8.4

After the shoot, the contestants returned to the fully enclosed villa with a face full of heavy makeup. With only four bathrooms in the villa for fifteen people, it’s only natural that there will be arguments over the order of precedence, but no matter how much they argue, they all coincidentally relegate Romeo to the end of the line.

Especially Hayden and Emily, the two shared a bathroom, in which they messed around for nearly two hours before they both came out, their expressions were very insatiable. The other contestants also followed suit and soaked for as long as they could, completely disregarding other people’s feelings, and when it finally came to Zhou Yunsheng’s turn it was already more than eleven o’clock in the evening, and there were a few more minutes to the bedtime stipulated by the program team.

Zhou Yunsheng hurriedly took a combat shower and headed under the covers without even blow-drying his hair, but he was not surprised to hear the sounds of Hayden and Emily making love from next door. The two of them were fighting under the covers, not caring about the reactions of the cameraman and other contestants who were following them.

The two male contestants in the same room with Zhou Yunsheng listened to and told dirty jokes, then commented on the other female contestants and thought about them. Zhou Yunsheng tossed and turned for several rounds and finally couldn’t help but angrily pound the wall.

As if the other end knew who was protesting, not only did it not stop, but it got more intense, and the thud of the bedposts against the wall was extraordinarily irritating.

Zhou Yunsheng raked his hair and had to get up to hide for a while. He went to the kitchen on the first floor, found a bottle of mineral water from the refrigerator, and asked at the cameraman who was following him, “Do you want it?”

The cameraman shook his head in silence.

He unscrewed the cap of the bottle and took a sip, the cold liquid quenching the anger inside him and making his deep blue eyes as still as the ocean. He leaned against the fridge for a moment, seeing that he still had half an hour before lights out, and slowly made his way towards the diary room.

The so-called diary house is a place for contestants to express their feelings individually, in the form of video diaries, and in post-production editors will intersperse these mood diaries to increase the watchability of the program.

Zhou Yunsheng walked in, sat on the chair as usual and froze for a while, his large peach blossom eyes seeped out some crystal bright tears, looking very confused, his wet hair strands and strands of hair sticking to his forehead and the side of his cheeks, making him look like a battered little animal.

If he doesn’t open his mouth, he’s simply cuter than an angel. The cameraman sighed inwardly.

All the cameras in the villa were connected to the monitor of the production team, through the monitor screen, they could quickly grasp the dynamics of all the contestants, and keep the interesting clips and cut out the uninteresting ones to produce an exciting program in one installment. Although the program is pre-recorded, in order to preserve the original flavor of the live program, the production team will make quick edits during the recording, and then broadcast each episode the next second after all the recordings are completed, which can be said to be a race against time.

In this process, they only need to send the dailies to the producer for review, and do not need to be accountable to the three hosts. At the end of the day, the three hosts are actors and actresses they hired, and they are also supporting actors whose performance depends on their intelligence.

In order to quickly edit out the highlights of today’s filming, the production team was at its busiest at this time. So when Zhou Yoon Sung walked into the diary house, the film crew leader immediately spotted him and had a premonition that a great inner monologue would follow.

What’s a diary for? To whine, of course. Every contestant so far has slandered every other contestant in the diary room, except Romeo. The boy seems to have a flamboyant personality, but he’s actually a bit of a loner, so much so that he won’t even face himself.

What would he say? Will he cuss Hayden and Emily out? Then I hope he curses as venomously as possible, so our show is sure to catch fire. The head of the camera crew thought maliciously.

At this exact moment, the door to the office was pushed open, and all the editors and cameramen put away their fatigue and nodded their heads in greeting. The person who came was the producer of this program, Gustav Aitchison, who was followed by a middle-aged woman with a beautiful look and graceful temperament.

“BOSS, Mrs. Brown, good evening to you both.” The head of the film crew hurriedly stood up and shook hands with the two.

