What Happened In Thailand Stays In Thailand

Chapter 7: Like Magic

The Chelsea Film Festival chat ended thirty minutes ago but Itziar just stared at her window, a real window, and looked at the view outside of her house, hand on her chin. She did not hear any sound from the house. Her mind was not there. Sigh. She needed to get out, breathe some fresh air.

She looked for Roberto in the house and found him in the receiving room holding a beer while watching TV.

"I'll be out, querido. Am not gonna have dinner. Not really hungry."

"Vale! Be careful outside." He said without looking at her.

Placing her smartphone on the pocket of her pants, she got out.

She walked outside and although it was sevenish, the sun is still high at that time of the season. She continued to walk across blocks and streets until she almost reached the park near the mountains. She sat on one of the empty benches, closed her eyes and inhaled the fresh air.

The Basque Country. She has been here since she was born. Never moved out to any of the central districts of Spain like Barcelona or Madrid. She loved it here. The suburb feel of the place and the people. She loved the people. The Basques are too passionate for their own good. Like her. Like her parents before her. Like her Vasca ancestors who fought the Spanish government for autonomy.

That same passion that runs in her veins was the reason she studied theatrical arts. She needed an outlet for all her emotions and ideas which are too loud and overwhelming to subdue.

She told everyone at the Chelsea chat that her most memorable scenes to film in the show were those episodes involving the reveal of Sergio Marquina as El Profesor. And it was the plain truth.

The Toledo/poligrafo scene and the hangar scenes were the most grueling days of shoot but the most wonderful and heartfelt all at the same time. She gave all she had to give until she had nothing left, she recalled saying in an interview. She's now thinking if that's where it all started.

---

"Okay, Itziar. We'll gonna have this in one take. ONE. Two cameras placed over here and there. These marks are your only walkways to and fro, got it? Do not veer away from them so the camera will not lose you, si?" Jesús was giving firm instructions.

The scene was quite a heavy one, with several lines from Raquel and Salva/Sergio thrown back and forth. And the slapping. Three slaps on the left side of his face, with Álvaro given a chewing candy so that that side of his lip would "bleed."

"Álvaro will just be here tied up in chains, so we'll have no problem. Itziar, remember, aim for the cheek and avoid the eyeglasses," Jesús added.

She nodded.

"Ready, quiet everyone please, we're rolling...3-2-1, action!"

---

"Cut!" The cameras stopped rolling and Jesús clapped. "Excelente! Muy bien! Wow! That was great. Increible!" He walked near Itziar and Álvaro, and called for assistants to give water to his two actors. He was so proud of them. He hid his frown and sadness among the crew and all his actors, who were all giving their best shot with every scene and take. Especially these two. Por Dios, he had never seen any pairing with explosive chemistry in his entire creative life. It's such a shame the series is about to end, and its ratings have been going downhill since. Clearly, making a good series and marketing them as a good one are two different things in TV world. Ah, bueno. He would see to it that the quality stays the same until the very last episode. Slacking at work because of ratings is not an excuse.

A production assistant immediately untied Álvaro's hands carefully and gave him a bottled water and a towel. Another one gave the same things to Itziar. They will be given a 30-minute break, and were told to go to the makeup room for a change of costume and retouch. They will shoot the lie detector scene next, another heavy work.

She was holding the towel, wiping her face after gulping the bottled water in full, and was walking towards the washroom when Álvaro caught up with her small strides as he was going to the washroom as well. All the actors and shoot crew were only using the one bathroom inside, located at the lower ground of the Toledo House location shoot, as there were only a few of them filming these Sergio and Raquel scenes.

Itziar reached for the door first, so Álvaro stopped by the side of the door and leaned to wait.

"I'm just gonna wash my hands and face, I'll be just a minute," she told him.

"Oh, you're not gonna use the toilet, could I...use it first, I'm a bit...?"

"You need to pee? Go ahead. The toilet has a separate swing door so you can have privacy. I will just use the lavatory on the other side of it."

"Gracias." He smiled.

While he used the toilet, she was washing her face thoroughly as well as her forearms from the sweat and the grime. Even ultra-light foundation gets sticky when sweating or crying. She was still looking at the mirror when Álvaro got out and was waiting for her to finish washing so that he could wash his hands and face too. That's when she noticed the slight pink welt on the side of his cheek where she slapped him three times.

"Por Dios! Did I hurt you?" She blushed from forehead to neck.

"Ah, no, no. It's alright. I asked for an ice pack and it will be gone after 5 minutes. Trust me, it's not painful as it looks. My skin is just a bit fair so it shows. I welt easily," he assured her.

She reached the dressing room but it was empty. One of the assistants told her that the makeup artists took a 10-minute coffee break and will be back shortly. She got the sides from her things in a sling bag hanging from her actor's chair, then she sat on the chair. After a minute, Álvaro walked in and sat on his chair, rubbing his left cheek.

"I thought you got the ice pack?" she asked.

"I asked for one but the artists are out on a coffee break or something so I'll-- hey where are you going?"

He saw Itzi walked out of the room even before he could finish, so he held the welted cheek and closed his eyes, leaning slightly to rest. He needed the ice pack now or the welt would take longer to heal, and then he'd feel the pain.

He did not hear her walk back in but felt her hand gently take his hand from his cheek so he opened his eyes for about 2 seconds but closed them again when he felt the ice pack was placed instead. Ahhh, thank heavens for the instant relief!

"Gracias..." he whispered.

"For the ice pack or for giving you the welt?" she teased.

He opened his eyes and saw her on the mirror. She looked at him on the mirror as well. They both smiled.

"Both?" They both laughed. Then they just looked at each other on the mirror. It seemed like an hour but actually just a few seconds. Then she blushed again. He was beginning to adore that tell-tale blush.

"Uh, can you hold this? I just--" He stopped her before she could go sit on her chair, placing his hand on top of hers on the ice pack.

"Itzi." This time he faced her. They are almost on eye level. Him sitting and her standing. Their faces were so close he could smell her breath. His free hand then reached for her cheek gently. "Thank you," he said softly.

Then they could hear chatting voices on the way to the dressing room. They both removed their hands from each other and Álvaro caught the ice pack when Itzi almost dropped them.

Then he looked at the mirror and smiled widely, "Mira! It's gone. Like magic!"

"Like magic," she smiled softly. She then sat on her chair as both of them were tended by the makeup artists.