The Comfort Of Her Presence

CHAPTER 7

JAY'S POV

This is the last day of our shoot, and today, Aditi seems different. She's full of energy, holding a camera and clicking pictures of everyone around.

Very Beautiful × 1000

We have several shoot locations lined up, so we started early in the morning. Right now, we’re at a quaint little bookshop, and she absolutely loves it. She’s moving around, snapping photos of the crew, the set, the books, everything.

"Hey..." she calls out to me, her camera already pointed in my direction.

"Smile!" she says, clicking before I even have a chance to react.

"I wasn’t ready," I tell her, half-laughing, half-protesting.

She walks over to me, glancing at the camera screen. "It’s called candid," she says with a playful grin.

She takes another look at the picture and smirks. "Nice. I think I’d do a great job as a wildlife photographer," she teases.

"You saying I’m an animal?" I shoot back with a grin of my own.

She chuckles. "Well, you're not exactly posing like a human."

She shows me the picture, grinning mischievously. "Look, you kinda look like an ostrich or something similar," she teases, her eyes twinkling as she teases me.

"Heyy..." I protest, half laughing, half genuinely offended.

But she just laughs, that carefree laugh of hers, and moves on, wandering further to click pictures of others on set.

----

We finish the shoot at the bookshop and head off to the lake. Now, we're sitting in a boat, drifting gently on the water. Aditi is still holding her camera, capturing the beauty around us, lost in her own world. The view is stunning, and for some reason, I feel the urge to capture this moment.

I quietly open my phone camera and click a picture of her. She notices right away.

"Hey!" she starts to protest, but I click another one before she can stop me.

"That's not fair!" she says, her voice playful.

I look at the picture and can't resist teasing her, "You look like a goldfish, pouting like that."

"Let me see it," she demands, reaching for my phone.

"Nope, only I'll see this masterpiece," I tease, holding the phone away from her. She pouts again, and I can't help but laugh.

"Come on, guys," the director says, cutting through our playful banter. "Stop playing now, let's focus."

We both straighten up, trying to pay attention.

"For this scene, Aditi, you'll come close to his neck and sniff him... romantically," the director explains. I notice Aditi nodding, though she looks visibly annoyed.

"Super cheesy," she mutters under her breath.

"I can hear everything," the director says.

"I know, but you can't change the fact that it's cheesy," she replies, a little louder this time. The director gives her a look, clearly irritated.

She mutters to herself, just loud enough for me to hear, "He makes us sniff each other all the time like we're dogs."

I can’t help but laugh.

"Aditi, it's a perfume commercial. What do you want me to do? Make you guys do karate or something?" the director says, his tone exasperated.

"Okay, okay," she gives in, shaking her head slightly as she prepares for the scene.