72 A Choice that Changes Someone's Life

WARNING! THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS SOME HURSH SCENES. NOT ADVISED FOR MINORES. PLEASE BE WARNED.

“Rafal, are you okay?” Mońka asked thoughtfully. “Aren't you too hot? It's hot again... Listen, the preparations will take a few more minutes, go to the shade, sit down and drink some water.”

“I don't…” Brylski wanted to resist, but he was really a bit too hot in his dark, thick costume. “All right. Thank you” he agreed.

It seemed that his leaving the set did not cause any sensation. It was true that Radosz led him away with his eyes, but Mońka, who had just approached the director, apparently explained everything.

Rafal sat down in the shade and immediately someone handed him a bottle of cool water. He thanked kindly surprised that it was not Anita, but Marzena Skierska's assistant. He even asked about it.

“Anita?” the girl answered. “She had just received a call and went aside to talk.”

“Ok, thank you.”

The cool water, the shadow and the absence of Damian before his eyes made Rafal cool down. He took a few deep breaths and with all his willpower he focused on the scene ahead of him and the instructions Mońka had given him. If he wanted to be an actor, a professional, he had to start separating his private matters from his professional ones, and here, on the set, Radosz was the producer, not his lover.

***

It was his lunch break, so Jakub Wolak was enjoying the thick, but not very long sausage in front of his face. They didn't have much time, so there would be nothing more than these few strokes of the tongue to force the sausage to let go of its milky juice.

Różycki wasn't Jakub's first man, but he was the most influential so far. The young actor knew that the director wanted him and lusted after him and who knows, maybe even loved him, so he would do a lot for him and, above all, open a path for his career. If only it was not a supporting role in this series, but the first plan...

Jakub released the sausage from his mouth and took a breath. He looked up at Różycki's satisfied face. He himself smiled with satisfaction.

“You know, today will mark the beginning of the end of Brylski” he announced with confidence.

“The end? What end?”

Wolak smiled even wider.

“Today, social media will throw rumors about him. The producers will have no choice but to remove him from the set.”

“What did you say?”

The fury in Różycki's voice was not the reaction the actor expected. Seeing the change in the director's face, Jakub went pale...

***

Jarek Kurek wiped the sweat off his forehead. If he was hot, what were the actors dressed in thick costumes supposed to say? He, as an assistant director, was running from one place to another, but Brylski also had to work hard during today's shooting. Fortunately, there was no incident today. The actor's heatstroke from a few days ago taught them all a lesson.

Jarek was already tired of working in this location. Unlucky that the weather was really crazy for this time of year and it got to everyone. It will be wonderful to move to a wonderful, air-conditioned studio where they will shoot scenes taking place indoors. Then just one more outdoor trip to shoot the scenes happening on the road and the series will be finished. Their work will result in success.

Jarek was sure of this success. He had already worked on several productions and seen even more, so he knew that The Fifth Capital really had potential. There was a lot going on in the script. The action chased the action and the romance was cute, romantic and sweet, exactly what young women like.

The cast was also good, because next to the old stars who could make it to retirement, and who were undoubtedly icons of the old times, there were some new names that were shot.

The whole crew, from actors to the smallest assistant on the set, gave one hundred and twenty percent of themselves every day to make the series as good as it could be. It was as if they all knew that The Fifth Capital could be a breakthrough project for their careers and the whole industry.

Because it probably was.

Kurek had no time to think, however. He had just received by courier the documents he needed to urgently deliver to the director and was looking for him. He did not want to disturb him, he knew that Różycki did not like this, he might even get angry and shout some unpleasant words at him, but these documents were important.

There was no one in the director's trailer and Jarek scratched his head wondering where the director could have disappeared to? Damn, he was gone just when he was needed. He disappeared like a stone thrown into water. And his phone was not answering...

Well, Jarek will have to deliver the documents a little later. Nothing will happen during the half-hour lunch break. And if Różycki tries to pick on him, his assistant will simply ignore him. The director himself is to blame for the fact that he disappeared without a trace. Probably, knowing him, he is playing with someone on the side.

Jarek was already returning to the town built for the production when he heard the director's raised voice. Kurek stopped, uncertain if he had heard correctly, but the voice repeated itself, full of vulgarity and rage.

“Who let you think? What? Well, who?”

Probably Różycki was just scolding some young assistant who dared to make her own decision on some insignificant matter, Kurek stated and he himself mumbled a curse in his mouth.

“Your actions were ineffectual,” replied the voice, and it certainly did not belong to any woman. However, it was definitely familiar. Wait, wait, was it Jakub Wolak? “If I had waited any longer... Uh...!”

Was that a thump and a groan? No, impossible...

Jarek shook his ears. Well, so Różycki is picking on more than just Brylski? But I don't think he got violent.

“You little brat," Różycki hissed angrily, and Kurek decided that the situation might be more serious than he had thought. “Do you think that because you give me ass, you can do absolutely anything? What you've done could jeopardize not only Brylski, but the entire production. If a scandal breaks out...”

Jakub Wolak groaned, or maybe squealed, in any case he made a raised, though muffled sound that evoked associations of pain in Jarek. The young assistant director, shocked, could not even flinch. What was he actually witnessing?

“But I...” groaned Wolak. “Uh...!”

“You, you, you! Do you think you're everything just because you're young? You think being young allows you to do anything? If this project collapses because of you, what will you do, well, what?”

“Ow, not so hard, it hurts...”

“It must hurt if you are to remember this lesson. You must not think for yourself, you must not act for yourself. I won't let you ruin this show...”

Then there were only gasps and groans. Jarek was standing there, not knowing what to do.

What did he actually hear?

Should he intervene or walk away?

What two adults do by mutual consent is their own business. But was what was happening now happening consensually?

It was clear from the conversation that the two were lovers. Różycki had his temper, so maybe he liked naughty games. Wolak, well, maybe too. The young actor did not call for help. He could not be heard to resist, to fight back. Was he accepting this treatment willingly, or purely out of necessity?

Jarek did not know that. How was he to know? So he chose the solution he thought best, and certainly safest for himself. He decided that the matter did not concern him and... walked away.