ARIA
A loud thud snapped her out of her sleep. She sat up straight, bolting out of whatever dreamy consciousness she was in. Before her eyes could register her dark surroundings, one hand curled over her mouth, locking a strangled scream back in her throat. "Breathe child." a voice whispered in her ears. A wave of relief flooded through her and she relaxed into the hand. "Mother."
More violent thuds sounded on the roof of the building and her mother gently guided her out of bed. A tall figure rushed in with frantic movements, his torch dim. " We have to hide her," he was saying. "They are here for her, again."
"Mother no." she yelled, pulling at the hem of her mother's silk gown. She knew what this meant, and she didn't want to go through it, not again.
"They'll disfigure you." her mother harshly warned as she roughly pushed her towards a closet which led to a secret underground basement. One final thud of the roof, and a loud crash sound, they could hear bodies falling through the roof, probably in the dining side. Sounds of men shouting, running through the house, firearms clicking.
One rough push into the dark closet and her mother harshly whispered. "You know your way."
"Mother." she sobbed. The last time there was a break-in she didn't hide in the underground basement, she decided to stay in the closet and listen to it all. The screaming, guns firing, them beating up her father, demanding to know where she was. She had closed her ears, coiled up in a corner of the closet and let the trauma soak in. One of the men slapped her mother and she didn't know when she gasped from the confines of the closet. Everywhere was suddenly quiet and then there was heavy footsteps towards her. "No," her mother screamed, trying to hold the leader back, but he swerved her down. "Aria run! Run!" she screamed.
Fear made her stand rooted at the spot, her knees shaking in fright. A face peeped into the vertical holes of the closet. It was so ugly, that face. A twisted scowl dominated it, one eye squinting directly at her. Yellow, uneven teeth jut from a sneer that never leaves the cracked lips. "We've found her." he croaked. She screamed as he opened the door…
She shot up forwards covered in a pool of sweat. Her heart beat irregularly in her chest, and she coughed trying to ease the tightening she felt in her lungs.
Why she started getting this nightmares and relive of what happened to her years ago was still beyond her. The nightmares had stopped disturbing her three years ago, after she met a therapist. Now they were resurfacing and she couldn't understand why. She slipped out of bed, feeling groggy and just overwhelmed.
Maybe a glass of juice will help.
Her eyes flicked to the alarm clock. 6.48am. Her heart skipped, she had only two hours to do her prep and get herself down to the venue of the ad shoot. There were texts from her manager and that friend she made, Renna. She instantly warmed up, sending her a brief text to come over to her house and lead her make-up train.
Livia also sent her a message, asking if she was up and ready for the prep. She sent her a text confirming the obvious. When she looked into the mirror, she couldn't recognize the figure staring back at her. Red rimmed eyes,a sleep bruise on her left chin, sallow face. It was as if the hallowing effects of that nightmare was having an effect on her physically. She was in fact, mentally fatigued. But she was doing a long shoot and she had to avoid looking like her mental state in front of the cameras.
She refreshed her chat-room again and again but there was no reply from Major Knight. Why was he suddenly ignoring her? For two days, no call, no texts, not even replying to her calls and texts. It was so odd. She thought of a way to reach out to him, then it dawned on her. He was always the one to reach out to her and not the other way round. He always met her at her house, or hotels in her vicinity, or ate at Restaurants she was familiar with. She still didn't know scratch about the man except that he had a wife and the general talk that surrounded the "Major Knight".
Well maybe he was busy, she made up an excuse for him. A thought flashed through her mind. Or that he's disappeared from your life…again. She made an involuntary shudder and dismissed it. The man had a wife, maybe she should let him go.
She went through the routine she was taught at Bordini. Cold water face rinse, under-eye patches, light stretching.
Her cook came up a few minutes later in the middle of her light stretching and she asked for a lemon water detox smoothie.
She did a quick mirror check. No breakouts, good. No puffiness, check. Her lips were not cracked or dry, check.
She set some food to warm in the microwave oven while she decided to do a quick shower.
There was a knock on her door, as soon as she was done bathing. Who could that be? She wondered as she toweled herself dry. Her phone pinged. A bright smile spread across her face as she saw the sender. Renna.
"Hey," Renna greeted enthusiastically as she opened the door for her. "I haven't even made you up yet and you look so gorgeous."
"Please. Please." she blushed, in spite of herself. Renna was an equally good-looking woman, and she considered compliments from women top-tier.
"I'm so sorry to have barged in like this without informing you first, imagine that the photo studio is in far flung Podova!
Aria shut the door laughing, while Renna swung her make up equipment on the nearest settee. "Haven't you been to Podova?" The bewildered look on Renna's face made her gasp in surprise. "Its only 45 minutes from here, what do you mean you've never been?
Renna shrugged noncommitally. "Ive only ever lived in the country side. It was only recently that I moved to the city. That's why I thought I could steal a ride from you since I don't know my way around."
