Auditioning for the role

As soon as the duo came inside, their eyes were greeted by the numerous actresses in similar outfits, waiting in the room to audition for the same role as hers. There was a muffled cacophony of them reciting their lines to themselves and practising for the upcoming audition.

Kiara had prepared for this role long ago, she had all the lines memorised and all the scenes carefully prepared for many sleepless nights. She was very confident in herself until she saw these rookie and veteran actresses prepare. She clutched her handbag and said, "Do you think I too should do a last minute revision?"

"Why? Weren't you pretty confident that you have got this?" Sophia raised an eyebrow asking, she has herself seen this girl put on a splendid performance for this role. Why was she suddenly wanting to do some more practising?

Kiara shook her head and said, "No, it's just…"

"Can't you already say, your actress is scared now." A gracefully feminine but extremely arrogant voice came out of nowhere, cutting through Kiara's words. The two women looked up at the direction of the voice to see a familiar figure walking towards them, Kiara frowned at the sight of her. 

This woman in a floral, sleeveless gown was Daphne Webster- another newbie artist in the film industry. 

The roots between these two artists went way back because they took the same acting classes. Even though Kiara was never really interested in Daphne's self proclaimed rivalry, the latter took it way too seriously, bullying and insulting her whenever she had the chance. It's been a year since the two graduated from acting classes, while Kiara was yet to debut, Daphne managed to act in a few minor roles by using her boyfriend's influence.

Sophia rolled her eyes and said, "Of course, Miss Webster. Who else could it be?"

Daphne removed her sunglasses and smiled, "Seems like you weren't expecting me here. If you did, you two would not have bothered to show up, right?"

"Wrong!" Sophia snapped before folding her hands to her chest, "What is with your outfit? Aren't you aware that the role is of an assistant and not of a sugar baby."

Daphne's face fell dramatically when she heard the latter address her so, but she didn't let the anger climb up to her head and said, "You don't have to worry about it because no matter what I wear for this audition, this role is mine."

"And who gave you this over confidence?" The latter asked, surprised by how sure she looked about the role. Daphne's assistant, Rob, answered on her behalf, "Don't you know Mr Sullivan is one of the investors of this movie? This role is already promised to Daphne by him, this audition is just a formality."

Kiara squinted her eyes, no wonder the latter was so confident. Andrew Sullivan was the President of Sullivan Groups, another established company of their city. They could not be compared to the Vuron's but were successful and counted amongst the richest and influential families of their city. Andrew was the reason Daphne could have her breakout in the movies before Kiara despite being less talented than her; the latter managed to become his cherished woman and in return he helped her move forth in her acting career.

Daphne was satisfied with the silence that prevailed and she cocked an eyebrow haughtily, "Got anything else to say?"

"Yes! You…" Sophia wanted to say something but was held back by Kiara; the latter signalled her not to fight and wanted to leave. Unlike Kiara, Sophia was a hot headed girl, before leaving she made sure to glare at Daphne with dead eyes.

"Why are you so timid?" Sophia asked her friend, a little annoyed to which the girl smiled and didn't reply. The manager shrugged her shoulders and said, "I guess there is nothing left for us now, we should leave." What was the point of auditioning and wasting the time when the final result was right in front of their eyes, however, Kiara refused to leave. She said, "Let's just give it a shot. Who knows, I might land on some other role?"

Sophia thought that it wasn't a good idea but since her friend insisted, she gave in.

The role for which the girl was here today was of an assistant named Betty; the second lead of this movie was low self esteemed and was secretly in love with the male lead, her boss. But when she realises that her boss was madly in love with another girl, she chooses to sacrifice her love and help the couple get together.

The scene which she chose to play for the audition was a very important one where, the man female lead is in love with is drunk and mistakes her for the lead. Betty uses this as an opportunity to try to remove him from the female lead's life so that she could be with her boss.

This scene was rather tacky because she had to justify her evil act and gain sympathy from the audience. If the actor doesn't manage to capture the core of love and sacrifice in this scene, Betty would turn into a negative character in the movie just like that. The casting team was excited to see her audition because it was a really bold choice for a rookie like her; not many actresses chose this scene and those who did, did a very bad job.

There was a pair of eyes that squinted as soon as Kiara made her way to the stage; his eyes didn't even blink and stared down at her. Icarus was here just in time and was sitting in a VIP booth with Luke. While the latter looked pretty excited to see Kiara act, Icarus was rather calm and collected.

Kiara, who was oblivious of his presence, respectfully greeted the staff and as soon as the director said 'action', she started playing out her scene.

It was flawless…

She managed to pull out the desperation and heartbreak that Betty was experiencing while the man hugged her, misunderstanding her for the female lead. From her actions, it seemed that she knew what she was doing but her eyes contracted it showing hints of confusion and impulse. One could even see the sadness in her face when another man was willing to hold her just because he misunderstood her for the female lead whom even her boss loved.

Tears trickled down her eyes when she mumbled, "I too wish I was here… I really do."

The whole arena fell silent for a few seconds as they could not believe that the scene was already over. It was so captivating as if Betty had literally walked out of the 

The casting directors and other crew members gave Kiara a standing ovation, the only person who remained unmoved was her husband who was staring down at her with a poker face. "She killed it, man. Aren't you impressed?" Luke said, nudging the man to show some reaction but all his excitement received was a cold wall of silence. The girl thanked everyone and left and as soon as she was gone, Icarus stood up to leave as well.

Luke said, "I can say she is going to get this part, Alpha. Your wife is going to be a big star."

Alpha Icarus, who was mum all this time, suddenly opened his mouth to say in a daze, "Just like how she deserves to be."

"Huh?" Luke was confused about what he meant to say but the man didn't stick around to explain. He attended his phone which had been vibrating the whole time like crazy and left.

Kiara joined Sophia outside and the two left for lunch; the manager too had seen the latter's performance during the audition. Even though she had seen her rehearse for it so many times, she was still mesmerised by it. She said, "You did a good job back then. If not for that bitch Daphne, you would have easily taken this role. Do you think we should do something about it?" Kiara took a nonchalant bite of her food and questioned, "What are you cooking up inside that little brain of yours?"

The manager explained, "Nothing! It's just .. I know how much you wanted to play this role, you are the one who actually deserves it. Daphne took it from you by crook."

"We can't always have what we want, Sophia. That's life."

"Maybe! But I might know a way which can land you into the role."

"What… are you talking about?" Kiara's face twisted with suspicion as she worded out this question slowly.

Sophia was already feeling ominous by seeing the change of expression on the latter's face, it was as if she already knew what she was going to say. She also knew that she was going to hate it but it was a shot worth the try. So, she mustered up some courage and said, "If you want, only if you want… We can approach Alpha Icarus… I am sure he can do something about it."