Kill the Lights

Proofreader/Editor: Kaima, Hwarang

“Are you okay? Your face is red…”

“Ah. Sort of like that.”

At Chase’s worried question, Mason was brought back from his reverie and slurred his words. Tony, who was awkwardly standing next to him holding a crutch, disappeared, saying that he would bring a cold drink.

“You really care about him.”

Ashton glanced at Chase with a sour face. He turned around to face Mason with a very displeased expression.

“You are staying at Mr. Raycarlton’s house today too?”

Mason bitterly answered, ‘Yeah. Well,’ at Ashton’s sickening voice. Last night, sleeping totally exhausted after an incredibly long sex session, Mason woke up to the sound of loud wind. When he raised his head, he was sleeping inside a helicopter and using Noah’s knees as a pillow. Mason raised his body with a puzzled look, and Noah pressed on his shoulders. Then he kissed his cheek and whispered, ‘It’s okay, sleep some more.’ ‘The garden…’ when Mason whispered bitterly, Noah laughed brightly, saying, ‘it certainly shook less this time.’

“……”

Mason didn’t even have energy to say what are you doing to my garden; just like Noah said, he fell asleep. It was a relief that Haley’s body was used to sex. If not, he couldn’t have arrived at the filming set even if he’d crawled. Even though the sky was still yellow, his back was tired, his thighs were throbbing in pain, and his insides were stiff enough to die.

“You said you guys aren’t dating…. It seems like it’s working out well now?”

Ashton asked trying to figure out Mason, and instead of answering, Mason smiled perplexedly. Dating or not, he never talked about this with Noah, and also no matter what he said to the twisted Ashton, he’ll just hear it as bragging. He probably understood something from Mason’s smile and sneered.

“Wow… I’m so envious.”

His expression said, ‘used to play promiscuously and dirtily, but then pretended to fix yourself for a moment and got yourself a man with money and made your life better.’ While living like a scapegrace in Hollywood like no one ever could be, suddenly he got lucky and grabbed a rich man and got himself a jackpot movie and even got treated like a national hero. In the point of view of others, it was not completely wrong, so Mason said, “Mm. Yeah,” and agreed with him.

“I was lucky.”

“That’s it.”

Ashton, who felt a little better after Mason’s modest reply, was about to ask ‘Right?’ but Chase stopped him.

“That’s not true. The lucky one would be Mr. Raycarlton, who he saved. You saved his life. Don’t you think so?”

Mason laughed, ‘Haha,’ and gave just enough reaction to Chase’s passionate defense. Chase already bore an overwhelming liking towards Mason, but after the kidnapping incident, his affections have reached a new high. It wasn’t like love or anything sexual. How to put it? It was like a big loyal dog in front of his owner. Also it was like a rookie who wanted to be his boss’s right hand man. He was used to guys with lack of backbone just following him since a long time ago, but this situation was giving him a difficult time. And as expected, Ashton’s face had turned bright red and filled with annoyance and anger.

“Ah. Seriously…. I can’t stop it. Chase’s love for Haley.”

Ashton said it twistedly and took a step back.

“Then I’ll go and just keep waiiiiiting again. You are still not well. If you keep this up and faint, Chase’s heart will crash. So why don’t you go home early, Haley?”

It might have sounded like a joke but Ashton meant it. He turned away and Mason said, “Yes, yes,” simply smiling and waved his hand. Nothing good came out of twisting a child like that. -He wished nothing annoying would happen in the future and turned around to face Chase.

“I really have to go. It’ll be a big problem if Gloria passes out due to high blood pressure.”

“Do you think you can leave? They are camping out in the whole area.”

“You might really have to get inside a trunk.” -Chase said worriedly, and Mason shrugged his shoulders.

“I’ll trust Tony’s skill. Well. I don’t have anything to do, so it’ll be okay to stay in the car for a while.”

Mason saw Tony running towards him and said, ‘He brought a bottle of coke.’ It was an item that you can use preciously when you are trapped in somplace for a long time.

“Liz! Liz!”

Tony ran to him urgently and quietly said, ‘Come here,’ and pulled at his wrist.

“?”

Tony, who took Mason to a corner to avoid the reporters’ eyes, looked around with a slightly pale face. Mason looked curious at Tony’s panicked eyes rolling aimlessly.

“What’s wrong?”

When he asked, Tony swallowed his dried spit and panted and said.

“So… somebody splashed blood on our car!”

“I, I, I think it’s a crazy bastard!” Tony replied in a shaking voice, and Chase, who was guarding from a little afar, looked back.