These two are both big names in the fashion world. Acheson’s family founded the world-famous fashion brand as early as the last century and has successfully expanded the industry into real estate, finance, entertainment and other industries. Gustav is the patriarch of this term, not only is he sitting on billions of dollars, but he is also one of the top male models in the world.

He is also the majority shareholder of ABC TV, and this program is the product of his bright idea. And the Mrs. Brown with him is the mother of Hayden Brown, once the highest-priced supermodel in the world, bar none.

The crew chief had anticipated the two of you coming.

Sure enough, Mrs. Brown spoke up with a displeased look on her face, “I heard Hayden was humiliated and scared? I’d like to know who the other person was.”

“Ma’am, it was just a few verbal altercations, not enough to reach the level of humiliation.” The crew chief tried hard to defend Romeo, feeling that Romeo’s highly offensive remarks and behavior could still add another fire to the show. But Mrs. Brown even brought in the BOSS, so it’s clear that Romeo is doomed to avoid elimination.

The duo followed his pointing towards the screen and then both froze.

The teenager stopped gawking and was looking towards the camera with a pair of round, large, wet, navy blue eyes full of crystal clear tears that stubbornly refused to fall. He opened his mouth, a hint of reminiscence in his clear voice, “I remember the first time I saw Hayden, he stood on the steps, reaching out his hand towards me who couldn’t carry my suitcase and said: Hi, I see you need help. Behind him was the castle-like villa, and above his head was the blue sky, the golden sun gilded him with a halo of light, making him as charming as a god or goddess. I was so nervous that my palms were sweating, and every muscle was stiff as a rock, that I forgot to react. He probably thought I was a little cold and shrugged and left.”

He spread out his palms as he spoke, seeming to recall the sensation he felt at the time.

How can such warm praise look like a feud? Mrs. Brown was a little dumbfounded. She had expected the boy to curse his son uncontrollably in front of the cameras.

Gustav stared intently at the screen, his eyes obscure.

The head of the camera crew, true to form, immediately pulls up the footage of the contestants assembling in front of the villa and realizes that it’s exactly as Romeo described, with Hayden trying to help him with his luggage, but leaving when he looks indifferent and ignores it. What kind of indifference is that? It’s love in the heart!

While the film crew leader felt as if there was something wrong with his description, the truth was getting closer to him.

The teenager held up a small fist and rubbed the corners of her eyes hard to keep the tears from falling, her voice slowly becoming choked, “I wanted to be the best of friends with Hayden, but I was afraid that if I got too close I’d get burned by him. When he ignored me, when he made out with Emily, I was so sad, so sad that it was like having a pocket knife cut into my heart. I could only hurt him with the most vitriolic words I could muster, that way I’d get a focused look from him. I knew it would only make things worse, but I couldn’t help it. I’d rather him think of me as a nuisance and an asshole than him pointing his finger at my nose one day and saying, Hey Romeo, you know what? You’re gay and you make me sick.”

Is this coming out of the closet? A confession? Everyone on the crew was stunned.

Gustav and Mrs. Brown, however, both showed obscure expressions. Even if Country A was one of the most open-minded countries in the world, the acceptance of homosexuality was still not high. Being gay, one would encounter great pressure in all aspects of life and work. Some chose to face it bravely, while others chose to hide it for the rest of their lives, but all suffered the same unimaginable torment inside.

Unfortunately, Gustave and Mrs. Brown are part of the very group of people who choose to hide their sexuality. They don’t have the courage to face themselves, so they understand better the pain and despair of wanting to get closer but not daring to when they fall in love with someone they shouldn’t. In order to carve a mark in each other’s heart, they are willing to do the stupidest thing in the world.

No one knows that ten thousand tangled and bitter love better than they do.

