|| 01. PAIZE 3 ♥ ||
Reaching Jojo’s office, Mohana relayed “Talk to Shaan Designs we are doing the photo shoot for December”
“Yes Miss Mohana! Exciting! This is very exciting! Have you looked at those muscles on his abdomen, every time he wears those tshirts you can see each ripple! Everyone’s going to go so crazy!..” with stars in her eyes Jojo continued “..Omar Shaan! Shirtless! On the cover of Sophista! That will go along so well with his exposé. It would be the highlight for both Sophista and him for years to come” she dreamily exhaled a breath, her cheeks glowing with color.
Images of his handsome shirtless body, wearing only the blue denim jeans ran through Mohana’s mind from their encounter. She inwardly groaned “For the photo shoot, uh maybe not shirtless? It’s December? But yeah talk to the crew and uhm do we have to do the exposé? I was thinking we change things a little, you know just the cover sort of would do his magic, he’s so popular, so we go with that and then convince his team for an exposé interview sometime later? For another issue in a few years?”
Her assistant’s face visibly fell, she looked at Mohana with sad eyes “No exposé? I can understand you’re really busy Miss Mohana, you don’t even get time to eat, but how will we manage the fan mail? They will slaughter us alive! My friends have their own questions for Omar Shaan and our entire women crew is waiting to hear his answers and then Leya has decided he needs to go shirtless, those muscles aren’t worth hiding and she already told me she wants to make her husband jealous so we’re going to the beach for the photo shoot”
“Why are Leya and the entire crew already waiting? How does everybody even know, I just told you his decision” Mohana looked at her assistant puzzled
Jojo gave her the widest smile “Everyone knows your power Miss Mohana! You don’t take no for an answer and upon hearing your name they transferred the line directly to him, he couldn’t have possibly said no to you, which already ensured it was a definite deal”
“My name? His office reads Sophista?” Mohana checked with Jojo who remained ecstatically delighted that their call had been immediately routed to Omar Shaan himself “They must! Who doesn’t know you! I informed them that I am Jojo from the offices of Miss Mohana at Sophista and you would like to talk to them. And before I could even blink, his assistant said they’ll route you to him! Directly! I will have the team clear up your calendar and you can take a break and do the exposé interview with him on the locale itself”
“No! um no I am.. I am not going anywhere. There are tons of things and I can’t push them. If we decide to do the exposé let’s plan for it in my office itself, but get his permission, send his team some samples if he doesn’t want to participate or you know, talk about all the things and whatever..because he will be busy? So we can plan to postpone it” Mohana offered
Jojo nodded her head, scribbling points on her device “Your name will suffice Miss Mohana, but yes I’ll send along samples and I’ll have Leya plan a day trip for the photo shoot to adjust around your schedule”
“It’s not really necessary, Leya knows the game and her husband also needs that whatever..the jealously thing..I won’t be needed, what will I even do there” Mohana frowned wanting to escape the possibility of any such overlap of time with Omar Shaan
Jojo looked at her sincerely informing “But he has never been on a cover photo shoot, who is going to help him?”
“Help?! He is a fashion designer, clothes are his thing” Mohana stated matter-of-factly
Jojo nodded in agreement “But for others. He dresses them, undresses them..” she dreamily sighed before continuing “..but he doesn’t walk the ramp himself, and he signed up for this because you will be there”
“Me? Why will I be there?” Mohana frowned her heart beating rapidly at the mere mention
Showing Mohana the screen, Jojo informed earnestly “Yes! Just as you came here, I received this from his assistant..” looking at the note she read aloud “..Shaan Designs is pleased to accept the opportunity to feature on the December cover of Sophista journal. Mr. Omar Shaan would also like to extend his appreciation to Sophista’s editor-in-chief for her partnership through this photo shoot. Without her agreeing to accompany him through this process, this might not have been an easy decision. You can contact me for discussing the details and our team will help with the scheduling. I am including here some times that he will..”
“Ya. Right. Ok. Ya. But there seems to be some misunderstanding. I don’t do photo shoots, I only approve them” Mohana ran a nervous hand through her blonde tresses
Tapping the pencil on the screen Jojo considered “Yes, Miss Mohana, I am assuming they want you to accompany so that you can guide the team on what you have in mind and approve the shoot right away. He might not be after all very comfortable on the camera”
“He is fashion designer! He and camera are sort of always together” Mohana stated with obviousness ignoring the rattling of her heart
Jojo thoughtfully nodded “Well, in his focus interview series with us, he said he is mostly surrounded by his sketching pad and mainly fabric, there’s no mention where he says he is comfortable on the camera..”
Mohana rolled her eyes at how her assistant remembered the details from their focus interview, while she herself couldn’t overcome the enigma of Omar Shaan it seems no one else could either.
