The Best Director

It had been over a month since Wang Yang had been incarcerated. Including today, there had been five visiting days, and Natalie had been to the first four, but she was absent this time, even though it took less than two hours to fly back to New York from Boston.

She was not afraid of scandal; the concept didn’t exist for her. Besides, the entertainment gossip media had already exposed her, her first prison visit, her second visit, her third visit… All were headlines in numerous gossip tabloids. She hadn’t responded to any of it, since it was boring. She didn’t need to explain her personal life to others or her fans, nor explain what she was up to, and no one understood clearly anyway.

Let the rumors spread if they must. She was indeed pursuing that guy, and after all, Boston wasn’t far from New York As a good friend, was it not normal to visit him once a week? She knew it was a good opportunity. The guy was definitely lonely, being locked up every day, and he needed the warm concern of visitors. If Jessica Alba went crazy and missed a visit, at least in his dreams for a week, the person would be her.

However, Jessica always went, and she hadn’t gone back to New York today because of a call from Jessica yesterday. Her face expressionless, she kicked the fallen leaves on the ground as she walked, recalling their phone conversation from the night before.

“Natalie, are you going to visit Yang tomorrow?¹‘ After some small talk, Jessica suddenly asked in a calm voice. Holding her phone, Natalie paused for a moment, then realized what was being implied. She thought the other side was probably asking, “Do you actually have feelings for Yang, or am I overthinking?¹¹

Natalie shrugged, feeling a bit annoyed, it seemed her four consecutive special visits had finally made Jessica feel uneasy.

She couldn’t afford to have a fallout with the girl of the same age—not now. It wasn’t time to bring things into the open because if they had a conflict, Jessica would definitely ask Yang to cut ties with her, and the guy would very likely agree. No visits, no calls, not even emails. In that case, she would have no chance at all.

Thinking this, Natalie said, “Oh,” her tone natural: “I’m not going tomorrow. I have some important classes, so I won’t be going.” Saying so was almost like saying, “You’re thinking too much.” Jessica on the other end breathed a sigh of relief, smiled, and with an apologetic tone, said, “Natalie, thank you for always visiting Yang. It’s great he has a friend like you!”

“Haha—” Natalie laughed out loud but felt a suffocating urge to hit someone. After a moment of thought, she said, “Jessica, it’s even greater that he has a girlfriend like you. You’ve done well, keep it up!” Jessica sensed her unfriendly tone and realized it wasn’t so simple, and asked with a frown, “Sorry, what do you mean by that?” Natalie smiled faintly and said, “It means nothing. I just want to say, being a girlfriend isn’t easy! Don’t worry, Jessica, lie loves you. Bye!”

With that, she ended the call. Her attitude was clear, “I have nothing to do with Yang, but I’m not entirely disinterested in him either, yet I’m willing to step back” This wasn’t a falling out, nor was it a conflict. She thought that with her understanding of Jessica, she wouldn’t make a fuss to Yang, so he didn’t need to make a premature choice, especially since it was a choice she was bound to lose.

What she needed to do was slowly turn the situation around. She didn’t want to deceive Jessica in her actions; that would be despicable. Now that Jessica knew, if she did a good job as a girlfriend, she would naturally be out of the picture; if Natalie could do better, Jessica would be the one out.

She was supposed to be in New York today! Natalie gave a fierce kick, sending a pile of leaves swirling in disarray. She muttered to herself, “Chasing someone who has a girlfriend is exhausting, too passive! Forget it, not visiting him today might not be a bad thing, let him feel the gap of not seeing me!”

“Natalie, I was thinking, has Yang been locked up for a month? He could apply for parole, right?” Hearing Beth ask this beside her, Natalie nodded, “He’s already applying.” Beth saw that Natalie seemed down and knew about her weekly trips to New York to visit the prison. Walking together, Beth inquired, “How is he doing in there? I’m looking forward to his new movie.”

“Well, according to him, he has a TV Series plan, called ‘Prison Break’,” Natalie laughed, not sure if he was joking or serious. He also talked about making ‘The Redemption of Rek Island.’ She shrugged and chuckled, “As for movies, it seems not yet. Who thinks about filming movies while in jail? I don’t know, and I don’t want to talk about him.” Beth nodded with a smile, then suddenly recalled something and said, “Oh right, I heard about a fun barbecue happening tonight, wamia go?” Natalie, quite interested, nodded, “Of course, will there be drinks? I need a drink!”

