Ellie thought that Clarissa was just a persistent and obstinate kind of person.
But in fact, Clarissa could also foresee the consequences she would have to face if she kept waiting like this. That being said, she kept on waiting because she was still a tad bit irritated.
Although she was unsure if waiting was the right thing to do, she simply wanted to dawdle and observe what would happen.
The next day, Clarissa woke up with a cold and was feeling queasy. The strong cold wind she was exposed to for a long period of time last night was probably the reason why she got sick.
Meanwhile, Ellie left the film studio first thing in the morning to go back and make sure everything was fine. If anything had gone awry, she would be able to inform Clarissa immediately.
When Clarissa arrived at the set, the shoot was already happening. Since her lightheadedness was still lingering, she rested on Jamie’s chair for a while. Her rest was short-lived as she was soon called to help out with the shoot.
During her work, Clarissa started sweating abnormally and was soon drenched in cold sweat. Her hands and legs also started shaking uncontrollably.
Deep down in her heart, she knew that something like this was going to happen sooner or later since she didn’t exercise regularly before. Because of that frail body of hers, just having a cold was enough to deplete all her strength, deterring her from doing her work.
I need to start exercising more in the future.
Actually, Clarissa had told herself the same thing many times before but she never had the conviction to keep exercising.
In the resting room, Jamie was done changing and was ready for her final shoot. In her last scene, she needed to act out the death of the princess after the nation was invaded.
“I can’t believe today is going to be my last shoot. To be honest, I’ll really miss playing my character.” Jamie let out a sigh.
With her pale face, Clarissa looked at her and smiled before querying, “Are you deliberately complaining out loud in the hope that I would take pity and give you more screen time?”
“Of course not, Ms. Quigley. I wouldn’t dare. However, if you don’t mind, perhaps you could give me more scenes to play in your next film?” asked Jamie.
“Okay. If you promise to be nice toward me, I’ll let you be the female lead for my next film,” replied Clarissa.
“Really? O great Ms. Quigley, whatever is it that you want me to do, I’ll make sure to get it done…” Jamie looked like she would deign to do anything.
Gazing at her expression, Clarissa chuckled and said, “Okay, enough fooling around. The next scene you’re going to play will require you to be strapped onto the wire work. Also, there’ll be an explosion in the scene so be prepared and stay focused.”
Jamie was touched by Clarissa’s caring reminder to her as she responded, “I love you so, so much, Ms. Quigley. What should I do with this intense feeling I have right now?”
“Move along now. I’m straight,” Clarissa clarified.
“But your beauty is dazzling and I just can’t get enough of it. What say you if I change my sex?” asked Jamie.
Miffed, Clarissa pushed away Jamie, who was being a nudnik to her. Since the scene they were going to film was an important one, almost every actor and actress was present on the set, including Yaala and Quentin. This was the final scene left to shoot in the film studio. After this, they would have to film in the desert and other various settings.
During the shoot, all of the actors were cautious and alert in the midst of the fights and explosions. Even though they were strapped onto the wire works, their safety still wasn’t a hundred percent guaranteed.
“Don’t worry, we have life insurance. Not to mention it’s a hefty one at that,” Yaala joked around.
“I’d rather the life insurance not be used even if it meant that I’ll be in a loss. I still have my parents and kids to take care of.” Quentin let out a smile.
“Look at that exemplary attitude of yours!” A few of them continued to joke around.
In the meantime, Yaala noticed that Clarissa’s face was getting paler. Worried, she frowned and asked, “Are you not feeling well? Why didn’t you get some rest?”
Clarissa feign a smile and answered, “No, I’m fine. It’s just a cold.”
“I’ll get my assistant to buy you some cold medicines later,” Yaala offered.
“Thank you, Ms. Zaha.” Clarissa accepted her kindness.
“What are you being so polite?”
Yaala was very fond of Clarissa. Although they were not super close, Yaala felt relaxed and comfortable being around Clarissa.
Not to mention that Clarissa was such a cute-looking girl with a down-to-earth personality.
After Jamie and Quentin left, Yaala took a seat beside Clarissa and glanced at her intently.
“Do you have something you want to talk about?” Yaala queried.
“What?” Clarissa was stupefied while Yaala was just smiling at her.
“Why do you sound so surprised? Anyone could tell that you were feeling down just by looking at you. People are just shy to approach you and ask you about it. I saw that you and Shermaine were chatting last night. Is this about her?” Yaala made a guess.
Clarissa shook her head and answered, “No, it’s about me.”
“Ah, I see. Nevertheless, Shermaine was in high spirits these few days. Did you notice that she’s been paying more attention to you?”
Clarissa was also perplexed by Shermaine’s behavior these past few days.
“Yes, but I don’t know what’s going on with her either,” Clarissa uttered.
It probably doesn’t concern Matthew, or else Shermaine wouldn’t be smiling now.
Clarissa was still trying to wrap her head around the reason behind Shermaine’s sudden behavioral change.
“She didn’t make things difficult for you right?” asked Yaala.
Clarissa shook her head before replying, “Ms. Zaha, if she did try to mess with me, I would have done something about it. You know that, right?”
“If she really did mess with you, she would’ve done so inconspicuously. That woman is quite cunning.”
It would seem that Yaala had dealt with Shermaine in the past.
Curious, Clarissa wanted to ask Yaala a few questions of her own but was interrupted by the director. The director wanted the actors to check whether or not it was safe to continue filming the last few segments of the scene.
