Chapter 401 I'd Recognize You Anywhere
Given how often she'd been running into trouble lately, Thalia wondered if she should buy a lottery ticket.
Her mind flashed back to the scenes she'd witnessed while filming - those people who'd been burned to death. If she ended up burned like that, forget William, even her own mother might not recognize her.
She'd been beautiful her whole life, and now she was supposed to die by fire?
"Phone..."
In her panic, Thalia tried to grab her phone, then remembered after fumbling around that she'd given it to Isla earlier during filming.
Her eyes darted around the small restroom until she spotted a narrow window beside the sink.
Hope sparked. She walked over and tried to force it open, but after several attempts, the window wouldn't budge.
Was it just old and stuck, or had someone deliberately sealed it?
William?
Was this another disaster he'd brought upon her?
If that were the case, she might seriously need to reconsider her choice of husband.
"Thalia, Thalia!"
"I'm in here!" Hearing Isla's voice at the door, Thalia rushed toward the door and shouted back desperately.
Thank goodness it was Isla. If it had been anyone else, she might have died in here and they would have simply assumed she was taking too long in the restroom because she was constipated.
"What's wrong in there?” Isla asked anxiously.
"There's a fire."
"Damn it!" Isla heard her words and freaked out.
She looked around for a fire extinguisher, but there wasn’t one in sight. The building they were filming in was ancient—barely standing after years of neglect. It had already been scheduled for demolition, just waiting to be torn down.
With a fire now, all she could do was call the police.
"Should I call the police?"
"Get me out first! Then call the police!" A bad feeling crept into Thalia's mind. How long had she even been with this production? They hadn't even filmed half the show, and accidents kept happening to her one after another. People in the entertainment industry were somewhat superstitious about luck. Everything was often chosen according to lucky dates.
The production team might not mind if she had a bad temper or is being difficult - they were afraid she was bad luck, bringing misfortune to everyone.
If she just had a bad temper, people could tolerate it. But if rumors spread that she was a jinx, she probably couldn't survive in the entertainment industry.
"Move back!” Isla shouted.
Thalia immediately stepped back. Outside, Isla lifted her leg and kicked the door with all her strength.
Bang!
The door shook violently.
"Come out quick!"
Thalia rushed out immediately.
The first thing she did was thank Isla. "Thank you for not assuming I was constipated in the toilet. Otherwise, I could've died in there, and no one would even know."
"Don't worry, I know you don't get constipated."
Without wasting another second, Isla pulled Thalia toward the emergency exit to go downstairs. After they'd gone down two floors, she asked Thalia, "What should we do now? Tell the director or call the police?"
“Tell the director first,” Thalia replied quickly.
Then she added in a lower voice,
“But don’t mention that I was trapped there.”
Isla understood what Thalia meant and nodded to show she got it.
You might not believe in superstition—but others definitely did. The production had barely started filming, and accidents were already happening repeatedly. If word got out, what if people thought Thalia brought bad luck?
Not long after Isla went downstairs, fire trucks came roaring to the bottom of the building.
Thalia sat in the van in the parking lot. She splashed water on her face and fixed her makeup, making sure she no longer looked flustered before stepping out.
The moment she exited the car, a crew member hurried over. "Thalia, there was an electrical fire upstairs. The director said filming is over for today. Everyone can go home."
Thalia didn't say anything, just nodded.
"Then we won't stick around here and cause you trouble,” the crew member added politely. "You guys be careful."
"Alright."
After the crew member left, John drove the car out of the parking lot first, then pulled over to the side of the road and looked at Thalia.
“Ms. Smith, should we return to Mistwood Hill?”
"Go find William."
At the top floor of Celestia Group, Thalia buzzed around William’s office like a restless bee, recounting the entire days ordeal in dramatic detail. "Don't you think it’s strange? Why didn't the fire start earlier or later, why not somewhere else, but right when I was in the restroom? Doesn’t that seem suspicious? Did I offend someone recently?” She paused to think.
"That can’t be right. I'm so generous and kind-hearted, who could I have offended?"
William finally put down his pen and rubbed his temples. "Thalia,” he said patiently, “sit down first. Stop spinning around."
"I'm nervous."
"Just sit down first," William said helplessly, holding back his emotions as he tried to calm Thalia.
Thalia muttered as she sat down.
William was about to ask something when Thalia suddenly leaned forward across the desk, placing both hands on it and staring at him seriously. "Tell me something,” she said. “If I died in some accident one day— like if I got burned beyond recognition in a fire, would you still be able to find me?"
William pressed his hand on her shoulder. "I would recognize you anywhere."
"True, after all, you say you love me. If you couldn't even recognize me, what exactly would you be loving?"
Thalia nodded seriously as she spoke, nodding while sitting back down. Her butt had just touched the chair when she felt something was off. "That doesn't sound like a nice thing to say."
William suddenly understood what had just happened. He nodded while standing up. He had originally been on his way to a meeting earlier, but when he saw Thalia come in,he postponed the meeting. Now it seemed there was no need for him to stay. "Fine, you keep being anxious. I'm going for my meeting."
"Are you even a man? I'm this anxious, and you still have the mind to attend a meeting?"
"Then what can I do? You haven’t given me a chance to say a single word. If I stay here, I'm just bothering you."
Thalia pouted and sat up straight in the chair, looking at William. "Fine, I won't talk anymore."
"Really not talking anymore?"
"Really not talking."
William thought to himself that it wasn't easy for his ears to finally get some peace. He pressed the intercom. "Send Finn in."
Three minutes later, Finn knocked and entered.
He was a bit surprised to see Thalia there too. Wasn’t she supposed to be extremely busy with her filming schedule?
This morning, he clearly heard her telling William she was rushing to meet the filming schedule.
And yet, here she was sitting here.
"Go check the surveillance around this building and see if any suspicious people entered the area." William handed Finn a slip of paper with an address written on it.
Finn glanced at it and nodded.
“I’ll handle it.”
He left immediately.
About forty minutes later, he returned.
"I checked the surveillance,” Finn reported. “But because the building is a demolition project and it's been there so long, the cameras around the area are outdated or broken. We couldn't find anything suspicious ."
When Finn went to check the surveillance, he found out the building had caught fire. Now he understood why Thalia was sitting here.
"How about we call the production team and ask if they've noticed any unfamiliar people coming in recently, so we can investigate."
"No way." Thalia rejected the idea immediately Finn finished speaking.