Realizing that he was still in tears, the teenager quickly lowered his head to cover his face and murmured, “I’m sorry Hayden, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I knew you were strong, that you weren’t a coward, and that you could overcome anything in the world with just a little motivation. The truth is just as I thought, you did, and I’m glad. But maybe, I shouldn’t stay here anymore because I’m getting scared, scared of you and even more scared of myself ……”

He was too strangled by grief to continue, and could only curl up in his stool and sob silently, not looking up until a long time had passed, rubbing the reddened corners of his eyes.

His hair was dry, he looked shaggy and disheveled, his eyes and nose were red as if he’d been ravaged by someone, and he looked pathetic and adorable at the same time. It took the cameraman following him the greatest self-control of his life not to run over and hug him.

In the office, the cameraman pulled up footage of Romeo humiliating Hayden today, and the boy smiled that big smile as Hayden hoisted himself back up into the air. He was genuinely happy for Hayden, but realized that the cameraman was making another cold, haughty, dismissive face as he followed him.

It was such a twisted personality, yet twisted in such a lovely way. Everyone felt a slight warmth in their chests, and their hearts seemed to be about to melt.

Gustav took the opportunity to adjust his tie to stroke his ever tickling throat. He was the ultimate fluffer, and Junior looked pathetically like Rooney, a folded-eared cat he owned. If he had been around Junior, he would have taken him into his arms and kissed him properly and comforted him, telling him he was so sweet and deserved the best love in the world.

“Mrs. Brown, do you stand by your original decision?” Finally suppressing the itch, he looked toward the woman beside him.

“Oh, no,” said Mrs. Brown, awakening at this, and waving her hand hastily, “let the boy go on. He’s, he’s a good boy, and I’ve misjudged him.” She understood better than anyone the difficult path that homosexuality had taken. The teenager was able to dissect himself in front of so many viewers, a courage that made her ashamed of herself.

The teenager on the screen pulls open the door to his room in the diary house and is about to walk out when he lets out a gasp.

“Ivan, you, how long have you been here?” The teenager backed away from the room, his big blue eyes filled with fear.

Everyone in the crew held their breath waiting for what would happen next.

“I realized you weren’t in your bunk and came over to take a look. I heard it all.” Ivan ruffled his sexy fire-red hair and spoke carelessly, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, you’re the one who didn’t close the door. It’s a soundproof door, so naturally I couldn’t hear anything if you closed it.”

Seeing the teenager’s already pale face nearly transparent with fear at this moment, she playfully ruffled the teenager’s soft forehead hair and soothingly said, “As reparation, I’ll let you in on a secret as well. It is women I love, but I have never been troubled or frightened by my sexuality. Romeo, have you forgotten why you came to this show?”

“To face my truest self.” This was Romeo’s confession during the recording of the first installment of the program, and of course, Cho Yoon Sung remembered it. But he was surprised that Ivan remembered it as well.

“How can you go on with your life if you’re not even afraid to face your truest self? Romeo, walk bravely with me, okay? After you get rid of the confinement and shackles of the world, you’ll realize that the world is so beautiful.”

The woman’s smile was bright and atmospheric, like a small sun that illuminated everyone’s eyes. Zhou Yunsheng’s favorability towards her immediately rose from 100 to positive infinity. If Romeo could also meet such a strong and sincere friend, perhaps he wouldn’t have given up on himself like that.

“Well, we’ll walk on together.” The teenager carefully took her hand and shook it gently.

Ivan laughed aloud and pulled him into his arms and slapped him hard, moving with the bravado of a man.

There was silence in the crew for several minutes before we heard Gustav order forcefully, “Not a single frame of this footage is to be cut.”

The head of the film crew nodded his head and promised, and then walked the two gods to the door. Mrs. Brown had already walked out five meters away, but then hurriedly turned back, eagerly inquiring, “What’s the name of that red-haired woman just now? Give me a copy of her details. Oh and also, give me copies of all the hard photos she took.”

Gustav, who knows what’s going on:”…… “Madam, you’re here to support your son, not a blind date, remember?