Laura’s POV 120
Despite a thousand reluctance in my heart, the company’s arrangement had to be complied with.
George said, “Laura, your relationship with Cameron needs to be chilled right now, maybe if you pull away for a while and you each have space and time, the problem will be solved!”
I thought about it, and that made sense.
George was a veteran of love affairs, and he was certainly more experienced in these matters than I was.
The day of departure to the desert was set for the next day, I didn’t even have time to arrange things at home, I just hurriedly explained a few words to Yasmin, simply packed my luggage and set off.
Even the script was read on the way.
The movie was called Ballad of the Desert. And I played the female number two, a cold-blooded female assassin, who followed the great general faithfully, was bitterly unrequited, and helped him solve a lot of thorny problems, with a tragic ending.
Probably because of the state of mind at that time, my eyes staring at the script actually unknowingly shed tears.
Shooting was in full swing.
The desert climate is a great challenge for me. This time, the director chose the location at a high altitude, with a dry climate and a big difference in temperature between morning and evening. The first few days were very difficult for me to adapt to, and I would often get dizzy.
At noon, I almost suffered from heat stroke, and at night, I would often wake up from the cold, and my hands and feet would still be cold despite how many blankets I covered them with.
What’s worse is that the communication signal there is very poor, and the cell phone signal is sporadic. Sometimes when I was waiting for a scene on the set, I wanted to video Sunny at home to see what she was doing, but the top left corner of my cell phone had three big, chilling words, “No Service”.
I suffered like this for half a month.
Suddenly one day the director gave me a day off, “Laura, look who’s coming to visit you?” I was shocked to see Rafael from afar.
I was shocked to see Rafael approaching from a distance. He was dressed in a white tracksuit and a ducktail hat, and he was looking very good, looking radiant.
“Mr. Rafael?” I rushed to greet him.
Willow poked her little head out from behind him and gave me a mischievous squeeze.
“You’re here too!” I was overjoyed.
“The boy knew you were filming here and had to come see what it was like on location.” Rafael laughed lightly, “I didn’t feel comfortable with her coming alone, so I followed her here.”
“Hey, Dad you need to speak with a conscience!” Willow pouted, “Obviously you’re the one who reads at home all day long that Ms. Laura is filming in the desert, the conditions must be tough …”
Rafael glared at her before the words left his mouth. Willow smiled and made a face at me.
I instantly realized what was going on here.
Rafael’s eyes are gentle and the smile on his lips seems to melt people.
My face heats up, only to hear Rafael whisper, “The conditions here are not good, but I know it’s your job and you can’t turn it down. I still want you to be comfortable working though. I’ve got something for you, so don’t refuse.”
“Here, I chose this great gift!” Willow waved her hand behind her, and immediately someone carried over a box, and she excitedly pulled me over to look at it.
Inside the box were electric warmers, electric blankets, two sets of woolen thermals, and whole bottles of toners, moisturizing sprays, sunscreens, and the like.
“It’s hot during the day and cold at night here, so that’s what I have!” Willow spat out her tongue and touched my face with her small hand, “Ms. Laura, look at you, you’ve only been filming for a few days and your whole body is dark and thin! These cosmetics and maintenance products are all ones that I’ve used and found to be quite effective!”
“The things aren’t expensive, you must take them.” Rafael smiled, whispering in my ear, “I know, you don’t like to specialize. If I buy you a nice house here and get someone to take care of you, I’m afraid that if word gets out, people will say that you’re playing big shots. That’s not what you want.”
“So thought it would be better to send you something practical. These didn’t cost much either, but our thoughts go out to you.” Rafael’s voice trailed off, “Laura, I know you value the thought more than the form. Do I count this as throwing in the towel?”
I couldn’t speak for a moment, I just felt my face burning.
Rafael’s eyes were gentle and deep.
Cameron was a fire, and Rafael was the all-encompassing sea, a force to be reckoned with in its calmness.
I nodded, long enough to whisper, “Thank you.”
“Can we take the day off?” Rafael looks at me.
“What?”
Before I could respond, he had called the director over. The two said something, and the director, beaming, greeted the entire cast and crew with a day off today.
