People were subjective animals.
Sometimes, trust had to be maintained with work on both ends.
He trusted her. He might have been a little unwilling to let her act, especially emotional or intimate scenes with male actors. Even knowing it was fake, he'd still feel uncomfortable.
But since this was something she wanted – her passion – he'd chosen to respect her decision.
Since he'd made that concession, Natalia couldn't disappoint him, either. At least in some aspects, if she could avoid it, she should, to keep those things from becoming potholes in their relationship.
Today, Natalia had just finished a more intense fight scene. Because it'd been fantasy themed, there were more fights in general.
Her hands were injured and she couldn't grip a heavy sword, so after discussing with the director, they switched her to a lighter whip.
But whips might have looked easy, but their techniques were more difficult than rapiers and sabers.
Natalia studied for a whole afternoon and learned a few moves in the choreography, then finished the shooting for the afternoon, getting ready to pack up and get back to the hotel.
At that moment, a deliveryman walked up.
"Is this Mrs. Natalia McCarthy?"
Natalia started and nodded. "Yes, what is it?"
"Good afternoon. This are your flowers and a present. Please sign for it."
Natalia was taken aback – not at the massive bouquet of roses, but the diamond necklace hanging from the center of the roses.
The centerpiece of the necklace was a heart, with a sapphire base and a thumb-sized diamond set in the middle. It must have cost a fortune.
She had to ask, "Who gifted these flowers? Can you give me a name or a contact method?"
The deliveryman smiled, "I'm sorry, but that's client information. We can't give it out without permission."
Natalia frowned slightly, but didn't say anything and signed for it.
After receiving them, the flowers were too big for her to carry, so she had the deliveryman set it on the ground directly.
Then she took up the diamond necklace on top.
The necklace was elaborately made, clearly different from those circulating on the marketplace. It was clearly privately designed.
Besides, a diamond of this size was rare enough in of itself. So Natalia's curiosity towards the person who'd given it to her behind the scenes grew.
The actors in the cast surrounded her.
"Wow, that's a huge diamond. At least ten karats!"
"My goodness! Whoever gave it to you must be loaded!"
"Are your skirt-chasers all this rich, Natalia? Mr. McCarthy gave you red coral jewelry, fine; but a random fan up and gave you such a big diamond."
"That's worth at least a hundred, two hundred million, right? Man, that's several films' worth of my pay."
"I'm so jealous, Natalia."
It was mostly actresses from the cast around her. Listening to their exclamations and adoration, Natalia was a little unfocused.
Her fine brows furrowed, while her instincts told her that this wasn't simple.
No matter how she looked at it, she didn't think a normal fan would be giving her such a valuable diamond necklace.
For some reason, she remembered the call from that night.
Her heart thumped and her face changed.
Collecting her wits, she faced forward at the actresses surrounding the necklace and fawning over it. "I'm sorry. I suddenly remembered something urgent. I'm going back to the hotel. I'll let you all have a look some other day."
With that, she put the necklace away and left the set.
Getting back to the hotel, she found and excuse to send Nancy out of the room.
Then she sat atop the bed, took up her phone, and stared at the number on the screen, the conflict running through her mind.
After a while, she gathered her courage and called.
For an instant, Natalia felt her hand shaking.
Cold sweat emerged from her back. Her throat stuck, choking her words.
But when she thought the call was about to go through-
There came only an empty drone.
"We're sorry, the number you have dialed is not in service..."
"..."
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