Recruited by a Villainess System

It was the next day, and Irene slept in since she didn’t have anything scheduled for today. She stayed up last night coaching Lilian step by step, picking out the details each time Lilian deviates from the character.  

It wasn’t until midnight when Lilian produced acceptable results, and Irene was at ease to finally let the both of them sleep. 

As of the moment, the dog-tired Irene was blissfully cozying up with her blanket while the curtain in her room formed a tightly woven blockage preventing the sunlight from accessing her abode. 

While at it, her student was, presently, on stage, performing her piece in front of the judge for the second time.

Without the coach, Lilian’s only supporter, Maine, stood at the side like a mom teetering in anxiety and panic as she sat in the audience with a camera at hand waiting for her child’s turn in her first ever talent show. 

It was nerve-wracking. No one wished for their child to be humiliated in public, AGAIN. 

Vince, as the director, aka the judge, has now tempered his emotions compared to yesterday. He was the calm ocean on a sunny day, intimidating, but the sailors were out of harm’s way. 

Just pray that the weather wouldn’t pull the carpet from under everyone’s feet. After all, the weather was fickle. 

Vince was checking the monitor and in the process caught sight of Lilian captured by the camera. 

Lilian was playing the role of Maggie Brown, Hannah’s best friend. 

As the same age as the protagonist, Maggie emitted an innocent and bubbly persona. It shouldn’t have been a problem for Lilian. These two personalities were innate in her; in theory, she could act these with her eyes closed.

But that was the problem. 

In the presence of the lenses, only her name changed. Her bobbing head, her glistening eyes, and her sweet smile—all of those were Lilian Chambers. It wasn’t Maggie Brown.

Maggie’s pureness was the product of the perfect world that was Eden. 

Lilian’s was not. Lilian’s pureness was a choice. She chose to be good. She chose to forgive. And she chose to forget. It was her discretion to live like this. 

Lilian went through others dissatisfaction, loathing, favor, and love toward her. But she let it pass her. 

Some condemned her for being foolish, and some would even say she was overcompensating. Overcompensating for what? Couldn’t a person be good just because she wanted to with no strings attached? 

The main point was that Maggie and Lilian’s upbringing made them antithetical to each other, and Lilian had to realize that. 

In a flat tone, Vince called Lilian over. 

Lilian perked up at the sound of her name. She turned her body to the source of the voice and discovered Vince’s stoic gaze meeting hers. Her spine slightly curled, timid.

Vince stayed seated in his chair as Lilian went near him. “I don’t have to repeat my words from yesterday, do I?”

His sentence fell on Lilian and she immediately shook her head. Her voice trembled. “I…” She coughed and continued, this time with more confidence. “I can do it.”

Vince silently raised an eyebrow at her as she gradually gained a semblance of fortitude. Not bad. 

He thought Lilian would mope around for the rest of the day after what transpired, but he seemed to be mistaken. “Go back. We’ll now start.”

~~~

Maggie Brown, Hannah’s best friend, lived in the upper class neighborhood. Compared to Hannah, Maggie was the treasure of her family, an only child. 

Her mother, Adele Cox, was among the top 100 wealthiest in the country, while her father, Hunter Wagner, was the chief of police. 

Maggie met Hannah while she was visiting her father. 

They were both 6 years old at that time. It was at that instance where Maggie first witnessed a person getting handcuffed and put to jail. She couldn’t see the man’s face as it was lowered, but she vividly heard the wailing of a young girl and a woman as they begged on their knees, repeating over and over that the man was innocent. 

Hunter, who was beside her, wanted to drag her away, but she didn’t budge. “Daddy, who is that? Why is he handcuffed?”

Her dad couldn’t bear to lie to her. “He’s a bad guy. You shouldn’t concern yourself with him.”

Maggie’s ignorant mind was brimming with questions. “Why? What did he do?”

“He hurt someone. Now, he’s saying sorry for it.”

“But…” Maggie looked at the distraught Hannah. 

Maggie couldn’t comprehend what was happening, but she knew that bad guys needed to be punished. But what about that sister over there?

Hunter followed Maggie’s contemplative gaze and released a breath.

“Why don’t you befriend that sister over there?” Maggie stared at him as if asking, “Is it really ok?”

“Of course. Both of you can play in my office.” A smile bloomed on Maggie’s face, lifting her chubby cheeks and crinkling the corner of her eyes. 

It was then when Maggie and Hannah’s  friendship started. 

As of the moment, Maggie was in her bedroom, crouching behind the window. She very, very carefully and slowly clutched the side of the white curtain to get a view of the walking teenager boy toward her house’s porch.

Her heart was in a marathon. She was all giddy; there were butterflies circling around her stomach.  

It was Zian Clarke. Her crush. 

Maggie and Zian live in the same neighborhood, yet it was only recently when they got to know each other due to Hannah. It was also only just recently when this infatuation of hers toward him sprouted. 

Her first love, aw. 

Then a knock interrupted her thoughts. 

Maggie jolted away from her stupor. Her voice wavered a bit, as though caught doing mischief. “Wait a minute.”

She jumped on the bed and quickly grabbed her phone on the bedside table. In a comfortable position, she pretended to be engrossed in a lecture video. “Come in.”

“Baby, Zian’s downstairs. He’s looking for you.” It was Adele. 

The butterflies intensified. Maggie was grinning ear to ear.

Maggie lowered her head, using her hair as a drape to mask her flushed cheeks and curved lips. She tried to control the tremor of excitement from leaking in her voice. “I’ll be down in a minute, mommy.”

Adele found nothing abnormal about her baby girl and she closed the door back.

Hearing the door shut, Maggie swiftly ran in front of the full-length mirror. She twisted left and right, making sure she looked pretty.

Maggie didn’t dare to run in the stairs as she knew she was going to be reprimanded for that, and it would also make her mom question her. So her best option was to steadily walk, fighting the impulse to bounce on her feet. 

Arriving in the living room, she saw Zian with his straight back, long legs, sharp jaw, and gentle eyes sitting on the single seater couch. His smile was the congregation of nature and the beauty of spring; you couldn’t help but be hooked. 

Maggie’s heart was jumping out of control. 

“Maggie.” That blonde hair, blue eyes, and indulging smile… What an angel.

“Have you seen Hannah? I couldn’t get through her phone.” 

A bucket of ice water was poured on her. 

“Oh,” Maggie whispered. “She joined the new book club at school. You probably haven’t heard of them since they were just established this year.”

“Oh, I thought you’re both free today; I wanted to invite you two to go watch a movie.” He paused as he realized Hannah wasn’t there. “Maybe next time.” Zian didn’t notice Maggie’s disappointment, and Maggie was used to this. 

“Sure, just send a text to give us a heads up.” But Maggie still continued to look happy. 

Following that, Zian went home. Maggie waved at him goodbye before closing the door. Her hands stayed on the doorknob as she hung her head and sighed; her body slumped. 

It has always been like this; him chasing after Hannah, and her chasing after him. And she couldn’t help it. 

