"Let's go to the next scene!" the director shouted loudly. "Neli, go to the water up to your waist!"
Neli's body stiffened after she heard what the director said, she was already in the part of the sea where the water was above her knees, she suddenly felt scared thinking that she needs to go further. She took a deep breath to calm herself and walked a little further and when she felt the water on her waist, she suddenly remembered the accident that happened to her when she was young. She felt a slight tightness in her chest as if she couldn't breathe, her knees were shaking under the water, she remembered the feeling of drowning while flapping her hands desperately to lift her body out of the water.
"Neli, what's wrong?" it was only then that she caught her breath when she suddenly heard Caleb's worried voice. "Are you okay?"
"Ahh, I-I'm... fine." she answered.
She wanted to calm herself down but she couldn't stop her body from trembling in fear when she looked at the water below her. She didn't know what to do, she didn't want to cause any problems with their shooting but she couldn't move her body.
Neli screamed when she felt someone suddenly lifting her up, when she turned to see who it was, she was surprised to see that it was Caleb.
"What are you doing?" she asked. "Let go of--."
"Stop it." she immediately closed her mouth when she saw the worry on Caleb's face. "You might fall."
She was confused when she felt her body become relaxed, all her fear disappeared all of a sudden while she was in his arms so she just let him carry her until they reached the shore.
"Director Santos, can we just shoot the next scene near the shore?" Caleb asked and the director immediately agreed.
All the crew were happy because their shooting ended early so they still had time to rest, she also needed to take rest and enough sleep as she will do a photoshoot the next day. Their shooting became successful, even though all their scenes were changed because of Caleb and her act but the director was still happy with the outcome and said that he will make their commercial perfect.
When they reached their room in the hotel, Neli felt hungry so they decided to go to the buffet hall to eat their dinner. They were about to enter the buffet hall when she suddenly saw Caleb, he looks like he is waiting for someone there. Until now she still does not know what her ex-husband is doing there, and they even have the same hotel.
"Can I join you for dinner?" he suddenly asked with a smile.
She didn't answer, she just went straight inside the buffet hall. Why would he suddenly want to join them for dinner, when he never did that even once when they were together.
Hazel suddenly entered her mind.
Neli was sure that Hazel would find a way to mess with her again if she finds out that they were together. It's better for her to distance herself from him, after all tonight will be the last time she will see him because he's not part of her photoshoot tomorrow.
She doesn't want trouble anymore and she's happy now with her life without him.
Am I?
She suddenly remembers their scene earlier, their acts are so natural while they are happily playing in the water. Their laughter sounds so genuine that nobody will think that they are just acting, she also noticed that there were some tourists who were watching them but they didn't mind them. She couldn't believe that she could still laugh as hard as she did earlier while they were doing their scene, she also remembered the way he got worried about her and carried her to the shore, perhaps he noticed that she was scared to go to the deep part of the sea.
She took a seat at the table for two so that she and Mel were the only ones who could sit, but she was surprised to see Caleb sitting in front of her. She immediately turned her head to look for Mel and saw her happily huddled at the table with the other crews who were also with them. She was about to get up to go to Mel's place when Caleb suddenly stopped her.
"What are you doing?"
"Stay here."
"What do you want from me, Caleb?"
"I just want to eat together with my wife."
She raised her eyebrow at him.
Why does this man keep calling her his wife? Did he hit his head and forget that he slapped a divorce paper on her face three years ago?
"Well, as far as I remember... I am no longer your wife."
"And as far as I know, you're still my wife."
"Caleb, listen." she took a deep breath to calm herself. "I'm not joking, I don't want any more trouble, so please leave me alone."
She doesn't know if he was happy playing with her feelings and was enjoying seeing her suffer.
"No." she suddenly felt annoyed when she heard his answer. "I didn't file the divorce paper, I burned it so you're still my wife."
-----
Neli couldn't sleep that night because of what she found out, but why didn't Caleb file their divorce paper, what is his reason? Didn't he choose Hazel over her that's why he asked her to get a divorce back then? What happened to them after she left the country, did he realize what kind of woman Hazel was?
"Ahhhh!"
She got annoyed because she did not know the answer to all of her questions and Caleb didn't even bother to answer her questions earlier while they were eating. He just keeps smiling like he's teasing her.
"What happened to you?!"
Mel asked her in surprise when she saw her the next morning, her eyes were puffy and had slight eyebags from lack of sleep.
"Ugh!"
"You know that you have a photoshoot today, right?"
She covered her ears because she didn't want to hear Mel's rant, Caleb should be the one to blame for why she couldn't sleep last night. She has a lot of questions that he needs to answer, she wanted to talk to Caleb but she didn't know why there was something that seemed to be stopping her from doing so.
When they reached her dressing room, even her make-up artist was surprised to see her face. She put a lot of effort today on her eye make-up to cover her puffy eyes and eyebags, she was thankful that she still managed to do her make-up as natural as yesterday.
They immediately started the photoshoot, Caleb was no longer part of it but she was surprised to see him still on the beach. He also went into the sea and stood beside the photographer as if he was ready to save her if something happened, she smiled thinking that he was perhaps worried about her that she might be afraid of the sea.
"Nice! Another pose! Okay, try the one where you get out of the water." the photographer said.
Neli took a deep breath then looked at Caleb as if she was taking courage from him, she saw that there was a trace of concern on his face while nodding to her as if he was saying that he was ready to rescue her no matter what.
She counted up to three before she slowly submerged herself under the water, she didn't feel scared anymore as she thought that Caleb would do anything to save her.
She went up slowly from the water then stroked her long and wet black hair, she felt the sea water dripping all over her body.
I... I did it!
She slowly opened her eyes and looked for Caleb's eyes, her cheeks becoming hot when she saw his eyes burning with desire. But only a few seconds passed when his forehead suddenly wrinkled as if he was pissed off.
"Perfect!" the photographer said.
She was about to approach them when he suddenly turned his back on her and started walking to the shore, she was a bit disappointed but she still forced herself to smile when the photographer came to her.
She was busy talking to the photographer when she suddenly felt something warm and soft touched her arms, she turned and saw Caleb behind her, he put pastel pink satin robe on her to cover her body.
"You might catch a cold." he said to her.
She smiled at him and fixed what he gave to her, her cheeks and ears suddenly became hot when she found out that her bikini was visible because the off white mini dress she was wearing was sticking to her body. She realized that the reason why Caleb left earlier was to get clothes to cover her body.
After they finished her photoshoot they immediately returned to the hotel and went back to the city the next day morning. Neli never had a chance to talk to Caleb either because after he received a call he told her that he had an emergency so he was going to leave first.