To Live Again, For the First Time!

Emilin POV:

I really don't know what got into me. But by the time I snapped out of it, I could well and go dig a hole for myself to jump into.

I was so embarrassed I could just actually go jump in a hole and bury myself into it, though I'm pretty sure my facial paralysis didn't change. At least that aspect was quite reliable at times like these.

Even so, I didn't practice for this!

I mean how the heck was I supposed to practice for this anyways? It wasn't as if I was some all-knowing god okay?

I discretely moved my hands away from the guy's face, well, just how discrete can you really be when everyone's gaze is on your back anyway?

Let's just say that I was being as discrete as I could be.

"I'm sorry, I won't disturb you any longer."

I cleared my voice before I did the 45-degree bow that I had practiced to hide my face that probably said 'Can someone just punch me already?'

I couldn't exactly just leave since I made an appointment, but I could do my best to stand in the corner and make everyone forget my presence.

That much was rather easy once I cleared my mind.

As for the rest, I made sure to not get noticed until it was my turn to talk.

***

What the hell.

Mason was completely befuddled at that moment. Mason had heard his assistant Lisa come in with Emilin when they first entered, but it was no big deal, so he didn't bother commenting.

If there was anything, he was sure that Lisa would take care of it. There were more important things in front of him at this moment, such as getting this photoshoot done before dinner time.

Mason felt it. It was close, he was close. Close to his vision.

Then, the lady, who even now he didn't know the name of, went straight for his model. At first, Mason was yelling at her in his mind, not in person since plenty of other workers did that.

"What the hell is she doing," Mason muttered under his breath.

While the others were thinking about how they would have to reapply the makeup and everything else as well as the overtime, all Mason could think about was how this was going to affect the mood of his model.

At first, his expression wasn't the most sightly, but after observing Emilin pinching Noah for another second or two as well as Noah's reaction, his face brightened up and a thought came up.

There was a lot of doubt, but Mason's speculations ended up being right.

This was a blessing in disguise.

*Click*

Mason didn't waste a single second and just like that, the photo that was going to spread throughout the world in just a few more weeks after the debut of this new clothing collection was taken.

Noah, who had been working hard on his cold face, was still standing there stunned even after having his picture taken. As someone who was around cameras a number of hours every day, it was truly uncommon for him to simply daze off like that.

His mind was blank and his facial expression didn't change, it remained that cold poker face, but his whole face was flushed from neck up in a pale pink color.

Mason clapped his hands together to signal the end of the photoshoot.

"A bashful frost indeed," he continued to mutter in a voice that was inaudible to anyone else other than himself.

"Wrap it up, everyone, lets take a rest and then go out for our big feast!"

It was only then that the makeup artists, the people who were on the lights, and the ones at the screens snapped out of it.

They immediately started dismantling the stage after Mason took a few more shots from different angles while Noah was simply frozen there like a sculpture.

An ice sculpture... tainted with a warm pink.

"What should we do with Noah?" One of the people who worked on the clothing asked.

Even if they could keep the outfits given to them and Noah was allowed to keep them, he still had to take it off since it wasn't too suitable for eating out, especially when the clothing line had yet to come out to the market.

Yet Noah had to move an inch since the end of the photoshoot.

"Just leave him be. He'll snap out of it when he wants to."

"Okay, then should we clean off the makeup and everything else first," the makeup artist beside the other asked.

"Go ahead," Mason saw no reason to reject.

Mason went on to check on everyone else's progress, but after he finished deciding on the final 4 photos to send it the company, a thought occurred to him.

'Am I not forgetting something?'

But no matter how much he thought about it. Nothing came up. It was on the tip of his tongue too.

"Sir, are you sure you want to send this one to CXC?" a male worker asked as he pointed to the last one, the bashful frost one.

The thing was, the other side didn't ask for such a theme, and they hadn't confirmed it with Noah yet.

It didn't seem right to just send it like that.

"Yes, it will be fine. Noah lost the bet, after all, this much is fine, plus, if those dumbasses in CXC don't understand the value of this piece of art, so be it. Let them cancel the contract," Mason fully displayed the disagreeableness of a man with skills to back him up.

"Plus, we can't let that young lady's efforts go to waste," Mason continued, thinking that there may have been some deliberateness in Emilin's actions.

"That's it!"

Mason suddenly remembered what he had forgotten.

"Where is she?"

It was almost as if she had vanished from his memory. He had thought about talking to her even before she walked up to Noah, but after that event, it was as if his mind didn't allow him to think about her at all.

But Mason didn't think too much about it, assuming that he had simply been too immersed in his work, which wasn't uncommon.

***

**

*

The man who worked the front desk at Mason's studio, Lico, didn't have much to do after Emilin went in.

His job was rather mundane seeing as there weren't too many people coming in and out who needed introducing. Most of those who came were people who came on a regular basis and there was only one Mason so there were only so many people coming over at a time.

And honestly, those who were good enough to even get an appointment were mostly people who Lisa would have to welcome in herself. 

There really wasn't much for Lico to do, but he didn't mind that either.

This was also where he got the time to read some of those novels with all those pitiful cannon folders.

On that note, Lico thought back to the person he had welcomed in just a while ago. It had been around 2- 3 hours already.

As someone who truly had nothing better to do, Lico let his mind wander a little.

'But then again, just who was she?'

'She couldn't have been a model right? I mean she isn't ugly, but she isn't particularly pretty either... not to mention Noah is already in there.'

'I wonder what is taking so long. Maybe if Lisa hadn't boughten her in I would have assumed they were just letting her wait in one of the lobby areas or something.'

'Yeah, there's no way she could compare to Noah.'

But.

When Lico's thoughts reached that point, something seemed to block his thought process.

Lico's eyes became hazy as his eyebrows scrunched up and his lips pursed.

"Just what did she look like again?" He cursed under his breath, realizing that no matter how he thought about it, he simply couldn't recall just how that young lady looked like.

***

Lico: Am I going crazy?

Lico: Finally going crazy?

Mason: *Munching on sunflower seeds*

Mason: Nah, this guy over here is much more likely to have gone crazy. *Points at Noah*

Mason: *Chuckle* Well wouldn't it be more accurate to say that his brain was fried?

Noah: ... *Receiver not accepting signal*

Mason: See?

Lico: *Sigh* (totally feeling better about himself)

Lico: Then what does it mean to not remember something you saw just a few hours ago?

Mason: That you're growing old? *snicker*

Lico: ...

Lico: If I'm old then what are you? A fossil?

Mason: I agree with you.

Mason: You have indeed gone crazy this time.

Lico: At least it's better than being dead and fossilized right? (WARNING: Crazy talk right here, don't try this at home nor at work, much less towards your boss, and please not to his face.)

Mason: ...

Mason: I see, so that's how you truly feel. *Rubs chin*

Mason: Come on then, come over here. *hand signal*

Mason: I promise I won't hit you.

Lico: This is abuse!

Everyone else: *Munching on the rest of the sunflower seeds...*

Lisa: *smh* Thank god Miss Emilin isn't here to witness yet another unpresentable event. Why don't we just throw our face down the drain already?