“His name is Mark, Ms.
Harrington.
He’s eight months old.”
Rosalie beamed with pride at hearing everyone shower praise on her son.
She often felt like her life in Hollywood had amounted to little, all these years without ever getting her big break.
But having a son as smart and adorable as Mark was the one thing that made her genuinely proud.
“He’s the one!
This little angel is exactly what our company is looking for!”
Julia said, practically glowing with delight.
As the manager overseeing the campaign for Lisa Formula, her word carried the most weight in the room.
“Well…
standard procedure says we still need to run a proper audition, just to see if he can actually cooperate on set.”
Caleb nodded, raising no objection.
He, too, was thoroughly impressed by Mark’s looks.
Caleb then looked over the paperwork Rosalie had brought and had someone hand her the script.
“Ms.
Payne, here’s the script for the commercial.
Take a look.”
The concept for this ad was simple enough.
Rosalie, playing the mother, would mix up a bottle of formula and hand it to the baby.
Once the baby finished drinking, he’d clap his hands and laugh happily.
Finally, Rosalie would pick up the formula can and deliver the tagline straight to camera.
Simple as it sounded, having an actual infant on set made it anything but easy to shoot.
Of the dozens of babies who’d auditioned before Mark, most had either failed to look the part or simply refused to cooperate once the cameras rolled.
Some cried nonstop, some wouldn’t touch the bottle at all, and others just crawled around aimlessly on the floor.
At this point, Caleb was just hoping Mark would cooperate even a little.
“I’ve read it, Director.”
Rosalie had already memorized her lines and handed the script back.
“Good.
Let’s get the audition rolling!”
Once the crew had set the props and marked everyone’s positions, Caleb gave the signal.
“Action!”
The camera swung toward Rosalie and Mark, seated on the floor beside her.
Rosalie picked up the bottle from the side table and mixed the formula with practiced ease, a skill that already put her ahead of plenty of actresses who’d never actually raised a child.
Once the formula was ready, she crouched down and held the bottle out to Mark.
“Time to drink up, baby!”
It wasn’t anywhere near Mark’s usual feeding time, and Rosalie had half expected him to refuse.
But to her relief, Mark reached out naturally, took the bottle, and started drinking without any fuss.
Caleb and everyone around him visibly relaxed.
So many of the earlier kids had given them nothing but headaches, and this alone already put Mark ahead of the pack.
Once he’d finished, Rosalie reached out and took the bottle back.
The final beat, the baby clapping and laughing, was the hardest shot in the whole commercial.
Plenty of parents before them had tried every trick in the book to coax a laugh out of their kids, with little success.
Rosalie crouched just out of frame and started clapping to cue him.
Mark didn’t want to seem too unusual, not at eight months old; the last thing he needed was people treating him like some kind of freak of nature.
So at first, he just giggled at Rosalie’s clapping and ignored it entirely.
Rosalie, patient as ever, kept it up.
After the third repetition, Mark seemed to catch on that this was some sort of game, and started clapping his own hands in imitation.
“Yes!
What a wonderful baby!”
“That’s the smartest baby I’ve ever seen, hands down!”
“…”
Julia let out a cheer at the sight, and the rest of the room broke into delighted applause.
“Lisa Formula, premium nutrition, worry-free growth!”
Once the applause died down, Rosalie picked up the formula can and delivered the closing line straight to camera.
“Perfect!”
Caleb nodded, satisfied, and turned to Julia and the other two.
“Let’s go with her and little Mark for the shoot.”
“Agreed!”
“This kid’s got real presence.
This ad is going to be a hit!”
“…”
The other three nodded along in agreement.
Darian Horton, the manager at Tenda Ad Company, pulled out two contracts he’d already prepared and handed them to Rosalie.
“Ms.
Payne, if you have no objection to the terms, go ahead and sign both of these.”
Rosalie looked them over briefly, then signed her name on both.
“Here’s to a pleasant working relationship!”
Darian shook her hand with a smile.
“Please come back in three days for the official shoot.”
“Got it.
I’ll be here.”
As she and Daphne wheeled the stroller out of the audition room, they spotted Emily waiting outside.
Emily shot Rosalie a smug, challenging look before strutting into the room, chin held high.
“I’m sorry, ma’am, but both roles for this campaign have already been cast.
Hopefully we’ll have the chance to work together another time.”
Darian’s apologetic voice drifted out from inside.
Then came Emily’s furious shrieking.
“What?
That’s impossible!
Damn it…”
Rosalie and Daphne exchanged a satisfied smile and headed out of the building.
To celebrate landing the role, Rosalie treated Daphne to a big meal at KFC.
Once the two of them had eaten their fill, they brought Mark home.
Back at the apartment, Mark checked his tally and found he’d picked up twenty more Sunlight Points over the course of the day.
He was thoroughly pleased with the outcome.
Not only had he helped Rosalie land a job that would improve their living situation, he’d banked extra points in the process.
A win-win, plain and simple.
Three days later, Rosalie and Daphne brought Mark back to Tenda Ad Company for the official shoot.
“Ms.
Payne, right this way, please.”
A staff member led them up the elevator to the top floor, where the actual shoot was taking place.
What had once been an ordinary office had been transformed into a warm, cozy-looking kitchen set.
Sunlight poured in through a massive floor-to-ceiling window, flooding the entire room.
Mark sat up in his stroller.
Through the enormous window, he could see most of Hollywood spread out below.
*Now this is living.
Once I’ve got money, I’m definitely buying myself a penthouse with windows like these.
I could soak up sun almost the entire day.*
Watching his Sunlight Points climb rapidly, Mark made himself a silent promise.
This place practically bathed in sunlight all day long, worlds better than their run-down old apartment.
“Ms.
Payne, welcome!”
Darian strode over with a smile and shook Rosalie’s hand.
Caleb, busy directing the crew through the set dressing, turned along with everyone else the moment Rosalie and Mark walked in.
The sight of Mark’s flawless, pale pink skin drew gasps from more than a few people on set.
“Wow, I’d heard our little star this time around looked like he’d been touched by God himself, but I didn’t think it’d actually be true!”
“Little Mark is just too adorable.
This ad might actually go viral once it airs!”
“…”