~~~

“You nailed it,” Maine patted Lilian on the back. 

They were currently inside the dressing room with Alice Lawrence, Lilian’s make-up artist.

Lilian said in a cute voice, “Really?”

Maine walked to the couch. “Did you see Keith? The moment you stepped out of the lens, he cried buckets in happiness. A proud father witnessing his daughter spread her wings.” Keith Ferguson was the cameraman Calvin introduced to them on the first day. 

Lilian’s emerald pupils became misty as she listened to Maine’s words. Then, a blush excitedly followed, creeping into her cheeks. 

Compliments get her every time. “I’m glad you think so.”

Alice chimed in. “You did great. Keep it up.”

Alice was there when Vince tore Lilian apart yesterday, and she felt bad for her. Besides Lilian, the success today brought a tremendous relief to Alice, who was also concerned. 

Lilian peered into the mirror and gave Alice her sweetest smile. 

Inside the room, the trio overheard a commotion from the outside. Curious, Alice’s gossipy nature was resurfacing. “I’ll go and check.”

Without even stepping out of the room, Alice noticed a confrontation between a man and a woman. Well, it was more of a perfunctory greeting she supposed—for the male part.

The woman, on the other hand, was up for debate.

It was Hattie and Max Males. 

Max was playing the role of Zian in the movie; he was also the male lead. 

Hattie took delight in this unexpected encounter. Naturally, she was trying to brush up to him. 

Throughout her career, Hattie learned not to go against those in power—in general, those with status, fame, and financial means above her. And instead, attempt to curry favor if she could. While those below… It was not her fault that they were in such circumstances. It was their reality to eat mud. 

This, too, was the reason why she wouldn’t oppose Irene—publicly. While Lilian, she better watch out. Once things blew up, she would surely snatch that VIP seat. 

Max didn’t intend to bump into Hattie. He just wanted to spend some time with that cute newcomer, not be blocked by some actress.

Max categorized Hattie into the gray area. He could spot the twists and turns in her mind, but he didn’t care. He wouldn’t concern himself with other people’s matters; as long as he wasn’t bothered, everything was okay.

But right now, he has better things to do and coldly ignored this person in front of him.

Alice saw Max walking in her direction and scampered to go back inside. It would be shameful if she was caught eavesdropping.

Hattie was left in the cold as Max blatantly snubbed her; her words were left hanging in her mouth. 

She remained there, in the exact same position as she spoke to Mac, while Max entered a room. 

In a bad mood, she huffed as she proceeded to walk to her dressing room to get ready for this afternoon’s shoot.

Inside Lilian and Irene’s dressing room. 

You could just picture the sound of crickets bouncing on the four walls of the room the moment Max stepped in.

“Hi.” He broke the one second silence as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, totally different from his interaction with Hattie. 

Maine sneakily moved her eyes to get a hold of Alice’s. What’s happening?

Alice explained back, her eyes turning wide as she insisted. I REALLY have no clue why he came.

The two of them didn’t reply, as it was clear who he was talking to just by his gaze. Maine and Alice covertly turned to Lilian.

Lilian was likewise taken aback by the sudden entrance of this hunk before her. It took her a while to react, but not long enough to make it awkward. “Hello.”

Max beamed when Lilian acknowledged him. In the blink of an eye, he restyled his approach. He was unabashed as he pulled the seat beside Lilian. “Vince did you dirty yesterday; he didn’t need to scold you like that. I was going to follow you here, but then I saw Irene dashed and stood right at the door. So I gave up and decided to visit now. You were incredible today, by the way.” 

“Thank you.” Lilian didn’t know what else to say, this was out of the blue, but it brought her a slight joy to learn that people she wasn’t close with cared for her.

Maine, on the contrary, got a whiff of a conspiracy brewing. She brushed aside Alice’s tilted head, leaning toward her left shoulder, indicating that the two of them should exit. 

Alice’s neck remained angled as she used her head and raised eyebrows to signal and insist to Maine for them to go out. Alice has seen her fair share of men that she knew exactly what Max was up to the moment he opened his mouth. Being a light bulb is not on my agenda.

The more Alice asserted, the more Maine was sure of her guess. I pray you don’t get a stiff neck after doing that, but I won’t leave Lilian alone. 

It was at this juncture when a group of words from a suave voice registered themselves into Maine’s brain, entering from her ear canal straight to her auditory cortices. “Are you free this evening?”

Oh hell no!