To Live Again, For the First Time!

There was a moment of silence there, in which Emilin assumed that Lisa was speaking to her Boss, the man she was meaning to contact in order to finalize her next plans.

"Sir Mason has agreed to talk, I will be passing his phone back now," Lisa articulated clearly and steadily.

She was very well versed in talking to every kind of people, especially since, as a photographer, Sir Mason was in contact with all kinds of crowds, people who walked varying paths.

Even so, it would always be more enjoyable dealing with agreeable people.

Though she knew that there were many two-faced people in the world, and Lisa had a habit of not making judgments before meeting and talking with someone in person in addition to some interactions, she didn't know why, but she had a very good impression of Emilin.

'Perhaps it's her calming and soft yet honey-sweet voice, even when she speaks rather monotonously,' Lisa pondered as she passed the phone over, back to its original owner.

Emilin waited patently, and the next voice was no longer Lisa's, but rather a somewhat familiar, yet not quite, male voice, which Emilin had only heard once before.

"So you've finally contacted me. And here I thought I had been forgotten by you young lass."

***

5 minutes ago, in Phashi Country in E continent, the very same continent that Emilin was currently at, just 2 countries and around 5 hours away, in the stage of a photoshoot.

There was a man moving around the area set up with the strongest lighting. He held a camera that always pointed at the man on the couch who sat with his body in a rather, open, pose, with a frown on his face.

The people around them did their jobs without making a sound, at least not for as long as the photographer stayed silent.

"Change the pose. The concept is serious businessman, not slutty playboy. You wouldn't even have to pose for that, just sitting there would be enough," a bone-chilling voice could be heard, even though it was relatively soft, it didn't go unnoticed by anyone in the studio.

He was clearly talking to the man sitting on the couch, yet everyone felt the temperature drop.

"Sir Nosa, our young master is just a little inexperienced, please help him with the magazine photoshoot so that we can change his image, even if it's just a little."

The young master's assistant was sweating bullets after his playboy young master had already changed poses and clothes over half a dozen times, begging the heavens for the shoot to just go right for a second.

That's all they needed, a second.

'Nosa' was known for his 'feeling' photos. It was hard to describe, but once he got serious there was nothing that could stop him, not until he got things right.

Mason's patience was stretched thin when he was being questioned in such a manner.

"What do you think I'm doing?" Mason's tone only worsened.

'If I didn't owe that old man a favor, like hell I would waste my time with this guy.'

Though Owen had a good figure and all, he was even very photogenic, Mason was asked to take photos that would portray Owen as a serious businessman while being given an incredibly uncooperative model.

Mason couldn't wrap his head around how Old Man Zenon, a famous poetry genius, who his mother admired very much, gave birth to this playboy punk.

Mason's mother's birthday had been around the corner and Mason, who was enthralled with his work had forgotten about this exceptionally important occasion, something that his father may very well kill him for.

As such, he had forgotten about the gift he promised his mother. As it was the case, he had no choice but to call in a favor, but even after that, it was just to get him connected to Old Man Zenon, after receiving his help on the matter, Mason still ended up owing him a favor.

Mason instantly connected with the Old Man, who had insisted on forgetting all about the matter, but Mason naively insisted.

Now he regretted it. 

He had to waste his precious time with Old Man Zenon's son, who had inherited his mother's business brain, nothing but that. 

Somehow, the Old Man Zenon and his wife, Ainsel, a famous businesswoman, two people who were well known to have been each other's first love, being each other's first and also only partner, had given birth to a son who was a well-known playboy in the upper society.

"Why do I have to listen to you? I'm fed up with this. Fed up I tell you." Owen, the young master in the business suit sitting on the prop couch finally burst out.

Owen could remain calm in any business setting, even known for how he used this calmness of his in a negotiation, but when it came to things that wasted his precious time, he had 0 tolerance for them.

Things like shopping, wandering around, or even sitting around aimlessly and definitely photoshoots like this.

It was a miracle that he had lasted this long.

He had promised his dad, who he greatly respected, that he would do this photoshoot properly and he had done his best to comply, but Owen had already 'wasted' hours just doing nothing but change his seating position and clothes all day long.

At that moment, he stood up with a stern face, pointing at his assistant, ready to say that he was going to leave right that instant.