At Rek Island Prison in New York, in the visitation reception room, Wang Yang in his prison garb held Jessica’s hand, persuasively saying, “Jessica, don’t worry about me, throw a big party!” Jessica just smiled and shook her head, and Wang Yang frowned, saying, “Please, it’s your 20th birthday! That’s a big day!” In a few days, it would be April 28, also her 20th birthday, Wang Yang felt an immense frustration. Damn it, a month had passed, and he was still trapped here, and it looked like he was going to miss Jessica’s 20th birthday, unable to throw her an unforgettable party! Seeing she still wouldn’t agree, Wang Yang helplessly scratched his head, saying, “In a couple of days, my parole application should come through, so I can make it for your birthday. So, you better get the party ready, or it’ll be too late then.”

But he knew things might not go smoothly. The parole board could very well make a fuss for a few more days, as parole applications generally require a sincere admission of guilt, remorse for one’s crime, and a promise never to commit the offense again, among other things. His application didn’t include an admission of guilt; it only mentioned “hitting someone is an act of recklessness,” but didn’t say, “hitting Cole was a mistake.” He also promised not to hit someone casually in the future but didn’t say “I will never hit anyone again.” Naturally, he didn’t write the sentence that if it was necessary, he would still strikeout.

Why admit a wrong when there is none? He knew he didn’t want to make that choice, and if he were to act pitifully and admit wrong, he would have done so during the trial. Why sit for a month before admitting guilt? That would be truly foolish! As such, his parole application might take the board even longer to review, and Vincent Grant was also lobbying for him.

“Yang, I don’t want to throw a big party.¹¹ Jessica clasped his hand, looking into his eyes with a serious tone, “Do you think I can celebrate my birthday in there, wildly, receiving congratulations from everyone, and forget you exist? Forget that my boyfriend is locked up in prison? I can’t do that, I won’t be able to enjoy myself.” Wang Yang sighed, “But it’s your 20th birthday.” Jessica gave a sweet smile, showing her teeth, and gently said, “It’s just a birthday. When it conies, just thinking about my 18th birthday will be enough.”

Seeing his frown, Jessica laughed and said, “Yang, don’t worry about that. That day I’ll have a small get-together with Dad and Mom, Joshua, and I’ll also invite Eileen, Zachary, and these good friends over. It can still be great!” Wang Yang smiled and nodded, “Hmm, that’s not bad.” He just knew that he might not be able to attend, and he felt a pang of discomfort, “Though it’s still five days away, Sweetheart, happy birthday! I hope 1 can say it again to you in person at the party.”

“Thank you, Yang,” Jessica gently toyed with his fingers, consoling, “But don’t be anxious over this, it doesn’t matter to me.” She smiled again, “Remember, I am a good girlfriend!” Wang Yang nodded with a smile, “Of course!”

With a loud bang, the iron door of his cell closed heavily. Looking at the less than nine square meters of cramped space, Wang Yang took several deep breaths. The warm feelings from the visitation room vanished in an instant, replaced by a mix of irritation, loneliness, and suppression…

He had tasted what Downey described as the flavor of imprisonment. Although he had time out for air each day, could make phone calls, and stay in touch with the outside world through the newspaper; he also had one visitation a week.

But these maddening feelings had somehow crept up on him, eating away at his body and mind day by day. Sometimes he would wake up in the middle of the night with sudden, intense heart pain.

“Hmm, huff—” Robert Downey Jr. lay below him, soundly asleep, mouth wide open, snoring. Wang Yang glanced at him, shook his head, and walked to the desk. Indeed, on Downey’s birthday on the 4th, he had not received any gifts; during the yard time, he had seen Downey sitting on a bench for an hour, and he didn’t know the specifics, but probably the only one who said “happy birthday” to him was himself.

Sitting down at the desk, Wang Yang was sorting through the “Prison Break” script he was working on. This past month, he had been writing the 22-episode script, defining the shooting style, and writing the storyboard script for the first episode. It was all completed now, and in the last few days, he was just making minor revisions. Flame Film was now expanding its television entertainment business, and “Prison Break” would be a new production project, but he would not direct it, probably just be the executive producer.

As the afternoon quickly approached, Wang Yang spun his pen while looking over the script, but his attention wasn’t fully on it. He glanced occasionally at the loudspeaker in the corner, wondering why it hadn’t rung yet. He chuckled at himself, though reluctant to acknowledge, he was eager for a visitor, Natalie… Wasn’t she coming anymore?

As Downey had said, during this month, the media coverage about him had gradually dwindled. After all, it had been days since he saw any news about himself in The New York Tinies and major newspapers; there might be some in the gossip tabloids, but the media were indeed slowly forgetting him… Of course, his family, friends, and Jessica, were still concerned about him, but today..,

Was this a beginning? If he didn’t get parole, would things go as Downey said, and people would gradually stop caring about him? How could that be! A wave of irritation surged inside Wang Yang, he threw down the pen, stood up, and kicked the cell door: “FUCK!”

“Hrr—” Robert Downey Jr., taking an afternoon nap, scratched his ear and turned over to continue sleeping.