The next morning, Lisa dragged Jennie out of bed for some early training. As Jennie's fight scenes following on would be more dangerous, she decided she'd tell him about the scenes and then practice with him to see if he had any suggestions.
In reality, as soon as Wei An notified Jennie to prepare for dangerous scenes, most of the crew assumed she'd take a long time to adjust. After all, she had no foundation in martial arts. But, surprisingly, all she needed was one night, and she was able to do what she previously couldn't.
So the crew realized, they could never judge the 'Future Jennie' based on the 'Current Jennie'. Because, apart from the strength of her own perseverance, she also had a capable manager - Lisa.
Elder Manoban continued to remain on set. After his identity was revealed, he would appear on set dressed in traditional clothing as he waved his fan and gave Jennie pointers in her acting.
Seeing Jennie completely consumed in her acting, Elder Manoban became more and more pleased. A person could put on an act for a while, but it was difficult to keep it up for a lifetime. So, Elder Manoban began to acknowledge that Jennie faced the world with her true self.
He was especially pleased with the way she handled matters. She was quick, efficient and ended things cleanly.
Faced with Taka's teasing, she remained cold and distant.
This proved that she always held Lisa in the number one position!
One month after 'The Lost Relative' began refilming, they finally caught up to their previous progress. Of course, Gu Heng's role was taken over by a newcomer. As she was new, she had gone through a strict training regime which taught her to be cautious of others. As a result, she was very polite towards Jennie.
That day, Lisa finished his work early and arrived on the set of 'The Lost Relative' without notifying anyone beforehand.
Taka had never seen Lisa before, so he had no idea that he was Jennie's husband. Seeing Lisa's gaze was focused on Jennie, Taka approached him and asked, "Can you speak English?"
"Of course," Lisa smiled. In fact, his pronunciation was even more accurate than Taka's.
"Are you interested in her?" Taka asked as he pointed to Jennie, "Let me tell you, don't waste your time. She is already mine. It's best if you don't compete for something that I already have my eyes on."
"Oh, really?" Lisa lifted his eyebrows, "Has she already agreed to be your girlfriend?"
"Uh huh, how many women could resist this youthful body of mine?" Taka laughed as he looked at Jennie.
Lisa's gaze deepened a few shades. At this time, Jennie finally finished acting in front of the camera. As she turned around, she noticed Lisa had arrived.
As Taka stood beside Lisa, he thought she was smiling at him. He was quite shocked. Jennie only ever hit him or glared at him, so it was rare to see her smile.
"You see that? She's smiling at me."
"Really?" Lisa couldn't help but tease. A moment later, Jennie approached the two men. Taka immediately stood up straight, prepared to greet the woman walking towards him. However...
Jennie directly pounced into Lisa's embrace and buried herself in his chest, "Why did you come at this time?"
Lisa hugged her tightly as he said softly into her ear, "I am your manager. No matter what time I come, it is reasonable."
"Let's get going then. After I remove my makeup, we can go home," Jennie said as she lifted her head. "The director has given me special permission to take tomorrow off."
"In that case, let's go." After Lisa spoke, he grabbed onto Jennie's hand. However, before they walked away, he couldn't resist turning to Taka and saying, "I wish you all the best."
Taka's expression turned extremely awkward...
He brushed his hand through his hair and didn't dare to look the couple in the eye. After they left, he finally approached Wei An and asked, "The man that Jennie hugged..."
"Oh, him? He is Jennie's manager and husband. Also known as the CEO of Manoban Entertainment."
Taka's face turned red in embarrassment as he thought about the words he had said to Lisa.
His manly pride suddenly felt hurt...
As Lisa escorted his wife away, his expression did not look impressed either. His wife was being harassed by an annoying fly, and he had brought this fly into her life?
"Your expression is a bit sour. Did Taka say something to you?" Jennie boarded the car and couldn't help but laugh as she looked at Lisa's expression. "Don't worry, if he dares to bully my husband, I'll find a way to teach him a lesson."
"How?"
