Set to Love

Chapter 9

Marinette trudged along with the art department, barely awake as she tried to make the 9 a.m. call time. The set was a closed restaurant, a cosy place that required only a few touches—arranging plates and setting out food.

While they waited for said food to arrive, Korean fried chicken, courtesy of Chloe–– the art department, temporarily sidelined, watched as the gaffers busied themselves with setting up the lights.

"What's the call time for the actors?" one of them asked in English. Marinette didn't catch the name.

Jemima checked her call sheet. "Quarter to ten."

"Can we get some placeholders in? David, grab the D90s," he instructed.

What's a placeholder? Marinette regretted not studying English more diligently while in the States. It hadn't been a problem so far—everyone in the art department was French, so they operated in French. But other departments, like sound and lighting, used English as the lingua franca.

"Go on, Marinette, you're on placeholder duty," Jemima encouraged, gently nudging her towards a vacant seat at the designated table.

Marinette settled in just as Luka entered the restaurant, the bells on the door chiming softly. "Good morning!" He greeted the crew cheerfully.

Jemima clapped her hands together and looked him squarely in the eye. "Are you free?"

"Yeah, why?" Luka replied, his brow furrowing slightly in confusion.

"We need another placeholder. Take a seat over there," Jemima directed, gesturing for Luka to sit opposite Marinette. Marinette and Luka exchanged quick smiles as he took his seat. Jemima occupied herself checking her notes, ensuring everything was set.

"Hey, Mari," Luka greeted her warmly, his smile way too wide for 9:30 in the morning.

"Hey," she replied, waving her hand in acknowledgment.

"To the left," a crew member instructed, carefully maneuvering the camera. "Yes, just over the shoulder. Watch the lead room."

"What scene is this?" Luka inquired, his curiosity piqued.

"Lunch breakup. We're waiting on the fried chicken so we can set this table up," Jemima responded, briefly pausing from her phone.

"Okay, this configuration should be good. Let's wait for the Blackmagic camera to arrive and then do a final check," the gaffer confirmed as he taped a cord to the floor.

"You know, maybe we should do the scene with these two and forget the actors," another crew member joked, a deviant gleam in their eye as they observed Marinette and Luka interacting. "They look cute together."

Marinette caught the jest immediately, her cheeks flushing slightly, while Luka, typing on his phone, seemed oblivious to the banter around him—not because of any language barrier (world tours would have given him plenty of exposure), but perhaps due to the volume.

"How are you?" Luka asked warmly, slipping his phone into his jacket pocket and offering her a heartfelt smile.

Marinette managed to choke out her response, her voice slightly shaky. "I'm g-good. How, um – how are you?"

"I'm good," he continued, his smile unwavering.

Marinette felt her cheeks burn. I need to get out of here!

"Oh, look at the baker girl. Is this the closest you've ever been to a first date?" Chloe laughed, her voice ringing with amusement as she sauntered in, carrying a take-out bag labelled 'Kyochun' – which was a sponsor for the film along with the Agreste Brand. So, Chloe had to go the extra mile to take a 40-minute taxi ride to fetch it herself, grumbling about the company's incompetence in communication and failure to arrange delivery to the set.