Page 34 of Overdue I Love You's
Being here, though, is the real treat.
Mountains upon mountains.
Colour among green land.
Houses scattered over thick hills.
I’m getting déjà vu like I’ve been here before, but I never have.
“Wow,” I stop when I reach a certain spot that allows me to see the city of Lucerne resting below. The sun shines down on the brightest blue water I’ve ever seen. I can see the Chapel Bridge from here too.
There’s a rush of people swarming. Not as much as Toronto, but it’s there.
It’s gentle and comforting yet welcoming at the same time.
“I never want to go back.”
Austin laughs at that, “Yeah. Lucerne has that effect on people.” He clicks a button on one of the gadgets around his waist. “Let’s keepmoving, yeah?”
They stop me a couple of times to film from another angle and then ask me to go back down a couple of steps to film certain moments again.
Austin asked me to fake my expression multiple times and it’s… clinical.
How do actors do this every day?
It’samazing.
Twenty minutes later, we reach the end of the pathway and there is nothing I can do to close my mouth.
Now look, it’s not that I’m close-minded or think that places like Switzerland don’t have modern architecture—well, that’s exactly what I thought… but that’s beside the point. I didn’t expect to come face-to-face with a massive, large-windowed home that looks like it belongs to a celebrity in Beverly Hills (that’s a bit far-fetched, it’s not that huge), and not for a couple of people rooming together for eight weeks.
To my far left, well… There's green land. A little bit of a walk away, there’s a wooden bridge leading onto another mountain. I squint my eyes the tiniest bit.Is that a barn?
The budget for this show must be high.
Like literally, it has to be overdosing on crack because what the heck?
“This is the back of the house,” Austin whispers something to the cameraman. He pushes open a brown wooden door that leads to the front. “Irene chose for contestants to come from the back to make it more magical and I agree with her.”
“Start from here,” the cameraman directs me to start a couple of feet away from the door. The front of the house is even more stunning. Whoever built this house has one heck of a talented eye because they knew exactly what they were doing by placing it near the mountain’sedge.
Below it is the town of Lucerne.
For the next little while, I’ll be waking up to this every morning.
“I’m a bit nervous right now. This is my first time in Lucerne and honestly, I love it but I’m also feeling out of my element. It’s not that I’m bad with strangers but there’s always the constant question of what if they don’t like me? I’ve always had that problem, well, the self-doubt problem, at least. In this case?—”
“Nova,” Austin calls out.
I turn around.
The cameraman wipes a hand over his forehead, the camera lowered.
“Less talking, more moving. Please.”
My throat burns.
When I’m finally at the obscenely large door, I hear a subtle, “Why did Irene even pick her?” and my hand freezes.