"I learned it from you. I'll use filming as an excuse to leave him bruised and battered. In fact, I'll call Director Wei right now and tell him to make Taka do some extra scenes tonight."
Lisa grabbed onto Jennie's hand before she made a phone call and rubbed it between his palms, "You always manage to ease my anger."
"Because there's nothing to be angry about. There's only two more months of filming left. Afterwards, we will barely come in contact again."
Lisa nodded his head as he started the car and drove Jennie away from the film studio.
The couple's wedding anniversary was fast approaching. Whenever Jennie thought about the previous year's August 15th, she believed that life was filled with surprises and miracles. If she had not been so courageous that day to suggest they got married, her life would have perhaps turned out very different and nowhere as fortunate as she was right now.
"Mrs Manoban, I must congratulate you on being married to Mr. Manoban for one year."
Hearing this, Jennie smiled and whispered something in Lisa's ear. Lisa fell into deep thought over what she said.
"After 'The Lost Relative' completes its filming, 'W.H.' should be roughly due for release. Although I haven't lined up another job for you, would it be too soon to have a child?"
"Mr. Manoban, you will be 34 next year! Did you want our child to call you grandfather instead?" It was rare for Jennie to refute Lisa's words; she had always been submissive towards him.
Lisa sighed and eventually nodded his head. Although Jennie was submissive towards him, he was obviously the one that compromised the most.
"I really don't know what to do about you."
"In that case, I won't take a day off tomorrow. I'll leave it for our wedding anniversary."
Lisa did not respond. It seemed, he was quietly accepting Jennie's arrangements.
"Also, we need to go for a medical checkup. We need to confirm that our tiring work has not affected our chances of having a baby."
Lisa completely listened to Jennie. He had no choice. If there was such a thing as 'The Wife Doting Club', he would be the honorary club president.
After all, he had gotten used to treating Tangning as his everything.
"We can do it on our wedding anniversary. I'll tell Jisoo to organize it."
Having a child...
Thinking of these three words, Lisa felt for an instant that he was not yet ready. In fact, he felt a little helpless. He couldn't imagine how such a fragile creature would turn out once it entered this world...
Perhaps, every man in this world experienced the same moment of panic before becoming a father.
...
In another part of town. After leaving the Kim Family and preparing herself for a few months, Nancy finally showed signs of pregnancy. At this moment, she was sitting inside Beijing's best obstetrics and gynecology hospital.
In order to return to the Kim Family, she had endured for much too long. Especially when she saw Jennie become more and more famous, she couldn't help but imagine that Jennie would some day bow down to her and she'd be able to give her a lifetime of torture.
"Miss Nancy, congratulations, you are already 8 weeks pregnant," the doctor explained. "You've been taking good care of your body, so your baby is very healthy."
Nancy let out a sigh of relief as she held onto the report. She then asked the nurse impatiently, "Can I find out the gender of my child yet?"
"Well..." the doctor looked at Nancy with a surprised expression and shook her head, "...there is indeed a technology that can do that at 8 weeks, but our hospital does not have access to it. So, the soonest will be 20 weeks before we can determine the gender."
Nancy's expression darkened, but she did not make things difficult for the doctor.
She was already pregnant, so she was holding a good bargaining chip in her hands to use against Elder Kim. Returning to the Kim Family was only a matter of time.
After her medical examination, Nancy left the hospital. However, when she was in the elevator, she came across Jisoo.
She knew that Jisoo was Lisa's right-hand-man, so she wondered what he was doing at that particular hospital?
Because of Lisa's relationship with Jisoo, Nancy subconsciously followed Jisoo nosily. She saw him enter a doctor's office and waited outside patiently until he was done. She then asked around for information.
Of course, one could do anything when they had money.
"Miss Kim, all I know is, Jennie may come here for an examination in a couple days."
The person Nancy managed to bribe was the assistant of a famous doctor. Of course, this was the only information she could provide.
"Is she sick?"
"It appears, she is preparing for a child," the assistant guessed.
"Preparing for a child?!" Hearing these words, Nancy's face turned pale. However, she did not stick around the hospital much longer. Instead, she hurried home to discuss the matter with her mother-in-law.