*Click*

Mason snapped a photo right before turning around with a self-satisfied smile as he looked at his camera screen.

He didn't say anything else, but the people who had already worked with him for a prolonged period of time knew that the photo shoot was over.

That satisfied smile was plastered on his face, opposing the image of that 'angry director' that filled the minds of everyone in the studio just moments previous to that instant.

People started wrapping everything up without even being asked while Owen stood there stupified.

It was then that Mason's assistant Lisa came in. 

She had left after realizing that the shoot would go on for a prolonged period of time and so she had to go deal with some other things, including the various calls coming to her boss.

Lisa came into the studio and reached Mason's side before realizing what kind of face he was doing. Since others knew what he meant with that smile, there was no way that Lisa wouldn't realize it.

"Sir, there is a call for you," Lisa informed with her hand covering the microphone.

"Who is it?" Mason asked, not paying much mind.

"She says that she's someone you met in Malalakan, the one who bought the camera she added."

It took Mason a bit before he was able to process who Lisa was talking about.

"Ah, I see! Hand it over to me." Mason's eyes shone when he thought of that lady, who would make a great model. He had forgotten her for a bit, but it hadn't been that long since they had met.

Even so, when he spoke, his words made it sound like he had been waiting for her the whole time, and for quite a while too.

After the initial greeting, they both got right to business.

"So why have you called little lady?" Mason asked as if he were not very interested.

"Did you not offer me a chance? I want to take you up on that by asking where you are right now." Emilin calmly expressed her interest.

"Hmm, does that mean you will head to wherever I currently am?" Mason questioned suspiciously.

He had previously thought that Emilin was native to Malalakan considering her fluent Makin and seeing as she was just a teen, he was expecting her to talk to her parent before making her decision.

Hearing her so easily make such a big decision, Mason suddenly questioned just what kind of person he was currently talking to, but he didn't question it for long, after all, she was just a young lass. There wasn't much to question.

"Yes, that is so," Mason heard the answer from the other side of his phone. 

Humoring her a little, he responded with an amused tone.

"Well, I'm all the way in Phashi, Opaque city. Are you sure you'll be able to make it without getting lost on the way, young lady?"

But the response he got was unexpected.

"Oh, I see, that's actually quite close, but I have some other matters to attend to at the moment, do you know how long you will be staying there?" Emilin asked.

She was planning to finish up some things with Xander and get a good rest before heading out, but she also wanted to get her plans going and so she didn't wait nor hesitate to make this call.

Mason on the other side was now questioning Emilin's knowledge of geography.

'Well, it's not like I can call her out like this.'

"Is that right? Well, I'll be staying here for the next month or so. I have quite a clientele lined up here."

Mason was insinuating how busy he always was so that the young girl would cherish the attention he was giving her, but that hint seemed to have flown over her head just like that.

"Then I'll contact you in another week or so when I get there." Emilin decisively said.

"Very well then?"

Mason was a little dumbfounded at how quickly everything was being decided, but he didn't mind, even if he felt like his opinion wasn't quite taken into account.

If he had an appointment on the day that Emilin arrived, he could always get Lisa to go pick her up.

In this aspect, the two of them had quite a bit of rapport.

They both didn't ask any extra questions, getting straight to the matter at hand and the facts were that they both wanted to work with each other. 

Mason wanting Emilin to be a part of his work portfolio and Emilin wanting professional advice from a professional photographer.

"Aren't you afraid that I'll kidnap you or something when you arrive here?" Mason asked jokingly, but Emilin just responded in her casual tone.

It made Mason think of her as much stiffer than he had originally imagined.

"Are you?"

"Well I guess not," Mason awkwardly responded...

"Then it's all settled," Emilin concluded with a resolute tone before hanging up on this short call. Everything had been handled in a matter of minutes and decided in a matter of seconds.

After Mason thought of what had just transpired, he actually found it quite novel.

'Ah, there are people here lining up just to get a minute of my time, yet this young lass acts as if it's nothing, having me work around her schedule!' He sighed exaggeratedly with a drooping face.

'But why do I not mind?'

A bright smile bloomed on his face when he thought of the photos he could extract from the young lady.

Emilin had used such a resolute voice, such that Mason was simply unable to oppose it, nor did he really want to.

A novel experience indeed.