“Blood on the car?”

However, unlike Tony’s shocked claims about a crazy bastard splashing blood on the car, the liquid turned out to be red paint. Since the car was black and the paint red, it looked like blood. Definitely this was more effective than splashing actual blood. Mason rubbed the paint with his fingers and checked that it wasn’t completely dried yet and noticed a can of paint roll on the floor. It didn’t look like the culprit accidentally spilled the paint because it was written ‘My heart is burning’ on the side. It seemed like it was the same guy who put the threatening letter in between the script.

“Do you have anyone in mind?”

Chase asked with a serious expression, and Mason said, ‘Who knows,’ and looked inside of the car. It didn’t look like the culprit had gotten inside, but still he felt uncomfortable. He opened the car’s hood and asked Tony, ‘When was the last time you opened this?’ and Tony had to think for a while.

“From the look on your face, it must not have been in the past few weeks. Then I think it’s better not to ride in this car.”

When he opened the hood, he saw that a certain part was touched. He had to see it in detail where that person had touched, but there were a lot of traces on the brake system. Looking at the paint can and the traces under the hood, he doesn’t seem to be a careful guy.

“Is, is that so? Then what should we do?”

“Mm.”

Mason wondered whether he should take out his phone from his pocket or not and frowned. There was no decent helicopter plot nearby, so when the reporters let their guards down, he arrived at the filming set in Tony’s car. The reporters will attack like they were going to break the car, so it wasn’t good to hire a rental, and unlike before, it wasn’t easy to escape by himself. He was bound to be caught since he was using the crutches. He thought it was a good idea to borrow a car from Noah, who doesn’t even know how many cars he had, but then thought if he called, Noah might try to come directly, so he didn’t want to do that either. If Noah arrived in this situation, he won’t be able to go back to his house.

“How about riding in my car? I’ll take you home.”

“Wouldn’t it become a scandal if he rides in your car?”

When Chase made the offer like he had been waiting for this moment, a voice from nearby interrupted him.

“Even if it doesn’t, I’m sure he’ll run into it.”

The man walked around Tony’s car, which had red paint all over it, like it was interesting. He remembered seeing the man in the movie, playing a minor role. His name was…-The man turned around to meet everybody’s gaze and opened his mouth

“I’m Tim Daniel. Haley. Too bad, it was a good car.”

He said hello to Tony and Chase, and Tony bitterly said, ‘It’s, it’s okay. I can paint it to red at this point…’

“Can’t you ask for a car from Mr. Raycarlton? I heard he has dozens of them. –I even heard he has a Ferrari 250 GTO, is that true?”

“Who knows. Does he?”

When Mason asked him back, Tim smiled and said, ‘I’ve only heard rumors. He’s very mysterious.’

“I think it’s better for me to take you. If you crouch a little inside my car, we could get out easily. Reporters are not interested in me. Even if I go out and dance, they won’t take a picture of me, so you don’t have to worry about catching their attention.”

‘Who knows, if I get naked-’ Tim spoke while glancing at the note ‘My heart is burning’ on the trunk.

“No. My car is okay too….”

“Like in the trunk…” Chase mumbled like it was too bad and said again sadly, ‘No. Your injured leg will be uncomfortable in the trunk…’ Mason tapped his shoulder and said to Tim.

“Then can I be in debt to you?”

Tim shrugged and opened the door of his car, which was parked right next to them, with his car key. He held the passenger door open with good manners and gestured for him to get into the car quickly.

“Ta, take care, and I’ll contact you tomorrow right after getting your schedule.”

Tony said, still with a nervous face, and Chase said goodbye too.

“See you tomorrow.”

Mason smiled and put the crutches in the back seat and got onto the passenger seat. Tim said, ‘Take this. Cover it with his,’ and put some clothes on his shoulder.

“Ah. Don’t, don’t you need to…. report this to the police?

Tony asked in a hurry, and Chase agreed, ‘Yeah. This looks pretty dangerous.’

“Not really. If you report it right now, those very small amount of reporters who are not here yet, will also get attached to Haley.”

“Then the filming will be hampered for real.” Tim made it sound like why are these men so innocent and shortsighted.

“If you’re fine with it, then it’s okay to report… A few stalkers are like accessories to a popular celebrity. Doesn’t Chase have them too?”

“Like sending nude picture or something like that.” Chase’s face got really dark at Tim’s question. It looked like bad memories were reviving.

“Then…it’s not something harmful yet, so let it be for now.”

