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"Hehehehe."
Lola giggled, lying comfortably beside Atlas on the couch of their outdoor patio as she showed him the clip of her scene in Angel’s Revenge.
"I’m good, right?" She humd with a grin. "Baby, I think I’m going to be a star."
Atlas blinked slowly, eyes still fixed on the paused clip where her face was in a close-up. The scene was supposed to be serious, but with her makeup, it looked more like a parody. When he finally looked at her, he studied her expression.
The smile on her face was unlike any other. There was excitent gleaming in her eyes. Though she’d been excited many tis before, there was sothing different about this one.
"You wanted to be a celebrity?" he asked out of pure curiosity.
Lola paused for a beat and raised her brows. "Not a celebrity, per se, but I used to want to pursue acting."
"What’s the difference?"
"A celebrity is soone famous who chases fa. Acting is sothing else. It’s... passion." She shrugged lightly. "Anyone can beco a celebrity if they want to, but not everyone has the passion for acting. It’s a bit complicated, I guess."
It was, indeed, complicated for him. In his mind, acting and fa were the sa, but Atlas didn’t point that out.
"I rejected the role at first, but they kept pressing about it," she sighed. "Goodness. Now it’s co to this. Just what would people say now?"
Another deep sigh escaped her as if she hadn’t been grinning like a fool seconds ago. Even so, Atlas didn’t open his mouth. Rembering his brother-in-law Zoren’s advice—to understand won first before reacting—he kept quiet.
And right now, all Atlas saw was Lola’s excitent for the role despite her words.
"You should play it," he said in a low voice. Her brows rose as she looked at him.
Lola pouted. "You think so?"
"Mhm." He nodded, secretly sighing in relief that he’d bitten his tongue. "You’d have to worry more if you let soone else play it. I don’t think anyone could do it better than you."
"Ohh..." She puckered her lips and puffed her cheeks before leaning her body against him again. Her cheeks turned pink, her eyes gleaming as a tiny sweet voice slipped out. "You really think so?"
Atlas nodded, resting a hand on her back. "It doesn’t have a kissing scene, does it?"
"Huh?"
As the two stared at each other, Slater ca happily skipping and flopped onto the other couch across from them.
"Hello~!" Slater sang, eyes gleaming at the sweet couple cuddling across from him. "Should we start sending out wedding invitations? You two look way too close. Is that a sign for a baby?"
Atlas and Lola turned to him.
"Where are those two?" Atlas asked.
"The twins?" Slater blinked, looking around. "Where did they go? I was with them earlier—they said they’d join you here."
"Should I check them?" Lola offered, but Atlas glanced at his watch and shook his head.
"Don’t bother," he said. "It’s their schedule to talk to their cousins and grandparents."
"Schedule?" Lola frowned. "I didn’t know they had one."
"Sis, you’d be surprised how packed their schedules are," Slater replied, wagging a finger knowingly. "Just because they make it look easy doesn’t an it’s not hard."
Her face twisted slightly at his remark, only for Slater’s to light up again.
"Right!" he clapped. "First Brother, have you heard that Sis is going to play a role in the film?"
Atlas nodded. "I was told."
"Hehehe! I hope you won’t mind our kissing scene too!" Slater laughed heartily until the sudden darkness in the air made him nearly choke. Lola frantically signaled him to stop with a shake of her head.
Slowly, Atlas turned to Lola. His expression didn’t change, but there was a shadow in his eyes deep enough to swallow her whole.
"A kiss?" he repeated slowly. "With him?"
"..." Lola almost choked, forcing a smile. Knowing this could easily turn into a disaster, she moved closer, deliberately pressing her chest against his arm. "Baby, why would you believe him?"
"Yes, First Brother!" Slater gasped. "Why do you believe when I’m joking but not when I’m serious?"
"There was a kissing scene," she clarified carefully, only to feel a wave of cold air sweep between them. "But I specifically asked for it to be removed."
She smiled sweetly. "There’s no way they wouldn’t remove it. Everyone knows he’s your brother. That’d be weird, right?"
Atlas studied her reaction, noting the slight stiffness in her smile. When he turned his sharp gaze on Slater, the latter froze.
"Don’t kiss anyone else," Atlas said solemnly as he turned back to Lola. "That’s all I ask."
"Why? Jealous?" she teased.
"Yes," he answered without hesitation.
"Wow..." Slater was in awe. "I never thought I’d live to see the day you’d actually admit that."
"She’s my woman. Jealousy is natural in a relationship," Atlas shrugged, slipping into his big-brother tone as if preparing for a lecture. But before he could continue, Lola cleared her throat.
"I’ll just check the twins," she said brightly, patting Atlas’s shoulder. "I’ll be back quickly."
Without waiting for a reply, she hurried back into the residence. As she walked, she shook her head.
"Why is it that when I imagined him getting jealous, it looked romantic?" she muttered to herself. "But sohow, all I felt was that he was about to give us a lecture on relationships."
Still, Lola didn’t dwell on it. She was used to everyone’s antics by now. She was just happy that Atlas understood her heart more than her words. After all, even though she’d refused the role again and again, once she actually played it, it felt like sothing inside her was healing.
Acting had once been a dream. Because of life’s hurdles, it had beco a distant one. So even if she didn’t plan to pursue it anymore, getting to play a role—especially one close to her heart—was aningful.
Her thoughts paused when she reached the family room and heard Chacha and Second’s voices. Peeking through the door, she saw the twins leaning over a small rectangular table with an iPad on it. They were chatting with soone on a video call.
"Mhm! Our Mommy cooked us dinner! It was the best dinner ever!"
"Our Mommy’s the best, Grandpa~! Your son is super lucky~!"
Their grandfather’s laughter echoed from the speaker, followed by his gentle reminder:
"You should always be nice to your mommy, alright? Listen to her and don’t stress her out."
Lola’s eyes softened as she took a step back, listening. After the grandfather’s words ca a woman’s gentle voice—kind, affectionate. Everything they said was warm, full of goodness—words Lola had never once heard from her own family.
"I want to et them too," she whispered.
Just then, her phone buzzed in her pocket. Fishing it out, her brows furrowed when she saw a na she hadn’t heard from in a long ti.
"Hello?" she answered, the lingering smile on her face fading. "What? Lawrence Young—what?"
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