[Meet downstairs for personal interviews] the message said. Marcel missed how he could just wrap his hair in a towel in the past. He draped the small towel on his shoulders and went downstairs while still drying his hair.
He found that the others were still doing interviews, so he went to the kitchen to get himself a drink. He completely blanked when he opened the fridge. There was only water. There were rows upon rows of bottles of water. He could stay without his lunch since it was already past lunchtime already, but what about his dinner?
He took a bottle of water and went to the living room where a few of his housemates were. He went to sit next to Jeremy as he looked to be the most friendly. Jeremy was fiddling with his phone when he felt a presence next to him. He looked up from his phone and was surprised to see Marcel next to him.
"Hi," Marcel said with a small smile as he was unsure on how to start.
"Hey, Marcel, right?" Jeremy asked, confirming his name.
"Yes, and you are Jeremy, right?" Marcel asked back. Jeremy nodded with a friendly smile.
"Have you gone in for the interview already?" Marcel asked him as he opened his water bottle.
"Mmh, I did. Most of us have finished with the interviews already," Jeremy explained.
"Aah~" Marcel responded while nodding.
"I think you're the only one left, right now Chloe is doing her interview," Jeremy continued, readily volunteering information.
"That's great then," Marcel said with a smile. He was happy that he did not have to wait for his turn for long.
"How old are you?" Jeremy asked as he looked at Marcel curiously. Marcel raised his eyebrows as he wasn't expecting he would ask him that question.
"I'm 18," Marcel answered but didn't ask for his age.
"Oh, you're younger than I thought," Jeremy said thoughtfully.
"Oh? How old did you think I was?" Marcel asked.
"Maybe 20 or 21, it's admirable that you know what you want at your age, If I was like that I wouldn't have entered the industry so late," Jeremy said with a nostalgic smile.
Just when Marcel was about to respond to him, Chloe walked out of the room where they were holding the interviews.
"Oh, go ahead and do your interview," Jeremy said as he urged him to go to the interview room. Marcel had wanted to ask him some questions, but he also didn't want to annoy the production team.
"Hmm, I'll talk to you when I come out," Marcel said as he got up from the couch with his water and went into the room.
The room wasn't too decorated, and there was a set of sofas in the back. The filming crew were behind the cameras and there was a chair that he was meant to sit in. Marcel walked over and sat down in front of the cameras and looked at the production crew that was behind the camera.
He spotted the familiar face of the director and smiled at him as he combed his hair away from his face with his fingers.
"So we'll just ask you a few questions," the director and Marcel nodded in agreement.
"What was your first impression of your new housemates?" he asked from behind the camera.
"They all seem very nice, Jeremy looks very friendly, Alistair seems to be a bit particular about certain things but he seems to be a nice guy as well. Chloe is cheerful, Lauren seems to be a straightforward person, I can't say much about the rest since I haven't had time with them, but I think it's going to be fun," Marcel said with a thoughtful expression.
The director wasn't expecting such a detailed answer since most of the others just said something generally.
"So have you lived with a group of people like this before?" the director continued. He knew it was not common for people to live in this setting, but he had to go through the motions to ask these questions so that the audience gets familiar with every partic.i.p.ant.
"I have," Marcel answered honestly. He hadn't been told by Julia whether there were things that he was not allowed to talk about, so he was not planning on hiding anything.
"Oh? Big family?" the director asked, his interest piqued.
"Something similar," Marcel said with a laugh.
"What do you mean?" the director asked.
"I grew up in an orphanage, so I did have a roommate and a large group of people in the same place," Marcel explained. His response left the director, and the rest of the staff stunned. How could he casually drop a bomb like that on them?
"Oh, so you won't have much trouble fitting in, right?" the director asked.
"I can't say, we all have different circ.u.mstances," Marcel answered.
"Okay, so why did you decide to pursue modelling?" the director asked.
u003cIt's not like I can say it's because I want to be an actor, right?u003e Marcel asked Avian.
[You can't say that] Avian agreed.
"Besides how inspired I was by the fas.h.i.+on show I watched, I also have to support my young brother. You see, I wasn't particularly book smart and since I had to leave the orphanage due to my age, I had to think of something first," Marcel explained.
"So how did you go about it?" the director asked more out of his own curiosity. Marcel then explained how everything happened from when he went to photos for his portfolio to how he got signed after agreeing to work with Sherry. The director was quiet for a few seconds after he finished talking.
"What would you have done if it didn't work out?" the director asked.
"Well, I needed a job, so I'd probably look for some part-time jobs as a waiter, or go into construction maybe?" Marcel said thoughtfully. He then heard Avian snort sarcastically in his head and he had to do his best to keep a straight face.
[You are lying through your teeth] Avian said.
u003cDo you want me to say I would have extorted money from the director of my orphanage?u003e Marcel asked, and Avian kept quiet.
"So your young brother…" the director started and Marcel was honest with what he was planning on doing but also exaggerated and embellished some things with an innocent expression on his face as if he was talking about the weather. In the eyes of outsiders, that was worse than if he actually started crying about his circ.u.mstances. Even the staff couldn't help but feel protective of him after hearing what he said. It was like even after all the hards.h.i.+p he was enduring, he still managed to retain his innocence.
Fortunately, the only person that could disagree with the image he was portraying were people who would gain from it. With the exception of George, of course.
[If you are not reading this at w e b n o v e l then you are reading stolen work. Please read this at the original site to support the author.]
