JANE?

EVENTIDE—- It was peaceful, serene and calming. The sky was painted in hues of pink and orange as the sun set behind the horizon. The air was cool and light, and there was a gentle breeze blowing, rustling through the leaves and creating a soothing sound. Screechs of cars were heard in the background, drifted off by other sounds. A tall sturdy masculine frame of a man stood– facing the glass walls of his penthouse. Watching the tall and dense trees surrounding his house. A shadow cast across his worried face.

A tired sigh escaped him as he stared out of his glass walls to the picturesque city from where he stood. Ironically, his languid mood didn't seem to break even as he lowered his eyes and watched everyone go about their various activities. Some were about to start their day while some already called it a day. His thick eyebrows were pulled in a thin line as he gawked in concentration, hoping to pull his mind from what troubled him but it seemed not to be the case.

A little distraction could do. Hands trapped in his jogger pants, he let out another tired sigh. Pulling out a hand to rake over his gray ash man bun hair for a moment before trapping it back in his pants pocket.

He saw a car pulled up in his driveway and saw the car door open, revealing his PA. A young guy with short blonde hair, dressed in black slacks and white striped shirt, tucked in.

"Unlike you to show up on weekends," He asserted, turning to his PA who goes by the name Thompson walked in. "What's up?"

"Aren't you going to accept the invites?"

"What invites?" He raised a brow. Feigning no clue but he was quite aware of what he was talking about?

"They have been calling me, day after day, every slight minute. Aren't you going to take up the role?"

He kept mute and returned to staring at the city from his transparent walls. He furrowed his brows, wondering why they wanted him badly to star in that drama. Without giving them any feedback for five days now, they ought to know that he was slightly uninterested.

"Is there any other work pending? Any shooting I got to do?"

Thompson inhaled, and pulled out a tablet. Brows drawn in concentration, he scrolled through the screen of the tablet. A minute of silence passed when he lifted his gaze from the screen. "Yeah, you have six adverts to shoot, one movie and three dramas to shoot where you are to star as the male lead."

He slouched his shoulders, feeling tired and weak at a time. There wasn't a moment of rest from him. He had appeared so many times in movies and dramas, he needed a lone time for himself.

"Must I star in all of them?" He drew in a breath.

"Yep," Thompson came to stand beside him, joining him in looking out of the window. "I'm tired of picking up calls, telling one lie or the other. You need to give an answer. Most importantly, the director of the Wonder Prism Studio seemed persistent on having you as the male lead."

"What about the female lead? Who is the female lead?"

"Some actress—-" Thompson trailed off and scrolled through his tablet. Browsing the net. "I have only seen one of her movies– Nayola and the Constellation. It seems like she's a rising actress. But why did you ask?"

He nipped on his lower lip. "Is there any intimate scene in the drama with this actress?"

"Don't know, I will have to contact the director for that but why?" Thompson turned his face to look at him. "Haven't you starred in a lot of intimate steamy movies? Why are you suddenly asking that?"

"Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. I tried to get the directors of each movie and drama I have acted in to remove any steamy scenes. Even if there was, I try to tell them to make it mild."

Thompson gawked as he continued to shed more light on not taking up too steamy movies.

"Is there a reason for that? Why did you never take those roles?"

He exhaled and pulled out a hand from his pocket. He lowered his eyes to his hand, staring at it a bit before placing it back. He raised his head to Thompson, meeting the curious look in his eyes.

"Nope," a little smile spread across his lips. "I have no reason, I'm afraid of clingy actresses I might act alongside with."

Thompson's face showed he was utterly stunned at his response. "That is your reason?" He lifted a brow. "That's some absurd insane reason and by the way any woman would want to cling onto you with your type of body."

"You are tall, breathtakingly handsome and a body every man dreams of having— including myself.... Definitely if I were an actress, I wouldn't miss the chance to act with you and of course I will cling onto you."

That little smile reappeared on his lips at Thompson's words. Though this might not be the reason for him rejecting too steamy movies or asking the director to cut or remove the scenes, it was also part of the reason. He was tired of the clingy actresses he acted with.

