Kylie reviewed her script as quickly as she could, flipping from page to page to retain as much of it as possible. Occasionally, she looked up and took notice of Cliff's presence. As long as he had his back to her, she was fine, but, as soon as he turned to face her, her mind went blank. She found the fact that he'd taken over as a stuntman disconcerting. Eventually, their eyes met, and Kylie approached him. "What happened to the original substitute stuntman?" she wondered.

Cliff smiled mischievously. "What do you think happens to cause stuntmen to disappear?" he laughed. "They get hurt!"

​​

Kylie frowned, and she asked him if there was only one backup stuntman. Rather than giving a verbal reply, Cliff nodded and gave her a single thumb up. "I am surprised that William didn't sign up to be a stuntman," Cliff added. "I browsed his Instagram. It seems that he is brave enough..."

Kylie did not properly understand what Cliff had said, but she still felt compelled to reply. She smiled at Cliff awkwardly and said, "You are right about one thing; that guy is not afraid of anything."

"What about Ethan?" Cliff replied. "Isn't he afraid of Ethan, at least?"

Kylie looked at Cliff curiously. She couldn't see what he was getting at, and she didn't want to fall into one of his fucked up traps. Just then, thank God, Stephen joined them – and just in time to save her from Cliff's mind games.

Stephen looked Kylie over and asked her if she was okay. "You look very tired," he said.

"I am having problems with my lines," Kylie replied awkwardly, as she moved to wrap her head with her knuckles. Before she could make contact, though, he grabbed her hand and brought it to her side. "It's my fault," he said. "I should have forced you to rest for a couple of days before I brought you here to join the crew."

When Cliff saw the intimacy between Stephen and Kylie, he was confused. He hadn't seen Kylie since the day of her disappearance, so there were many things he didn't know. Before that, though, he'd been aware of the 'shirt scandal' between William and Kylie that had gone viral on Instagram. Before that, he'd thought that Kylie was with Ethan, but the scandal had proven otherwise. Now that it seemed that she was with Stephen, his good image of her was seriously tarnished. It seemed to him that she went through men the way that other women might go through purses.

Cliff snorted and walked toward his assistant. He no longer felt as gung ho about this stuntman gig as he previously had. He had no desire to see his own clean reputation dirtied by Kylie's bad reputation.

Even though Kylie and Cliff had no speaking parts together – in fact, Cliff had no speaking parts at all - Kylie felt that Cliff's attitude towards her had changed. He was constantly scowling at her, and it made it even harder for her to concentrate on her lines. By late afternoon, she'd been scolded three times by the assistant director, and at day's end, he asked Kylie to take two days to get herself together and properly memorize her lines. It was very frustrating for her.

On the way to the hotel, Stephen tried to encourage her. "Don't worry," he said. "I have faith in you. You have done this before. You are a great actress with natural talent. You just need to get your head in the right place, and it will all come back to you!"

"I feel so worthless, though," Kylie sighed. "I don't know. I almost feel like giving up..."

Once they were settled in the hotel room, the housekeeper brought them tea and biscuits and informed Stephen that the Old Mr. Cecil had called on him.

"I know," Stephen replied as he turned to Kylie and wrapped his free arm around her. "My parents may come here," he said. "Are you ready to meet them?"

Kylie looked up at him nervously. "Your parents?" she wondered. "I don't know if I am ready to meet them... What if I say no?"

"Don't be scared," Stephen replied. "Don't you know that my parents are also your parents."

"How can that be?" Kylie asked curiously. "Have I met them before? If so, I have no recollection of ever meeting them..."

Stephen smiled but, instead of answering her question, he said that he needed to call his parents. Kylie frowned then as he picked up his phone and went to the terrace with the housekeeper hot on his trail – as if the call was part of some great secret they were keeping from her.

Once they were alone, the housekeeper looked at Stephen and said, "Young master, Kylie's situation is still unstable. If she goes back to work again, she'll be in contact with too many people. I am afraid that it will have a negative impact on all of the work that you have put into her."

"I am afraid to isolate her any further at this point," Stephen replied. "She loves acting, and if I deprive her of that, I am afraid that it will make her very suspicious... If I were able, I would take her to a place where no one knew her and start a new life. If that were possible, Kylie wouldn't know anyone other than me, and I would never have to worry about her leaving me. If I deprived her of acting though, it would be like depriving her of the very air she breathes."

After being brainwashed by Stephen, Kylie had become gentler and more dependent on him. Unfortunately, though, this new Kylie was a hollow shell of her previous self. The housekeeper looked at Stephen nervously and said, "Are you at all worried about any long term effects your brainwashing might have on her brain?"

Stephen looked at him coldly and said, "It would be better to completely wash away her memory and rebuild it from scratch than to lose her. Don't worry, though; that is just a last resort."

***

Stephen returned to the living room and found Kylie watching TV while eating pistachio nuts. He sat down beside her and, with a smile, he asked her what she was watching. She took his hand, but her eyes remained fixed on the screen. "It is an old show that I was a part of," she replied. "It seems to me that I used to be a better actress." Kylie frowned. "I don't know what's become of me..."

Stephen picked up a pistachio nut and carefully peeled it. He popped it into his mouth, chewed, swallowed, and asked Kylie if she had ever considered another career.

Kylie shrugged absently. "What else could I do?" she wondered. "Acting has always been my life..."

"My family owns a few hotels," Stephen replied. "My parents have always hoped that I would take over the family business. If you were willing, we could operate the company together."

Kylie picked up the remote control and clicked the pause button.

Stephen glanced at the screen and noted that she was watching The Tea Maiden.

Kylie looked at Stephen sideways and asked him very seriously if the idea had been his or his parents. He explained that it had been his and his parents. "I hated seeing you suffer today," Stephen explained, "and nobody wants to see it happen again; not me, or my parents."

Kylie's eyes narrowed. "Did your parents ask you about my career just now," she wondered, "when you called them? Is that what this is actually all about?"

Kylie knew that, generally, a rich and powerful family like his would not accept into their family someone that came from the world of the arts. To them, it was a shameful occupation.

"You need not worry about my family," Stephen replied. "In matters of the heart, their opinions matter very little to me. I only suggested the hotels because I do not want to see you get hurt again like you were today."

"I don't know," Kylie replied. "I will think about it."

Stephen leaned in and kissed her on the forehead. "That is all that I ask," he said. "Now, why don't you go to bed and let me review a medical report."