ANAYA'S POV
The rest of the banquet moved on smoothly afterward. I perfected my posture, smiled when necessary, and boosted the ego of men who think they have it all. From the corner of my eye, I could feel Mathew's gaze lingering on me.
However, what unsettled me was nothing but Sebastian Von Kleist.
He has targeted me to be his new prey to entertain his bored mind, and damn it—
I am scared.
I am fucking scared of the attention he is giving me so profoundly.
I know this kind of attention will either burn you or save you from darkness. But his attention on me wasn't the savior's kind.
Right before the banquet ended, our eyes met again. There was a strange glint of predatory intensity in those ice-blue eyes, which stared through the soul.
He gave me a subtle smirk before leaving the banquet hall; my breathing hitched in that moment...
"You look pale, Anaya," I heard Hugo calling me out.
"Hugo, I think I have attracted a danger far beyond me," I whispered under my breath. He looked in the direction my eyes were fixed on.
"Holy shit! That ice prince—" he gasped in shock, unable to finish the sentence.
I clenched my fists tight.
I just wanted to climb the career ladder, not attract the attention of a professional psychopath who has no business being both powerful and handsome.
"What are you going to do? You do know for the next 28 months, you will be meeting him every day," he whispered in a worried tone.
I ran my fingers through my hair.
Yeah, 28 months.
"It doesn't matter. I've dealt with worse kinds of bastards throughout my career," I scoffed. "Handling any high-class bastard won't be hard."
Hugo chuckled and shook his head. "Damn it, you were too sexy for that statement, Madame."
I turn on my heels.
Sebastian Von Kleist.
You want to treat me like some kind of prey? A puppet? Try me. I will make your life a living hell and shove your mind into spiral thinking. You might be able to control high society with just a simple glance—
But why is a mere marketing associate making it so hard for you?
I didn't come this far without a gut of steel.
After the banquet ended, Hugo dropped me off at my apartment. As I stepped out of the car, he called my name, "Anaya."
I turned to him. Hugo rarely holds any kind of serious expression unless, in his mind, the world is ending.
"You should be careful around Von Kleist," he said calmly. However, the flicker in his eyes said a lot more than that one sentence. Hugo is well aware of upper society, so he knows what kind of person Sebastian Von Kleist is.
"I will be. I don't plan on breaking under any cost," I said, calm and collected.
He gave me a nod. "Then, all the best with your work from tomorrow. It's the first billion-dollar project you will be working under."
Saying that, he drove away. I stood there. Snow started falling again, and I extended my hand to feel the soft, cold flakes.
Winter's Gaze... I wonder how this one film will change my life.
How far—and how deep—I will find myself into something I never planned on.
The story of Winter's Gaze can be explained in one sentence:
"One freaky spy fell for the heiress of the very same empire whose dirt he was digging out."
Yet why is it so popular? Because apparently the way the story is narrated, the action scenes, and the male lead Kian's actions—which clearly show his experience as a top-tier spy from a top-secret agency, and his elite upbringing behind the scenes. He treated everyone like a pawn until he came across the female lead Alina, and she became his obsession, devotion, and reason.
There's a lot going on in the background, but since Sebastian Von Kleist clearly reflects Kian's persona and ego—everyone is hyping it too much.
And here I am, the first day of the shoot inside the high-rise corporate building where the story begins.
The L.R. Diamonds headquarters loomed at dawn - a glass-and-steel monument to greed. The set designers had transformed the 42nd floor into a corporate war room: obsidian desks, holographic stock tickers, the acrid tang of fresh ink and ambition clinging to the air.
Crew members, cast—all were busy doing last-minute checks. I found Director Louis standing with the senior manager and walked toward them.
Stakes are high. So is the tension.
However, among all the chaos, Sebastian Von Kleist remained steady and calm—clearly doing justice to his Ice Prince nickname.
Dressed in a tailored black suit, his blonde hair slicked back, exposing his perfect forehead, a cigar between his lips as he looked through the script while the director and assistant director fluffed him up like he was some royalty. His ice-blue eyes scanned the pages, his expression too cold, too intimidating.
Almost as if he could feel my gaze, he looked up—and our eyes met.
FUCK.
Why was I staring at him? Never mind. Even with his rotten personality and trashy attitude, he is handsome.
His stare on me was intense. The corner of his lips twitched into an arrogant smirk that makes your blood boil. The same smirk he gave me when he told me he was the one behind the piano incident yesterday.
I wonder if a day will come when I get to slap that smug off his face.
"Anny, did you check the things I asked you to?" Director Louis's voice brought my attention back to him. I ignored whatever that staring contest even meant.
"Yes, I've confirmed the identities of all the staff and checked through the security screens to make sure there's no chance of today's shoot going wrong—unless someone has entered with a camera small enough to be missed," I replied.
"The final checkup of the products that will be shown today?" he asked the guy next to me—my senior by one year, a Korean-American with a boyish charm and the dress sense of a nerd—Kim Jaehun.
"I've checked it three times. It's good to go," Jaehun answered in his usual witty tone, earning a thumbs-up from Director Louis.
