Kidnapped: Welcome 'home'

Chapter 14: Modelling

"Ugh" I grunted, reaching for my phone on the bedside table. Who would be calling me at this time of the day?

My eyes were still half shut and I was still in bed, having just been rudely awoken. Reaching for my phone, I read the Caller's ID and answered the call.

"GOOD MORNING!" Sophia shouted into the phone, making me jump.

"If you're going to call me this early in the morning every day, then I already regret allowing you to call me instead of text." I said.

"It is a Monday morning. A weekday morning. Time to get to work!" she sang.

"No one likes Mondays." I complained, getting comfortable in bed again.

"Well there's nothing we can do but face them."

"Whatever."

"Come on Asmaa. What am I supposed to do? Abolish all Mondays?"

"Sounds good to me"

"Then Tuesday would become the next Monday"

"At least it has a less depressing name."

Sophia sighed. "Come on sleepyhead. You shouldn't be late for work on your first day. That would send a bad first impression."

"You didn't even clarify what time work starts." I said

"Ten o'clock." she replied matter-of-factly.

"Ok" I replied then turned over in bed. Ten o'clock in the morning wasn't a bad time to start work. I had just fallen asleep not too long ago after watching YouTube videos on the TV because I found it hard to sleep after praying Fajr.

That's when I noticed the time on the clock. It was 7 am. If I was to get up now, I'd have just about enough time to follow my morning routine and get to the studio in time.

"Shoot!" was all I could mutter before ending the call on a laughing Sophia and jumping out of bed.

~ ~ ~

At 10 am, I was at the studio with Steve and Sophia.

"So..." I said, an eyebrow raised and tapping my foot at her in impatience. "You told me work starts at ten. No one is here and I'm the model so shouldn't I be the one coming in last?"

"I told them all to come earlier, but God knows where they are." she laughed.

Steve,surprisingly, was calm and collected instead of catching his breath as I had rushed him so much, but that didn't matter, what mattered to me most was that I managed to work out and have breakfast this morning instead of skipping them.

"I'm going to be in my dressing room." I announced after a while. "Give me a shout when it's time to get going." I called over my shoulder, walking off.

Half an hour later, there was a knock on the door.

"Come in" I called, looking up.

"Good morning, Asmaa." said a smiling David .

"Morning." I grumbled going back to the phone in my hands.

"I have something for you." he said, sitting on the couch beside me. I shuffled to the side, creating a space between the two of us.

"Here." he handed me a bankcard. I stared at the card for a while before I noticed that it had my name on it. Hesitantly, I took the card from him.

"You may need this too," he added, handing me a piece of paper. On it were few details to do with the card and the bank account. Once he had given me them both, he stood up and left without a word. Sophia then came in through the wide-open door.

"Everything alright?" she asked. She probably saw David walk out.

"Yes." I replied and with that Lucy, my stylist, brought me an outfit. With that, we began preparing for the photoshoot. Looking in the mirror afterwards, I couldn't help but smile at how good I looked.

We set off for the studio and the photoshoot began. The outfit was very classy and looked amazing. The photoshoot went smoothly in front of the green screen. Oscar was the most excited for this photo shoot exclaiming "Great!", "Amazing!", "Keep it up!", "Gorgeous", "Stunning" after every flash of his camera.

After a while, he insisted that we continue the photoshoot outside. Will wasn't too happy with the idea until Oscar pulled him to the side and secretly showed him some of the photos, sharing his excitement too until they were both as eager to continue outside as a child in an amusement park.

We continued with the photoshoot outside and didn't stop until it was way after lunchtime.

The girls and I returned to my dressing room and I got out of the outfit I was modelling, into my previous clothes and prayed my Dhuhr prayer.

Oscar must have been waiting for me because as soon as I stepped out of the elevator, he rushed up to me. "Oh, Asmaa! You were perfect today! I have never taken such beautiful photos in my life! It is in you! It runs in your blood!"

"Ok, Oscar. Take a deep breath." I said, holding out my hands in front of me.

"Look!" he said, thrusting his camera at me so I could see the screen. "Look, look!"

"Wow." I breathed as he scrolled through the photos. Had I not known better, I would have easily assumed that that was a professional model who had been modelling for her whole life in those photos and not me.

"I must go now." he then said. "I can't wait to do more with you after lunch!" and with that he was gone.

The girls and I went off and grabbed some lunch from a nearby restaurant a few streets away and were back in my dressing room an hour later. This time I was modelling a beautiful dress out in the garden.

The rest of the day passed in the same way as the morning and at around 6 pm, Steve was driving me home. The evening passed without any events as it did the day before, only this time I made sure to sleep earlier.

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Once again, another update is late 😅! I am so sorry about that but I've been busy lately. I'm trying so hard to get on top of everything right not coz I'm all over the place.