Chapter 78
Seoul, Korea
Fashion Square – Loft 33
Will scrolled through the information on his mobile phone, trying to figure out just what is wrong with those of the Yasuhiro family. It’s as if the cloak and dagger nightmare the simple protection assignment has turned into is now a family affair with the younger generation not realizing their parents were now on the case.
“You okay?” Rain asked.
Will nodded. “Just have some work to do before tonight. Are you doing anything with your hair?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No. I can’t. I have a movie, remember? They tend to frown upon me doing anything different. This will be the most drastic thing I’ve ever done in my career.”
Lucien chuckled. “Go European,” he said. “The outfit you’ll be wearing warrants it. You want villain, go European with it: slicked back hair into a ponytail, add length with a colored extension. They’re common anymore so they can’t complain or flip you too much grief about it.”
Rain hadn’t thought of that.
When Kita suggested length, she didn’t really think too much about it because Dae-Ho usually took care of those little details. But Lucien had a point.
Will and Dae-Ho were getting their hair colored while she kicked back with a book. Lucien was babysitting them. Rain had been in and out of the fitting room with Modeste and his team. After a lot of blushing and a panic attack, two anti-anxiety pills helped calm Rain down and made her more accepting of the very not Myo Mi-Sun styled red carpet outfit she’ll be wearing.
“What are you reading?” Lucien asked.
Rain smiled. “The Hidden House of Flying Monkeys,” she said, showing him the cover. “I picked it up at the hotel bookshop last night after Kita and I left medical. It’s about a group of Shaolin monks that… I’m not sure what, yet. It’s very kung fu’y and I like it!”
Lucien laughed. “You are adorable. What did the doctor say about his jaw? I know what Kita told me, but he’ll down play the severity of it. You, however, will tell me the truth of what the prognosis is.”
“It is just a hairline fracture,” she assured him. “After the x-rays and going to the hotel’s dispensary, Kita dragged me to the restaurant so he could get Japanese cheesecake. Then your mother called and I talked to her for nearly two hours-”
“Wait, what?!” Lucien asked, his eyes wide. “What do you mean you talked to Mother… How? Why?”
She shrugged. “Madame Blanchar called and I made Kita answer after a bit of guilt. Do you not answer when your mother calls?”
He made a face, getting to his feet. “I always call her back if I can’t get the call at the moment,” he admitted. “I’m her favorite for a reason.”
“I have no doubt about that,” Rain agreed with a smile.
“Want to grab lunch and coffee for everyone?” Lucien asked, offering her his hand.
It was better than hanging around waiting for hair and makeup.
Rain took his hand and he pulled her to her feet.
“We’ll be back. Stay out of trouble, Will,” Lucien warned. “Your team will hold the perimeter.”
Will nodded. “Grab me some sweets please!” he called out after them. “And something with lots of caffeine.”
Once they were outside, they walked arm in arm down the sidewalk.
“Was there anything my mother wanted to know or asked about specifically?” Lucien asked.
Rain shrugged. “She was concerned for her children, wanted me to be safe in order to make their job easier for them. I’m not sure what I can do to do that though.”
He chuckled. “Mother is amusing like that, and insanely protective of her family. If Lula and Kita aren’t careful they’ll have to deal with Mother next.”
“And that’d be a bad thing?” she asked, confused.
Lucien quickly nodded. “Mother is terrifying. We pale by comparison to Mother. Even Father does. She is the single most terrifying creature you’ve never met. When things goes sideways, and there’s no other option, Mother is the one you call. Kings, Presidents, Rulers, Dictators, when they have nowhere else to turn, it’s Mother they call. Don’t let her cute Frenchwoman routine fool you,” he warned. “She is terrifying.”
Rain giggled.
There was no way Evie Blanchar was as terrifying as her baby boy said she was. Rain just didn’t see it.
“What did you want to eat?” Lucien asked since apparently his threat was falling on deaf ears.
“Nothing. I don’t eat before the red carpet,” she explained. “If the sketches Modeste showed me become reality, I won’t be able to eat for a while. That’s okay though. We’ll get the team lunch and coffee. They’ve been working like crazy for nearly two days straight. You’ll need to make sure you eat and rest, you’ll need your strength tonight. Even if we are only there for thirty-minutes, it’ll feel like hours in purgatory.”
That piqued his interest.
“Why even go?” he asked. “Other than the obvious reason.”
“Because it’s a required evil, really,” she explained. “Actor’s Guild politics is what it is, and I hate it. Shake hands and smile pretty for one producer in order to irritate the one behind you. Kiss a director on the cheek and it’ll get you an in with their next project. Scratch one casting agents back and it puts a dagger in yours from a different casting agent. I hate it. I’ve always hated it, and I’ve tried to stay as far away from it as possible-”
“But it’s a necessary evil in the industry,” Lucien finished for her, and she nodded. “If you don’t want to go we can call it off.”
Rain shook her head. “After all the hard work everyone has put into this night, I couldn’t in good conscience do that to them.”
Lucien groaned. “Why are you always thinking of everyone else but you?” he asked.
“It’s my curse.”
“But it’s an easy curse to lift, isn’t it?” he mused, batting his lashes.
She chuckled. “If it were, I would have already ended it by now.”
“Okay. Why do it then? Not the curse, but acting.”
“Because it’s a job and I’m good at it?” Rain offered with a shrug. “I used to love it, sometimes I still do. These types of events, they make me feel very uncomfortable when certain people are there. They are a bit too touchy once they start drinking. I don’t like it,” her words trailed off to a whisper.
Lucien pulled her to a stop. “Then I’ll teach you how to protect yourself from them. You don’t need a weapon in order to protect yourself, you just need to know pressure points and how they can effortlessly drop a man twice your size and weight.”
Rain smiled wide before throwing her arms around his waist and hugged him tight.
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