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"Chin up—more dear. Now that's it. You're absolutely stunning," a middle-aged photographer with a black buzz cut aimed his camera at the glowing woman before him.

The model, despite being famous, never spoke to anyone below her in a conceited tone. In fact, she was very much a humble woman; one that treated everyone as equals, talking to them as if they had been friends for a long time and their social backgrounds disregarded.

Today she seemed a little uncertain. "Really?" She chuckled, fumbling her fingers nervously even though she had been to photo shoots more than a hundred times.

The middle-aged man stared at Selena in disbelief. Anyone would know even the word 'beautiful' was far too plain to describe an immaculate woman like her. In everyone's eyes, Selena looked just like a goddess—except, she was real and alive, while at the same time she seemed unapproachable and too good to be true.

But the photographer knew she was more than that. Having been working with her for three years now, he knew that more than being the rich and notable model that she was, Selena was both a generous and genuine woman, with a pure heart filled with love— very unlike the usual snobbish and obtrusive models he had encountered. Looks are deceiving, he thought.

"Ms. Ashworth," he prodded, unsure whether he should continue his sentence, but her warm smile reassured him.

"Yes, Mr. Brown?" She spoke in a respectful manner, noting their distinct age gap.

"A rather close friend of mine who's a photographer wants me to pull the strings— he's interested in taking photos of you and would like to know if you could take on the job."

Selena's face remained unfazed. "What's his name?"

"Ross Vasiliev," Lucifer formed a small smile, "famous guy, you might've heard of him before. He's won a couple awards for his photos of various scenery and infrastructure. He told me he's been wanting to venture deeper into photography; he wishes to take pictures of real humans rather than plain views."

Selena nodded slowly. "So... I'm technically his first model?"

"Yes," Lucifer answered while packing his camera into his black bag. "But don't worry, Ms. Selena. Vasiliev is a nice guy. Humble just as you are. He'll pay you well too. And most importantly, he's handsome! Almost the same age as you—I feel like the two of you might have that, y'know. Flame or something." He winked at the model, knowing she's still a single twenty-four years old woman.

Selena and Lucifer were close enough to talk about such personal things, and Lucifer had always wondered why the young woman didn't have a boyfriend even until now. Maybe her expectations were too high, which was understandable, since she really did have the assets that made her stand out a little too much.

Selena blushed slightly. She had heard of Ross Vasiliev before but never knew how he'd looked like. True, he was well-known around the country, but he wasn't exactly a fan of revealing his face on camera. Selena had always been curious about how Ross actually looked like behind the TV screen. And since she wasn't particularly interested in photography, she didn't bother catching up on news about him. She had better things to do too.

"Well," she began, biting her lower lip, "I guess it should be fine if he really needs help."

"Great!" Lucifer said, pleased at how easily things turned out. "I'll give him your contact details and vice versa."

******

It was difficult spotting the photographer whom Selena had never seen before in her life. The cafe that they had agreed to meet at was thankfully not as crowded as she'd expected it to be. She ordered a cup of coffee and sat herself beside the small round table, sipping her coffee while scrolling through her phone. She was still ten minutes early from the arranged timing anyway; there was time to kill.

Just then, Selena felt a pair of eyes trained on her and instinctively, she looked towards their owner.

She was met with mysterious grey orbs that made it impossible to look away from. The guy had an impeccable appearance—dark soft hair that wasn't styled at all yet effortlessly glowing, high cheekbones that made his face look more structured and slightly squared, and alluringly plump, juicy red lips that drew into a thin line. The tight-fitting grey V-neck he was wearing almost complemented the colour of his eyes, clinging to his broad chest and showing traces of his abs. He was practically resting his chin against his right arm on the table, and perhaps it was unintentional but Selena had caught the way his distracting biceps contracted as he did so.

Selena was well aware that the guy was staring at her a little too long. It occurred to her they might've met before but she couldn't recollect any memory of this guy. Moreover, she couldn't possibly forget his looks, if they had met before— his enigma was overly captivating and she was sure she would remember this guy for as long as possible.

She felt heat creeping on her cheeks and fought to hide the blush. Should she say something? No, that'd be weird. Greet him maybe? No, that's so creepy. Should she smile? But what if he wasn't looking at her?

The best thing to do, she concluded, was to look away and act like she didn't catch his gaze on her; so she did. Nervously, she took a few more gulps of her espresso and continued scrolling through her phone, trying her best to control her wildly palpitating heart. Still, she felt his eyes trained on her through her peripheral vision and somehow this erupted goosebumps in her, but in a good way.

Her phone dinged just in time. "Ms. Ashworth, I'm here. What about you?" a message from Ross Vasiliev's wrote.

She instinctively looked around for any signs of a man, but there were many. "I'm here too. Where are you, Mr. Vasiliev?"

As if on cue, Mr. Grey Eyes stood up from his seat and paced towards her. Just as she was about to open her mouth to speak, he initiated. "Ms. Selena Ashworth?"

His voice was perhaps more seductive than his looks, if possible. It was dripped with an accent she couldn't really decipher, and it was an octave lower than expected, a little sexy —well, maybe very sexy— and very... inviting. Calling her name, in addition, with that voice sent thrills down to her spine. She felt a little foreign to this unexplainable feeling, however she wanted to find out exactly what it was that made this guy so attractive.

"How'd you know my n—"

"I'm Ross Vasiliev," he held out a hand and gave her a soft smile. "Pleased to meet you."

Selena eyed his big olive-skinned hand and realised his veins were conspicuous. Did he work out a lot? Even his hand seemed so... mouth-watering.

It took her a few seconds before she placed her hand on his, and when their hands slightly touched, Selena almost had the urge to withdraw her arm. The reason was because even the tiniest touch seemed to send bolts of electricity around her and it though it was exaggerating, it was horrifyingly true; she was attracted to a man she had only just met.

Ross either didn't seem to notice her feelings, or was rather calm about her loss of words. He naturally sat himself down opposite her.

"So," He slightly smiled while looking at Selena in the eye, "I assume Lucifer has told you about my interest in you."

Selena could feel her heart beating so fast, she could practically hear them in her eardrums. Interest in her? Like... he's interested in her?

She didn't know what to say. Her mind was blank. Her mouth gaped open but for ten whole seconds, nothing came out from it.

Ross realised what he'd just said and cleared his throat. "Sorry, I meant... interest in taking pictures of you." Selena had then caught what seemed like a smirk that flashed across his face but vanished away as quickly.

She felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment. Somehow she still couldn't utter a word, so she nodded her head in response.

"Um... do you know exactly what pictures I'm taking of you..." his voice trailed off and he bit his lip, seemingly nervous about something.

This causes Selena to raise an eyebrow in curiosity. "Yeah, portraits of me, right?" She finally managed to speak, her pitch higher than planned, forming a squeak instead.

This time it was Ross' turn to be awkward. His grey eyes darted elsewhere, as if avoiding eye contact, and suddenly for the first time he seemed unsure. Of what, she didn't know.

"Um, see, that's the thing," he looked around quickly before his eyes shot back at her, "the photos I'm about to take of you... well, they are portraits, but probably more than that."

Selena waited for him to speak. Finally, after an eternity, he spoke. "They're nude photos of you."

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