The future and the past

Audrey Bloodsworth suppressed her giggle at the absurdity of her captor's analogy. A villain the man he is, she finds him rather eccentric. Quirky, one might say.

Not once in her life would she associate the word fart to be used synonymously with the need to express her thoughts. It was ridiculous! Despite so, the man deserves credit as his method was undeniably successful in calming her nerves.

The fear of something happening to her unborn child washed off her body almost rapidly at the presence of the curve on her face.

Even with the doubt harbouring within as a result of growing up in an abusive family, she pushed all negativity away. 'No, not this time,' she thought with determination as her hands unconsciously rested on her tummy.

The brown-haired Bloodsworth knew her future is filled with uncertainties but now that a child is growing inside her, she wanted to ensure only happiness was passed on to the baby while she could. Because she knew, happiness comes with a price tag. At least for her.

"Heheh. So you like that kind of humour? Fascinating," said the man as he shook his head in happy delight. He glanced at her with his tongue in his cheek, casting a handsome but cheeky grin on his face.

Warm sensations began to fill her up as the ambience of the room remained friendly and pleasant. It was something she had been feeling quite often as of late and she was grateful for the new change.

* * * * *

Frederick was not able to bring up the idea to her during breakfast for several reasons. One, there was not even a single page of the book that suggested a weekly baby bump photo shoot. How would he propose the very idea when she may have never seen it?

Two, he could not bring himself to talk about it when she was already tensed, worried he might bring harm to her unborn child. It was meant to be an exciting experience for her and he did not want her to feel bad about it in the future. Of course, them finishing their meal was a whole different story.

After much deliberation, the hazel-eyed man decided to change his plans and out with it. He belatedly figured that for someone who may have never taken any pictures of herself and one that rarely speaks her mind would excitedly suggest what he was thinking.

As they climbed up the flight of stairs on their way to the bedroom, Frederick Mortcombe fidgeted about with the wooden railings.

His right fingers curved against the grooves of the handrails while his left neverendingly combed through his hair. His phone was already set to open at the very image he planned to show her. Except, the phone is locked and was in his trouser pocket.

The villain unconsciously kept on turning his head to the back to face the demure lady who had her head looking downwards. He was a nervous wreck and he was not sure why he would feel this way.

After clearing his throat for the umpteenth time and the cramp on his neck became more intense with the constant turning, he decided to wing it.

"Have you ever heard of... thaaat... bump. I mean, belly bump... Shoot? " Frederick asked as his eyes wandered to her stomach.

When Audrey stood frozen in her tracks and he saw her eyes grow abnormally wide, the foolish young lad quickly reiterated his words, "PHOTO!! I meant photo shoots of your stomach! No, not your stomach! I mean the baby bump!!"

He ended up stuttering nonsense, making things even worse. That's when the lightbulb in his head turned on and he signed her to wait. Frederick fumbled taking his phone out of his trouser and shoving it to her. "This," he simply said.

'God, this is stupid! I can't believe I'm like this.' He punched himself numerous times in his mind before taking a deep breath and calmed down.

He patiently looked at the woman who held his phone. Her expression was unreadable even when her eyes were glued to the glowing screen. Is she in favour of the idea? Or not?

"It's entirely up to you. If you would want it, I could arrange someone to, you know..."

Audrey finally lifted her head and asked "Forgive me but I'm not following what I see here."

"Huh? Essentially, it's a picture of —," Explained the captor, inching closer to her and his phone. He was about to describe the nature of the photo when he realised it was not a sample photo that he had print screen from a search engine.

Instead, it was a stealthy image he took of his best friend, Rafael smiling a few days before bearing the scar permanently on his face.

It was only a matter of mere seconds but the picture affected Frederick. He was in a daze before realising he was in the middle of something.

"Sorry, princess. I must have swiped unintentionally. Here, I meant to show you this. Essentially, this is a weekly...," The young lad paused, trying to avoid using the word shoot and baby in the same sentence, "picture TAKING of the baby bump so you can reminisce the baby's growth."

The excitement and the nervousness he previously had, had all dissipated, including his emotions. As such, he managed to talk about it quite smoothly as opposed to earlier on.

"Oh okay. May I know the purpose of this?"

"Basically the picture can be for keepsake. For you to look back one day."

"Thank you for your thoughts but I don't think I need it," Audrey rejected his offer kindly after hearing his explanation.

"Suits yourself."

Just like that, the emotionless Frederick walked towards his room, utterly ignoring his guest that was standing at the stairs landing.

He did not realise that his prisoner never went to her room. Nor did he notice the day had gone by. All he knows is he was in deep turmoil because of the said picture.