Kill the Lights

It was raining inside the city too. A Cadillac, bearing Noah and Mason, rode by a dark street at high speeds. It wasn’t like a common Ford, nondescript and easy to escape during a chase. Maybe it was the strong rain, but there seemed to be no cars following them.

Mason, who was sitting in the back seat, kept receiving messages and missed calls, nonstop on his cellphone that couldn't reach him on the yacht.

“You’re quite popular.”

Noah said in a placid tone, and Mason replied while checking his messages.

“My manager worries too much.”

The calls were mostly from Tony, and the messages were mostly from Vick. [What are you doing?] [Is it an actual date?] [Do you really know any of Noah’s weaknesses?] [If that’s it…. tell me, please.] [I won’t tell anyone. I swear on my daughter.] [… Sorry. Not my daughter.] The short messages were pouring in nonstop. Amongst those were Chase’s kind messages, worried and caring, and there was also a message from their producer Gloria, asking if they can push the schedule to tomorrow.

It seems like I am not fired. Well, it's weird to get fired after having a date with the sponsor himself.

He sent a reply to Gloria that tomorrow sounded good, and Noah, who glanced at it, languidly smiled and said, “Tomorrow? Do you think you can even get to the filming set?”

“Paparazzi waiting in front of the door won’t let you pass. No, you may not even be able to get in the house.”

Noah then said that hotels won’t even accept him and asked–

“It’s okay to stay at my house. It will be easy to escape in a helicopter from the paparazzi and there will probably be lesser paparazzi in front of my house.”

Noah's expression said, ‘You are going to face some difficulties,’ and at his suggestion, Mason replied, “…If it was me, I’ll be more curious about Mr. Raycarlton’s thoughts,” looking back at him.

Letting me borrow a room during this situation? Of course, Noah probably owned more than one or two houses, and each house probably had several rooms, so it’ll be okay to show some kindness to a poor homeless person. But the reporters and media were out for blood and didn’t really care. They were making a ruckus just for going inside a hotel room and for having a date, and if word got out that they were living together…

Mason felt a headache coming on just from thinking about it and looked over at Noah. It seemed like he wanted this scandal to grow rather than calm down, and Mason couldn’t catch up with what the man was thinking.

Him flirting with Noah –whether he meant it or not –from the outside, it seemed very normal. But Noah flirting with Haley was strange. Even in Hollywood, it was rather strange and out of the norm.

Does he have somebody he wanted to protect using this scandal? Since Mason has been used as bullet shield before, these were his immediate thoughts, but still he couldn’t figure out the truth.

Since the Hollywood paparazzi were vicious and stubborn, maybe they will publish about Noah’s intentions next day? Mason looked slightly expectant at Noah, who in turn just shrugged his shoulders.

“They are probably curious of what I think, but they will refrain from following me around.”

“If they wanted to last longer as a reporter in the United States”. Noah had a gentle face like he won't even kill an ant, but said something very despicable and smiled. Mason thought it was too bad.

Well. Don’t know about the Raycarlton family, but Noah’s mother, Rebecca, was from a well-known politician’s family. Their private lives were so confidential that even Mason’s neighborhood felt uncomfortable. They wouldn’t let Noah, who grew up preciously, get attacked by a group of paparazzi just because of a scandal.

“Anyways… thank you for the offer. But right now, time is short and I have something to take care of as soon as I can. I also have to look at the situation in my house.”

There was something he had to do before the reporters started following them. It’ll be good to check out the situation in front of his house too. Noah said, “I think it’s a little reckless but–,” at Mason’s refusal and smiled bending his eyes.

“Well, it’ll probably be okay. Getting bothered by the paparazzi is one of the jobs that celebrities have to handle. –If you need help, call.”

When Noah said that, Phil, who was sitting in the front, handed him two business cards. One was Phil’s and another one was Noah’s.

“All of these are direct numbers. If you leak them, you will definitely be sued. So be careful.”

Phil said coldly, and Mason, who was looking at the cards, simply scanned them with his eyes and memorized the numbers and gave them back to him

“…. You’ve memorized them?”

Phil asked disbelievingly and Noah, for some reason, laughed lowly. Mason, who unconsciously had treated those as confidential material, held in his sigh and said, “Oh right, I thought I could memorize them, but I already forgot,” and took the cards back again. He wondered if should really bother with Haley’s idiot character, but looking at Phil’s eyes full of disbelief, it seemed likely to be more comfortable to act like an idiot.

“Ah, drop me off at the next block please.”

Mason said, pointing at a faraway building.

“It’s quite far from Beverly Hills.”

“No, it’s good. I have something to do around here.”

Mason looked around the area and checked the location. Definitely her address was somewhere around here…

Noah looked questioningly, but he doesn’t seem to care either way and so the car came to a stop. Phil got out first and opened the door, holding an umbrella above him. When he stepped out onto the street full of water, he finally heard the rain, which he hadn’t inside the car.

“Are you sure about this?”

Phil asked one more time, and Mason waved his hand and said, “I’m not even a lady, you know.” Mason looked inside the car and said bye to Noah.

“Anyway, I survived thanks to you. I thought I was going to be eaten outside of the filming set by the hyenas.”

He didn’t know what that man was thinking right now, and thanks to him his life probably got more difficult in the future. But he was still thankful that he saved his life at that moment. Noah smiled sweetly like when he did at the filming set.

“See you again. –Very soon.”

At his gentle stare, seemingly expectant of their next meeting, Mason awkwardly nodded, “… Yes, well.”

“You can use that umbrella.”

Phil politely said goodbye and got into the car again. Mason wiped his cheek and looked around the area. Westwood Village was close to the Venice Beach. It was a pretty good place to live in and expensive too.

Mason stretched his other hand out of the umbrella and checked the rain. It was still raining so much that he couldn’t see what was in front of him. There were fewer people on the streets, and it was a weather that the paparazzi hated to carry around their expensive cameras. In this kind of weather, the rain would bury even the sound of a gunshot.

It was a good weather to do something in secret.