Falling in Love is a Mystery

Mystery 5

The Unpredictable Wind

It was already after class, Mildred, Joice and Corbin were going upstairs to visit the Arts and Design Class. They have decided to take an experimental photoshoot for their art.

"You better not forget to treat me this coming weekend." Corbin complained.

"I know. I know. I'm not old to forget." Joice replied.

"You're not. But you act like one." Corbin answered.

"Just stop complaining. This will only take seconds. Relax." Mildred stopped walking and faced them both.

"Enough you two. We're here." Mildred gestured to a door where two girls were casually talking. Joice approached them.

"Hi! Is Natasha around?"

"Wait. Let me call her." the girl went inside. Joice gestured to the two of them to get closer.

"Look! Their classroom is just like an art exhibit." Everyone in the class was busy doing various arts - painting, crafting, molding, sculpture. This gave an opportunity for Mildred to scan the classroom without any suspicion. She was looking for seashell guy's class since the last time she saw him was in this area. She scanned every face in the classroom but the seashell guy wasn't there. Natasha was waving at them. Joice also waved back. She picked up her bag then walked towards them.

"Hi! Thank you for waiting. Blake is probably in the exhibit room. Let's go and pick her up." Natasha walked to the exhibit. They just followed her to the exhibit room.

The exhibit room has been cleared out from the previous exhibit. This time, the students were working on their new masterpiece in the room. They saw Natasha talking to Blake in a corner. Blake was preparing her camera for the photoshoot. When Blake saw them, she waved hello to them. They waved back.

Mildred did not waste the opportunity and scanned every face in that room as well, hoping to see that familiar face. Still, she could not find that face. Natasha and Blake were already walking towards them carrying their things for the photoshoot.

"Chris is already outside preparing the set." Natasha said.

"Oh! We're doing it outside." Joice said.

"Yes, we will be trying various settings so that we'll have more options." Blake answered.

"Besides, we can't use the exhibit room since everyone is using it." Natasha added.

"The Grade 12's are pretty busy." Joice commented.

"Yes, we are indeed." Natasha and Blake just sighed. Mildred felt like sighing too, not because she sympathized with the Grade 12 students but because she was hoping for something good and she meant anything related to seashell guy.

The five of them were already walking down the stairs when they met a group of male students walking up the stairs. Mildred was behind Corbin and the others, so she could not see who those students were. Natasha and Blake waved hello at them and they waved back. It was fast but she definitely saw the figure of that one student and she knew that figure very well. It was Seashell Guy. Unsubconsciously, she moved closer to Corbin's side, hoping to hide her face. Corbin gave Mildred a bit of space, thinking that she was just shy with some strangers passing by.

"Nice! I got to see him again." Mildred happily thought to herself. "He is definitely a Grade 12 Arts and Design student if he knew Mildred and Natasha."

The setting Chris prepared was just a blanket under the tree with books and a basket with plastic fruits laid on the blanket. He explained to us that Joice would just be reading a book under that tree. She could pose whatever she's comfortable with. He also gave her a scarf for an additional prop.

Joice grabbed a book and just sat on the blanket. Blake moved the basket a bit closer and fixed her a bit for a specific angle. She then started to take photos of her. After some shots, Blake thanked Joice and told her to relax for a bit. Blake, Natasha and Chris reviewed and discussed the photos that they had taken while Corbin and Mildred went over to Joice and sat with her.

"I might be asking for a copy of those photos." Mildred said.

"Maybe you should. This is way more convenient than you letting me pose for hours." Joice complained while she stretched her legs from all that work.

"So, what exactly is my role here?" Corbin interrupted.

"Maybe they were having second thoughts when they scanned you." Joice teased.

"This is nonsense. I'm going home." Joice hurriedly stopped Corbin from leaving.

"Sorry! Sorry! Wait! If they need a male model, I can't just pull anyone else. Just wait for a while, okay?"

A brief blow of wind suddenly interrupted their conversation but it surely messed up their hair.

"Oh no! My hair!" Joice quickly grabbed a round thing from her pocket. When she slid it open, it was a hair brush.