We stood at the sidelines as the camera started rolling, and Sebastian Von Kleist stepped into the character of Kian.
His posture straight, a cigar burning between his lips, the lighting falling over him in a way that his tall and well-sculpted body looked even sharper. With every step, the tension in the air thickened. It was hard to believe this guy was acting.
Though the arrogant look in his eyes, and the slow way he took long drags from his cigar, clearly reflected his real-life self—a bigger-than-life presence.
"Wow. This is my first time seeing Sebastian Kleist act in front of me," Jaehun said with awe. "Never thought just his walk could send goosebumps down my spine."
The air on the entire floor felt like that.
There were other actors present.
Jack Lee, a 36-year-old seasoned actor who rose to fame for playing a psychopath twenty years ago, was currently playing Kian's mentor and father figure, Claude Sean. In Winter's Gaze, Claude is the only person who knows Kian's real identity—as the illegitimate son of the Russian weapon king. Claude taught Kian all the dirty rules of the world and brought him into the intelligence agency.
Also, the man... who betrayed Kian. And in the opening scene, Kian and Claude stand on the second floor of L.R. Diamonds—the company that is basically the plot's center.
"You look ragged down, Kian," Jack Lee spoke calmly, with a subtle hint of arrogance and ego in his voice.
Sebastian looked at him, the corner of his lips curling into a cruel smirk. "Shouldn't you be worried about yourself, Claude?" His voice low, deep, and confident.
Jack Lee's brow twitched, but he laughed. "Looking forward to the games you're going to play from now on, kid. But remember—" he stepped into the elevator, hands in his grey suit pockets, "I taught you all the dirty tricks and rules of this world. You'd better have a different way of outsmarting me."
Sebastian said nothing. But the silence, the calm murderous look in his eyes, made the surroundings feel like they were shrinking into a small box.
"Winter is brutal in Berlin, isn't it?"
Those words left his mouth more like a declaration of war. The director gasped a little—so did the crew. Three of them started flipping through the script.
"This wasn't part of the script or novel," I whispered under my breath.
Sebastian turned to the camera, his eyes staring into the lens as if he were staring into someone's soul—chilling and dangerous.
He added this line on his own. I had heard it before—that Sebastian Kleist has a habit of adding lines not in the script, but that's what adds more stress and tension to the screen.
The director's eyes shone with passion as he smirked in approval.
At that moment, Sebastian's eyes moved—and our eyes met.
It unsettled me a bit. Why is he looking at me?
I clenched my fists tightly, keeping a calm exterior.
The camera captured his gaze—but not whom his gaze was on. Maybe from another perspective, his eyes were supposed to be on the female lead, the lead actress Julia Lawrence, who stood in the camera's range.
Her red hair looked like maple leaves, a strong contrast to her fair skin tone. Her hazel-green eyes stared into Sebastian's ice-blue.
"You're a new one, yet you're close enough to talk to Director Claude Sean?" she stepped into the scene, her posture screaming power.
Sebastian ignored her look and gave a half-assed answer. "Getting known to the people in power is another form of job for which I am paid, Ms?"
"Alina James." She offered her hand.
Sebastian took it. "Kian Ruth."
Their handshake lingered a bit too long, as scripted. Her gaze lingered on his lips, and he didn't make any particular expression before letting go.
I frowned.
Why the fuck is this character of Kian so similar to real-life Sebastian Von Kleist? A total brat. Arrogant. Egoistic. And most importantly, someone who looks at you like they can see through you?
I didn't feel it when I read the novel Winter's Gaze, but seeing it in action surely makes me question—
Did the author use Sebastian as an inspiration for Kian's role?
"You're watching the shoot a bit too seriously, Anny." Director Louis nudged me while handing over the tablet with new data and my work for the day.
"I just realized Kian Ruth and Sebastian Kleist are way too similar," I mumbled under my breath.
Director Louis smirked. "I expected you to pinpoint it—and you did it faster than I thought."
I raised an eyebrow. His smirk told me he was hiding something. Or maybe he was waiting for me to figure something out.
"Is this some kind of industry secret?" I narrowed my eyes playfully.
Director Louis gave a small shrug with a smug smile. "I don't know. Why don't you find out?"
"Is this part of your torturous way of mentoring me?" I was suspicious of his intention. The smile he gave told me what I needed to know.
"Anny, this is your first hundred-million-dollar film, so I expect you to learn more. Watch. Observe." He put his hands back in his pockets.
A chill ran down my spine. "Is this your revenge for me pushing you yesterday to seduce Ana Margaret?"
He chuckled under his breath, walking away. "Contact me if you get in trouble. You're on your own, kid."
He dragged the kid part too long while waving his hand, facing me as he walked away. I looked at him in disbelief.
I know I've used every possible way to get him as my mentor since I entered S. Studio—but this isn't what I signed up for.
My gaze darted back to the shoot.
Whatever this shit is—
I am bound to cross paths with Sebastian Von Kleist. More than just a marketing analyst. More than someone who's been lucky enough to climb the corporate ladder and earn the favor of higher-ups.
Danger. Danger. Danger. Danger.