Rewind With A Superstar System

Chapter 174: Perfect Ruins

<🎧 Song Recommendation: bad things by mgk, Camila Cabello>

...

The script to Perfect Ruins told a story of a nineteen year old girl named Camila Angelo. She came from an elite family with an old money name.

To the public eye, her life was perfect. But behind their closed doors, the family was secretly bankrupt and drowning in debt.

So to save themselves from losing everything, her parents had made a ruthless deal.

They essentially forced her to date a dangerous, wealthy guy who happened to be the heir to an underground crime syndicate.

The plan was already set in stone. They were to marry as soon as Camila was done with her education.

The mafia family would get the Angelo family’s high-class legitimacy, and Camila’s parents would get their debts wiped clean.

Camila didn’t have any choice in the matter. She had to follow the guy’s rules and stay in line, despite his extreme toxicity and controlling nature.

The story truly kicked off when Camila finally left the house to attend college. Moving into the dorms was her first actual taste of freedom.

That was where she would meet Aiden, the character Von was going to play. This dynamic was the absolute core of the movie.

At first, Camila used Aiden.

Trapped in a toxic relationship that she couldn’t escape, she took out her deep frustrations by bullying Aiden.

She treated him poorly because he was quiet and would not fight back.

But as time passed, that dynamic eventually progressed into a hesitant friendship, and against all odds, it ended up as a love story.

As for the Aiden guy Von was going to play, the movie didn’t reveal his entire background in one big dump of information.

It dropped a few teasers here and there through the dialogue. But after reading it, Von could easily put the pieces together.

Aiden was an orphan.

He had lost both of his parents at nineteen, just after finishing high school.

The grief had hit him so hard that he completely shut down.

He chose not to enter college right away, instead taking a few years off just to try and fix himself.

He relied on the modest life insurance policy his parents had left behind. After selling his childhood home, he rented a cheap apartment off-campus and just existed in isolation.

It was only after three long years that the constant pressure from his maternal relatives back in Spain finally got to him.

To get them off his back, he chose to enroll in college for the sake of it, and maybe to find that thrill he needed to feel alive again.

Because of his age and his past, Von found Aiden to be a total loner and a socially awkward fellow.

Aside from one junior schoolmate from his old neighborhood that he met in college, Aiden didn’t really have any friends.

He mostly kept to himself and observed the people around him.

But none of his awkwardness stopped him from falling completely in love with Camila.

It took a couple of unexpected, highly emotional moments for them to finally break down their walls and end up together.

The movie’s conclusion started when Camila was made to return to her "boyfriend’s" massive estate after the semester break.

Once there, her parents and the syndicate heir prevented her from returning to school to keep her under their control.

Those terrifying conditions forced Aiden; who already had something real going on with Camila at that time; to take a massive risk.

He sneaked into the heavily guarded estate in the dead of night, rescued her, and they ran away together. As they drove off in a stolen car, Aiden told her that they were flying to Spain.

"It’s a really interesting story," Von muttered to himself once more as the whole plot had settled in his mind.

Now that he had comprehended it, he could finally understand what the System meant by saying the conclusion wasn’t up to level.

The movie just ended right there, on the run.

Even Von himself would be disappointed if that was just the end of the movie. It felt like half of a story.

But he knew how the industry worked. It could only get a second movie if this first one did well at the box office.

That meant all his attention had to be focused on nailing the audition for now so it could get its deserved continuation.

Von analyzed a few other things about the story, focusing on Aiden in particular.

Something else about the character was that he had a diary he would always carry around with him.

He wrote down everything that went on in his life in that little book without fail. He also wrote full novels in his spare time, even though he had never released any of them to the public.

So, running away from America and leaving school behind wasn’t just about saving Camila. It was another way for Aiden to focus fully on his true passion.

"Phew, now all that’s left is to put it to practice," Von thought to himself, locking his phone screen.

Now that he was done with the script, he was left feeling a bit bored. He stared at the empty seats across from him and was just about to call a staff member to ask for some drinks when the intercom clicked on above him.

"Cabin crew, prepare for landing," the pilot announced smoothly. "Mr. Varley, please fasten your seatbelt. We are beginning our descent into Texas to pick up the rest of our passengers."

’Finally...!’

Von secured his seatbelt across his lap and got ready for the landing. As the massive jet banked through the clouds, his mind wandered.

’I wonder who they’ll be,’ he thought, staring out the window at the approaching runway.

***

Down on the hot Texas tarmac, a guy and a girl were walking toward the private hangar with their luggage trailing behind them. They were both on the shorter side of height.

The girl had her hair tied up in a neat bun and it was dyed a striking split of pink and white.

She also wore round glasses and oversized, baggy clothes that swallowed her frame, making her look exactly like an average teenager.

The guy walking next to her, on the other hand, had a huge, thick beard that covered almost his entire lower and side face. Between his posture and the heavy facial hair, he looked more like her dad than a fellow actor.

"You know you look like a dad, right? And you’re meant to be playing as a teen boy," the girl asked with a teasing laugh, lazily dragging her rolling luggage behind her.

"It’s just the beard, please," the guy shot back while rolling his eyes. "Once I shave it off, I’ll look even younger than you. Besides, I’ve been doing this Hollywood thing since you were still learning how to talk."

He subtly called out her inexperience, but the girl didn’t miss a beat.

"Hmph. I’m still a better actor than you," the girl puffed out her cheeks, before giving him a playful punch on his arma.

The punch earned a hearty laugh from the bearded guy, who just shook his head at her confidence.

The two of them soon got to the base of the jet’s stairs. A medical team was already waiting for them there.

After their bags were inspected and they were made to go through the usual strict health and temperature checks for the lockdown protocols, they were finally directed aboard Dracula.

"Just a heads up," the masked flight attendant told them softly as they climbed the stairs.

"One of the cast members is already inside waiting for you."

They could only nod and enter inside.

Inside the cabin, Von was already indulging himself.

The flight attendant had brought him a massive, warm burger while the jet had stopped on the runway to pick them up.

He was halfway through his food, chewing quietly, when the cabin door opened up.

The two new people walked in, still quietly arguing and joking with each other as they stepped into the luxurious interior.

Von looked up from his meal.

What Von didn’t expect by any means was to instantly recognize one of them.

And as her eyes scanned the cabin and landed on him, she recognized him just as well.

"Von!"

"..."