Chapter 1041
Calliope had spent months on set, swept up in the whirlwind of filming and building friendships with nearly everyone around her. The days blurred together until suddenly, it was all coming to an end, and the main cast’s last scene had wrapped. No one wanted to say goodbye.
Linnea, in particular, was taking it hard. At the wrap party, after one drink too many, she became hopelessly sentimental, draping herself over Calliope, her eyes red and teary.
“Callie, what am I supposed to do without you?” Linnea sniffled, clinging fiercely. “Set life will be so boring without you! I can’t live without you-please, don’t go p>
Caught in Linnea’s slightly tipsy hug, Calliope just laughed softly, trying to lighten the mood. She spoke as gently as she could, “We’ll have plenty of chances to work together again. This is only goodbye for now p>
After months of long shooting days, Linnea had grown incredibly fond of Calliope— and, somewhat to Calliope’s surprise, her earlier infatuation with Julius had faded away. For a while, Calliope thought Linnea and Julius might actually end up together —maybe even make her part of the family. But that spark fizzled; Julius didn’t seem interested, and before long, neither was Linnea.
Still, Linnea and Julius managed to strike up an unlikely friendship. After spending time together on set, the initial awkwardness between them vanished, replaced with an easy camaraderie that was more like siblings than anything romantic.
But it wasn’t just Linnea who hated to see Calliope leave. The whole cast and crew felt the same—even Zachary, the director, seemed genuinely reluctant to see her go.
“Callie, it’s a shame. Who knows when we’ll get to work together again?” Zachary told her, raising his glass. “Honestly, filming was a breeze with you here. You kept everything running ahead of schedule, and the quality of the work—” He shook his head, smiling appreciatively. “It’s the best I’ve ever seen p>
Having Calliope on set had made his job so much easier. She seemed to know everything-she was the screenwriter, after all-so she had a perfect handle on each scene and always found the best way to shoot. Problems cropped up as they inevitably did on any production, aut Calliope handled each one with almost effortless grace. Zachary knew full well the show would have been a headache to shoot without her.
He wasn’t the only one who felt that way. The assistant director,
department heads, and pretty much anyone who worked with Calliope all sang ter praises. She was brilliant practical, thoughtful, and so easy to talk to. She’d even step in to sort out problems that weren’t hép responsibility at all-nothing was too much trouble, and everyone loved having her around.
On top of that, Calliope never lost her cool. She was beautiful, talented, and genuinely kind. Having a friend like her in your corner could solve most of life’s hassles with a smile. And her medical skills were the stuff of legend-If someone felt under the weather or caught a bug, they’d go to her before they ever thought of calling a doctor.
All evening, colleagues stopped by with their glasses raised to toast Calliope, each expressing how much they’d miss her. It was obvious that once she was gone, no one could fill the space she’d leave behind-the effortless harmony she brought to the set was one of a kind.
Calliope, for her part, had grown used to this sort of thing. Aside from the occasional headaches courtesy of the Jewell family, she’d always been surrounded by loyal friends and people who treated her well. These days, it seemed the only one from the Jewell family who still genuinely liked her was Ulysses.
While everyone else came to clink glasses and share their memories, Ulysses watched her quietly from across the room. Over the months,
he’d made a quiet effort to be near her, to give what help he could never daring to overstep. The more he watched Calliope, the more he was struck by her brilliance; compared to her, Lisette’s so-called brilliance paled into insignificance next to her.