Mason said after glancing at Tony’s horrible car. When he leaned on the comfortable car seat, his leg started to throb, and he was so tired that he wanted to get back home fast and lie down on his bed after a quick shower. With Haley’s weak body, injured leg, and long lasting hard sex… Honestly it wasn’t weird for him to pass out right now.

Seeing his tired face, Tony and Chase waved their hands like for him to go home fast.

Tim got on the driver’s seat, and Chase and Tony moved away from the car. The car didn’t hesitate and left the parking lot right away.

“These days, this kind of thing happens often…”

Tony mumbled like he was not used to it. Chase, who was watching to car leave with a too bad face, asked in a curious tone.

“Was there another incident recently?”

“No. It wasn’t bad. It was like a minor joke… Liz, Haley wasn’t a celebrity with many fans, so I’m not used to it.”

Everyone recognized him, but most of them were anti-fans or people who enjoyed Haley’s gossips. He was a child actor that had very few older fans, so everything was very new to Tony. Like incidents when obsessed fan letters kept coming in, his things kept disappearing, or a nude photo shopped picture of him in their car. Right after he debuted, when his popularity was sky rocketing, there were perverts as fans as well…

“I can’t believe there will come a day when I have to worry about Haley’s popularity.”

Tony said emotionally. The moment he had dreamed when he first met Haley was getting closer. He was turning into a man who did not grab people’s attention by causing trouble, but a man who brought out other people’s emotions and controlled them. When he stood in front of the camera, there was a strange light that showed up from time to time. It was clearly visible to Vick’s eyes as well as Tony’s watching from behind the camera. It wasn’t the flash of stars that were already outstanding and shining every minute, like Chase, but ‘maybe…’ Tony thought. If his eyes weren’t wrong, maybe Haley might become a bigger star than him. A star that even the manager himself cannot see well, an incredible star that had never existed in the world before… Right now, that glow was tightly wrapped around Haley, but in front of the camera, it was already oozing out a little. Like a light that was so big that it cannot be manipulated.

“….Tony? What are you thinking about?”

Chase’s face was blushed like something exciting was happening and called out to Tony, who was still staring at the spot where Haley had left.

“Ah… No, just thought that ever since Haley got popular, these things keep happening. And I feel restless.”

Tony shook his head and said it was nothing in reply to Chase’s question. Of course, that light might never come out. The Haley right now, when they first met had been sparkling, but he had to wait for 16 years to barely turn out like this. Yes, he might be on the verge of exploding, or he might not be. I shouldn’t expect too much. No matter how the amnesia-miracle had happened, that kind of blessing may not happen again. If he expected too much and Haley regained his memories, then it would be a big disappointment. Tony trembled at a thought that suddenly came up in his mind and turned around to face Chase.

“But why do you have that kind of expression?”

He looked like something was bothering him. Chase replied like it bothered him but it might be nothing.

“No, I think I saw something on Tim’s car….”

“Huh?”

Chase slurred the words, and Tony blinked his eyes.

“I think I saw a red mark….”

Chase’s tone was cautious like, ‘Am I mistaken?’ but still a bit unconvinced. A red mark? Tony just stared at him like what was he saying. At that moment Gloria arrived, widely waving her hands.

“Tony! Did Haley go back already?”

She was holding the schedule chart and saw red paint poured on Tony’s car and screamed, “Oh my!” and covered her mouth with her hand.

“Oh my, what kind of maniac would do this…. You have a dashcam right? We do have a CCTV up there…..”

“We don’t have a dashcam…..”

Tony mumbled. Haley, before he lost his memory, didn’t know when, where, and with whom he would be having sex with, so he couldn’t install a dashcam. Gloria opened her eyes wide at Tony’s reply and soon nodded her head.

“Mm, okay. Let’s check the CCTV first. But did Haley go back? I got his schedule for tomorrow….”

She inquired how he was able to get out amidst this chaos, and Chase replied.

“Haley just left in Tim’s car.”

‘Can’t just you tell him the schedule through phone?’ Gloria wore a puzzled look and asked, ‘Tim? Tim Daniel?’

“But Tim does not have a shoot today?”

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Hi guys! I'm back! Thank you for waiting! So let's start investigating who the stalker is.... Is it Tim Daniel or Chase? It might be someone else that didn't come out.

I finished my semester, and I was catching some sleep. Now that I'm kind of back on track, I'll try to post it regularly like before~

UPDATE on my hard drive... So I paid $120, but they were able to retrieve only like 20% of my files... FML