"No matter how capable Jennie is, she is just a performer. If she wants a stable status in the Manoban Family, she NEEDS a child."
"In that case, what should I do? I can't let Jennie hold the same bargaining chip in her hands." It wasn't easy for Nancy to get pregnant. If Jennie was also pregnant at the same time, she would be a huge obstacle in Nancy's path to returning to the Kim Family.
"Stay calm. Since God gave us this information, we should take advantage of it. Our best plan now, is to bribe someone at the hospital to tamper with Jennie's medical report."
"We need it to say that Jennie has a problem with her body. To fix it, we need to find a trustworthy doctor to remove her uterus and make it so she can NEVER have a child."
Remove her uterus...
These words sent a chill down Nancy's spine...
Although she hated Jennie, hearing these words flow out of her mother-in-law's mouth, still made her hair stand on end, down her back and throughout her body.
But, she still wanted to get revenge...
Jennie had no idea a huge scheme was waiting for her. Worst of all, it was to happen on her and Lisa's wedding anniversary.
...
Over the next couple days.
After seeing Lisa in person, Taka felt defeated. He was obviously younger than Lisa, but apart from this, he held no other advantage against him. As a result, Taka was no longer as loud and arrogant on set as he usually was. In fact, he even avoided Jennie at times.
Wei An found this strange, so he asked Jennie, "Did you teach Taka a strong lesson? Why has he been creeping around you lately like a mouse around a cat?"
"Director Wei, I don't have that ability. If I'm right, I think he was defeated by Lisa."
Wei An nodded as he laughed and praised Lisa, "When it comes to the younger generation of men, I can't find anyone that can compare to him. Your husband is certainly the most capable."
"Thank you, Director Wei."
"You're not bad either. You are a good match for Lisa," Wei An also praised Jennie sincerely. He watched how she pulled through the dramas of the industry whilst fulfilling all his requirements with perseverance. This wasn't something that all actresses could do.
"I heard you are planning to have a child. What are you going to do about your acting career?"
Jennie was a little surprised, but then she realized Elder Manoban must have told Wei An, so she simply responded, "Yes, we are planning to have a child."
"Your acting career only just started..."
"'W.H.' will be released at the end of the year and 'The Lost Relative' will be screened next summer. I have not truly left the industry," Jennie smiled. "Director Wei, as a model, I probably couldn't remain on the runway for the rest of my life. But as an actress, I'm confident, even if I leave for a little while, as long as I still have the ability to act, I will eventually return."
After hearing this, Wei An patted Jennie on the shoulder and responded, "I believe you when you say that. I've seen your projects and I heard 'Stupid' has been performing well in the foreign market. Westerners love films with a deep meaning and your husband is the best at promoting stuff like that..."
"Also, 'W.H.', which is to be released at the end of the year, is a high quality production. I've watched the 10 second trailer and I must say, your performance is spectacular."
"Then, there is of course, our film. Don't worry, it will definitely help you climb to the top."
The top? Hearing this, Jennie was quite surprised.
As a model, she was only a step away from being an international supermodel. But, as an actress, what level was she at?
"I heard you adjusted your day off to accommodate for your wedding anniversary. But...have you guys been married for that long?"
Although Wei An did not know the entire story between Jennie and Lisa, he had heard many interesting things about them.
One of such, was the fact that they had only announced their marriage in February..
However, Jennie did not respond. She simply looked at Wei An with deep meaning.
Wei An seemed to have understood her gaze and did not ask further. He simply told her to get some rest and not to worry about the progress of the film.
After thanking Wei An, Jennie left with Song Yanshu. At this time, she received a phone call from Taehyung. He simply wanted to check on her.
"It's best you worry about yourself. You are now a prince of the music industry, stop doing silly things."
She had noticed his recent popularity. He had a new album and had made multiple appearances on variety shows. It seemed, after being almost framed last time, he had learned how to survive in the industry.
Jennie was relieved. Even if she was to retreat from the industry for a while to have a child, she wouldn't need to worry about Taehyung.
But, was it really that easy to have a child?