remains how he was able to unlock her trailer and dump the flowers there without anyone seeing him. It must have happened in the midnight and no one would know about it.
Maxine walked toward Adonia and read the letter over her shoulders.
'Who is stone?" Maxine asked, 'Do you know him or is he some sort of stalker, should I call security?"
'No." Adonia said before her lips curved into a smirk, 'He's an old friend."
'Who?" Maxine asked. She had no idea of any old friend that Adonia had that goes by the nickname Sheepcraft, the name even sounded weird and as far as she could remember, they didn't have any weird friend from the past like that. She blinked back and she tried to make sense of the whole situation.
Adonia smirk depened. She would find him, whoever he was, whether he was an actor at the set or not.
'Adonia, are you okay?" Maxine asked Adonia who was staring into space with a deep smirk on her face, she looked like a villian from a horror movie and it sent shivers down Maxine's spine.
'Should I ask security the person who sent the bouquet of flowers?"
Adonia blinked, 'No, I'll find him myself."
Things suddenly felt so much more interesting.
'Do you know him before?" Maxine asked and Adonia smiled back t her, there was no use keeping it a secret anymore so she filled Maxine in on everything that happened.