All of Rina stilled with those words hanging in the air. She had thought about it a million times, about how it would feel when she finally told him. But no amount of mental preparation would have ever prepared her for that moment. She searched his face intently, even though she wanted to hide away from him at the same time. Rina waited for him to scold her, to tell her that their contract had fallen through because of her errant feelings, and that he was no longer interested in getting married to her. But the only thing that circulated round the small space was silence, loud enough to pierce through eardrums.
“I am not saying this so you have to say anything in response, or feel a particular way towards me. I just wanted to have it out there. We have been through so much together already, or rather, I have been through so much with you standing by me all the way, showing nothing more than understanding. If this isn’t what you want, I think it would be unfair to keep it away from you and put both of us in misery. It is the reason I decided to tell you.”
The door opened at that moment, and a set girl poked her head through the small space. “Ten minutes is up, Ms. Powers” she announced. “We have to continue right now.”
Rina nodded and turned to give Zayn one last look before walking out of the dressing room. Zico was already waiting for her in the bedroom where the scene was to be shot, and she smiled reservedly at him. They walked to the door together where the scene started from, and Zico angled his head so he was partially facing her.
“I hope I didn’t cause any trouble between you two?”
“What? No.” Rina shook her head emphatically. “He just needed to tell me about a court case I am going in for as a witness.” Laughter dotted her eyes as they walked in, with Rina trying hard not to laugh out loud about the excuse Zayn had made to get her out of the kissing scene. She thought he would not come out to watch it after what had just transpired, but as Zico wrapped his hands for the umpteenth time around her waist, leaning in to kiss her, she saw him from the corner of her eyes, leaning against a boulder.
A slight wince crossed his face before he turned away, not returning his gaze until the kiss was done with. But just as she turned around to catch his eyes, something pushed her behind, and her legs gave way. The make-shift bedroom was an elevated ground, far from the leveled one, with so much distance that anyone who fell from that point was bound to break a limb, or worse, get their spine affected.
Rina saw her life flash before her eyes. Fear gripped her as the ground came into view. She closed her eyes and a heart-wrenching scream erupted from her. Zico responded in less than a second, jumping in that direction to break her fall. He caught her before she could fall off the edge of the bedroom, holding her legs tight and pulling her back up. Adrenaline rushed through them as they sat on the floor, Zico breathing heavily while trying to ascertain if Rina was doing okay, while she was numb, her mind not thinking. Her whole career had almost just disappeared with the wind. Rina couldn’t imagine what would have happened had Zico not stepped in when he did.
“Who is in charge of ensuring that scene is accident free?” the director yelled from where he stood, rage reverberating round the space. He beat Zayn to it, who was about using an even worse word. He crossed the space in an instant, just as Zico lifted Rina in his arms, carrying her towards the door. She winced in pain as she struggled not to move her legs. She must have twisted her ankle during the fall.
“I will take it from here,” Zayn muttered, leaving no room for argument as he took her off Zico’s arms. Rina easily fitted in his as though they were made for each other. “We need to get you to the hospital. Let’s get going. We will get around to this later.”
He moved towards the car, and William got out from behind the wheel at once, running around the car to help Zayn take Rina. But he refused, nudging at William to get the back door open instead, laying her inside.
“I want you to find out what happened here,” Zayn said in one breath as he walked briskly to take the wheel. “Send for another car to take you to the hospital. I will be driving her there.”
William stepped away as Zayn shot out into the road, driving like a maniac. He drove through lanes he wasn’t meant to just to beat the traffic and get Rina to the hospital on time. From the back seat, she tried to tell him that it was a little pain and he didn’t need to drive so fast. But Zayn was trying so hard no to panic. He didn’t want a single hair out of place on her head.
When they reached the hospital, Zayn insisted they took her in on a stretcher, and since it was the family’s hospital, they got to work at once, obeying his instructions. Zayn followed them into the room where she was being attended to, waiting as they massaged her sprained ankle and bound it off. They advised that she stayed off it for about three weeks, so that meant no trips to Hong Kong nor progressing with the movie.
As the bandage was being applied, Zayn left the room to make a quick call to George to bring him up to sped with the latest development. He was bothered that Rina had suffered something that grave and told Zayn that he would be stopping at the villa to see her.
Zayn knew he couldn’t leave her side anymore, because for some reason, he was certain that the fall hadn’t been an accident.