Zeno had maxed out his social battery. However, he knew they needed to finish filming this scene as soon as possible.
Shelly wasn’t making it any easier for him, though. The crew couldn’t get the shot of her merely standing and looking at Jimin with the most devastated expression due to the fact that Jaehyun canceled their study date together.
Zeno didn’t understand what was so hard about it when she was going through the same thing.
“Let’s take five?” Young asked.
Shelly nodded, biting her lip in nervousness. The staff began talking about how they could tweak the scene. Young felt he was stricter than usual because he wanted to make this particular scene perfect.
In the filming of the first three episodes, he was lenient because he had already accepted that the cast was majorly made up of influencers.
In the end, though, it didn’t bring good results to the series. He almost thought of giving up. However, seeing Zeno’s perfect fish vendor acting made him more passionate about the filming.
There was still hope.
He watched ‘Stars Among Us’ after his series, and he couldn’t deny the similarities. He was sure there was some art theft going on inside the company. But then again, he knew he was on the disadvantageous side.
So, this was how he was going to compensate.
While the staff were at a loss with how they were going to direct Shelly, Zeno walked over to her.
She glanced up at him but quickly looked away. Shelly couldn’t help but scrunch her nose when Zeno came closer.
Zeno looked at his gloved hands and smirked. “Smells like fish, right?” he started off.
Shelly’s eyes widened. “Uh—I’m sorry,” she muttered. “Did it show in my expression?”
“Hmm,” Zeno hummed. Shelly felt shy once more. Zeno sighed and patted the seat next to him.
Shelly was hesitant for a while before she finally sat. The two were stuck in silence for a couple of seconds before Zeno began to speak.
He was feeling impatient. Why did she even take the role if she was going to act shy all the time?
But then again, Zeno couldn’t hate her. What if she was also trying to regress and was acting bad on purpose? She was definitely doing a much better job than Zeno. However, he highly doubted it.
Zeno was sure he could spot a Rennis from a mile away.
With that, he decided to give her some advice—as someone who had lived on this Earth for at least 500 years.
“You’re not so good at hiding your feelings,” he started off, capturing Shelly’s attention.
“Whatever you feel always shows on your face.”
“That’s your weakness,” he bluntly said.
Shelly felt like she was being targeted. However, she couldn’t answer because she knew Zeno was right.
“However,” he continued. “That’s also your strength.”
Shelly looked up at him, her eyes blinking a couple of times out of disbelief.
“You are able to channel so many human emotions. It’s just that your nervousness always shows through when you’re in front of the camera.”
Shelly felt like she was being diagnosed right then and there.
“In this scene, you’re supposed to look disappointed because Jaehyun bailed on you. I’m assuming it would be easy because you feel the same way about his character and his real self, don’t you?”
A soft gasp escaped Shelly’s lips. “H–how…”
Zeno smirked, resting his hands on the table filled with fresh catch.
“I told you—your emotions show on your face. It’s not that hard to discover you have feelings for Jaehyun.”
Shelly’s eyes widened with horror. “Then, do you think he knows?”
“No,” Zeno confidently said. “He thinks a lot of people like him, so frankly, I don’t think you should be worried.”
“Not a lot of people are as smart or perceptive as me,” he added, but Shelly didn’t hear him.
She sighed in relief.
“Just think of it as real life,” Zeno continued. “You can’t delay the filming any further. Your strength is that you can portray many emotions with your face. You just need to immerse yourself within the role.”
She slowly nodded in understanding. Then, she turned to Zeno, feeling like everything Jordie said about him was false. He wasn’t… bad at all.
“You’re the complete opposite of me, though,” she muttered. Zeno turned to her with one eyebrow raised.
“Your emotions do not show at all,” she said. “At least, not when we’re talking like this. But, you portray it so well on the camera.”
That’s because I have to!
However, Zeno merely shrugged. “That’s what acting is all about, isn’t it?”
With that statement, Shelly felt like she was a renewed person. How could he say something so cool? However, before she could compliment him, Young interrupted their conversation.
“Do you want to try again?” he asked. “It will be rush hour again soon, so we need to film now.”
Young thought Shelly was going to buy more time. But, she suddenly stood with a confident expression, surprising him.
“I’m ready,” she said, more to herself than to Young.
Zeno looked at Shelly with a small smirk. That was all the talk she needed to be convinced? As expected, humans had a cute side like this. They were genuinely cheered up by a few words.
“Everyone, back to your places,” Young exclaimed. They quickly set things up.
Yujin went into the frame with the slate and called out the scene number. The cameras focused on Shelly, and they wondered if the break had done something. They were praying for at least an improvement.
However, what Shelly showed seemed to be a miracle.
Zeno, who was watching from the side, was also surprised when Shelly looked into the camera with a sorrowful expression—one that came from someone who was inexplicably rejected.
Young’s and Yujin’s breaths got caught in the back of their throats. What they felt during the first week of filming was a lot of anxiousness. However, at that moment, Young felt relief.
Eureka!
This scene was going to be a hit.
He was sure of it.