Cam adjusted his glasses and gazed intently at the sketches spread on his messy design table. Soft light filtered in from the ceiling, while the warm glow of wall lamps bathed the colorful fabrics dotting the room. With that backdrop of colors and patterns, he exhaled a sigh of contentment. His friend and assistant Chester came in, balancing a tray with two steaming mugs of coffee.
"Cameron, you have been at it for so many hours. What's the big idea for the dress?"
Cam smiled back, eyes alight with a sudden surge of creative energy.
"Picture this, Chester. A gown capturing the essence of a sunset in summer: layers of chiffon cascading like rays of the sun. I want it to feel warm and romantic."
Chester handed him one of the coffee mugs. "Dreamy. What's the occasion?"
Cam laughed and took a reflective sip. "An exclusive gala for the crème de la crème of the city. This is not just a dress; it's a statement, a work of art. I want heads to turn, especially that one. I want to see that feeling again."
Chester nodded, leaning against the table. "So, what was the moment of inspiration?"
Cam was shining with an inner light while following the sketches with his fingertips. "I was at the botanical gardens yesterday, and the sunlight breaking over the flowers just sparked it. It's like nature was dancing, and I want to make that in fabric."
Chester grinned. "Nature's dance, huh? That could be the name for that dress. Also, this place needs some sunlight, but how would that even work?"
Cam winked his confirmation toward Chester's proposition and set his cup down to continue sketching.
Chester settled on the couch. With a curious look directed toward Cameron, he glanced at his cup again. Coffee spun around in his mug as he struggled to find the right words. Finally, he did.
"Cam, during the interview, I was your assistant, remember? I was masked too. So why pretend I don't know you're Luc?" Chester asked, swirling his coffee before sipping it.
Cam leaned back, blinking. The face tightened in disbelief, brow lifting slightly. "Are you serious?" The room hung in suspense about releasing itself from hesitations or tightening doubts. It was with a gentle smile that Chester relished the pleasant announcement.
"So, what is wrong in telling people that I know you, of course as your assistant?" he asked while the air lightened with the prospect of unraveling a shared connection.
"Because if I did, then they would start linking things up. That woman will come for you, and not only for you. Your family, your friends, anyone linked to Luc's assistant."
Cameron stopped sketching, staring at Chester instantly with the serious expression on his face.
"Of course, she will use you to get what she wants. She will hire someone to kidnap you, and your identity will be revealed and that would screw everything up."
Cameron lowered his sketchbook and stood up. He walked toward a painting on the wall, talking along the way.
"You already know how hard it is to hide and find a place to remove those masks. This will free you. So, her target would only be me as Luc, and not his assistant Simon. And what she wants is Luc's identity. It's dangerous, that's why I'm always careful."
Cameron pressed a painting of a black cat on the wall, revealing a hidden compartment, and picked up the vanta black mask that was inside it and with two fingers, showed it playfully to Chester and smiled.
"She would try to do anything to know who's behind this mask. And we both know she's cutting her ground already. It's difficult for me to get through your house and be in this room as Cameron since we have to keep this friendship and meet ups secret. Also-"
"BUT-"
He was cut off by Cameron. "Announcing that on Tv will make her think that you don't know anything about me. And that would make me, Luc, her major priority, next will be her business, then her name, and so on. I thought by now, you already realize these things," Cam stated, the words laced with a subtle expectation for understanding.
Cheered by Cam's words, Chester lifted his shoulders and smiled. "You're the boss" Chester said with a chuckle, raising his mug.
Thereafter the two moved away from their current conversation to plan for the Gala. The two teenagers had just hit a snag; they did not have the perfect model for their ideal showpiece.
The air became heavy with challenge, and the moment an epiphany hit them. There was a face they wanted to stamp on their vision, but the missing piece was lingering between their words that couldn't find their way toward the unspoken space.
They could not think of anyone. None of the actors, influencers, or friends they had fell into the idea of the 'perfect model'.
Hours later, Cam sat staring, unblinking, at the sketches strewn across the table, frustration plain on his face without the prints adding to it. Chester and he had been on the run the whole day, looking for the shining star that would bring his vision life at the forthcoming gala, but none of those individuals compared.
He sighed, running a hand through his disheveled hair, feeling the weight of unmet expectations. In a moment of surrender, he muttered to himself, "Maybe I'm chasing an impossible ideal."
"Hey, everything's going to be fine,"Chester assured him. Cam reacted with that sort of bitter smile he keeps for those times he looks up at the printed faces attached to the wall. "I'm sorry about the mess Ches and thank you for letting me use your underground bunker as my secret studio."
Chester smirked, "Well of course, you don't want to get caught by your mother because she hates you...besides, this room is perfectly hidden. People wouldn't even know I have a bunker."
The two finally called it a day. Cam shut the door behind him and left with disappointment sliding itself over him like a second skin. The tunnel was cold, but not colder than the quiet ache of doubt weighing on his shoulders. He emerged from a hidden hole in the back wall of a building, walked a few meters to the street, and waited for a taxi.