Chapter 165
I drove Mitchell’s car to the filming location. I drove alone, without the chauffeur or Mitchell. I deliberately took Mitchell’s car to feel like I was with him.
Mitchell didn’t particularly distinguish between his belongings and mine. Whenever he bought something, he always purchased two, and things that were one of a kind naturally became shared.
This time was no different. When I said I’d take his car, he barely listened and just kept kissing me. As if asking why I even bothered to ask, he just told me to come home as soon as filming was over.
As we approached the latter part of “Mirror Match,” Nathan and Logan had many scenes filmed separately. In a few days, we were scheduled to shoot Logan’s past scenes. Depending on the progress, Mitchell would be filming alone for about 3 to 4 days.
It doesn’t matter if the schedule is split like this. I can just go watch Mitchell’s filming.
It would be nice if Mitchell could watch my filming too, but he couldn’t today. Instead of having a filming schedule, Mitchell was going to have an even busier day attending an event at Seimon. It was almost like an unofficial family event, so no one knew about it except for his closest confidants.
When Mitchell said he wanted to take me to the event, I was dazed. In a good way.
If I didn’t have a filming schedule today, I would have definitely attended Mitchell’s family event. After all, Mitchell’s parents and Brandon didn’t dislike me.
But I had filming. Feeling unnecessarily regretful, I hugged Mitchell for a long time as he saw me off. As I stood in front of the front door, not letting go of Mitchell, he too held me tightly and didn’t let go. We stood embracing for quite a while, listening to each other’s breathing.
As I trudged down to the parking lot after leaving the house, the tender feeling I had just experienced completely disappeared.
“Ah, shit. Mitchell, really…”
When Mitchell moved to New York, he got rid of the car he always used and bought a different mid-size car. It was a common model that wouldn’t attract people’s attention even if I drove it, but…
I pressed the smart key Mitchell had given me when I got to the parking lot. The car that beeped wasn’t the mid-size car I had been driving. The car that flashed its headlights was the sports car worth hundreds of billions standing next to it.
It happened to be the same brand as the mid-size car Mitchell had been driving recently, and the design of the car key was similar, so I hadn’t noticed.
A matte black sports car.
Among the three of Mitchell’s cars parked side by side in the parking lot, the one I had to drive today was like Mitchell’s signature. When the matte black sports car appeared on the road, everyone would expect Mitchell to be inside. It’s a car with tremendous rarity, with only a few produced. It was at least unique in the United States.
I was about to go back up to the house to change the key, but I called first. Mitchell said if I wasn’t going to drive that car, I shouldn’t even think about going to the filming.
“I have to let people know you’re mine somehow.”
He said something like that and hung up, pretending to be busy.
“Tyrannical bastard.”
I had no choice but to drive out in Mitchell’s symbol. I felt like everyone on the street was staring at me.
Afraid of scratching the expensive vehicle, I drove as slow as a turtle. After a nerve-wracking drive where I couldn’t even wipe away the cold sweat running down my forehead, I finally arrived.
However, as it was awkward to park near the filming location, I used paid parking quite far away. There was no way the film staff wouldn’t recognize Mitchell’s car.
Bae Geon-woo driving Mitchell’s car when Mitchell had no filming today! And it’s a sports car worth hundreds of billions! How could they not suspect something about our relationship? It’s the second dating rumor!
To prevent the delusions in my head from becoming reality, I couldn’t let anyone see me arriving at the filming location in this sports car.
After parking, I pulled my black cap down low and walked to the filming location. It was quite far. I had parked about a 10-minute walk away, so I might have overreacted a bit.
This morning’s filming was a scene where Nathan enters Logan’s empty house without permission and rests. Although it seemed like a simple scene, it unexpectedly took a long time.
At first, it seemed to be progressing smoothly, but suddenly a thunderstorm with heavy rain interrupted the filming. Although most of the scenes were indoors, there was lightning flashing along with the sound of rain and thunder. As it completely contrasted with the weather in the previously filmed scene, we had no choice but to stop.
Fortunately, the rain stopped shortly after, and filming resumed. We successfully completed the morning shoot, but the outdoor filming scheduled for the afternoon was blocked again. It started raining again. Unlike yesterday’s weather forecast, news came that it would rain all day today. We had no choice but to stop filming for the day.
“Good work everyone, see you tomorrow.”
At the news of the filming suspension, I did two mental cartwheels. At this time, Mitchell’s family event probably hadn’t ended yet. If I informed Mitchell of this news, he would definitely tell me to come.
The unofficial seat next to Mitchell is now mine!
My heart was already fluttering at the thought of quickly going home, changing clothes, and getting ready.
“I’ll go ahead.”
I borrowed an umbrella from the staff and walked to where the car was parked. Perhaps due to the sudden rain, the streets were nearly empty. I walked quickly, happily pondering what clothes to wear to the event.
