Finding the Right Words

Chapter 118- Purely Professional

"I can't wear that!" I squeaked, looking down at the "costume" I'd been told to wear for the beach scene that day. "I'll fall out! How awful would that be?!"

"That would be awesome," Cezar commented, and I smacked him in the arm. He was already changed, looking amazing as usual in a pair of swimming trunks. 

"But, Señorita Queen Be, the scene is to make you seem attractive and powerful for the boys..." the staff member attempted to say. 

"I can't wear bikinis, okay? It's a disaster waiting to happen. Maybe for girls with smaller chests it's okay, but I will seriously fall right out. The last thing I need is for pictures of that to go public."

 Apparently word had gotten around the movie industry that I was hard to work with because I was too picky about what I would wear or do. I was gaining quite a reputation in a not-so-good way. I didn't like it. But I was an actress, not a porn star. Wasn't the whole idea to be a tease, always just out of reach? I didn't think that refusing to wear revealing clothing would be such a problem.

"Wait! WAIT!" Lela shouted in Korean, huffing and puffing to reach us on the beach. In her hand she held a hanger attached to a garment bag. "They told me about today's filming ahead of time, and Queen Be's clothing sponsor gave us a different option. We were saving this for her photoshoot tomorrow, but I think it'll be okay."

I had to translate her Korean/English for the crew, who agreed as soon as they saw the bathing suit. Before I knew it, I was coming out of the changing room in a truly amazing black bathing suit. The back piece was made like a halter top, with the black fabric crossing over the chest, then wrapping around and twisting together at the bottom, tied to a gold ring that hooked onto the bottom. It was elegant, and sexy at the same time. I felt totally hot.

When I came out, Cezar whistled. "Wow, it'll be easy to get into character today!"

I flicked my hair and winked at him. "Sorry, honey. No chance."

"Why not?!"

"Alright, alright, everyone get ready! We'll start in five minutes!" the director called, and Cezar frowned and walked down towards the beach. Lela looked at me in the bathing suit, arranging the ruffled and spritzing my hair with some special hairspray to give it more volume. And then she stopped, looking down at me.

"Queen Be, what happened to your SKIN?!"

I looked down at my arms. Nothing seemed wrong. "What's wrong with my skin?"

"You're brown!"

I laughed, nudging her away. "It's a tan, Lela-eonni. It happens when melatonin in the skin reacts with ultraviolet rays in light, to help prevent our skin from burning and getting damaged.

She grimaced. "But you used to have such nice white skin..."

"Oh shush. Besides, I didn't even tan that much."

She frowned. "Don't you dare get darker. What am I supposed to do if we go back to Korea and try to pass you off as beautiful if your nice pale skin is gone?"

I laughed. "Thanks, Lela-eonni. Appreciate it."

 ~

I held the magazine in my hands, looking down at the front cover. People magazine, with a picture of me in my black bathing suit, posing for the camera. The caption read "Queen Be is turning up the temperature in Chile, South America". Apparently people were starting to view me as hot. Of course, you couldn't see how short I was in the picture. That was one beauty of photographs. 

The drama was extremely popular, though. Lots of people were interested in it. And my character wasn't even the heart of the storyline. But people in the US liked to hear about my success there. Even though I'd be going back to Korea, anyway, people thought of Chile as being practically home.