It turned out that Rafael had chartered a camel caravan and invited the crew to travel with him through the desert.
“Mr. Rafael, this …” I gently tugged on the corner of his coat.
He looked back, perhaps because of his age, I always felt that there was doting in his eyes.
He smiled and said to me, “I invited the whole crew, no one will write anything about it. Besides, inviting it in your name will also allow you to get along with the director and integrate into the team as soon as possible.”
My heart warmed and I looked at him gratefully. “Thanks …”Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!
“Don’t mention it.” He said, “Why don’t we go play together?”
Before I could react, he jerked my hand, interlocking his fingers with mine naturally, and pulled my hand into his pocket.
I wiggled out of it twice, and he didn’t force the issue, keeping a very genteel smile on his face. He helped me onto a camel and then let go.
Willow jumped on right after him.
“You two are so much fun.” He laughed, “I’ll be right behind you!”
“Don’t worry dad!” Willow was very playful, “I’ll take care of ‘your’ teacher Laura!”
“You kids!”
The camel got up and I nearly lost my balance for a moment.
The leader told me to lean in with Willow, grab the reins, and it took a while to get used to it before I found the joy of riding a camel.
The Dunhuang landscape is exotic and mysterious. I grew a little mesmerized and excited, and whatever I saw was new and I couldn’t wait to share it with my companions.
Willow, however, had disappointment written all over her little face.
“What’s wrong?” I probably guessed what she was thinking and smiled, “Is it that you don’t want to ride a camel with me?”
“Not at all!” She forced a smile.
“Ugh, I know!” I deliberately said, “How meaningless it is to play with an old woman like me! For something like riding a camel, of course you have to be with your lover! That’s the only way to feel like you’re the wind and I’m the sand. …”
“Hey!”
Willow really anxious, eyebrows knitted, beeping small mouth, a small face pink through red, especially cute.
“Well well well, don’t say it!” I put one hand on her shoulder, “George was originally going to come over with the crew, but he’s the boss after all, with all kinds of official business!”
“Yes, he’s the only one in the world who’s busy!” She grunted lightly.
But after all, he was young, emotions come and go quickly, and it didn’t take long for him to regain his spirit again, talking and laughing with a few other actors, and he was going to stay with the crew and learn acting from everyone else.
“Still really staying?” I asked her, “Would your dad approve?”
“I don’t want to go to school anyway, so let me learn acting!” She was full of concern and longing, “This … might also be the closest way to get to him, don’t you think so?”
I froze, then smiled.
She was a girl in love.
Losing her mind, with zero IQ, all she thinks about every day is how to please her beloved. Such a girl is cute, yet also a bit pathetic.
But I still have a lot of respect for her. She can love someone like a moth to a flame. Even if the result is not satisfactory, but tried, struggled, fought, love will have no regrets.
What about me?
Can I love him as much as she does?
I can’t. I’m afraid to even admit my relationship with him, and to this day I keep Sunny firmly under wraps at home for fear that people will learn that I have a child with my brother.
I care about too many things, fame, fortune, reputation, other people’s opinions … all the wind and grass can make me like a scared bird. It’s amazing that all these out-of-body things come before Cameron.
I’m also afraid that Cameron will lose his reputation because of this.
Maybe no results is what I’ll get with him …
I shook my head, a bitter feeling welling up in my heart.
I continued to focus on filming, those days the progress was fast, it was supposed to take two months to shoot the location, according to this progress a month and a half will be enough.
Willow had already gone back, ultimately young and enthusiastic like a gust of wind.
That day I had a solo scene.
The scene was not a light one, it was a female assassin facing thousands of soldiers, and there were several close-ups of me. The director filmed me first, and during the fight I was asked to roll around in the desert.
At noon, the sun hung in the sky like a fireball, burning the desert like a ball of fire. I rolled around in the sand and did what the martial arts director asked me to do, but no matter how I filmed it, it was not up to the director’s standard.
Yet I was already bruised and battered, with falls, contusions, and burned skin from the sand.
“Laura,” the director frowned, “you need to commit a little more! Think about it, the second female is trying to save the male lead, and she’s luring a thousand troops away by herself, she’s bound to die! How tragic this emotion is! It needs to feel like you’re at home with death, don’t be so soft in your fall, okay?”
