Chapter 10 - Crazy Charlie

Nina looked sideways at her reflection in the mirror in her bedroom. She stroked her slim waist and turned to Selena who had her eyes glued to her phone and asked, "Lena, do you think my waist got thicker?"

Without even bothering to raise her head, Selena answered unhurriedly,

"It would be weird if it didn't get thicker, your appetite have been quite voracious in the past month. As a model, though you have a physique that doesn't allow you to get fat no matter what you eat, you should pay more attention to your figure or Charlie is gonna blame me for it!"

The Charlie that Selena is referring to is Nina's ace agent. He was the one who discovered Nina in the first place and later groomed her into who she was right now. Nina started out as a model in high school when she was 18 and to be honest, her journey as a model wasn't always this smooth, at least not until she met Justin.

Before she met Justin, she had experienced a lot of unspoken rules, both overt and covert in the industry and if it had not been for Charlie's protection, no matter how minimal it was, there was a possibility that Nina herself would have long fell into quagmire, no matter how unwilling she was.

It was only after Nina knew Justin that all those scheming against her finally stopped doing so after Justin's strong warning. 

Nina, Charlie and Selena were the founders of Globe Entertainment where Nina also happened to be the biggest shareholder of the company alongside the two others and managed the company from behind the scenes.

A smile couldn't help but surface on Nina's face when she remembered the forty-something year old carefree guy who hadn't wanted to be the president of the company when they first started out three years ago.

"Why does it have to be me? Just get Selena to be the president or better still go hire the services of a professional manager!", He had screamed out in frustration.

"Selena is just an assistant and doesn't have any experience managing but you do. As for hiring, I don't trust anyone apart from you."

Charlie probably couldn't bear to see her in a dilemma and in the end, had no choice but to agree to her pleas.

"On one condition."

"What condition?"

"I still want to continue managing you. After all, how can I bear allow my masterpiece to be another's?"

"Okay! Deal. I was worried about finding someone I am not familiar to work with before. Fortunately, it seems that now I don't have to be worried about that scenario."

"What are you spacing out for?"

Nina got startled at Selena's voice and replied with a bit of silliness, "I was just thinking about Crazy Charlie."

Selena laughed out at the nickname and at the same time, began speaking with nostalgia,

"I still remember we gave him that nickname in high school? Acting crazy, he came up to us and asked you,"do you want to be popular?". Hahaha, who does that? We thought he must be a pervert and ran away but he still ran after us. Hahahaha. Everyday he would come at the closing hour to ask you if you wanted to be popular, hahaha. That was the time we also labeled him, Crazy Charlie." Selena said between sporadic laughs.

Nina also laughed fondly at the memory, "I thought he was a scammer or a kidnapper who wanted to lure us with the promise of fame. So we always avoided him and there was one time big brother almost beat him to death and threatened to call the police if he appeared around us again, yet he still came the other day!" Nina said while stifling a laugh when she remembered how silly Charlie had been back then.

"We finally believed him when he took us all to his little studio and showed us all his legal documents and only then agreed to sign the contract with him at the time. Who would have thought that my one careless decision turned out to be one of the best I ever made?"

Selena nodded her head like a little chicken and replied smilingly, "Hmm, he did keep his promise."

In the middle of them reminiscing, Nina abruptly remembered she had a photoshoot that morning and looked grudgingly at her little irresponsible assistant, "Lena, don't you remember I have a photoshoot later this morning?"

Selena looked puzzlingly at her and answered, "Of course I do remember but isn't it supposed to be at 10am?"

"You are really irresponsible, it is at 9am, not 10!"

Selena instantly jumped up from where she sat, "I am dead, I am so dead! Charlie is gonna kill me if he finds out I got the time wrong again!"

"Calm down, okay. It's only five minutes past eight. We can still make it if we go right now. I just don't want to have a reputation for being a diva."

"Yes yes, let's go quickly. I don't want to have a salary cut again. That capitalist is always looking for ways to save money." Selena said somewhat hatefully as she grabbed Nina and dragged her along.

-

Nina was shooting the cover for a fashion magazine, Orchid. After the shooting session, the photographer came up to her, "It was really nice working with you, Nina", He raised his hand for a handshake and continued, "Every angle was perfect and your expressions was on point. I have been working with other models for a very long time but you could be said to be the model I am most satisfied with. I really hope I could get the chance to work again with you."

Nina also raised her hand to shake his hands politely and withdrew hers speedily before it could make contact. 

"You flatter me too much. It was also nice working with you. If there is a chance to work with you, I will gladly accept," She said coldly.

After that, she watched as the photographer went away.

Selena then walked over to her side and informed her that Charlie needs her presence at the company..