~ Chapter 3 ~

Alan twirled around on his chair, laughing and cancelling things out from the script in his hand.

His eyes scanned through a line and he twirled back to face his desk, picking up the land phone he dialled a number and on the third ring the person picked up "Miss Malia, speaking sir"

"Ah Malia, Your team wrote the script for the new fantasy series, right?" He asked, still reading through the script

"Yes sir" Malia confirmed.

"That's sad cause I expected better, lots of plot holes and.." He paused and took a deep breath "just come and take it Malia, I made some corrections and added some ideas. Fix it up" he finished and dropped the script.

A few minutes later, someone knocked and as he was about to say come in the person walked in. He raised his eyebrow and a smile appeared on his face.

A dark-skinned man in his late twenties walked in, dressed in a black joggers and black hoodies with a black cap; that's covering half of his face, leaving only his plump lips and nose visible.

"Hey Mark, thought you were dead," he said to the young man who just walked in.

Mark rolled his eyes and sat down, he pulled off his cap and dropped it on the desk and ruffled his curly hair.

"Hey! Take it easy, I ain't one of your fans! Don't go all model on me" Alan whined as he watched Mark ruffle his hair.

"Do you ever shut up?" Mark asked, pulling his lips into a thin.

Alan chuckled and placed his elbows on the table and leaned forward "How was it?" he asked, referring to the movie Mark is working on.

"Stressful! When are you going to replace that clingy ass actress? She's going to make me rip out my hair or kill her" he complained, his face turning into a grimace as he recalled the horrible moments he had acting with the girl.

Alan burst into laughter at the look on his friend's face, while Mark just glared at him "I'm sorry, just bear with her. I can't switch her in the middle of the show, but you have to admit she's a good actress and a good girl if you know what I mean" he said, wiggling his eyebrows mischievously.

Mark immediately made a disgusted face; looking like he was a second away from puking "Good actress, maybe, but a good girl? I don't even want to know. Can't believe you banged her! You're disgusting, man" he said, making Alan burst into laughter again.

He didn't sleep with the girl, she makes his skin crawl as well but he doesn't show it as Mark does, and it's fun to see him make those funny faces.

They continued making small talks about the movie and other things when a light knock came and Alan muttered "come in" and a tall curvy brunette walked in.

Mark's eyes immediately zeroed on her and he gulped nervously as he took in her appearance, the jeans she was wearing hugged her hips tightly and did justice to her lower body but her T-shirt was a bit oversized, covering her upper body properly.

He forcefully dragged his eyes away from her body to look up to her face, her face was highlighted with small makeup and her hair was packed up in a high ponytail, making her face stand out.

Alan noticed his friend looking at her like a lost puppy and smiled slyly "Here Malia, you will see the corrections and notes I made. I'll need the better version by tomorrow"

She picked up the script and went through it briefly; nodding her head as she did "noted, I'll get to it immediately" she said with a small smile, Alan nodded and dismissed her.

When she left, he raised one of his eyebrows at Mark who started playing dumb

"What?" He asked, frowning.

"Oh common! I saw the way you were looking at her" he said with a scoff.

"I wasn't looking at her" he denied immediately.

"The ponytail looked good on her," he said, a sly smile on his face.

Mark immediately sat up straight and nodded "it definitely did, made her face stand out and her makeup was on point, I wonder what she will look like with.." He paused when he saw Alan nearly dying from keeping his laugh in "you can laugh"

And with that, Alan burst into laughter "I thought you weren't looking at her, huh?" He teased, making Mark glare at him.

"How is it going with the Andrew West case? He asked, changing the topic.

The smile on Alan's face vanished immediately and he sighed "I don't know man, I visited his sister yesterday and I'm expecting a feedback by the end of the week" he said, rubbing his forehead.

"What if she refuses to pay?" He asked, worried lines creasing his forehead. He knows how much that money means to his friend and the company.

"Then I'll charge her legally, it's a signed contract"

"You don't exactly have enough legal backings, she didn't sign the contract. Everything is based on her brother's signature and words, the court might not rule in your favour" He stated and Alan sank into his chair.

What Mark said is true and he knows it, he can't believe he made such a silly mistake.

"Let's just hope it doesn't get to that." He said and Mark nodded his head, both of them falling into a tense silent atmosphere.

And while Alan's mind was focused on what the outcome of the meeting with Amanda would be, Mark couldn't get his mind off Malia. He knows he likes her, he always have since he worked with her on his first series; she was so nice and had good knowledge of what she was doing, but he can't bring himself to strike up a conversation with her.

He considered asking for Alan's help, but he is scared he will just tease him about it, so he scrapped that idea but seeing her look so good today just brought back the idea of asking Alan for help.

They both were still lost in their thoughts when a phone ringing brought them back to reality, Alan quickly brought out his phone when he noticed it was the one ringing. He stared at it for a while when he noticed it was an unknown caller ID before he picked it up "Hello?"

"Good day, am I speaking with Mr Alan Weasly?" A feminine voice replied.

"Yes, who are you?" He asked, shaking his head at a curious-looking Mark.

"This is Miss Amanda West," Amanda said, and his eyes widened a bit in surprise before he leaned back on his chair with a smirk.

"Ah, Miss West, you called" he stated, "does that mean you have your brother or my money ready?"

"I called to make an appointment with you tomorrow by 1 pm. Please come with your lawyer, I will like us to discuss the legal proceedings of this case." She informed and the smirk on his face faded and got replaced with a frown and a look of disbelief.

"You want to take legal actions?" He asked, disbelief lacing his voice.

"Yes, that's just what I said." She stated and he cleared his throat.

"I'll be there"

"See you tomorrow," she said and ended the call, while Alan just stared at his phone in shock.

"What happened?" Mark asked, needing to feed his growing curiosity.

"She has decided to take legal actions," he said in a low tone and Mark went quiet.

"What are you going to do?"

Alan released a deep breath and rubbed his forehead in annoyance, "what else?" He asked rhetorically, and stood up. He quickly packed up his stuff, his forehead was greased with worried lines as the possibilities of the case ran through his mind "I'm going home, I'll meet up with my lawyer on my way and discuss this case with her"

Mark nodded in understanding and stood up "alright man, Good luck" he said and walked out.

Alan finished packing up and left his office, he quickly sent his lawyer a text before dialling his driver's number.