I felt the tightly wrapped sheets coiling around my body like a snake, the more I struggled the tighter it got. I felt suffocated. As my headache grew by the second, I began to wrestle and claw out. There was a sense that the room was closing in on me, the heat of the sun penetrating through the cracks of the closed blinds.
--
That was the only real interaction I had with Angel Asylum that day was a nervous breakdown of a conversation.
The rest of the day was spent admiring Kash Arroya's prodigal talent and fending off Tzuyu's remarks and imitations of me with Sana: 'My best friend's favorite band, my ass' and 'Y-yEs' being only a few of them.
I was starting to fit in, not only was I was given more tasks by the production manager, Ms. Yoo, though they were rigid and stressful I felt like I was really making an impact with my presence.
Plus, I got loads of insider information from Tzuyu. She was apparently quite knowledgeable about the set and people there!
By my fifth day on set I had gotten quite comfortable with the staff and crew. I had learned not to talk to Mr. Kash before his morning latte, and understood to never touch any of the thousands of dollars worth of camera equipment, honestly I had come to the conclusion that my job was just to sit, observe, and assist. Which I was fine with, I was rather happy watching the masters work and learning new techniques then making my own deficient work.
So strolling past the security guard and onto set on the seventh and last day of the shoot, a melancholic nostalgia washed over me. Though I hadn't done anything more than fool around with Tzuyu, and follow orders for the past five days, I felt as though I had taken a step into a whole new world. A world that I would never stop wanting to be a part of. I even made friends with a couple of the men in the camera department and got to walk around strapped to one of the heavy gimbals, which was quickly dismounted and taken away from me as I began wobbling my legs from the weight.
I'd already learned more in the past three days than I had in the past 19 years of my life. From how to grade a scene so it matches the vibe of the video and the skin tone of the artists to certain camera movements and post production techniques to give the film a smooth flow, moving from shot to shot in a timely and concise manner so that the viewer is focused on the storyline and plot rather than the quick cuts and botched quality.
Besides that, I spent most of my time in The Equinox, a small room attached to the main set that housed a myriad of screens displaying surveillance footage. There Tzuyu, Vim, and I liked to sit around a round table editing clips on the main laptops with our blond roast coffees. We were always in there, adding music, making sure the scene cuts were smooth, working the off-white balance, and talking about ourselves. In fact during that time from the morning 6AMs to 10PMs I got incredibly close to Tzuyu and Vim, and I forgot about everything that bothered me. Even in our free time away from the set we would travel to nearby fast food spots.
Vim, the third intern, had come in later into the program though he never personally revealed the reason why, many staffers had been saying that he was attending his grandmother's funeral after she was killed in a brutal fashion from a break in.
To say the truth, Tzuyu and I didn't want to ask, Vim was generally a very quiet kid, he was tall and lanky with a bushy mop of hair, and an oversized sweater, the kind one would get lost in. But over a day or two his demeanor melted and he was a lot more open, and at ease around us. He opened up about school, certain other productions he worked on, and how he played the guitar. Which explained his hallmark nail-cutting decisions. He only cut the first two nails on his right hand so they wouldn't interfere with his playing and something about tone or whatever.
But besides the learning and friends the biggest perk of the internship was by far meeting Angel Asylum. Though I would turn into a literal blubbering mess in front of Sana since she was my crush in the band. Meeting them and getting to know them personally was the highlight of the last five days. They even followed me back on instagram!
I was no longer a stalker on their social media sites but rather someone they had worked with on set and knew by name. A couple days ago I was even able to get their signatures on a fresh vinyl of their latest album. To say I almost had a heart attack and fell on the floor screaming would be the understatement of the year.
But now, with the production coming to a close, I needed to start working elsewhere, so in my free time I wrote applications and applied to be an intern or production manager on a myriad of different sets. Luckily, I heard back from a recruiter of a commercial that morning and would be starting up an advertisement shoot for "Genial" the leading depression medication.
Which was a good thing it put me at ease to constantly be working, besides having a buffer day in between works, there was a pack-up celebratory party at La Grande tonight, with the entire cast and crew.
So naturally Vim, Tzuyu, and I were all fidgety in our seats today, thinking of what we'd order to eat and what we would wear, how we would speak, etc.
"Okay, we need to look hot," Tzuyu said as she walked around The Equinox, sipping on her coffee,
"Tzuyu it's just a wrap party how hot can you expect us to look?" Vim spoke, not looking up from his laptop.
"Well for you let's just get off that sweater vest." Tzuyu said,
"How about this we can all go shopping after we end early today and Tzuyu can get a dress while Vim, we try to get you out of that sweater vest." I smiled
They turned to me, while Tzuyu looked me dead in the eye, Vim played with the hem of his vest, while they both emitted a low "Okay,"
"But what about you," Tzuyu spoke
"Oh, I can wear one of my old dresses, I don't want to use money if I don't need to. Besides maybe I can opt in an Australian accent eh what do you think mate?" I spoke to Vim and he just stared at me before going batshit crazy with laughter.
"Oh come on, I got you." Tzuyu winked, "I can sponsor your dress,"
"Tzuyu I can't ask you to buy a dress for me." I said, "Besides, don't act like you're not broke."
"I knew you'd say that Chaeyoung, that's why I said I'd sponnnsor ...Look" Tzuyu walked up to the coffee machine refilling her cup, "If you have the time of your life at this party, the dress is free, but if not! you have to pay me back. Plus, I see a very editorial future for you. If you tell some broadcast that Chou Tzuyu bought you a dress, it would only help me in the future." She pulled out a platinum card and the room went silent.
"You're a secret milionaire!" Vim flew out of his seat grabbing the card to check its authenticity.
I looked at Tzuyu suspiciously who held a calm smile. "Look guys, I trust you enough to tell you this now."
"I'm actually the Chou Film CEO's daughter, I'm at the set because my mom wanted me to get knowledge of being on set and working before I become the next CEO..." She grabbed the card out of Vim's dazed hands.
"Alright, well you're definitely buying my clothes." Vim spoke, and we all laughed. Tzuyu was just looking for some fun, and that I could give her. Besides, she could afford it. A professional party called for a gala look there were low, loww chances of it becoming wild, it's not like I would ruin the dress.
"Yes! So today after work we go to..." Tzuyu started, but just as she was talking I felt the vibrations of my phone in my pocket. It was probably mom, she had been checking in on my eating and health for the past five days. This was the first time her "baby" was out of the nest and it seemed she was more worried about me than I was.
But to my surprise it was a missed call from Dahyun, along with a couple texts.
Dahyun
-Hey!!
-How are you?
-I haven't spoken to you since you
got your internship!
Hey Dahyun!-
I know I'm sorry I haven't gotten any time 😭 but I'm doing well! Just miss you bro!-
How's school going?-
-No it's totally fine, I've been slammed
with work too! College is killlllllllling me!!
-Apparently there was some leak in
my dorms and kids started hallucinating
some weird shit, so I had to move dorms in the middle of studying for a midterm! But luckily I finished moving in a few hours and now I'm on a break and wanted to see how my bestie was doing!!
Oh gosh that sucks, at least you finished it all- and now you don't need to worry about it
Ya think you'll have your midterm studied in time?-
We just wrapped so I have a set party today I'm just scrambling for that with the other interns-
-Yeah I can just make it if I study hard. Ahh well have fun! Don't party too hard!
Good luck! and believe me, I won't haha-
—————
Author's corner:
Hey guys!
I hope you like the story so far! Do let me know what you think and any suggestions, I'll try to implement them. For example, if the story is hard to follow, etc.
Hope you stay along for the ride :)
-Vika
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