Faith in Me

Chapter 4 - The Day After

Something's wrong with the kids.

Yang Sao felt it the minute she arrived on set that morning. She had fully expected to find Dylan and Yue already there and likely engaging in some sort of playful physical altercation, but it was abnormally quiet. The bustle of the film set was humming steadily as the production crew finished setting up the scenes for the day; however, the two leads were nowhere to be found.

She wandered a bit and found F3 lounging in the break room. Her curious gaze took in their bloodshot eyes and unusually pale faces. Kuan was lying haphazardly on one couch, a magazine strategically blocking any incoming light, soft moans sporadically emitting from his mouth. Yang Sao's eyes swept to the left where she found Kang, slumped on another couch, his shaking hands gripping a steaming cup of coffee that was dangerously close to spilling over. He moved the cup closer to his mouth but the smell must have been unpleasant because he made a choking noise and quickly shoved the cup as far away from him as possible. He shut his eyes as he shrunk further back into the couch, whimpering and clutching fitfully at an ugly pillow in the shape of a cookie. Completing the peculiar circle was Xi Ze, normally found snacking whenever a camera is not rolling, now staring mournfully at a stack of baos in the center of the coffee table. Taking a deep breath, he manfully reached towards the plate; he didn't even get close before his face turned a sickly green and he dry heaved into the blanket he was wrapped in.

"Disgraceful," Yang Sao tsked disapprovingly, shaking her head. These boys were supposed to be members of the dashing F4? An unladylike snort escaped as she gave them one last contemplative look-over. Plucking a heavy book from a nearby chair, she sauntered into their midst; her nose wrinkled from the faint smell of residual alcohol emanating from their bodies. She was going to enjoy this... lifting the book high into the air, she let it drop with a resounding flourish.

BANG!

"GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!" screamed Kuan as he shot straight up from his lying position, the magazine flying off his face, his hands automatically punching repeatedly in the air. He suddenly stopped, his face confused and bewildered, when he realized he was connecting with absolutely nothing. Kang's head was now buried underneath the giant cookie pillow; he groaned pitifully and kicked his absurdly long legs in frustration as his head pounded. Xi Ze grimaced, his hands covering his ears, muttering over and over "I'm going to kill him... I'm going to kill Didi" before looking up balefully at Yang Sao.

She only felt slightly bad for them. "What is this nonsense? How are we supposed to film when you all look like death?"

Kuan slumped back down in his seat. "Unfortunately, we are not dead... or else we wouldn't feel so hung over." He grimaced. "Our scenes have been rescheduled for tomorrow. Sorry, Yang Sao - you'll be filming Yu Sao's scenes with Daoming Feng and Zhuang jie today."

Yang Sao raised her eyebrows. "What kind of unprofessional -"

Kang interrupted her before she could take them to task. "We did it for Didi, Yang Sao! He called an emergency F4 meeting at his apartment last night. When we showed up, he was in a really bad mood. He didn't want to talk; he only wanted to drink. We thought he'd tell us what was going on after a few shots but we drank two bottles of Ballantine and he didn't say a word!"

"Didi rarely drinks like that," Xi Ze added worriedly, his earlier death threats forgotten as he considered his best friend's unusual behavior. "He was fine last night when we were playing basketball. Something must have happened when he went to see Yue. He said he wanted to ask her about a scene they were filming today. Do you think they got into an argument?"

Kang shook his head. "What could they possibly argue about?"

"Didi can be too brash sometimes, and Yue can be closed off and sensitive. Maybe they had a disagreement," Kuan speculated as he straightened up, his mind suddenly working much quicker now that there was something to focus on.