Feeling bored to death, Clarissa lay down and was starting to get drowsy.
“Ms. Quigley? Can you lend me a hand?”
Clarissa was startled by the shy girl in front of her. She instantly got up and said, “Yes, of course. What do you need from me?”
“I’m sorry to bother you, Ms. Quigley, but the extra that we hired is nowhere to be found. Since the shoot is already ongoing, we can’t impede the whole shoot just for her. Can you be a substitute for her? Her role is just a palace maid. You might not even be caught in the camera,” the girl requested.
“Okay, I’ll do it. However, I’m clueless as to how a palace maid should act, walk, and things like that…” Clarissa replied.
“Don’t worry, I’ll guide you. So, it’s like this…”
Clarissa followed the girl to the changing room to put on the maid outfit. After hearing the intricacies of the role from the girl, she was relieved to learn that the role was a rather simple one. Knowing that her face might not even be caught in the shoot, she relaxingly agreed to be an extra for the very first time.
As the director started shooting, everyone was getting tensed up. Clarissa watched as the main leads redo their scene again and again as the director was unsatisfied with their performance. Tired from standing too long, she leaned on one of the big pillars of the building.
Around her were a few other extras that were hired. Since they knew Clarissa was the screenwriter of the film, they all flocked around her and started chatting with her.
“Ms. Quigley, I think that you are way more attractive and capable compared to the main leads. Why didn’t you consider entering showbiz? There’s already a plethora of people who are fans of your work. You’ll become way more famous if you had acted in them. That being said, you are already quite famous on the internet now.”
“I don’t like exposing my face to the public. I earn my living using my scripts, not my face,” Clarissa explained.
“As expected of the great Ms. Quigley. You’re so confident and talented.”
“Yes, I think so too. Ms. Quigley is also very kind…”
The extras kept on showering her with compliments. Embarrassed, Clarissa quickly got herself out of there.
While the main leads were quibbling over something, Shermaine’s face was starting to get pale. After resting for a while, they continued the shoot. Those who were supposed to be dead in the scene continued to play dead. Meanwhile, Shermaine and Yaala were lifted up again using the wire works. Quentin, who was acting like a limping person, still looked dashing on camera. Jamie on the other hand was lying on the ground, with blood coming out of her mouth…
Glaring at this quagmire in front of her, Clarissa found it rather amusing.
She tried her best to hold back her laughter as they started shooting again.
Clarissa started to get dizzy as she was overwhelmed by the different shots they had to take.
Suddenly, a loud and piercing scream was heard by everyone on the set. The scream was so high-pitched that everyone felt like their scalp was going to fall off. Hearing the scream, Clarissa winced and fell onto the ground as someone had yanked her by the side. Following her fall was intense pain as if her heart was being drilled.
However, it would seem that she wasn’t the only one who got hurt as there were also all sorts of commotion behind her. As she looked behind her, she saw that crowds of people were surrounding someone who was wailing in pain.
“Ms. Quigley, are you okay? Ah… Your arm is wounded-”
Clarissa turned her attention toward her arm and realized that the extreme pain she felt just now was caused by a big wooden board falling onto her arm.
After being assisted to her feet, she was still confused about the current situation as she slowly strode forward.
Soon after, the ambulance together with the doctors arrived on the scene. However, the doctors seemed to have their hands full treating the other person. And so, Clarissa was sent directly to the hospital with a cab.
Having arrived at the hospital, Clarissa was getting more conscious and aware of her surroundings. Her arm was wrapped with a splint after being treated to keep her arm in place. Due to the cold she had, Clarissa started to get dizzier to the point where she just passed out.
When she came to her senses, it was already the next day.
In the ward, a few other patients were having a discussion about yesterday’s incident, whereas Clarissa had only known about it just now.
“The august actor, Shermaine had an accident at the set yesterday. Her wire work snapped… Got hurt – Came back to D City. The shoot was canceled… Too dangerous to continue… “
Shermaine was injured? It must’ve been very serious. She even went back to D City.
Lying on the hospital bed, Clarissa was lost in her thoughts.
Not long after, a person came rushing toward her. The person was one of the female extras that was standing beside her yesterday.
“Ms. Quigley, sorry to disturb you just after you’ve woken up. I came here as fast as I could after I’ve finished my shoot just now. How are you feeling? Fortunately, the doctor said that the injury on your arm wasn’t serious but you’ll still have to refrain from moving it too much. So, are you going back to the hotel or?” she queried.
“Yeah, I’m going back to the hotel.”
Clarissa was very grateful to the girl. Upon arriving at the hotel, she gave the girl a small fee for helping her.
After that, she went on to find Justin but was told by the assistant director that he had already gone back to D City.
Although some parts of the film were not able to be filmed, the shoot must continue on. The assistant director was shooting the parts of the other actors while waiting for Justin to return.
Hearing that Clarissa was injured, the assistant director was rather shocked. Nonetheless, the assistant director gave her permission to take a break.
After packing her luggage, Clarissa checked out of her room and went to D City instead of going back home.
She carried her luggage and went back to the apartment on her lonesome. Clarissa rested for a while at her apartment before calling Matthew.
However, Matthew didn’t answer the phone.
Clarissa had a weird feeling about this, so she decided to send Matthew a message which stated that she was going back to D City on her own.
The whole afternoon had past and yet there still wasn’t a reply from Matthew.
Clarissa let out a sigh and finished her takeaway dinner. Sitting by the window in her room, she contemplated outside her window in silence.
