All Chapters of Dumped in a Sandstorm for His Muse: Chapter 1 - Chapter 7

I picked up my broken camera lens and hard drive from the wreckage.After a moment, I stuffed them into my backpack and started walking out.Archie stood when he saw me and gripped my arm.Pain shot through me, and I pulled away."Chloe Jepson, can't you see how busy everyone is? Why are you throwing a tantrum now?" asked Archie in a stern voice.Then he noticed that my arm was red and swollen. A look of concern crossed his face. "What happened to your arm? Alright. Stop being mad. I shouldn't have left you there by yourself. But this competition is very important. Sharon is very talented, and her parents have high hopes for her. We couldn't let anything happen to her work."His words stung. I turned away, unable to face him.Archie and I were both orphans. We grew up together in the countryside and fought our way into Kenford Film Academy together.After graduation, he became a screenwriter, and I became a director.The first film we made together, "The Grassland Dream", wo

The next morning, I received an email from the competition committee.My film had received a very high score in the preliminary review, so they made an exception and advanced me straight to the final round.That was the kind of special treatment usually reserved for high-profile studios like Archie's. When I happily walked Jewel back to the orphanage after a stroll, the sun was already starting to set.That was when I ran into Archie and Sharon at the entrance.When he saw me, he looked surprised."Sharon and I had a discussion last night. We decided to come back here to shoot some additional footage. We can even feature Jewel."The orphanage has open fields, cattle, and horses. That's the kind of scenery we imagined for the film."Then he looked at me and asked, "Why did you follow us here, though? Look, you can stay and help the crew clean up if you want, but you need to stop throwing tantrums."I secured Jewel and calmly said, "No, thanks. I've already entered the competit

When I returned to Kenford, I heard that Archie had managed to submit his competition entry right before the deadline.I rushed back to our place to pack up my belongings.Archie and I had been together for ten years.Yet, my luggage held nothing more than a few pieces of clothing and an old hard drive.The irony was that the hard drive had been destroyed in the sandstorm—along with all our memories.I took down every photo of us in the living room and packed them into boxes, along with the dozen notebooks I had filled while working on his s. Then I called a junk collector to haul it all away.Without looking back, I closed the door behind me and left.I changed my phone number and moved to Thassuri, where I started a film studio of my own.Back on the grasslands, I had promised myself that my name would appear in the most prominent place in every film I made.After I left Kenford, Archie kept texting me."Why did you move everything out of the house?"Where are you? Why can

With Beth's encouragement and advice, I gave myself a two-month break.I went back to the orphanage and gave a large portion of the money I had earned to Mr. Maddox.He recalled that when they had first found me, I was so skinny that a hawk in the sky could have carried me off.It was the ranchers who took care of me, with different families taking turns feeding me.Life in the grasslands was never easy. A single blizzard or sandstorm could devastate the ranchers' livelihoods.When I was a teenager, I couldn't stand by and watch their horse get stolen, so I stepped in to stop the thief. Now, I hoped I could use what I earned to make their lives a little easier.Later, Mr. Maddox brought me a young horse under four years old. Her mane danced in the wind, looking just like Jewel when she was young.I named her Aurora. She didn't have to be anyone's treasure. She was the light of the grasslands.Every day, I fed her, brushed her mane, and told her stories about Jewel.I imagine