“CUT!” Sarah Lee yelled to end the scene.

“Great job everyone! Let’s clean up the set! Rio and Valentina, please go change clothes and warm up, so you don’t get sick. You're done filming scenes for the day. Yuri and Shawn have some final shots to film so let’s get those done and close out for the day! All actors will circle back in two hours for a review as well as getting the script for the next portion of filming. Let’s get moving people!”

“Yes!” everyone replied.

Sarah Lee watched the interactions between her actors with satisfaction. Considering that only 2 out of the 4 were professionals and one of the professionals had a terrible reputation, the filming had been stellar so far.

The person she had been worried about; Valentina had gotten 0 retakes. She executed everything from the action scenes to the emotional scenes perfectly. Even she had believed the darkness and despair in Valentina's eyes after she spoke with Yuri.

Plus, the chemistry between her and Rio was completely off the charts. The two gave off the feeling that they were star-crossed lovers who were not aware of their feelings for each other which was so important for part 2 of the music video ‘Bring Me to Life’.

She watched as Valentina sneezed and stumbled almost falling down. Immediately after, Rio threw a blanket on her, and wrapped her like a burrito, before princess-carrying her towards the changing room.

Maybe the feelings were more than acting?

Well, they were young, and she wasn’t either of their managers. She was sure their companies would sort it out.

Feeling her age as she stared at the youthful romance in front of her, she rubbed her neck and decided to do her job and go review some footage.

POV: Valentina

As she was being carried by Rio, Valentina felt herself going in and out of consciousness.

This weak ass body! It seemed that somehow she was able to make it through the multiple hours of filming and successfully play her part. In fact, everything she hadn’t messed up once and everything was going well until it became time for the rain scene. Her body was already very exhausted from the action scenes, but she was holding on. When Yuri had lightly slapped and shoved her, she had hit her a little too hard and she felt her head ringing and chest start to feel stuffy. She had been doing her best to hold a cough in but once the rain started she felt herself start to black out. After holding onto her consciousness through sheer force of will, she finally heard the words cut!

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Somehow she had successfully conveyed all her lines although she couldn’t tell you what kind of face she had been making. Sarah Lee released them, and she immediately wanted to run to change, drink some hot tea, and maybe cough up some blood to clear up her chest.

She had sneezed and before she knew it, she was bundled up and being carried by Rio.

She peeked up at his face through the little opening that she had and saw that he looked focused and a little angry.

His hair was hanging around his face and a few water droplets were hanging off his angled jaw.

Valentina squirmed in his arms, and he glanced at her before looking up and continued walking.

“If you say let me go I will open my hands and drop you straight to the floor.” He threatened calmly.

Valentina immediately settled down and sulked quietly.

She really didn’t understand why he kept bullying her. She was perfectly capable of walking by herself. He was the one who decided to inconvenience the both of them and was now taking his anger out on her.

Still, she didn’t say anything until he barged into the general dressing room and deposited her on a chair.

He gestured to a crew member and ordered them to bring ginger tea before he pointed a finger at her.

“Go and change so you don’t get sick,” Rio ordered.

Valentina rolled her eyes quickly before she told him, “Yes yes. You as well go get changed so you don’t get sick. And make sure you drink some tea as well.”

“Sick people shouldn’t give other orders. I did some research, and it seems you cough up blood sometimes?”

He got closer and whispered to her, “If you feel like you’re going to cough up blood, you can come by my private dressing room. I’ll cover up for you. Try to get some rest and drink that tea!” He ordered before walking away.

Is he rude or is he kind Valentina mentally wondered before shaking her head. First of all, there was no way she would go to a male costar’s personal dressing room by herself. That would be asking for a rumor to get started immediately. It was bad enough that he had carried her back here.

Immediately marking Rio as a villain in her mind, Valentina hurried to change. Thankfully the staff provided extra clothes for them to wear around the set when they were not she quickly changed into a comfy white two-piece with robe-like sleeves. She cleaned the makeup from her face and spent some time blow-drying the wig. She would need the help of the stylist to remove it safely, so she just quickly dried and brushed it out for now.

Feeling so much better, she exited the changing area and saw a staff member holding a cup of tea for her. It seemed it was the person Rio had ordered earlier.

Thanking them, she took it and went to find a sofa to sit on and drink it.

After walking through the dressing room for a bit, she found a sofa, but somebody was already sitting on it.

Seeing that it was Rio, Valentina wanted to turn away, but he caught her eye and gestured for her to come closer.

After considering the optics of running away from him, she resigned herself and came closer.

“Sit,” Rio said as he patted the seat next to her.

Seeing her wary look, he laughed and continued, “I promise I don’t bite. Just sit and drink your tea.”

Valentina cautiously sat on the farthest end of the sofa leaving 2 whole cushions between the two of them.

Seeing her caution, Rio laughed again as he sipped his cup of tea, so Valentina did the same without paying attention to him.

As the tea warmed her body and helped soothe her headache and chest, Valentina could feel her body slowly become drowsy. Although she tried to resist it, she could feel her body nodding off.

“If you want to take a nap, go ahead.” Rio turned to look at her. “I’ll wake you up for the meeting.”

Tempted by his words, Valentina nodded. She carefully placed the teacup on the floor and lay her head on the arm of the sofa.

Mmmm.

Just a 15-minute nap.

Within the span of a few seconds, she was fast asleep.

She had no idea that the innocuous nap she took would start a storm of drama.