Samantha entered the meeting room and found Becca sitting on the armchair as she browsed on her phone. When she heard the door open, she looked up and smiled at Samantha."Hey, Sam! Your dress… your look, ugh! So fabulous!" She complimented as she stood up and greeted her friend with a hug.
"Why thank you, Ms. Wise! And you look gorgeous as always."
They sat on the chair and chatted while they waited for the staff. Fifteen minutes later, the door opened and a pet.i.te female walked in.
"Hi, Ms. Wise, Ms. Kim. My name is Sarah, please follow me and I"ll lead you to your makeup rooms."
The two friends politely greeted Sarah and followed her out of the room. They walked along the hallway and the staff greeted them when they pa.s.sed by. It was quite a hectic morning as everyone was busy with their tasks to make sure everything will run smoothly on today"s shoot. Reaching the end of the hall, Samantha was led to the door on their right while Becca was on the opposite door.
Samantha felt awkward that she got a separate room so she turned to Sarah and asked, "Um… couldn"t we just share one room instead?"
Smiling brightly, Sarah shook his head apologetically. "Sorry, the rooms have already been a.s.signed and each of your rooms can only accommodate one guest as they are rather small."
"Ah… I see. I guess I"ll see you later then, Becs."
"Laters, Sam."
…
Samantha sat on the makeup chair and in a few minutes, a man came in with a make up trolley case.
The man wore tight fitting clothes, and he looked fas.h.i.+onable. He had a scarf on his neck, an earing on his left ear and a necklace that had a sword-like pendant. He looked a little queer but he had a gentle smile on his face. "h.e.l.lo Miss, my name is Drey. I"m your makeup artist for today."
"Hi, I"m Samantha. Nice to meet you."
He started to set up his station and glanced at Samantha like he was a.s.sessing her face. "Your skin is in really good condition. You seem to be diligent with your skincare routine, that"s good. It will make my job easier."
He picked up a cleanser and started wiping Samantha"s face. After which, he took a spray from his bag and held it in front of her face. "This is a spray primer, please close your eyes."
Samantha closed her eyes and she felt the mist on her skin. It felt very cool on her and it had a hint of smell that she didn"t recognize.
"You"ll be called in about an hour and a half. If you feel tired, just take a nap and I"ll do my job."
Sure enough, she actually did feel drowsy. Samantha kept her eyes shut while the makeup artist painted her face. She no longer noticed what was happening as she drifted off to wonderland.
After sometime, Samantha felt someone patting her arm.
"Ms. Kim?"
She opened her eyes and saw Sarah beside her. "Oh, sorry. I fell asleep." She looked around for a bit and noticed that Drey had already left.
"That"s okay. We"ll be starting now, please follow me."
They walked out of the room and went straight to the filming room where Becca had also just arrived. The studio fell silent when they saw Samantha entering the area. All eyes were looking at her.
Because of Daniel Cho"s presence and their entrance to the building earlier that morning, the news spread around quickly among the people in the set. Why was everyone so interested in them? Can"t they really be together just like normal people?
Feeling their gazes, Samantha shook off the bad vibes. She straightened herself and held her chin up as she walked towards the director and Becca, smiling slightly and looking very confident.
"h.e.l.lo, Ms. Kim. Welcome! We were just talking about…" The director spoke to the two ladies, telling them what will happen during the shoot and explaining to them what they needed to do on some parts. The show isn"t live and it will be aired on the weekend so they had enough time to shoot everything.
It was Samantha"s first time to be on a set like this. While the director was explaining things, she couldn"t help but take a glance at her surroundings. Apart from seeing the curious people"s looks, she saw how interesting it was to see the behind the scenes of a TV program.
When the director left them to attend to some matters, Samantha suddenly felt tired. She did a lot of things yesterday with Hannah and this morning, she and Daniel had to wake up early.
Her body was probably feeling exhausted from all the stress that she had been experiencing lately. Covering her mouth, she yawned.
"Rough night?" Becca asked, her brow raising a few times and she smiled teasingly.
Samantha chuckled at her friend"s silliness. She playfully pushed her and they laughed together.
.
.
"Everyone get ready!" A voice sounded in the room, everyone was in their respective places and the filming started.
There wasn"t anything unusual during the shoot as everyone in the staff were very professional. Despite knowing Samantha"s current involvement with the scandal, they didn"t make her feel unwelcomed at all. In fact, they were very polite and respectful towards her and didn"t ask anything related to her personal relations.h.i.+p with Daniel Cho.
During the entire shoot, the hosts only talked about her and Becca"s lifestyle and travels. Everything was kept within the scope of their TV show and the production was very lively. Because of that, Becca and Samantha had so much fun that it felt like they were only playing instead of working.
The shoot had ended after a couple of hours and everyone started to pack. Samantha looked around wondering if she can find Drey so that she could thank him but he was nowhere to be found. Usually, makeup artists would stay during the shoot to give touch ups. But that time, she and Becca shared the same artist so she hadn"t seen him since.
There was something weird about that man and Samantha couldn"t shake off the feeling. Thinking that it might just be jitters for having her very first TV shoot, she decided to push the thought at the back of her head.
The director came over to them, "Well done, you two! I"m actually feeling very positive about this shoot."
"Thank you very much, Director! It was a pleasure working with you." said Samantha as she shook hands with him.
"Indeed, I can see how this show has high ratings. It"s all because you are a capable director!" Becca chimed in.
He was quite impressed by the duo. They looked very natural on TV and their appearance is very pleasing to look at. He then wondered if the two of them would like to appear on TV more often.
The director felt very flattered with their praises and thus when he left the two of them after a small chat, he was in high spirits.
…
While Samantha was still shooting at the studio, Daniel was about to go out for a lunch meeting.
He walked out of the Cho Corporation building with a.s.sistant Ahn. They were about to board their car when he heard a woman"s voice coming from behind them.
"Daniel Cho!"
He turned abruptly and saw Melissa Qin walking hastily towards him. Her usual flawless facade that masked her wickedness was slowly fading away. She was wearing a simple outfit of blouse and pants, her eyes were red and swollen from crying.
He furrowed his brows at the sight of this woman. "What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here? Daniel Cho! You destroyed my family"s business! How could you do that to me? Do you really not care about me anymore?"
Placing both of his hands in his pockets, Daniel replied with an arrogant tone "Ms. Qin, I don"t remember us having any relations.h.i.+p for me to care about you. Don"t be delusional."