“Oh,” Mrs. Sandra said after walking in on Nelly and Neuer standing so close to each other, about to lock lips.
This would have been the best time to tease and pull his legs but she had real pressing issues at hand, she couldn’t even calm down enough to explain it properly. That was how Neuer knew the problem was enormously big.
“Calm down, can you please make me understand what’s going on?” Neuer said, placing his both hands on Sandra’s shoulder in a bid to get her to relax.
The only meaningful thing she had said was the first word of the chapter, the rest, neither Neuer nor Nelly could fathom.
“Our actress, the one who’s supposed to portray the pregnant lady in our upcoming movie, has just been involved in an accident.”
No! No! Neuer had put a lot of hard work into this particular project, it really mattered to him that the end gets to be successful.
“Is it so serious?”
“No,” Sandra replied to Neuer.
“That’s great! We can wait a day or two for her to recover.”
That was the issue, the main problem. When Sandra said the actress was involved in an accident, she wasn’t trying to say that was exactly the problem.
The problem was that their sponsors wanted it to happen that very day, the filming of the project. Sandra had tried to reason with them but they refused, stubbornly insisting that a replacement should be found or their money put into the project should be refunded to them.
“That’s crazy, Sandra. There is no way we can look for a replacement so quickly.”
That wasn’t going to count when the sponsors got there. They had vowed that if they got to the studio and everything wasn’t set for them to proceed, then they’ll back out and Sandra will have to repay every single dime they had put into the project.
“I don’t think you guys have a problem,” Nelly surprisingly said.
What? They turned abruptly to stare at her. How could she even mock or try to tease them in a situation like this? Neuer wasn’t happy, nor was Mrs. Sandra.
“I’m serious, I mean no joke. You have no problem because I can replace whoever it is that wasn’t able to make it.”
“Come on, Nelly. This isn’t time for jokes or to say pointless things. You have no skill in acting and you are heavily pregnant. How are you going to do that?”
“Just trust me, Neuer… I mean, Sir Neuer.”
Sandra smiled. Nelly wasn’t sure if it was good acting so informal with Neuer in front of his sister, Sandra.
“We don’t really have a choice, Neuer. If Nelly feels like she can help us out then she should do it. We really don’t have anything to lose.”
“Oh, we do. She’s pregnant, Sandra. What if she ends up hurting herself in the process. I don’t think this is the right way to do this. There must be another way.”
Nelly enjoyed seeing Neuer get worried about her but she had to convince him to change his mind. At this point, it wasn’t about Nelly or them, it was about saving the face of the company.
“Nothing is going to happen to me, Neuer. I promise you. I’m going to be extremely careful and cautious, and I’m sure you’ll be there to guide me.”
While Neuer was busy pondering over Nelly’s request, the sponsors called. They were only five minutes away from getting to the studio which meant decisions were expected to be made right there and then.
“Come on, Neuer. We don’t have much time to look for another replacement, in fact, we have no time at all. It’s either now or never.”
“Fine,” Neuer agreed to Nelly performing in place of their absent actress. “Just promise me one thing, Sandra.”
“What’s that?”
“That you let Nelly over-exact herself and you’d step in to stop whatever is going on if you perceive something is going wrong with Nelly.”
He didn’t need to tell Sandra this. She was a loyal friend of Nelly apart from being a boss to her.
“And you too, Nelly, remember to let us know when you feel uncomfortable. Do not keep anything to yourself.”
Even before Nelly could answer him, Edgar rushed out of the elevator. He had been looking for them for a while.
“They are here!” Edgar declared and everyone froze for a mini second including Edgar himself.
Sandra had Nelly prepared by the studio’s make-up artist. Even Amanda was permitted to help out since they were trying to beat the clock.
“You know what you’re doing, right? You really know?” Amanda whispered to Nelly when she was helping out with the make – up on her face.
There was only one way Nelly knew how to answer them, to go out there and show them what she could do.
The sponsors, Sandra, Neuer, as well as others involved in the project assembled. Nelly’s performance was so groundbreaking, they could barely believe it.
Nelly was the best actress on the project, she did exceptionally well and this was because she had been used to acting all her life even before she got into acting as a profession. It was incredible, her performance. The sponsors were full of nothing but praises for her.
Sandra and Neuer were stunned at the spot. Even if Nelly’s role wasn’t the lead role, she was able to win the hearts of all those watching. She was highly recommended by the Sponsors but Sandra had to remind them she was pregnant.
“Maybe when she has successfully delivered,” they laughed and moved on.
“Nelly! Nelly!” Neuer called out to her as she got out of the elevator. “I’m super proud and so grateful to have you.”
“Thank you for caring so much about me, Neuer. I can’t thank you enough.”
“You don’t need to thank me, Nelly. There’s a good reason why I do all I do.”
“Tell me, what reason is that?”
Neuer tried to dodge that very question but Nelly was so insistent.
“Are you really ready to hear it?” Neuer finally asked.