Ava Morris
"You going out to meet Brad?" Poppy asked.
"Why do you guys always ask that? I'm not going to meet him."
"You always go out to meet him. So we thought you were going out to meet him," Lola said.
"Nope! I have a photo shoot of a couple," I said, adjusting the lens in the bag.
"Photoshoot? Whose?" they asked in unison.
"Ezarah's brother and his wife." Then I wandered towards the table where I had placed my tripod.
"You mean Kai and Angelique?" Lola asked in wonder.
"Yeah, she asked if I could be their maternity photographer."
"Wow! You are going to meet Kai and Angelique," Poppy said, while I smiled.
"My brother met all of them, he says they are actually cool and just like us. They are his friends," I said.
"Being a pop star's sister has its own benefits," Lola said, while Poppy agreed on that.
"Not always, you see people tend to ask you questions or invite themselves home just so they can see my brother. Fortunately, my brother won't come home." I answered them, tying my shoelaces.
"Ava, why doesn't your brother come home?" Poppy asked me a questioning look.
"He has his own reasons, let's just say he feels comfortable in those hotel rooms," I said, standing up.
"See you girls later!" I waved them a bye before stepping out of my dorm room.
It's been two weeks since I last saw Brad. We didn't meet after that incident in the gym. We four stayed in the gym. Later, Brad dropped me off at my dorm apartment. He didn't call me or text me. I didn't want to sound desperate, so I didn't call him.
Ezarah called me two days ago asking if I'm available for a photoshoot. She already knows that I work for a maternity agency as a photographer. I agreed as I don't have any work or any homework. We agreed to meet at one of their buildings where I'm going to click their pictures.
She informed me that it was their second baby photoshoot. She is in her fifth month. I spoke with Angel on a phone call. I heard so many stories about Kai and Angel. Two years ago, they were the hot topic of the city. Every newspaper wrote articles about them. Kai being a popular racer and Angelique being an artist attracted people and they wanted to know everything about them.
I reached the penthouse and immediately I saw Ezarah.
"Hello, Ezarah!"
"Hey!" she hugged me before I saw the people standing behind her.
"Kai and Angel, she is Ava."
"Hi," I said to Kai and Angel.
"Hello," they both greeted me in unison.
"This is my other brother Kenric." Ezarah pointed towards a guy who stood beside the glass wall. He was on his phone.
"We have already arranged everything, the white cloth and lights," Ezarah said.
"Good," I said, removing my bag and opening it.
"I will show you a few clicks so that you guys will have an idea about it," I said, showing Angel my previous photoshoot of others.
"Sure," Angel said, walking towards me. Their first kid wore a white shirt and brown pants just like his father. He looked so cute. Kai seemed to adore and love his son so much.
"And if you have any ideas, feel free to share with me or, even better, if you have any kind of photos as reference," I told Angel.
"I don't have any ideas, we want it to be natural and simple," Angel said.
"Okay."
*
"I really enjoyed being with your family, especially your son, he is so cute," I said, pinching the little boy's cheek.
"Thank you so much for being patient with us," Angel said.
"I've habituated, so no problem," I replied, smiling.
"The photos are really good, I can't wait to upload them."
"I will make a copy of them before I give you this pen drive. Your photo book will be arriving in two weeks." I said.
"That's great."
"You have to go somewhere?" Ezarah asked as Angel left with Kai and their son.
"Dorms."
"Wanna have dinner with me?" she asked.
"Sure." I didn't meet her second brother, Kenric, as he was in a rush to go somewhere.
"Just give me a minute, I will get my wallet," she said while I zipped my bag.
"Okay." When she returned, we went to the nearby restaurant. We had our order and waited for our food to arrive.
"You will be graduating next year?" She asked me.
"Yeah."
"Further plans?"
"Nah, I'm not interested in studying. I'm already working with two agencies as their photographer. I want to open my own studio."
"That's really good. If you need help, you can always call me," she said. I nodded my head with a smile playing on my face.
"Can I ask you something?" she asked with uncertainty.
"You can."
"Did something happen to Vincent before? Did he love someone?" she asked out of the blue, which made me choke on my drink.
"Sorry." I took the tissue papers from the table and whipped my mouth and cleaned the drink that fell on the table. Ezrah helped clean the mess. I took a minute before I spoke with her.
"Hmm... All I can say is, he loved someone. There were many misunderstandings. I― don't know if they are going to meet or sort."
"Who is she?" I smiled and shook my head.
"If Vincent didn't tell you anything. Then I don't think I hold any position to tell you about her. I apologize but I cannot tell you," I said and she nodded her head in understanding.
"I hope that he will try to solve those misunderstandings and get back with her." She said with a hopeful face.
"My family and I pray the same. Let's hope for the good." We drink our drinks and eat our pizza before a question crosses in my mind.
"Ezarah, do you mind if I ask a question?" She stopped eating and nodded her head. "Yes, Ava."
"Why is your group named as Snipers?" There was curiosity in my voice.
She let out a laugh "Ava, you know our four families, right? McKenzies, Knight, Weinberg and Lewis. We four families are very close, like family. We kids grew up together. When we were teenagers, we decided to have a name for our group. So Nikolai, Kreo and Kai came up with some names but Ryder chose Snipers as we all trained and went to martial arts. That's how the Snipers' name came. People started calling us Snipers."
"Woah! That's cool actually." I said in wonder.
"Yup!"
" Are you guys very close?" I asked her.
"Yeah, we are close but we do fight and our fights aren't normal. We only fight when we are extremely angry. You must've heard about Rowen and Kai's fight?" she said.
"Yeah! It was an online sensation. I mean they fought dangerously." I said, remembering the video of Kai's and Rowen's fight.
"That fight was about Kai hurting Angel. Angel loved Kai from childhood, but my brother is the biggest stupid I have ever seen. He didn't like her actually. I mean he liked but his ego was slightly bigger. He crossed the limits and did stupid things which affected Angel the most. Rowen didn't like his little sister crying so he fought with Kai when things went a little further," she explained.
"Hmm... That explains everything, they never posted anything about the fight."
"That's because of our parents. They don't like news about us." She calmly said, drinking her juice.
"Everyone in your group found their partners?" I asked her.
"Nah! Kenric, Kreo and I are single. Kenric's love story is complicated right now," she said.
"Complicated?"
"He is an advocate, there is a love-and-hate relationship going on with his assistant. We all think he is in love with her because he doesn't want her to resign, but at the same time, he is an asshole towards her."
"What about you then?" I asked her.
"Me? I'm the same age as you, I haven't found anyone interesting yet. What about you?"
"Don't tell this thing to my brother. I like this guy though, but I feel like he isn't interested in me," I said, taking a bite of my half-eaten pizza.
"Well, all I can suggest you is to wait. Maybe he likes you too, it's okay to make the first move from our side if you want to know how he feels about you," she suggested.
"I will think about it. I don't want to rush things now because we both started talking a few days back."
"Hmm... I understand."