From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

Suffocation.

He only felt suffocated, as if a pair of invisible hands were tightly locking his throat, unable to breathe and unable to make a sound. The world was roaring, spinning, and... falling apart. All the faces and scenes in his vision were peeling away.

Where was his father? Silent, evading his pleas, evading his questions, trying to gloss over the situation, but now it was clear that things were no longer calm.

Where was his mother? Single-mindedly wanting him to sign, not even taking the time to tell him what was happening, what had occurred, giving him no room to breathe.

So, what should he do?

What else could he do?

"...Write down your father's or mother's name. You don't need to rush, but when you return to this room, I want to see a name written on that line."

"Frank, you just need to write down one name, and this will be over. Hehe, everything will be alright."

Escape.

He just wanted to escape, to get far, far away from here.

As long as he escaped far enough, everything that happened here could be left far behind, paused. His father and mother wouldn't be able to divorce until he found a way, like a superhero, to solve all the problems.

He would find a way to save everything, he would.

But, but...

What should he do?

Suddenly, he was struck, utterly lost.

He looked up, gazed ahead, and couldn't help but freeze in place, forgetting to think, forgetting to move, even forgetting to breathe, just staring blankly straight ahead.

Silent, soundless.

But he could clearly see the world in those deep blue eyes falling apart bit by bit, in slow motion, even able to see the peeling away of those bricks, that dust, those fragments. The clear and profound blue reflected every detail of the action.

So, they could really see the process of a world collapsing, like the ending of 'Fight Club', quietly watching everything happen.

No anger, no fear, no roar, nothing.

Just silence. Deathly silence.

Then, the surrounding noise and clamor gradually faded away, until it disappeared completely.

The entire set was completely stunned.

Originally, no one cared about this scene. What era was this? Divorce rates were high, it had long become a common occurrence in people's daily lives. There was really no need to make a fuss. Whether it was the couple or the child, they should be more accepting.

But reality was not like that.

Some people don't care, some people do. This thing doesn't become less hurtful just because it's more common and habitual. For some people, it's still a huge wound, a scratch that reveals the bone, difficult to heal.

A family is a world.

At least, for little Frank Abagnale, it was still like that. Those beautiful, happy, magnificent dreams had turned into bubbles.

He didn't shout, he didn't cry, he didn't even have tears in his eyes.

He just stood there in a daze, as if he could clearly see the light in those deep blue eyes dimming little by little, the whole world plunging into darkness.

Yet there was a world-destroying power.

Just like that, holding their breath.

Then.

He caught his father's voice in the midst of the clamor and noise. He turned his head and looked around, his unfocused gaze searching in the void, "Dad, what name?"

He didn't get an answer, at least not an answer from his father.

Christopher once again avoided eye contact, even though this time that gaze wasn't even on him. He couldn't face Anson's eyes and lowered his eyes in embarrassment.

The lawyer interjected, fulfilling his duty, "Your mother or your father, write the name there, it's that simple."

"Don't be afraid, this isn't a test, there are no wrong answers."

The lawyer raised the ballpoint pen in his hand and placed it in front of little Frank.

He was slightly stunned—

Afraid?

Afraid!

Only now did fear suddenly grab his heart and contract violently, forcefully, even trying to crush his heart into pieces.

Heh.

Anson gasped, holding his breath.

The nightmare had returned.

Without tension, without anxiety, without timidity, his features instead slowly relaxed, appearing exceptionally calm, even the trembling of his pupils had disappeared.

A calm sea.

Like the scene before a hurricane, an abnormal, extreme calmness.

In his pupils, there was only a ruin, silence, a deathly stillness.

For a brief moment, the whole world seemed to pause, time and space seemed to stop, even the sound of breathing and heartbeat disappeared completely.

Just at this moment—

Heh.

He breathed again.

It was just one breath, but it detonated all the energy in one go, a roar came from his eardrums, and waves of energy continued to surge.

The explosion happened just like that, even without seeing it with one's own eyes, one could imagine the earth-shattering, tsunami-like scene, a sense of sadness and bitterness grabbing his ankles, holding on tightly, and then—

Falling.

Falling freely, falling into an infinite abyss, swallowed by darkness, seemingly never reaching the bottom.

In an instant, frozen, becoming eternal.

The camera was firmly locked on the face in front of it, a close-up, a focus, the light and shadow carefully capturing all the details in that face, those eyes, but making the light become light and gentle, breaking and scattering between the eyebrows.

At this moment, everyone was deeply immersed in that emotion, unable to extricate themselves.

Not just the audience, even the two veteran actors, Christopher and Natalie, were no exception. They were completely drawn into it, as if they were really experiencing a divorce, as if they were really destroying little Frank's world with their own hands.

Christopher tried to open his mouth to make a sound, but found everything too weak and too pale. He awkwardly turned his head to avoid eye contact.

Natalie's words were already on the tip of her tongue, "Write me", but she couldn't say it. The worst part was that she wasn't sure if she wanted little Frank to write her name.

Suddenly, Natalie remembered what Anson had said to her before filming.

"Do you know?"

"In real life, little Frank never saw old Frank again. Their last moment was old Frank averting his eyes, refusing to give any answer."

"And little Frank only saw Paula once more. Paula later remarried and had other children. They didn't keep in touch."

Reality, breaking the fourth wall, intruding into the film lens.

Natalie looked at the face, that look in his eyes, and was stunned—

So, this was indeed the disintegration of a world, never to be recovered.

One second. Two seconds.

No one spoke and no one dared to break the moment of silence, fearing that any little sound would cause the world that was barely being maintained to turn into fragments all over the ground, until a roar came from their ears.

"Cut!"

However, instead of feeling relieved, their hearts sank heavily, plunging into darkness.