A woman was running as the dark grey sky was hovering above her.
She was panting heavily and her lungs had started to burn.
Her vision was blurry because of her own tears, running down her cheeks.
She was being chased by a masked stranger and if she stopped, it might be her last breath she took.
The pouring rain was not helping the situation as she forced her legs to run with as much strength she could muster. She could hear her heart pounding loudly. And then she slips down on the muddy ground.
She tried to get up but in vain as the masked guy seemed to get closer and closer until he was standing right behind her. He forced her to turn around as she let out a scream trying to get away from him.
“Cut!” The director shouts and both of them visibly relax.
The masked guy quickly gets up from atop her, and helps Midnight to stand up on her feet as well. The staff quickly approached them with umbrellas and a few towels.
“You’re really good at this.” Caleb, the masked guy, and her co-star compliments her.
“Thank you, so are you.” Midnight returns the compliment with a sweet, genuine smile.
They walk towards the camera crew to check the scene. The director showed it to them and Midnight was very satisfied with the way her expressions turned out. Caleb looked happy too.
“Since we did a very intense scene and the rain seems to be pouring more we’re going to stop here.” The director instructed. Then he turns around to look at Midnight patting her shoulder, “Thank you Midnight for coming at such short notice. I know you must have been very busy with your endorsements but you took out a few hours to just land a few scenes.”
“It was my pleasure, Tom. You don’t have to thank me, you know.” Midnight says.
The director smiles at her one last time before asking the crew to pack up. Caleb was about to ask Midnight about her plans later but her manager Sammy, shows up with a cup of coffee.
“Aah, thank you Sam.” She says, taking a sip of coffee.
Sam’s eyes meet Caleb’s for a brief moment and then Sam urges the staff to take Midnight to her van. Caleb clenched his jaw watching her leave but Sam stepped in front of him, blocking his view.
“You keep your distance from her. She is much too young and innocent to be with someone like you.” Sam warns, his voice was light but the weight of his threatening words was laced in the look in his eyes. “Do you understand me?”
And even though Caleb didn’t like the idea of being threatened by a random, low-life manager, he still nodded his head. No one crossed Sam. He was Midnight’s manager ever since she had entered the industry. He was very protective of her and her image which is why Midnight was hardly ever caught in any scandal. Sam was never a talkative or friendly person; he only talked nicely enough to Midnight and seemed to hate the entire world.
When Sam approached her, Midnight had already changed into a fresh pair of clothes and was going through her phone. “Did you post the thank you story?”
“No, I was thinking of going live on social media when I go home, it would seem more sincere. What do you think?”
“That they definitely don’t deserve your sincerity and generosity.” He says, in an obvious tone but looking at her slightly hurt expression changed his tone. “Okay fine, thank them in the live but they still don’t deserve it. They are only calling you because you’re popular and would definitely increase the box office collection of this shitty cult movie.”
Before Midnight could give Sam a reply, the other staff members showed up and Sam sat down on the seat next to her while the others sat behind. Their driver starts driving and both of them remain quiet the entire ride. After a one hour drive, they stopped in front of Midnight’s apartment. She gets out and Sam says that he will see her later. Sighing, Midnight makes her way back to her floor and slouches on the bed after entering her home.
She knew that Sam was right and she was tired too of getting short roles in movies all the damn time. Most of the time, her characters always needed some sort of saving and she was always given to play the sweet and naive characters in her movies. “But I want to be able to play different characters and get rid of this ridiculous label.”
Her phone dings breaking her out of her thoughts and opening her phone, she noticed that Sarah, the designer of her latest endorsement had sent her a screenshot. Opening it, she noticed that her supposedly mortal enemy, Xavier, had liked her picture.
“Wait, what?” She whispers to herself, unable to believe her eyes and clicks on Sarah’s profile to actually check it and he did actually like it. “He must have accidentally liked it.”
And yet she finds herself thinking about it almost the whole day, staring at his profile. Most of his pictures were of the behind the scenes of his movies and then her eyes landed on a particular picture where his icy blue eyes were burning into the camera. He was dressed in all black and hsi hands were in his pocket with a smuggish smirk plastered on his beautiful; face.
He had always disliked her for some reason and she still doesn’t know the reason behind this. Well, she doesn’t want to owe him anything so she liked that picture and tells herself it was only because he likes hers and not because of how extremely breathtakingly beautiful he was looking. Only the difference was that this picture was at least a year old.
She didn’t realise it and did her live thanking her film crew and talking about her movie. She also answered a few questions from her fans, making sure not to give any spoilers. Promising to do another live, soon and seeing them in person at the trailer launch, she ended the live noticing she had a text from someone.
Her breath catches in her throat, once she clicks on it and realises that it was from Xavier.
‘Stalking is a crime you know.’
Midnight scoffs and then after debating for a minute whether to reply or not, decided to give him a fitting reply.
‘Oh yeah? So despite being aware of it, you liked my picture?’
‘I wasn’t stalking you, it was my friend's profile but you were checking mine. There is a difference you know. And that picture is a year old.’
Infuriated, Midnight sends him a cursing emoji and he likes that message which frustrates her further. He was pressing her buttons and she was pretty sure he was smiling sluggish on the other side of the phone.
‘Whatever! I did it because that’s the only picture where you look like a human being.’
‘Oh sweetheart, don’t flatter yourself. I only liked that picture because Sarah posted it.’
Sweetheart? He has the audacity to call me sweetheart?- Midnight thinks to herself. She ignored the little flip-flop feeling she got in her tummy and kept her phone aside. She couldn’t believe she actually ended up texting him and was already regretting that decision.
On the other hand, Xavier was actually smiling when reading her texts. That was the most they had a conversation and he couldn’t wait to see her at the trailer launch. He was looking forward to it even though he knew that he shouldn’t.