To Live Again, For the First Time!

"I don't quite understand how you plan to meet all those demands? And even if you do, what's the point of using someone like me as a model? I have no experience nor fame. I just don't see how this would profit you in any way..."

Emilin was genuinely curious at that point.

Mason was drowned in waves of questions, but he actually didn't mind for once.

This was because till now Emilin had yet to ask a question like 'Have you considered my feelings?' or statements completely rejecting the idea of modeling.

It seemed more like she wasn't quite confident in doing so, which they could work on later...

[There is a pattern here, signs of a procrastinator, but I guess we can talk about that later.]

"Then let's go now! If I show you what means we have, you should be able to agree right?"

Mason's eyes shone brilliantly.

It had to be said that he believed himself to have quite the eye for talent or he wouldn't have been able to survive this long.

He wasn't particularly into landscape shots and so to him, human interactions were a necessity, he needed models. As for who he was able to shoot with, that would all depend on his reputation, his skills, and his eyes.

His eyes for not only angles, shots, but most importantly, people.

Many things could go wrong if he got the wrong model, the whole shot could be ruined because of that person's character, a single scandal would be able to ruin the photo, whether the photo had anything to do with that scandal or not, likewise a single scandal could also bring a photo to fame, but Mason wasn't into the paparazzi business.

As for why he was adamant about choosing Emilin, well it wasn't because of any of that. 

He wasn't all that worried about her reputation, this could always just stay in his personal collection as many others had, not that he doubted her character.

Either way, he couldn't miss the opportunity of creating another masterpiece that could transcend the image depicted, one that could convey the emotions.

Like the one with the woman who was black.

In the end, Emilin was dragged to a room two doors down.

Somehow she had ended up walking in front of the other two, Mason and Lisa, who clearly knew the place better than her, not to mention she didn't even know where she was going.

Well, it was most likely so that Mason could block the exit, preventing Emilin from turning back in regret the next instant, not that she would do that...

As for what they were doing standing behind, well Lisa was trying to get all caught up with what she missed.

She had missed a few details here and there and then suddenly she hadn't understood a thing! It was quite the pickle.

After Mason finally finished ironing out the plans with Lisa, they were at last able to pay a little more attention to where they were.

It seemed like they had also just been following the slow figure in front of them.

Emilin was moving as slow as a sloth, not knowing if she was going in the right direction, still, she had kept moving since the other two hadn't corrected her in any way.

Mason realized what was happening, lightly coughing into his own hand at a moment like this to stop Emilinn from moving any further.

"It's not this way, this part is no longer part of my studio, so you should be careful with coming near this area in the future," Mason clarified.

Emilin's veins nearly bulged.

'You couldn't have told me that a little earlier good Sir?'

'Then maybe I wouldn't have to have walked this whole distance in awkward silence!'

She vented in her mind, which was quite sad.

They really hadn't traveled that far though, just a few meters at most, but to Emilin, who had been taking snail-like steps, it surely felt like quite a while.

Without Emilin even having to ask, Lisa politely explained the situation.

"Sorry I wasn't paying much attention, this is mostly my fault, as for this corridor, though it is connected to the rest of our studio, these rooms do not belong to us anymore. They belong to someone else."

Lisa stopped there, either not wanting to put an identity to this character, or simply not being able to.

Emilin tactfully didn't ask.

Then again, she was a little too startled.

Lisa was clearly pointing out the rooms that did not belong to their studio here, half of them belonging to another owner.

Quite peculiar.

To Emilin's knowledge, there was only one entrance and she had yet to see anyone else in this place other than the employees.

Then does this mean that it's owned by some rich person who didn't need to care about these spare rooms?

But wouldn't it be inconvenient if Mason had other people coming in and out just like that?  Wouldn't they be intervening with the work if they came in during shooting hours?

Unless the other person simply never came.

Well, this was none of her business.

"I'll lead the way this time," Mason rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.

Emilin didn't comment, simply nodding her head and agreeing to the suggestion.

In fact, if Mason hadn't offered, she might really just have asked for the exit.

In the end, they had finally gotten to the right room, which had been in fact right next to Mason's office this whole time.

Emilin could only let loose a rueful sigh.

Mason knocked on the room carefully, but his politeness was not returned in tow.

"What is it! There's nothing today, I'm sure of it, I've triple quadruple checked, you can't lie to me again." The female voice from the other side was clearly filled with rage, reproach, and dismissiveness. 

Not even knowing that it was Mason on the other side of the door seeing as he had yet to speak a word, it seemed like she could already identify his identity.

Was it by the sound of the footsteps?

The connections between kindred spirits?

Just kidding.

By the way, don't tell that woman I said that…

Anyways, it was clearly not the first time such an event had happened.

"I need your help---" Mason started, but he was promptly cut off.

"Don't test my patience, you know that I'm busy right now! Because of you, I've already had to take 3 extra takes!" She shouted once again, as if not willing to open the door for anyone and Mason didn't dare open the door either.

"It's not for me, it's helping a clean-cut newbie!"

Mason shouted, just to make sure the other person could hear.

There was a moment of silence when the door suddenly burst open.

"Why didn't you say so earlier?"

She said poutingly as if she had just been wronged greatly.

The woman in front of the trio was youthful, having black hair tied in a bun, but in such a fashion that people could also see her green highlights in the layer beneath the first. Which would normally be hidden through her thick locks.

She wore a light green dress with a coral print beneath a leather jacket, but none of those details were what first caught everyone's eyes.

It was her beautiful makeup.

Her face was painted with streaks of blue and green while scale-like gems adorned spaced patches of her face, making her look like some mermaid that had come out of the sea right after having gotten her pair of legs, having yet to completely transform into a human.

Yet that half-morphed face only made her look even more enchanting.

Like a siren that didn't even have to open her mouth to charm people into jumping the plank.

Mason's eyes widened, but only slightly as he looked at the style Grace was currently going for, as for Lisa and Emilin, they were likewise somewhat stunned for a moment, but their faces didn't show it.

"Well, I was going to if you only gave me the time of the day."

Mason frowned a little.

These days, he finally realized that it seemed like he wasn't treated all that well.

This was the second time in the past two days he had watched as another person so blatantly gave another special treatment, though Mason did get over it after a bit, after all, Grace's shenanigans were something he was quite accustomed to. 

This wasn't the first, nor would it be the last time something like this would happen.

Most people would say that she didn't give him any face, but Mason consoled himself thinking it was just a simple love-hate relationship.

Which wasn't all that off the mark.

Grace was named as such with her parents hoping that their daughter would have a graceful temper, unlike their first son who had been pampered way too much.

But this hope fell through and into the airplane toilet where it was flushed into the unknown.

Grace's temper ended up being even worse than her brother's, but it was also because of that that her brother had to start giving in.

At first, he had been pampered to the heavens by his parents, and then, with the addition of his sister who was just 4 years younger than him, he was completely dissatisfied.

He used to throw tantrums all day because the elders only cared about this little sister of his, pouting for days on end, that was until one day, his attitude on this matter made a 180.