Bittersweet

Chapter 6 - Charming

Treat all fairly or they will seek revenge." ~ Christopher Paolini

Victoria's POV

"That looks great! Why don't you try decreasing the ISO though, I think that would be better" I suggested, instructing Mia to take another picture of the dripping fruit. Her posture lowered as he held the camera up to her eyes, focusing the lens in the center of the passion fruit. The sound of the camera snapped, and Mia elevate back up, looking down at the screen of the camera. A satisfying smile extended on her face before she turned the screen towards me.

"What do you think?" she raised her brows. I glanced down at the picture, my expression mirroring her own.

"Not bad, you're starting to get the hang of this?"

"Where did you learn all of this anyways?" she questioned, readjusting her camera on a tripod for the next series of pictures.

"Um... my mother was a keen photographer" I replied the first thing that went through my mind. She didn't put much thought into it as her eye jumped back from the camera.

"I can't get this right, could you help me please?" she requested politely, I nodded, walking over towards her camera and looking through the whole.

Quickly changing a few settings with the aperture and shutter speed, I focused on the right place and snapped a picture of the fruit in a different angle. Feeling satisfied with the picture, I moved the camera towards Mia, showing the image to her. Her eyes extended as she looked back at me.

"How did you do that?"

"Well, your aperture was too high so you're pictures were slightly overexposed, so adjusted the aperture so that along with the shutter speed your picture-"

"Mia" I was interrupted suddenly, my brain taking a 360 degree turn, and my stomach filling with a bunch of nerves at the source of the voice.

My heart thumped loudly, knowing well what was about to happen.

He can't do anything to you Victoria, he thinks you're human. I assured myself as I turned around once again to come face to face with Christian King.

"Hey Chris, what's up?"

"What's going on here?" his voice was cold, even towards his sister.

"Oh, this is Freya, my tutor, we were just working on some photography, I have to hand in my coursework in three weeks so..." he nodded slightly, his eyes on mine the entire time.

I was the first one to look away, peeking a glance back at Mia. Footsteps were heard, and in the next minute he was standing right in front of us.

"I don't believe we have formally met before" he began, extending his hand towards me "Christian King, Mia's brother" he introduced himself. Keeping my calm, I fitted my hand in his, instantly feeling the sparks. Nevertheless, I masked my emotions, showing no sign of any effect towards him. A small expression of surprise was present in his features; however he too, masked it well.

"Freya Parker, Mia's tutor" I finished, releasing my hand from his. Shortly after our small introduction, Mia stepped in to save my life.

"What's up?" she repeated.

"I have a shoot in an hour, though I might ask you to shift to the other studio room, but seeing as your busy, I'll move the shoot to the other studio" he finished, his eyes still boring into mine, that were not willing to meet his.

"Alright, thanks bro" Mia intervened, turning back to face her camera. Slowly, he turned around, leaving the room, causing my heart beat to return to its original state. I released a deep sigh, focusing back on Mia.