‘Natalie Portman!’

Will’s mind froze as soon as he saw the next contestant’s face and a name from his previous world surfaced in his mind.

Will immediately flipped a page of the file he was holding and saw the information about the contestant right in front of him.

‘Natalie Bergmann? Even her name is similar!’

Subconsciously, Will’s heart started to beat excitedly in his chest as he started reading about her.

‘23 years old, single. No successful roles yet. A graduate of a big film school. Does odd jobs currently. The last audition she gave was a year ago, so she probably gave up on acting and decided to give it a shot again.’

Will read her resume and kept thinking in his head. She was someone who was clearly going through tough times. On top of all that, she was orphaned recently, just like Will, leaving no one to look after her.

Although she looked a bit thinner than Natalie Portman, she definitely looked exactly like her.

“Hello, what’s your name?”

Jennifer asked and Natalie replied.

“I am Natalie Bergmann, I am from Seattle, Washington.”

‘Yes! Definitely her!’

Natalie introduced herself and Will shouted in his thoughts. Even her voice was the same.

It was definitely the same person, again with different circumstances. As Will had been busy recently with various things, even though he went through some resumes, he mostly skipped all as he had a team for checking that, and hence, he had decided to just see the actors directly today. Which led to this situation right now.

To think that he left such a diamond in the dust. And this sudden encounter just added to the surprise, not to mention it was a welcomed and pleasant surprise.

‘I am blessed.’

Will truly felt that way. There was no other explanation for such a big hotshot’s alternate version coming to him themselves. He already had it as his top priority to secure most of the celebrities from his previous world that he can get, and a big part of Hollywood directly landed on his lap. Not to mention they are here to join his agency! He doesn’t even need to convince them or coax them into joining, they had directly come themselves to join.

It was a situation where he could say that he didn’t have to lose even a penny and he got a profit of millions.

As Will was thinking all this, his facial expression remained the same, unsurprised and calm. It had become a habit at this point. To act nonchalant in every situation, was the best way to live in Hollywood.

“Act out this scene.”

Will said as staff handed over a script to her on Will’s special instruction. It was the ending scene of [500 days of Summer].

On day 488, Summer visits Tom at his favourite spot in the city. He tells her he left the office and notes that she got married, which he cannot comprehend as she never wanted to be someone's girlfriend. Summer says she got married because she felt sure, which she did not with Tom. When he says he was wrong about true love existing, she counters that he was right about it, just wrong about it being with her. She tells him she is glad he is doing well. Tom wishes her happiness.

This was basically the scene.

“Uh, who would play tom?”

Natalie asked. As there was a clear conversation with tom. And that can’t be done alone, so she would need someone to recite the lines for her.

“I will do it.”

Will said as he got off his seat. The staff immediately ran around to bring a bench to sit at. After all, Tom’s favourite spot was a bench and this scene was at the exact same place.

Natalie looked unsure as if she couldn’t comprehend what was going on. Jeffrey just smiled, as he knew how passionate Will was about work. Not like it was the first time he was acting out a scene with one of the contestants.

Although they tried to stop him when he tried to do it first. They understood later that he was only doing scenes that absolutely can’t be just ‘recited’, they needed to be acted out.

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Will went and sat on the bench, while Natalie read the script.

***

“I think I am ready.”

Natalie said as she looked nervously at Will. Will just nodded his head and stood up to act out his role.

Suddenly, Will’s vibe changed and it turned into someone who looked tired and exhausted from life, someone who was just living and someone who had lost something precious to him.

“Hey.”

Natalie said as she started playing her role of Summer.

Will looks at her flabbergasted as if he didn’t expect someone to be near the bench he was about to sit on. He didn’t know if she came just now, or was always sitting there, or if she was merely his imagination.

“I always loved this place, uh…”

Natalie hesitated and then suddenly lowered her head. She had forgotten the script due to how nervous she was. She couldn’t believe that she messed up at such a crucial time.

The staff around her sighed and looked at her as if she was done for. After all, everyone thought that it was a game over if you mess up even once in such an important situation.

‘Ah! Well, now I am gonna seem like either a hypocrite or a lecher. Sigh.”

Will thought inwardly as he signed. There was no way in hell that he was going to let go of Natalie, so he was going to give her another chance, which would create various types of questions and speculations amongst his staff.

‘Well, fuck. I will see to it later. For now.’

He looked at Natalie who had her head down, almost on the verge of crying.

“Hey, what are you doing? Reread the script and there’s no hurry, okay?”

Will said as he smiled and again sat on the bench. Natalie again looked at him with wide eyes that were wet from the tears that were about to flood a second ago.

‘He is so nice. *Hic*’

Natalie thought as she looked at Will, totally in a trance. Someone from the staff came running with the script in his hand, handing it over to Natalie, which she accepted clumsily as she was still trying to get her head around the situation.

***

“Hey.”

“....”

“I always loved this place, ever since you brought me.”

This time, she got the script right and acted as if she was really not in a studio, but somewhere else, sitting on a bench, talking to her ex-lover.

“What’s not to like?”

Will asked. There was an awkward silence, like in the real movie as they really got into the script and started acting out their parts.

“So… I should probably say congratulations.”

Will said, and Natalie replied with a light smile.

“Only if you mean it.”

“In that case….”

Will didn’t say anything. The two Judges, Jennifer and Jeffrey, and the whole staff were looking at Will and Natalie. Especially Will’s Awe-inspiring acting, watching it in the flesh was something like a whole new level of 3D movie bingeing. They had seen it the whole day from time to time, and it brought the same amount of surprise every time.

As they played out the role, Natalie kept getting better and better with every dialogue to the point where one would forget that she was Natalie and not Summer.

“You never wanted to be anyone’s girlfriend, and now you are….. Somebody’s wife.”

“Surprised me too.”

Natalie replied to Will’s comment.

***

“Okay, that’s enough.”

Will said as he smiled brightly at Natalie.

“You can wait outside with everyone else. We’ll announce the results soon, only a few contestants are left.”

Jennifer said and Natalie nodded her head, giving a last glance at Will, she finally walked out.

“Haaah!”

Will heaved out a loud sigh as he stood up from the bench and stretched his back. He went back to his seat and Jennifer looked at him with teasing eyes.

“What, Jenny?”

Will scoffed and she chuckled while asking.

“Are you interested in her…?”

It was a question intended to ask if he was interested in her in ‘that’ way. Jennifer’s question contained a bit of hidden jealousy which Will failed to notice.

“Nah. I have June.”

“Oh… then? Do you know her from before?”

Jennifer asked again.

“Nope. She’s just a good actress, I would say.”

Jennifer didn’t ask any more questions and they proceeded with the auditions.

Only two people were left, and they were just like the others, talented yet unpolished.

***

In a famous book publisher's house, a young girl of 7-8 years of age was reading a book with great interest. She was the daughter of Terry Warden. Terry Warden was the owner of one of the biggest book publishers in America, and his daughter was an avid reader of all genres of books.

Currently, April Warden, the daughter of Terry Warden, was reading a draft sent to her dad and her eyes were sparkling continuously.

The title of the draft was, [Harry Potter: The Philosopher’s Stone].

A/N: Changed [Harry Potter: The Sorcerer’s Stone] to [Harry Potter: The Philosopher’s Stone] since you said that the latter is cooler.