Chapter 2

I pulled myself together and went back to the set. A crew member shoved the stand-in costume into my hands.

Stand-ins don't get much screen time, mostly backs and long shots.

Today's scene was the female lead jumping off a cliff.

The newcomer was Emily Lane, just twenty. She clutched Alex's sleeve, her voice soft and shaky. "Alex, I'm scared of heights."

There was a hint of indulgence in his eyes as he answered gently, "We'll use a stand-in."

So I got harnessed up and stepped to the edge of the cliff.

The late autumn wind cut straight through me, cold enough to make my teeth chatter.

The slate clapped, and I jumped. As I dropped, I found myself thinking of years ago.

Back then, Alex was still a broke student. We used to wait outside Central Casting together, hoping to land extra roles.

Winters were brutal, and he would take off his only coat and put it on me, standing there in a thin shirt, shivering.

"One day," he would say, holding my hands and breathing warmth into them, "I'll make you the lead. My lead."

The rig lowered me slowly, and I saw Alex drape his coat over Emily's shoulders, carefully smoothing her hair.

"Cut!"

Assistant director Jordan Vance sounded annoyed. "Again. The stand-in doesn't look desperate enough."

They hauled me back up to the top.

On the third jump, the rig jerked midair, and I slammed into the cliff face.

Pain shot through my ribs. I clenched my teeth and didn't make a sound.

The crew rushed to fix the equipment. Alex finally looked at me.

There was something complicated in his expression, maybe a trace of concern.

It lasted only a second before Emily's soft voice cut in.

"This is my fault. If I weren't afraid of heights, Sophia wouldn't have to go through this."

His attention shifted immediately.

He patted the back of her hand, his tone returning to its usual warmth.

"It's not on you. The crew should have checked the equipment."

Then he looked at me, the same distant authority as always.

"Can you keep going?"

I was still hanging in midair, waves of pain crashing through me.

Before I could even respond, his impatience came through the loudspeaker. "Can you or not? If not, we'll replace you."

His voice was colder than the autumn wind.

My eyes stung, but I held it in and said evenly, "I can."

They lifted me up again, and I jumped.

This time, Jordan finally called it.

When they lowered me down, my costume was soaked through with cold sweat.

My assistant, Mia, hurried over with water and a towel.

Alex didn't spare me a glance. He was focused on the monitor, watching Emily's close-up.

"Emily's expression here is great," he said, his voice carrying a kind of softness I hadn't heard in a long time.

"There's fear, but also stubbornness. It fits the character perfectly."

Emily leaned against him, smiling brightly. "That's because you taught me well."

Hearing that again felt strange.

He used to say the same thing to me.

Back then, we put everything we had into a low-budget web series.

He directed and wrote it, and I played the lead while also handling production work.

There was a crying scene I shot over a dozen times. He walked me through it again and again, guiding me step by step.

"Your eyes tell a story," he told me then.

"There's sadness, but there's strength underneath. That's exactly what I want."

After we wrapped that day, he drove me home in his beat-up secondhand car.

I curled up in the cramped passenger seat, resting my head on his shoulder.

The summer night air was warm. He spoke loudly over the wind. "When this show takes off, we'll get married!"

His voice drifted into the night, full of that youthful certainty.

The show did gain some traction, and Alex became a rising director overnight.

Our lives really did get better.

But he never brought up marriage again.