The Strange Encounter

"PUT THE REFLECTORS OVER THERE!"

"NOT HERE!!!.....SERIOUSLY!!!!!!!"

Mr. Han, the director of the photography department, was continuously yelling at his team members, including Sia. He could not find a perfect position for the reflectors. The studio was dark with a green screen on one wall. All the team members were wearing black shirts and blue jeans. Some of them were setting up the camera, some were looking for props and some unlucky ones, like Sia, were given the duty to position the reflectors. The design department team members were there for assistance. It was 9:00 am and they were still working on the studio.

" Poor planning.", thought Sia.

The work was completed at 11:00 am and Mr.Daniel was not there. He was a man of his word and was famous for being on time. But this time was an exception as the crew members were desperately waiting for him. The management was unable to contact him. He reached the studio at 1:00 pm when more than half of the crew was about to leave. He headed towards the dressing room. Everything had to be done quickly as a lot of time was wasted.

The theme of that day was "Grand Elegance". The studio was decorated according to the theme. Red and black were the prominent colors. A big round table with chairs was put in the center of the studio. After a while, Mr. Daniel came out of the dressing room. He was wearing a black dinner jacket with black well-polished shoes, a silver watch, and a black bowtie. He had minimum makeup on his face. What really caught the attention of the members was the mark on his neck which seemed as if it was hastily tried to be concealed with makeup. Sia was least interested in anything. She was tired so, she tried to find a place to sit.

After the shoot was over, the scar on Mr. Daniel's neck became the topic of discussion. Some said that it would have been caused by accident. Some said that he might have had a fight. Some were tired of this gossip. One of them was Sia.

"What do you think, Sia?", said Lisa.

"I think that I should go back home.", replied Sia in an exhausted manner.

"You're right. Even I am tired. Let's go.", said Lisa.

At home, Sia took a bath and fell asleep in no time. She woke up to the sound of her cell phone. It was Nat. She picked up the phone. Nat gave her some hints.

" It seems as if the management has something cooking."

"Must be chicken."

They both started laughing. After chatting a bit, Sia hung the call up and went to sleep.

She sensed a different atmosphere at work the next day. Instead of making guesses about Mr.Daniel's scars, the crew started liking it. The female employees found it cute.

"Ughhhhhhhh", said Sia, overhearing Lisa and Nat.

Because of a shortage of crew members, one member had to do multiple tasks. Sia was given the task to fold all the sponsored dresses and putting them in their respective places after Mr. Daniel took them off. The areas for every brand were fixed. Same was the case with accessories. She was permitted to go to the dressing room when the room was empty. It means after Mr. Daniel had left. On the first day, Sia went to the room as ordered and saw the dresses thrown carelessly on the floor. The coat was brutally put on the sofa. The studs and the accessories were scattered on the dressing table. She had to clean everything up. While picking up everything, Sia was cursing Daniel side by side. She did not realize that she started badmouthing him loudly.

"What a dirty idiotic jerk!"

Sia said while folding the shirt.

"He doesn't even know how to place things properly. I wonder why people are crazy over this monkey!"

She was spouting nonsense only to realize Mr. Daniel standing behind her.

"And?", said Mr.Daniel seriously.

"And he is a spoilt moron. Wait!"

She turned back and saw Mr. Daniel laughing. He had accidentally left his phone in the dressing room and came to pick it up. Sia felt embarrassed that her first encounter with her was a failure. Mr. Daniel pretended to ignore her embarrassed face, picked up his phone, and went away.

At night, The trio was on a call. Lisa and Nat started laughing when Sia told them about what happened.

"You really had the confidence to say that in front of him.", said Lisa.

"Not in front, Li. But BEHIND him."

Nat teased Sia and sent an angry person's emoji in the chat. This further embarrassed Sia. She thought that she was screwed. After that incident, Mr. Daniel would ironically smile whenever he saw her.

On one of the scheduled days, a strange thing happened. Mr. Daniel was in the dressing room when he heard the noise of something dropping on the floor. He quickly came out and saw Mr. Han yelling at Samantha, Rudy, and Sia. He was guiding them to place the reflectors but one of the reflectors dropped from the hands of the crew members and broke.

"WHO IS GOING TO PAY FOR THIS MESS....HUH!!!!!!!??????"

"SS...Sorry, sir", replied Rudy.

"Its price is more than double your salaries combined!!!"

He was getting angrier every minute. Daniel saw this and interrupted.

"You can cover up the cost from my payment. I won't mind."

Everybody was shaken.

"And I would expect a rather professional behavior in the future. I don't think scolding someone that is inferior to you in position seems to be a professional attitude from any angle."

He was insulting Mr. Han in a very mild tone. Everybody was captivated by his concern for the employees, including Sia. She was now less concerned about the damage and more about his defending attitude. She was IMPRESSED.

For the first time, Sia did not detest the conversation in the cafeteria. Everybody was stunned.

"He is such a gentleman!"

"Really? Is that what he said?

After lunch, the photoshoot resumed. The theme was "Cultural Canopy". The studio was embellished accordingly. The crew members did not notice that the light fixed on the roof was loose. It could break anytime. Sia had no idea that she was standing under it.

Mr.Daniel was posing for the photo when he saw the light. It was about to fall down. He quickly ran and pushed Sia, resulting in them falling on the floor and knocking their heads on each other. The light fell down with a BANG.

"Are you alright?"

Mr. Daniel asked Sia with utmost concern. His deep dark brown eyes showed his care. Sia started staring at him. Then, after he shook her, she came into her senses.

"I...I'm fine."

Sia tried to lie but all in vain. Her tone and body language was yelling that she was not in a good condition.

Mr.Daniel stood up and offered a hand to Sia. Sia held his hand and stood up. Then, they wiped their clothes. Mr. Daniel was about to go when he saw a bruise on Sia's elbow.

"Excuse me."

"Yes?"

"Come here."

Mr.Daniel held her hand and forcefully took her to his dressing room. He put some ointment on her bruise. She said:

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For saving me."

"Oh Yeah! You wouldn't be expecting this from an idiotic jerk. Right?"

Sia left the dressing room in embarrassment. Astonished and scared, Sia could not believe that she was this close to death. She wanted to really treat her benefactor to a meal but soon realized how can he accept the offer of an ordinary girl when there are queues of women, who are thousand times more beautiful and talented than her, waiting for him to accept their invitation. She let go of this idea but she really wanted to return the favor.

One of the crew members had recorded the incident on the phone and hastily put that on Instagram with a very strange caption. The video spread like fire and everyone started praising Mr. Daniel in the comment section. All the news channels started reporting the incident. He stole the spotlight once again.

Sia was in her dreams when she received a call from Lisa.

"What is it?"

"Were you sleeping?"

"No! I was dancing to Jessie J's 'Price Tag' in the middle of the night."

"You're kidding, right?"

"Of course, I was sleeping!"

"Have you seen Instagram? Someone had put the video of that incident."

"Which incident?"

"Ooo!! That light falling on you."

"What!?"

She stood up from the bed. She hung up the call and checked her Instagram. The video was not hard to find as it was trending. The caption read, 'Supermodel Daniel saves a careless employee from the falling light'.

"So, What was that then?", she thought to herself. Her brain and heart were at war. Her brain was convincing her that it could all be a setup for a publicity stunt and she became a pawn. On the other hand, her heart was telling her why would he do such a low thing when he is the most successful model in the country.

She was caught in this dilemma. She did not realize that she was in an even bigger problem. What if her father sees the video?