"Woah! Cool hair brush!" Corbin was stunned by the discovery. She took the hair brush from Joice and tried closing and opening it.

"Thank you!" She took the hairbrush back from Corbin and started combing her hair. Joice just kept on brushing her hair.

"So, you bring your hair brush everywhere?" Corbin asked.

"Of course, I do! My hair betrays me a lot. I have to be prepared."

Mildred just laughed at their conversation. She then just slid her fingers through her hair, fixed some strands on top, then her hair was untangled again.

"Oh.... I just wish I could easily fix my hair like that." Joice commented, while watching Mildred fixing her own hair.

"You also have tangled hair here." Corbin reached for the part where the hair was tangled, just above her ears. He slid his hands onto her hair and it was fixed again.

"Thanks!"

"There's a bit of chemistry there." Joice commented. Mildred and Corbin just crossed their eyebrows at Joice. "Gross." Joice added, then she continued combing her hair.

"Wait!" The three suddenly turned to Chris. "Can you do that again?"

"Do what?" Joice asked.

"When you touched her ears." Chris reenacted Corbin's movement.

"What! Why!" Mildred and Corbin complained.

"It was such a beautiful moment. The ambiance was so romantic." Blake added. Natasha and Chris were just nodding excitedly at the back. Joice started laughing so hard that she was almost crying. Corbin and Mildred looked at each other with disgust.

"No way." Corbin finally said.

"Oh! Come on! Just one photo!" Joice said while wiping some tears from her eyes.

"Please! Just one shot!" Blake begged.

"This is way embarrassing." Mildred added.

"Just one quick snap! We won't use the photo without your permission." Natasha said.

"We swear!" the three added.

Corbin sighed and just gave in. Mildred was still having doubts but Joice was smiling from ear to ear and she just intensely stared at her. She was definitely under pressure.

"Okay! I will just position here while Chris creates a blow of wind in your direction." Blake said.

"Wait! I haven't agreed yet!" Mildred protested, but everyone was already moving. Joice moved out of the picture while Blake positioned her camera. Chris and Natasha were discussing how to create the wind. She looked over at Corbin, who just gave her a shrug.

"You can just close your eyes and look down. Just relax your facial expression so that we can end this quickly." Corbin advised her.

"Okay, ready?" Blake asked.

Mildred saw that Chris was already holding a cardboard to create the wind effect while Natasha and Joice were standing behind him. Natasha gave Blake a thumbs up. Mildred quickly closed her eyes and slightly lowered her head. She felt the wind brushing on her cheeks, her cheeks just felt hot that moment. She then felt Corbin's touch on her ear, then heard the camera snap.

"We're done now." Corbin said. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Corbin smiling at her. "Good job!" he added.

She also spotted the others gathered around Blake. Everyone was so excited about the result. Joice was super happy, she just kept on giving them a thumbs up.

"It was such a beautiful moment! I tell you." Natasha said.

"Nice work everyone!" Chris clapped really hard. Everyone also followed. Mildred was just smiling awkwardly.

"Here, look." Blake went to them and showed them the picture. Corbin just declined, so Mildred went and looked at the photo. "Cool, huh?"

Mildred felt embarrassed. The scenery was very beautiful. She never thought she could make such an amazing scene. It it were her, she'd definitely hang this. This was such a nice photo.

"A-den! Come and take a look." Natasha suddenly said. Mildred suddenly panicked. They were showing the photo to someone else.

"Wait! No! Don't!" the camera had already been passed to someone else. It was not just someone else. It was Seashell Guy.

"What do you think?" Blake asked him.

"Woah! Such perfect timing! Nice shot!" he said. He then looked over where Mildred was. He was casually smiling. Corbin just made a gesture, acknowledging his compliment. "Wait. Aren't you that girl from before?" seashell guy added. Mildred was so embarrassed that she turned away from them.

"A friend?" Natasha asked.

"Well, not quite yet. I'm Aiden, by the way." he raised his voice a bit for Mildred to hear.