"Cut!"
The photographer furrowed at the pictures he'd taken. A three model photoshoot, every next picture was made worse by Dejen's poses. This was no way near the talent Ana had assured him.
If it was anyone of the two boys, he would already have ejected them but he was working with a Mensa. Dismissing him was hardly an option & he detested that.
Dejen had just arrived at the photoshoot in Nairobi when Sipho texted him two pictures & the name Alvin Sawa. The excitement at seeing him once more had enamored him. Short dreads were a better look on him & he was happy, smiling cheekily at the camera.
The name change made sense to Dejen as Ukasha had started a new life. He was already cooking what to tell him once he got to Johannesburg.
"Dejen..?" Ana called out to him from behind the cameras.
"Are you ok? Where are you?"
When Dejen saw the excerpts, he realized he was off
"Im sorry... Can we try again please?" he held his hands together.
"Let's do the singles first", the photographer replied.
Dejen took a deep breath stepping back onto the podium.
"Nice....Nice...."
"Now this is what I'm looking for!"
"Where has this Dejen been?"
The triad retake was a success, Dejen outshining his comrades. He was happy to finally deliver & afterwards excused himself for the dressing room to change & leave for the airport.
Dejen was no stranger to South Africa. He'd been to every continent, SA one of the few countries multiple times. He had family & friends there; Nimrod his elder brother residing in Sandton were he co-run the family's mining business, his cousins Selene & Dawit, & Jawaad, his brother's best friend residing in Cape Town, with whom Dejen had had his first guy encounter.
When he touched down Jo'burg the next morning, Nimrod had sent a car to collect him but Dejen instructed the driver to take him to the Sipho's office first.
"Good morning Mr Mensa, how was your flight", Sipho greeted.
"I want to know everything....", Dejen sat.
"Okay. Now I couldn't find anyone with that name you gave me, Ukasha Kintu", he turned on his desktop. "I checked Aga Khan's records but there was nothing..."
"Really?", Dejen stared at his former school's website.
"Yes. Social media proved more helpful, I did get some results when I looked up his name on facebook. I got some old photographs from when he was tagged. Here..", he opened another tab.
"Wow, he was young here..", Dejen smiled.
"He was thirteen there..", Sipho edged in.
"Forward them to me", Dejen added.
"Now I tried talking to these people about his whereabouts but they did not know. Next I used these pictures to make an AI facial reconstruction of what he'd look like now & I got this.."
"Wow...this is him", Dejen beamed.
"Almost.. I did a search with this picture in the database & got a 99% match. Alvin Sawa. I got those pictures I sent you from his facebook."
"Its him. It has to be", Dejen asserted. "Where is he?"
"He's here. In Jo'burg. He attends Greenview college"
"Okay thank you", Dejen scurried out, instructing the driver to take him to the college.
They pulled up on the college grounds at lunch, Dejen noticing his hands were shaking & he was starting to sweat a little. He took a minute to take slow deep breaths before stepping out the back of the car. He went person by person, asking if they knew Alvin..
"How many times should I tell you, that's not me", Alvin handed back Polo's phone.
He was having chakalakas for lunch with his girlfriend Palesa, & his friend Polo & his girlfriend Ayana, & his friend Menzi & his girlfriend Zintle.
