“HELLO,” Lance greeted with a smile. “You must be Yujin and Astrid. I’m Lance. Let’s do our best today.”
“Hello, Mr. Reid,” the two greeted almost at the same time.
“Don’t be so formal. I will feel too old if you continue calling me ‘Mr.’,” Lance said with a playful tone and smile. “Just call me ‘Lance’.”
Astrid secretly observed the other. There was nothing wrong with Lance Reid’s tone of voice. Even the other’s smile was just normal and not as fishy as he expected. Of course, this didn’t mean that he would put his guard down.
Maybe this guy just wanted to loosen their defenses and then attack once they’re vulnerable. He knew he’s being too judgmental. But that’s certainly better than being careless. Especially when the person in question had that kind of history.
“Then we will do so, Lance,” Astrid said with a polite smile.
It’s better to play along for now. Showing that their different would only attract the other’s attention more.
Yujin also called the other by his name, probably thinking along the same line as Astrid.
Then, the photoshoot started.
Since the characters of the three of them were half-brothers who didn’t get along, they didn’t need to stand close to each other. Which was just fine. At least, there wouldn’t be a need for unnecessary skinship. – Astrid thought.
He thought that the shoot would go smoothly until the end, but when they were about to change location, a weird incident happened. Lance walked past between him and Yujin. That moment the other did, some kind of scent assaulted Astrid’s senses.
It was not a bad smell. In fact, it smelled very good. It’s hard to describe the scent. But it’s like a combination of all things that smelled good. Like the most expensive perfume. Strangely enough, Astrid only furrowed his brows when he smelled this scent. As if what he smelled was a cow dung instead of an expensive perfume.
It was then that he happened to glance at Yujin. It was only for a brief moment but he saw the other had an intoxicated expression on his face while staring at Lance Reid’s back. Then, as if realizing that he just did something uncharacteristic of him, a confused expression appeared on his face.
The furrow on Astrid’s brows became even deeper. Just what was that? He didn’t know exactly what happened nor could he explain it. He just knew that it was definitely suspicious.
He narrowed his eyes at Lance’s back before walking beside Yujin.
“Are you alright?” he asked worriedly.
“I- I think so?” Yujin said, his confusion still prominent on his face.
“Did you know that you just looked at that guy as if he’s the most delicious morsel of meat you’ve ever seen?” Astrid said in a whisper.
Yujin was stunned when he heard that. “I- I did?”
At Astrid’s nod, he looked even more confused. He stopped as if trying to remember what just happened. And upon realizing that he really did what Astrid said, he frowned. His face full of disbelief.
“Why would I do that?” he asked, more to himself.
“Try not to get too close to him,” Astrid could only say. “And, as much as possible, don’t inhale his scent.”
He had a feeling that this ‘weirdness’ originated from that damn scent. He wasn’t sure if that was Lance’s natural body odor or if it was some kind of diabolical perfume that the other used to seduce people. He just knew that that was the reason for what happened to Yujin just now.
If it was some sort of perfume, then that meant that Lance was not as harmless as harmless as people thought he was. Because he basically put on a scent that had some sort of aphrodisiac effect. There’s no way the other didn’t know about that.
But if it was so, was it even possible for such a perfume to be manufactured? In his opinion, only someone in his Uncle Leigh’s caliber could develop something like that. Let’s say that some underworld scientist did it. Wouldn’t this kind of product be popular amongst a lot of young people? But he had never heard any rumors about this.
Then, there was the possibility of it being Lance’s natural body odor. Having a natural scent that gave off such an effect, wouldn’t it be similar to a pheromone? But could a person really possess a pheromone that could directly seduce people?
There’s one possibility that Astrid could think of. That Lance Reid actually possessed an ability related to pheromones.
But even that guess had a lot of loopholes. After all, abilities were mostly based on physical or mental. Like super strength or telekinesis. Having seductive pheromones didn’t really fall in those two categories.
Astrid took a calming breath. He should call Wulfric later and asked if he knew any similar abilities.
For now, he should be more careful. Especially with such an unknown variable.
The shoot continued. No incident like what happened earlier happened again. So, the shoot ended up smoothly. Only that, just right after, Yujin quickly left with his agent as if someone was chasing him.
Which was understandable. The other was probably very shaken because of what happened. He just held it in because of the photoshoot, showing just how much of a professional he was.
Astrid also did the same and quickly pulled Ellis out of there. He didn’t even bother changing out of his costume.
“Did something happen?” asked Ellis as they rode the land vehicle. “I noticed that both you and Yujin acted weird at the middle of the shoot.”
Astrid wasn’t surprised that the other had noticed that. “Let’s just say, I don’t want to be around Lance Reid for more than I should.”
Since he didn’t have any evidence of what Lance did, he didn’t want to tell Ellis information that was only based on his assumption. Still, he believed that this Lance Reid was much more dangerous than what he and Ellis first thought.