“What the…”
It was when I arrived near the parking lot. Someone was standing in front of my car, or rather, Mitchell’s sports car. Anyone could come and go in the open-air parking lot. It looked like they were admiring Mitchell’s sports car, which stood out among the numerous vehicles.
I pulled my cap down deeper and came up with a few guesses. What if it’s someone who recognized Mitchell’s sports car? They might spread strange rumors if they see me getting into the car instead of Mitchell. After considering this, I approached him. I planned to make an excuse that I was moving the car for Mitchell and drive it away.
“Excuse me. Just a moment.”
The man was standing in front of the driver’s seat, peering inside, so I had to move him first to get into the car. When I called out to him, he turned and looked at me.
“I need to move the car.”
“…This car?”
“Yes.”
“But this is Mitchell’s car?”
“…Mitchell is busy, so I’m supposed to move the car for him. Could you step aside first?”
“Ah, but… Where is Mitchell?”
Rain poured down the man’s face. The rain, which had subsided to just dampen the ground, had turned into almost a downpour in a short time. Even though it was raining heavily, more people chose not to use umbrellas, so I was going to let it be, but standing right in front of him with only me using an umbrella felt a bit embarrassing. I approached him and shared the umbrella. He smelled faintly of alcohol.
“Mitchell isn’t here. I’m supposed to take the car. Could you please step aside?”
“Ah, I see.”
The man just answered but didn’t move aside, staring at me blankly. More precisely, at the umbrella and me.
“If you need it… would you like to take it? I have another umbrella in the car.”
I don’t actually know if there’s an umbrella in the car. The one I’m using now is a staff member’s umbrella. It feels a bit wrong to give it away as I please, but I wanted to leave this place quickly because the man’s strange persistence was suspicious.
“You’re a kind person.”
I handed over the umbrella with an awkward smile, but the man didn’t take it. He hesitated as if he had something to say, then adjusted his baseball cap. The blonde hair hidden under the cap peeked out briefly before disappearing again.
“Could you pass a message to Mitchell?”
The middle-aged man’s pronunciation was clear but strangely slow. His face was haggard and he was frowning, looking somewhat ill, probably made worse by the rain. Upon closer inspection, his lips were turning blue and his hands were trembling.
“Yes. Go ahead.”
The man closed his eyes and took a deep breath, then after a few seconds, he stared at me with unfocused eyes.
“I was sorry.”
Raindrops blown by the wind rolled down the man’s cheeks.
“…That’s what I wanted to say.”
With those final words, he stepped out from under the umbrella and walked away. As I watched the man’s somewhat bitter retreating figure, suddenly someone flashed through my mind. I didn’t immediately recognize him because his face wasn’t that similar, but this person was definitely… Yes, definitely…!
“Excuse me!”
Even if I was wrong, I had to check. Whether this blonde-haired man smelling of alcohol was really Mitchell’s biological father.
“Wait a moment.”
I chased after him and stood in front of the man again. The man looked at me with hazy eyes.
“Who… who should I say this is from?”
“…”
“If you have something to say to Mitchell, could you give me your contact information or… where you’re staying? I think it might be better if you tell him directly rather than through me.”
After standing silently for a while, the man asked for my phone. I quickly took out my phone before he could change his mind. I thought he might refuse, but fortunately, he entered one number. It was a home phone number, not a mobile one.
Since Mitchell had tried to find his biological father with Brandon’s help, this contact information would be useful. I briefly considered what else to say, but in the moment I glanced at the phone screen, the man had already disappeared.
I returned home, showered, and changed clothes. My desire to attend Mitchell’s family event had already vanished. As I looked down at the rainy New York skyline while drinking warm coffee, the gloomy sky overlapped with the man’s face. It was already time for the event to end.
[On my way home]
[Call me as soon as you’re done]
[Let’s eat something delicious for dinner]
[^ㅁ^]
Just then, messages arrived in succession from Mitchell. I told him to send longer and more affectionate messages, and there was some progress. That emoticon never failed to appear.
Quietly laughing, I immediately called him. Although I always want to see Mitchell, today I was just perplexed about how to face him.
– What is it? Break time?
Mitchell laughed with a pleasant voice as soon as he answered the phone.
“It’s over.”
– Already?
“Yeah. It was stopped midway because of the rain.”
– Why didn’t you contact me?
“I just got home a little while ago. I was showering and stuff.”
– You should have contacted me right from the filming location.
“I was about to, but I didn’t want to disturb you.”
– Since when did you care about that?
“Ah… right.”
– You’ve changed.
His sulky tone was amusing and made me laugh.
“Ah, Mitchell. It’s not like that.”
– What do you mean it’s not like that? You haven’t been obsessing over me lately. It’s terrible.
“What nonsense are you talking about.”
It was always Mitchell who made me laugh when I was being serious alone. If I were to crumble and struggle trapped in darkness, he would be the only person who could drag me out into the light.
“Just hurry and come. I have something to tell you.”
I said, trying to hold back my laughter. This time, Mitchell didn’t respond.
