Alter Ego: His Sultry Lover

Chapter 230: Higher Aesthetic Standards

“Your followers aren’t blindly in love with you. It is only a matter of time until they start moaning and groaning about how you look. Believe me, the internet is a dangerous place.” The sage-like nod and ominous tone were meant to frighten Katherine.

“Have you seen the other gamers on the platform? They look like shit most of the time. I don’t think I need to be better!” Fair point. 

“But how many of them are women? How many are competing with men to win a championship? Women are held to higher aesthetic standards…” Seeing the look of disgust on her face, Angelina continued in a firmer voice. “I am not an advocate for such behavior but when in Rome, do as the Romans do.” End of speech. 

Katherine groaned. “I hope it is nothing lewd.” She was praying. 

Well, she did see the clothes and they were all nice looking. Some of them did have provocative necklines but nothing that would make Katherine feel uncomfortable. She was a bit worried about sexualizing her brand. Maybe she would talk to Cage about it before making a wardrobe change. 

As she mentioned earlier, most of the time, she filmed the video keeping him in mind. Give him a taste of how she was living. Let him live with her for some time.

“How much did you spend?” Katherine asked, feeling uncomfortable. 

“I didn’t buy them. Perks of being an influencer.” Angelina winked. “Start showing interest and companies will flock to you with products.”

“Have you been speaking to Stephen?” Katherine asked, wanting to change the topic. 

“Yeah. We walk when Cage is on breaks and doesn’t need him. For the most part, he after Cage so it’s not a lot of work. Cage, on the other hand, is working his ass off.” Angelina suddenly missed the wily old fox. 

“Stephen has been sending me videos of the shooting and everything.” She pulled out her phone and showed Angelina and Lily a picture of Cage sleeping in a chair on set. 

“Whoa. He looks so tired,” Lily commented. Katherine couldn’t help but feel the same way. The movie was pure action and every scene was taxing on the body. On top of that, Cage demanded that he do all the stunts himself. Overall, he was not only working hard but also getting hurt all the time. When she thought about this, she wanted to pack up everything and run to him. 

But she couldn’t. She barely had time to talk to him on most days. Like the week before he left. They got on calls or Skype and then accompanied each other until Cage fell asleep. Occasionally, she would fall asleep before him. 

Raunchy discussions and teasing had gone out of the window. Replaced by it were two tired adults who needed some time off. Just one and a half more months and it would happen. Katherine would somehow manage to pre-film everything and put the videos on a timer. It didn’t matter.

The conversation dwindled down until all of them retreated to their own rooms. Somehow, all their careers had taken off at the same time and they were barely breathing. 

Katherine pulled her Skype profile up and called Cage exactly on time. When he picked up, he was in an open space. His face was partially in the shadow but she could see that he looked beyond tired. 

“Are you still at the set?” she asked tentatively, keeping her voice low. After a long day, if she spoke too loudly, he might get a headache from being tired. She, of all people, knew how those splitting headaches felt. 

“Yeah. We couldn’t perfect one of the scenes. Everything got delayed.” Cage wanted to complain and pout but he was surrounded by the crew members. He looked around himself to make sure no one was looking at him. Especially at his screen. 

“Will it go on for a long time?” Cage nodded. 

“At least three more hours. Then we will head back to the hotel. Thank god I have to come in later tomorrow.” In his signature style, he scrubbed his face with his free hand. Katherine heard someone call his name and smiled despite her disappointment. 

“You should go. I will talk to you tomorrow.” She blew him a flying kiss, hoping it would wipe the weariness off his face. Sure enough, he gave her a smile and nodded. 

“Goodbye,” he whispered, the reluctance to part showing through. “Love you.”

“Love you, too.” She muttered. A second of silence followed before both of them hung up.

Katherine went back to the video and started to edit it.

– – – – – 

People assumed that only being a good artist was enough to produce new paintings all the time. That was not the case. She didn’t live and breathe painting, and she oftentimes didn’t like the concept or specifications of a book cover. At those times, she really had to press herself to come up with excellent commercial illustrations that would do her style justice. 

At university, digital media had been her interest and forte, especially since she discovered Photoshop. She would much rather work on a computer than a paintbrush. That was where she had been different from her fellow classmates. Angelina was amazing at realistic painting, while others preferred different methods and styles. 

Katherine massaged her sore neck after a couple of hours of drawing. Her eyes were rather dry and she felt her whole body sag with fatigue. She made full use of the stress ball as she took a break. Standing up, she walked around the apartment for some fresh air. The next day was a holiday, so she wouldn’t illustrate. Instead, she would have to film extra videos that day so that she could post during the days off. 

Today would be a hectic way. More so than normal. 

She decided to relax and check her social media. She was not someone who checked her phone constantly for how her posts were doing but she did like to scroll through comments now and again just to make sure her followers were being nice to one another.