Jojo was still explaining “..and people can be shy, you are so shy, despite of all that you continue to achieve”
Mohana blinked in confusion “Shy?! I don’t think I am shy! I am a journalist, I talk to everybody and I am out there interacting with people. Everyday”
Jojo comfortingly added “Yeah of course but that’s work, it’s no easy feat being an editor-in-chief for something as large as Sophista at any age let alone yours. You manage law school alongside to this, as if this all is as straightforward as it could be. No one would believe you handle such crazy responsibilities if they found you drinking coffee in a cafe but that’s the problem, you don’t sit and drink coffee in a cafe. And one of the reasons is because you are shy. And anyone can be shy, you do your work and yes you do all those exposé with celebrities but you are very shy. We all know that”
“All?! Like here in our team?” Mohana exclaimed her mind in jumble at the odd turn the conversation had taken
Jojo puckered her lips in thought “I don’t think all, as in the entire all. Others only see the surface but mostly everyone with whom you are close to, like Sir Gallaghair definitely knows you’re shy”,
“Sir Gallaghair?!..” Mohana confusedly repeated “..but he’s my boss, he doesn’t think am shy, definitely not”
“Definitely yes, very reserved and timid were his words” Jojo confirmed with emphasis
“Of course not! Timid! I can’t be timid and I am not shy or reserved or anything like that. Not at all. Not even close” Mohana heatedly contradicted. Her cheeks fused with more color, inherently aligning with the conviction Jojo expressed than her own words.
“Sure Miss Mohana, then I will let Shaan Designs know that you’ll accompany Omar Shaan for the shoot and we can do the exposé at the beach itself” Jojo pleasantly smiled, stars in her eyes appearing to return at the mention of the cover shoot
“No! If we plan to do the exposé, we do that here in my office. Because..uhm because my university stuff is all here. What if I have to work on an assignment or anything prior to the meeting..” Mohana struggled to convince herself that she didn’t want to be spending time with that handsome hunk more than what was required “..It has nothing to do with being reserved and for the life of me why would I be shy of a random stranger who designs beautiful things”
“Of course Miss Mohana, I’ll make sure to manage your calendar for the travel plans strictly for the photo shoot and we will come back to do the exposé” Jojo sweetly iterated making notes alongside
“Ya. And he’s all that good looks and everything that you keep telling me so we can approve this whole thing quickly” Mohana emphasized wanting to keep her interactions with this causing-havoc-to-her-heart man to a minimum
“Yes Miss Mohana. I’ll have Leya coordinate all the details and we will run the plan with you before hand. We have to take care of everyone being so shy! Of cameras and people and everything” Jojo added a few more bullets to her digital device
“But?! That..I am not shy! You need to call Roja and ask him to get me everything on bold women, articles, movies, all that they do and I’ll show you the similarities” Mohana stated confidently
“Roja! No, of course not, he won’t know what to send you, he is media archeologist for crying out loud..” hopping to sit on her desk Jojo eagerly informed “..but Leya told me, men like bold women! Her husband really likes when she’s doing all the moves. That’s why she likes making him jealous! And in an interview with Chanceys, Omar Shaan was quoted that he likes his women bold too. You see, it’s all the craze these days. I’ll ask Leya to send you the series though I hardly think you’ll have time to watch all the sections, but she can make a list of all things that she does to be bold”
“Um ok and we can compare then you’ll be convinced and we can tell Sir Gallaghair too and all those people. And uh was there anything else?” Mohana enquired
“She can send you a lot of material, she’s an expert, she has taught me everything I know” Jojo happily informed
“Yes. Yeah. Tell her to send me whatever but I was thinking, that article with Chanceys? And if there was anything else they said?” Mohana checked
Jojo heaved a sigh “Oh Chanceys. Nah Chanceys is Chanceys nothing quality, they had a list of all women whom Omar Shaan has had affairs with”
“Right, yeah. Who cares” Mohana settled her hair consciously, wanting to ignore the pain shooting through her heart
“All those women definitely!..” Jojo wistfully sighed “..But yes, I heard him on the Couture Catwalk earlier where he said very tall heels are making a comeback and so is velvet! Do you think we should all get velvet dresses when he comes here for the exposé? That’ll for sure make him happy and he’ll know that we are always pioneering the trend!”
“Sure yeah. Do that. Coordinate with Salm” Mohana gave her a smile, mentioning their Sophista in house designer
The smile on Jojo’s face expanded with extreme excitement “Awesome! I have never been so thrilled for a photo shoot before! I am getting you a blue dress and I need a red one! I didn’t even talk to him properly the last time he was here for the focus series! He is so tall, like a walking candy that everyone wants to lick..”
“And that definitely needs to wait till you’re home, we’re still at work Jojo” Mohana kindly reminded her assistant
“That’s exactly why I love working here, so many handsome men and their glorious abs! And they are so kind! They have ruined the men beyond the Sophista offices for me. So this time am going to spend a lot of time with Omar Shaan” Jojo declared with all certainty
“Of course, you’re in charge. Take it from here. I’ll be in my office” Mohana informed turning to walk away
Jojo excitedly called “Have fun! Don’t overwork yourself, I’ll get you the list from Leya and we’ll go over it”
“Yes boss, I’ll prove it to you” Mohana confirmed smiling at the order from her assistant