I bit my lip and said nothing.
The costume was soaked with sweat, and it was uncomfortable to stick to my skin. My mouth was dry, my brain was foggy, and I felt like the blood in my body was rushing to my head, and the soles of my feet were light when I walked.
The agent gave me a bottle of ice water and whispered in my ear, “Laura, fight for it! Stick with this scene, and we’ll be able to go home … Go for it!”
“Uh-huh.” I nodded my head vigorously.
I didn’t hear anything else, but I heard the word “home”.
Home … home can see Sunny, can hold the little girl in the palm of your hand again. Home can also see Cameron, not seen me for more than a month, his anger should be subsided, right?
As soon as I get home I might be able to smell the crab roasting wheat again …
I laughed and continued with the shooting. As soon as the director yells “go”, I grab my props and roll around in the sand as required.
“Good, good mood!” The director shouted, “Keep it up!”
I was relieved.
However a headlong rush, I didn’t expect my feet to slip and my whole body rolled down that dune like a ball. I panicked, grabbing and stomping, but the sand was all around me, so I couldn’t grab anything.
I heard them yelling “Laura”, but I was falling faster than they could save me.
I have no strength, the yellow sand will bury me, a strong to the nose and eyes drilling … thud, my eyes black, back knocked on something, drilling pain.
Waiting for the pain to slowly disappear, I also came back to my senses, which realized that I fell into a hole.
Surrounded by darkness, the panic in my heart also built up to the peak. Only the little bit of the cave entrance had bright light pouring in.
My legs went weak and I screamed for help, but I couldn’t hear anything but my echo. The feeling at that moment was as if I had been abandoned by the world, and as if the whole world had perished and I was the only one left.
I clutched my head and cried, hunger, thirst, fear, and the exertion of these days had strained my nerves to the verge of collapse.
No one came to my rescue until nightfall, while I groped around and all at once felt an animal skull. I screamed as all my sanity was consumed by this darkness. I was helpless and desperate, I thought I might die here … just like these animals, finally found by people, only a pile of white bones left.
It was in this fear and despair that I survived until dawn the next day, when the sun rose and the temperature in the cave rose a little. I moved my numb arms and legs and tried to find out if there was any escape route through the weak light.
I can’t die.
My daughter can’t live without her mom. …
I suddenly remembered my time as a war correspondent in Alcostan, I had survived the harsh and dangerous conditions, I had survived the war, so what hurdle could I not get through?
So I cheered myself up, and walked along the hole, but I really touched the wall of the cave seems to have vines.
Tugged hard, the hole fell into the sand.
This means that the vines are growing outside!
I was ecstatic and climbed up the cave wall a little bit. I can’t tell you what I went through, it felt like a walk through hell. Three steps up, two steps back, but I made it out.
The moment my palm touched the hole, it was as if I had been reborn. It was only then that I realized that my palms were abraded with skin and blood, and the fiery pain bored all the way into my heart.
However, before I had time to be happy, I found a more serious problem … The scenery around here was changed, the surroundings were empty, and a few vultures circled in the sky, making creepy cries.
I remembered that time when I was traveling on a camel, I heard the locals talk about sandstorms. Once this kind of desert storm passes through, all the scenery will change drastically, making people lose their direction in the vast desert …
I leg a soft paralyzed sitting on the ground, my mind is blank, even the strength to cry are not.
Is it my destiny to die in this desert?
I tried to walk out, but a day and a night without food, climbed out of that hole and consumed a lot of my physical strength, my mouth is dry, hunger and sleepy, did not walk a few steps in front of my eyes a black … Wake up again, lying in a soft chair, the tip of the nose and the smell of sandalwood.
And Cameron, just beside me quietly watching me!
I was shocked and struggled to sit up, but my whole body hurt like it was falling apart.
Cameron pressed my shoulder to let me lie down, when I felt the softness and warmth of his palm, I was sure that I was not dreaming, and I did not die … He saved me, he let me live once again!
“Cameron …” As soon as I called out his name, my voice immediately choked, and I couldn’t stop the tears from flowing down.
“Cameron, will you give me a hug?” I whispered, “I miss you so much …”