Fear of the Public Eyes

Lisa and Nat pressurized Sia to treat Mr.Daniel to lunch. After all, he had put himself in danger for saving her. They asked her to go to the dressing room after the shoot to ask him out. She found it awkward so, she decided to buy a bouquet of flowers. She would never ever ask him for lunch. What if her dad comes to know? She would be in complete danger. Also, he started doubting her when she had no contact with the opposite gender. She only knew two male colleagues, the directors, and the boss. If her dad comes to know that she went out for lunch with a man, he would never let her step out of the house. Why was he like that? She did not understand or had no time to understand.

Thankfully, it was the last day of the shoot and Sia had brought a beautiful bouquet of roses and lilies. She wanted to give it to Mr. Daniel after he was done with work. He went back to the dressing room to get changed. Sia thought that it was the perfect moment to thank him for his kindness. The door was an inch open. Before she could knock at the door, she heard his assistant, Rudolf, talking to him.

"Sir, the video of you saving the girl has been trending since last week."

"So?", said Mr.Daniel while buttoning his shirt.

"Don't you think it can form a scandal?"

"I don't care. Let it be."

"The media wants your statement."

"I am not in the mood."

"I think it can be fatal for your image."

"It is the department's duty to cross-check everything. They should be more vigilant. It's their fault."

"I think we both know whose fault it was. If you had not known about....."

The beautiful flower bouquet fell from Sia's hands. Convinced that the whole scene was a setup, she did not hear another word. Mr.Daniel saw the reflection of someone at the door.

"Who is it?"

Before they could see who it was, she ran back, bursting with anger. The assistant only found an abandoned bouquet at the door. It has nothing that could tell them who had sent it.

"Idiot! Jerk! Moron!"

She started cursing him. How could she think of her as a tool to steal the limelight? Is she a toy that can be discarded?

"Men, especially celebrities, are like this.", she thought.

The situation became worse. A lifestyle blogger, who also happened to be Mr. Daniel's obsessive fan, could not bear any girl with him so she wrote a blog in which she claimed that women do such filthy stunts to grab the attention of male celebrities. It happened a lot so why was the media paying so much attention to this? It contained many false allegations about Sia, including that she wanted to encash his popularity. Even though her name was not taken, everybody was quite sure whom she was talking about.

Many YouTubers also applauded the blogger for her so-called honest remarks on the incident. The public had mixed reviews. Some praised Mr. Daniel for his caring attitude. Some said that it was just an act for publicity. Some took it further and put all the blame on Sia.

When she came to know about her alleged plans (according to the Internet), she got furious. Mr. Daniel's management had extended the contract with the company and they were about to collaborate again. The shoot would start after a week. Mr.Daniel was temporarily saying goodbye to everyone. She forcefully went to Mr.Daniel when he was about to get in the car and slapped him in front of everyone. Mr.Daniel put his hand on his cheek. He did not see that coming. Everybody was stunned.

"Sia! What have you done?", shouted Mr.Reasus.

Sia showed her cellphone to Daniel which had a blog with all kinds of abuses against her.

"Happy?", cried Sia.

Her eyes were filled with tears. Mr.Daniel was furious at first but after reading some sentences in the blog, he realized why she was angry.

"Hey! Calm down! It's not my fault."

"You're right. It's all my fault. I was careless. You're a God that saved me at last time for which I am really thankful!"

She was speaking involuntarily. Mr.Daniel realized that confronting her or even talking to her would be a waste of time since she was boiling with anger. He found no reason to explain himself and left.

Everybody started staring at her. She did not know that she attempted a bold move that could land her in being fired from the job. She was called to Mr.Reasus' office. All the directors were also present there.

"Were you out of your mind?", said Mr.Reasus.

She stood there looking down as if she regretted what she did but, deep down, she knew that she did a good thing. These celebrities are untrustworthy. What if Mr.Daniel had used his influence to compel the blogger to write rubbish about her so that he could gain sympathy?

After all the directors were done insulting Sia, she replied:

"May I show you all something?"

"What is it?"

She showed them a YouTube video in which the narrator used foul language against her. She also showed them a variety of blog posts like that.

"Now, do you all believe me? Do you think such rubbish news doesn't affect my mental health?"

Her tone was warm but only she knew how tormenting it was for her to remain calm in the circumstances where she was accused of something she would never have thought of.

"But still, you had no right to insult Mr.Daniel in front of everyone. What if he terminates the contract? Then who would be blamed?", said Mr.Han.

"It can become more scandalous in the future.", added the director of the design department.

"Thank God! all the employees were not allowed to switch their phones on at that time or else someone would have recorded it.", added Mr.Han

"You would have been in more trouble, Sia."

Mr.Han was continuously shooting arrows at her. After the incident of the falling light, everybody was blaming him for the mismanagement of resources. Even Mr.Daniel insulted him in front of everybody. He felt offended. From that day onwards, he had a grudge against Sia. So, he thought that it was a perfect opportunity to have his revenge.

Mr. Reasus was silent as if he was pondering over something.

"Sir, I want her to be fired immediately. After all, it's the company that matters the most."

She knew only Mr. Han could have said that. The director of the design department nodded. HR department director said:

"We should not ignore the fact that she has been working hard diligently for the campaign. She even took on additional duties. I think we should give her a chance."

"Right? So that Mr.Daniel could sue us for defamation. Who will pay for that? She?"

Mr.Han pointed at Sia who was silent.

"Our company can have a great loss if this woman over there stays."

Mr.Han was convincing the directors to fire Sia. Mr. Reasus was assessing the situation. A fight started between Mr. Han and the PR department director. The latter said:

"It was just an accident. We should let go of it. Also, we can not imagine the cyberbullying she had to suffer."

"We should not forget that she could've died due to our negligence.", said the HR department director.

All the others tried to calm down. Finally, It was time for Mr. Reasus to decide. He remained calm. He said:

"You go outside Sia, we want to negotiate. You'll get to know tomorrow."

"Okay, sir"

Sia went outside. All the employees could hear the noise from the manager's office. As soon as she left the office, all the employees started staring at her as if she had committed a serious crime. She pretended to not pay heed to them and walked away. Lisa and Nat were waiting for her. She told them everything which made them worried about her. They left the office.

Back at home, Sia was pondering over the life-changing experiences she had in the last few weeks. She became an opportunist, as the Internet read. She became a target of cyberbullying. What could be worse was that she could be fired from her job. She got teary-eyed. Suddenly, her door knocked.

"Open the door, sweetie."

"Just a minute, mom."

She washed her face and opened the door.

"SURPRISE!"

Her parents said in chorus. Her mother had made her favorite chocolate brownies. To be honest, she was really craving them as she had no decent meal since the campaign started. They brought her downstairs to the dining table where her mother fed her herself. This made her a bit confident. Why would she even care when she had a very loving family by her side? She would not fear anyone now no matter what happens.