"This is her," Thompson brought the tablet to his view. Ready to show him the actress when his phone on the polished wooden table rang. He whirled away from him and made his way to the phone.

He groaned when he saw his cousin Darrell calling.

"What is it this time?" He forced the question out of his mouth.

"Have you forgotten what today is?"

There was silence at the other end of the line and he knew Darrell was expecting him to guess or more like know what day it was but he had no idea what day it was.

"It's your Father's 70th birthday," Darell emphasized on the '70'. Harboring a little disappointment in his tone. "How could you forget your own father's birthday? You are such a terrible son."

Right. Today was his father's birthday and he was bound to forget. Does he have to go around chanting his father's birth date so he wouldn't forget? Especially one he doesn't have a healthy relationship with. Sometimes he wondered what sort of relationship he and his father had, definitely not a father and son relationship.

"You are coming right? At least, that's the best you can do for your father for being the black sheep of the family."

He rubbed his forehead, debating. He had no ounce in him to attend any occasion his father arranged. He made it a habit to avoid his father but he guessed he would have to show up this time.

"Yes," he imputed after a long silence.

"That's good. Also while coming, come with your girlfriend or fianceé...quick question, are you even dating anyone right now? You are a top actor so you ought to have many women swooning all over you and in your dms."

"I will see you later," He said. Getting bored of his cousin's words.

"But I'm not done talking, not done emphasizing— your father might end up setting you...." He hung up the call before his cousin could finish up his sentence.

What was he trying to tell him about his father? He brushed it aside and dropped the phone back on the table. Turning to Thompson.

"I have to go now," Thompson asserted. Gesturing at his phone, it seemed he just got off the phone. "Duty calls, my sister called and said our grandmother is admitted to a hospital."

He nodded.

"But please, give me your feedback tonight. I need your approval so I can get this over with."

"I will...." He paused and watched Thompson starting to make his way toward the exit. "Thompson?" He called.

Thompson turned to him. "Yes?

"Have you thought of going on a vacation?"

Thompson lifted a brow in surprise.

"Why don't I just cancel everything and we go on a vacation? The two of us."

"What? Eww…no...I'm not doing that with you." Thompson crossed his hands across his shirt causing him to raise a brow up, surprised. "I'm not that type of person."

He shook his head. "You are weird."

●●●●●●●●●●●●●

It was 8 pm when he drove uptown the lanes that led to his father's villa. The night was cool and serene as he raced the roads. He was dressed in a casual outfit. And truthfully speaking, he didn't feel like attending because he knew his father, he might bring up something he doesn't want or desire to hear. But like Darell said, the best thing is at least showing up.

The street lights and neon lights from billboards illuminated the roads. His eyes caught sight of himself, shirtless on the screen of one of the billboards advertising a moisturizer and after shave gel. Watching his own movies or adverts sometimes did make him cringe but in all, it's a job to be done.

He returned his gaze to the lanes, racing uptown but he came to a halt when he heard and saw an ambulance two walks away from his car. He saw some three men place a woman covered in blood in a stretcher, an oxygen was placed over her face as they made their way back to the ambulance. A group of people surrounded the scenes, causing a massive hold on the cars.

He trailed his eyes to the smashed damaged blue car while adjacent to it was a trunk in utter despair

He swallowed hard when he heard someone from the crowd say as he drove nearer to the scene. "She was run over by this trunk right here, seems she was drunk."

"But where is the driver of the trunk?" Another asked.

"He died on the spot, he was already taken away."

His hands quivered so much as he stopped, gulping hard. In a twinkle his hands resting on the steering wheel turned into bloody hands. Kicking up his trepidation. Agitated, he pulled out his hands from the wheel and wiped them on his shirt, trying to get rid of the blood. His breathing became heavier ten times as beads of sweat formed in his forehead but in another twinkle, the blood on his hands were gone.

What just happened? He checked his shirt, there wasn't blood on it.

As the men pulled the stretcher to the back of the ambulance. From the corners of his eyes, he froze on the spot. His breathing stilled as his gaze flew on the face of the victim.

"Jane?"