What Happened In Thailand Stays In Thailand

Chapter 20: The Aftermath

As spring slowly gave way to summer, filming for the fourth season progressed rapidly. By this time, Álvaro had been traversing as El Profesor along with Marsella, played by another co-actor and a good friend, Luka. Meanwhile, Itziar's scenes were done mostly 'back at the tent' but as Lisboa, who everyone knew was now on the side of the resistance. Itziar had a great time reuniting and working with Fernando, Juan, Mario and all the others at la policía, although she was the center of light-hearted teasing, calling her "la traidora."

Out of sight, out of mind.

That has been Álvaro's mantra since he and Itzi agreed to end everything and be professionals whenever they have scenes to shoot. The last time of which was the ambulance scene about two months ago. Since then, they have their own filming schedules for the show, most of which were done with other cast and crew. So the silence and the separation helped them focus on finishing the shoots before calling it a day. That was what Álvaro was telling himself.

Before everyone had time to breathe, all the cast and producers found themselves prepping for the scheduled press conference in late June, to be followed by several legs of Netflix premieres in major cities in the continent in mid-July.

It was the press conference for the imminent drop of the third season. Álvaro found himself glancing several times at Itzi, not only when she was talking but also when she was not looking. He's playing it cool. Or trying to.

One of the reporters asked about how the Professor convinced everyone to go back to make another heist, to which Jesús jokingly answered that they should watch the first season. The mic was given to Álvaro but he was drinking water, and he politely cued on Itzi to answer the question--as Lisboa became a new member of the gang.

He was intently looking at her while she talked, thinking how he missed this gorgeous woman. Her profile was perfect, he thought. Her hair was styled in that soft frizz, like when she had just taken a bath and let her hair dry out...

-- "...que se enamora de su adversario y decide dejarlo todo básicamente por amor..." Itzi suddenly looked at him.

Fuck! He panicked, mentally kicking himself for not listening. "No le entiendo..." He feigned a relaxed posture and quipped deadpan.

She laughed, "Yo tampoco..."

Throughout the conference, Álvaro hoped nobody noticed he was looking at her most of the time. Why did he sit beside her? He should've stayed behind and let Alba or Najwa take the place where he sat.

Good thing most of the per-media interviews that followed the press conference were done by two or three of the cast together. His was done with Pedro and Itzi. Álvaro actually enjoyed most of the interviews as they could not talk about the coming seasons that much--confidentiality agreements would have their asses sued--but they could play Q&A games and analyze their characters without giving out details except for what was already shown in the previous two seasons.

The Hipertextual entrevista was quite special as they answered questions about their characters, which Itzi and he have discussed thousands of times before...before everything happened. It was a trip down memory lane for the both of them.

After the fourth or fifth interview--they lost count--Pedro, Álvaro and Itzi were all given a 30-minute break for some early dinner snacks at the buffet laid out at the pavilion where the conference was held earlier. Pedro immediately went to the buffet and got a plate. Álvaro and Itzi both headed for the separate male and female washrooms.