Winter Hearts

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"What did it say?"

"Well, uh... " Jenny's hesitation sounded alarm bells in Siana's head.

"Siana, just know that I can see for myself the article is just sensationalist drivel. It's written like that to get the most attention, that's all. I wouldn't bother with it, you know. But I think you should be aware of it."

"Mum, what did it say?"

Jenny let out a sigh and cleared her throat.

"Something about a fan hitting Leo."

"Me?" Siana remembered she had taken a swipe at him because he had tricked her into thinking he was taking a selfie when he was really taking a video of them.

"In self-defence. Because according to them, he touched you inappropriately."

Siana felt a cold shiver run down her spine. Of all the misinterpretations, misjudgments or accusation she had considered could be levelled at herself, none had come close to the level of debasement this could mean for Leo. The kind of baseless moral attack on his character was disgusting to her, and she could only stammer out her words, she was so shocked and outraged.

"That's not true!"

"I know, it's not true, I can see with my own eyes that you guys were playing around. Anyone can see you let him hold you for a picture together. But it's also not the only headline out there. There are others, and all of them claim to have different stories."

"Have you read the others? Have you seen the other clip?"

"I have only seen the one clip, but I mean there are different stories about that same clip. Some say you were a fan that got too close and then got mad at him. Others say he was shooting footage for a music video."

Siana could hear her heartbeat in her ears. The clip didn't show them kissing? But someone was accusing him of molesting her, basically. Why hadn't the person who took the video posted the whole clip?

It dawned on her that perhaps they didn't capture the kiss in time. They could only get their camera out when he asked her to take a picture together.

She wondered if the person who posted it had any idea of the repercussions of their actions were - what was to come.

She tried to remember the tourists around them when he had come down towards her from the base of the Parthenon after they had finished recording that particular clip. She remembered thinking about his gangly limbs, and how he had asked her what she found so funny. He had kissed her, then wanted to take a picture of them together, their first real selfie together.

The one that he might have chosen to post, like he had said just a few hours earlier.

She suddenly wished that he had, that he had just posted it like he said he wanted to, and put anything under that picture to show they were together. Doing that just didn't seem so difficult anymore.

What had they ever worried about? Nothing could compare to this, she thought. How could anyone even consider making such a baseless accusation, one that could potentially harm his career, and harm relationships with people in his personal and professional lives?

"Mum, do you have the links? Can you send them to me after this? I have to tell him, they have to know."

"Don't they know already?"

"No, mum, this is the first I have heard of this. We saw a different clip, of him and me kissing," Siana didn't even cringe at the thought of saying that. This was far, far worse.

"People will start trying to piece things together and they are going to see that he is here in Greece, and that the girl in each clip is the same one, me."