"You came too early." Aria chuckled as she led her further into the apartment. It didn't cross her mind once that she never told Renna where she lived, so how would she have known the way to her apartment? It was actually very creepy.
"Well, I have a modelling cousin, I know you guys wake up ridiculously early to arrive at the photo studio."
They entered her kitchen. "Wow, this is an awesome space you have here Aria."
"thanks," Aria smiled warmly. "I was just in the middle of cooking breakfast when you arrived, you could join me if you like."
Renna plopped herself in one of the soft high-chairs that sat around the kitchen island like she belonged there. "I've honestly never eaten this early. I packed some protein bars but that was just about it."
She stared in mild disdain at the food Aria laid on the counter top. "What in the world is this? She scoffed, in a teasing way. "There is no single carbohydrate in this meal and it's going to be a long hectic day ahead, how are you going to survive on this alone?."
Aria shook her head amused as she dried her hands with a towel by the sink. "Says the person who planned to live out this day on nothing but protein bars."
She shrugged invitingly towards the food. Renna shuddered a little as the messy green and rough kind of pudding on her plate terrified her. Speared a lump with her fork and stabbed it into her mouth. Rolled it around a little. "Not bad." she munched. "What is it? It tastes good in a healthy way."
"Avocado and oatmeal. A little green juice. Can't be caught eating greasy food as a model. It would cause the kind of bloating that will disgrace me later."
"Well, since you're fast becoming one of the lead models in Bordini, I heard that they hire personal cooks and nutritionists for their best models."
"I hope they do, I can't keep up with cooking for myself any more."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Bordini hired an uber for Aria's movement. Renna excitedly joined in. "cant believe that Bordini wants me on the set in 1.5 hours" she grunted flustered as she fiddled with her seatbelt. Renna had applied a little make up on her face but that was it. They had to rush to make it up to the deadline. "Oh look, " renna squealed, pulling her ace closer to her friend's own, completely oblivious of her friend's discomfort. " The creative director of the campaign has already created an online mood board. It's created a buzz, the kind of traction the campaign needs."
She studied it a little, nodding satisfactorily. "Looks like my vibe. I love the earthy warm colours." The theme was seasons. Autumn, winter, summer, spring. She was to embody each season perfectly. "Honestly, if it was going to be a four seasons thing they should have gotten more models."
Renna shook her head disapprovingly. "Your shoot might last for months, because how do they expect you to carry all four seasonal characters expertly."
Aria groaned like an animal, hitting her head back at the softness of the car's furniture. "But that's not even the worst. You can't believe who they hired to be the pose choreographer."
Renna shot her head up from her phone. "Who?"
"The bane of all modelling careers, Angelo deruerro. He's cruel. He'll make sure you perfect a stance, even if it takes excruciating weeks. And I'll be the one at the receiving end of his harsh tongue."
Renna's smile dropped a little. "Being a model doesn't seem so appealing for me now"
A chime dinged in her phone. Aria dug it out of her bag. It was Livia, her manager.
She sent a text and a doc document. "That is the contract guidelines. Review the text and tell me anything you don't like so that we can work over it."
"It seems fair," she called her a moment later. "I like the health insurance and the fact that my break hours seem flexible." She decided to check it out with Bettina later. Bettina worked for a modelling agency so she would know what was fair and right by her. She could also link her up with some lawyers. A year in the city, and she was not fully aware of all of that. Bordini was the one that usually covered the expenses, both legal and travel. But since the contract gave her autonomy from Bordini, she would be the one to fund her own lawyer instead.
"This is so cool" Renna blurted from beside her. "Take a look at this." she gently nudged Aria. she was on IG, on the collabo brand's page. "Thirty thousand likes in just two hours."
Aria frowned. "that does not seem right." She gently took the phone from her. "Details of the photoshoot should not be leaked to the general public, until after the campaign."
"If you ask me, the social media manager handling the page has probably decided that the brand, since it's new and competing with other brands, should be exposed to create interest and it's obviously working." Renna shrugged, taking her phone back. She looked up to see her friend's displeased face. "Well yeah. I know what you are thinking. It does not follow protocol. And maybe an inconvenient crowd of fans may gather there, but be rest assured that there will be bouncers and maybe some officers from the law enforcement to protect you."
"I dunno." she looked ahead. "It doesn't sound bad. But that means by the end of the campaign, I'm gonna be a celebrity model."
"Do you consider that a bad thing or a good thing?"
Aria flicked her gaze to Renna. "I'm a private person for real. And look at the last rumor with Major Knight, the social media was all in my business, and I didn't like that at all."
Renna held her gaze, while slurping from her stanley cup. "I guess that there is always a bad side and good side to everything. But I think that with your manager you would be able to handle it effectively."
"And we are here." the driver called from the front seat.