Chapter 2: Turning the Tables
"Click!"
The quiet room echoed with the sound of a camera shutter, accompanied by the voice of a man.
"Turn around, lower your hand a bit."
A young Black girl, with a high light brown ponytail, was wearing nothing but a zippered leather bodysuit. The skin at the edges of the outfit was being squeezed so tightly it turned pale. Her legs, clad in high heels, were posed diagonally, and she was touching the corner of her mouth with her fingers, her expression deliberately seductive.
Opposite her, the photographer, Ethan, calmly captured her figure with his camera, muttering under his breath.
"If you're trying to seduce me, at least lower your hand, open your hips! And stick out your butt! Right now, you look like a lump of completely unsexy pork!"
Hearing this, the young Black men nearby, wearing bandanas and with youthful faces, couldn't resist shoving him.
"Hillbilly, what are you trying to do?"
"Bullshit!"
Ethan put down his camera. "You invited me to shoot the photos. If you want them done well, follow my instructions! Or you can let me leave and find some mediocre guy. See what kind of crap he can take for you."
As a former top photographer, Ethan was extremely strict when it came to his work. Even if the model wasn't great, he would use his skills to make up for it. He would never allow the photos he took to turn out badly. When it came to his craft, compromise was never an option.
"Davis!"
The Black girl called out, stopping her companions' anger. She then assumed the pose Ethan had suggested. She gently opened her hips, placed her hands in front of her legs, and then arched her back to showcase her beauty to the camera.
In the next moment, the young Black men couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow," even gulping a little.
As her boyfriend and their leader, Davis couldn't stand it. He quickly shoved his companions out of the room. "Out! Damn it, stop staring at Arcadia! Everyone out!"
Once they were gone, Davis put a cigarette in his mouth and walked up to Ethan, warning him, "Take good shots, you hear me?"
Ethan shrugged, putting down his camera.
Seemingly annoyed by his overly calm demeanor, Davis took the cigarette out of his mouth and blew smoke into Ethan's face.
Ethan endured the choking smell, forced a smile, and coughed twice after Davis left.
"Let's continue." Ethan raised his camera again.
"Let's shoot something bolder!" Arcadia, seeing everyone else had left, became excited. She unzipped her outfit, revealing a large expanse of cleavage and skin.
Ethan raised an eyebrow; this was just what he wanted. Art needed to be bold! Yet, even as the girl undressed, he felt nothing because her attempt at seduction was so clumsy.
To achieve the effect he desired, Ethan quickly went into full-force mode.
"Softer! Be softer! Don't pose like a mummy!"
"Lift your foot, point your toes. Damn it, when I say point, I don't mean curl them! Do you have no bones? Can't you move?"
"What kind of color is this? Pink nail polish? Absolutely terrible. My grandmother wouldn't use that color when knitting sweaters!"
"And be more confident! Imagine you're a big star. Stop sulking as if someone died!"
"Tuck your chin in; it's about to fold into three layers!"
"Look at your waist, all flabby! No sense of beauty at all!"
Ethan's words came like rapid-fire, leaving Arcadia no chance to retort. His tyrannical attitude almost made her cry.
She had always been confident about her body, but after Ethan's critique, it seemed all she had were flaws. She felt like the ugliest person alive.
Yet, this guy was so professional that she couldn't even think of a comeback.
She now felt utterly helpless, like a small boat about to be capsized by the waves, or a child cornered by her mother, scolded to the point of suffocation.
Ethan, meanwhile, kept adjusting his camera, and after spending several minutes, he finally completed the shoot.
"Alright, that's it. You're the worst model I've ever worked with!"
Even at the end, Ethan didn't miss the chance to take a jab at her. The poor girl couldn't hold back anymore and started to cry, covering her face.
At that moment, the door burst open, and Davis, the young Black man, stormed in.
"What's going on?" He seemed bewildered when he saw Arcadia crying. This wasn't how things were supposed to go!
But his underling reached Ethan first, raising his fist to punch him in the gut.
Ethan quickly grabbed the boy's wrist and twisted it aside. "What the hell are you trying to do?"
"What am I trying to do?" Davis suddenly remembered his plan, snatched the camera from Ethan, and started pressing the buttons randomly.
Ethan pushed the boy aside and frowned. "Do you even know how to use it?"
"Press this, then this, to scroll through the photos." He didn't want this reckless kid to break his camera.
"Alright..." Davis began to flip through the photos.
The more he looked, the more surprised he became. Ethan's photos were exceptionally professional, not only conveying a sense of class but also subtly evoking a deep desire.
One photo, in particular, showed Arcadia with one foot on a transparent table. The low angle made her figure fill the frame, and the sharp tip of her high heel seemed to pierce through the screen!
Even though Davis hadn't seen many photos, he could tell Ethan was really good.
But just as he started to feel admiration, the thought of money extinguished it.
He turned to Ethan, threatening, "Do you know how many years you'd get for forcing an underage girl to shoot risqué photos?"
So that's what this was about!
Damn, since when did these Black gangs start upgrading their operations, from robbery to extortion!
"So... what do you plan to do?" Ethan knew they weren't aiming to get him locked up.
"So?" Davis pulled out his wallet, emptied its contents on the ground.
"Clink." A pile of nickels and a few bills fell out. It was the payment Ethan had received for shooting an adult magazine.
Davis whistled, and the other guys immediately took the money.
They also confiscated Ethan's Canon camera, knowing that a camera that could play back images had to be valuable, even though they didn't know much about it.
Once they had taken everything of value from Ethan, they finally let him go.
"Listen, hillbilly, if you dare bring anyone over here, I'll use this to blow your brains out." Davis, smoking a cigarette, pulled out a gun from under his arm. The dark barrel glinted ominously under the room's light, making Ethan's heart skip a beat.
But before Ethan could reply, they heard heavy footsteps outside. A large Black man in old-school clothes and a baseball cap, flanked by a few others, barged in.
"Idiot! I'm about to release an album, and you're still messing around with this crap!" He shouted with a booming voice and stormed up to Davis, slapping him hard enough to make him spin.
"Raymond..." Davis started to explain, only to be cut off by Raymond's roar: "What if the cops get involved? I've told you a thousand times! I'm about to make it big, just about. Once my single drops, we'll be recording an album, with hot girls and loads of cash! Everything will change, but you're going to ruin it all by pulling this crap!"
Davis lowered his head, too afraid to answer.
Raymond, after calming down a bit, turned to Ethan and said, "Friend, let's just forget about this. Nothing happened here. We didn't take anything from you, got it?"
Ethan nodded. Since they were being reasonable, there was no need for him to go through the trouble of getting revenge.
Seeing his agreement, Raymond sighed in relief. He picked up the camera, about to hand it back to Ethan, when he was captivated by the photos on it.
"Wait a minute..." Raymond carefully examined the uniquely angled photo, his interest piqued, and scrolled through a few more.
His eyes gradually widened, and his breathing became heavier.
Raymond looked up at the real Arcadia and then back at her photos. He wasn't interested in this girl at all in real life—her body was too scrawny, and even if she stripped naked in front of him, he wouldn't feel anything. But somehow, the photos made her exude a deadly allure.
Fascinating!
Looking closer, Raymond finally understood the key—the angle of the photos was brilliant! Not just good, but exceptional! The photographers he had worked with before didn't have this kind of skill. The impact of these images was something he had only seen in movies.
"Impressive, man. You're really good"
Ethan smiled and said nothing. Raymond continued, "Hey, man, listen. I really like your style, so are you interested in taking a photo for my album cover?"