And Then It Rained (Sequel to Rain Again; Stand Alone Book) (Completed)

Chapter Eight: Roll, Camera, Action

The day of the filming of the advertisement finally arrived.

There was a lot of commotion at the Wishing Star as the first shot was going to be filmed. An expert arranged the clothing, accessories, and other product lines at the store's fixed locations where scenes were going to be filmed. A fashion expert and color coordinator were also ready. Lights were being set since morning, and the director was seen rubbing his jaw in deep thought—walking about and imagining the best of ways to bring alive the script.

Victoria was checking the equipment with other technicians. She was here to assist the director, Doyle, today in whichever way she could.

Ellie was pushing a small wheeled rack with hangers full of clothes. "That scarf looks hot on you," while passing by Victoria, she praised, pointing at the scarf she had tied her hair with.

Victoria smiled and touched the white scarf with beautiful blue colored prints all over it. This morning this scarf perfectly solved the trouble she had faced managing the birdnest on top of her head. "A little girl at a street shop gave it to me as a gift in Malaysia."

Ellie gasped, almost clapping her hands. "No way. You've been to Malaysia as well! I've always wished to go on a vacation there."

Ben came up and stared at Victoria with scrunched brows. "You've been to many places and have seen and experienced many things," he commented thoughtfully. "That explains why your eyes look so intelligent."

Victor was passing by the trio. He paused in front of Ben. "Intelligence doesn't always come from running away to different locations and gathering myriad experiences. Those are useless if you don't know how to dissolve the knots and darknesses at the very roots—a place they always choose to leave," he said, still not looking at Victoria, eyes firmly set on Ben and Ellie only.

Yet it was not hard to decipher for whom his words were meant for.

However, Ben and Ellie seemed flabbergasted.

"Roots?" Ben muttered in confusion.

"Knots?" Ellie had her face all scrunched up.

Disregarding them, Victor checked the time and his forehead scrunched. "Is this normal for the models to delay arriving to this extent?" He looked genuinely worried.

Sighing, Victoria stood up and let Ben and Ellie know that she was going to check what was going on. And while doing so, turmoiled thoughts whirled in her mind.

Victor had been actively ignoring her presence as though she was not there at all. Additionally, there were these indirect, mysterious remarks from time to time. And he had been overdoing it all to the point that everyone was beginning to notice and, furthermore, musing multiple versions of self-made conclusions. Questions were roused, and talks had started in whispered office gossip.

It was humiliating.

He had been actively humiliating her.

Soon, a sense of foreboding spread into the entire production team. Even the director didn't know about the models' whereabouts. None of them were picking up any calls—from anyone. Only the trained Morkie dog, Ronco, had arrived with its owner and was wrestling with a chewy toy. The designer had picked up a fitting doggy dress for it already.

Right when people were beginning to get anxious, Doyle got a call from Orland. Everyone watched with deep concentration as the middle-aged guy with prematurely greyed hair and an equally grey beard talked. His white skin turned red soon. His expression changed from distress to utter hopelessness in a matter of a minute. Defeatedly, he sat back down on his chair and covered his eyes with one hand.