Chương 4: Chapter 4: #vote4belle

"You did what!," Leo yelled at me from the side, "It's bad enough that I have to bribe the jury, now we have Miss Perfect on our backs. I felt so sorry for her, I wanted to help, I don't know what got into me," I returned contritely. He buried his face in his hands in reply: "Let's not argue, we have a lot of work to do today." We entered the street on the other side of the city, thanks to the underground canal system it was no challenge to get from A to B quickly. "Remember what I told you, I'm your brother and I wanted to be in the photoshoot, got it?" "Really? I'm not a little kid anymore Leo, I know very well what I'm saying." He made another comment, of course: "Yes, of course, I noticed that Belle." I boxed him against the side and kept walking, as I suspected he would, he once again pretended not to mind. Madame Parisie noticed us from a distance, she waved at us. As we got closer I saw her filming with her mini camera: "And this, my darlings, is my protégé, Belle," she held her camera close to my profile, "You can say hello, she doesn't bite." I had to swallow, but your kick on my foot made me fall into character: "Hello, you humans out there, I'm Belle." I put on my friendliest fake smile. She picked up the phone again: "Isn't she lovely, the little one? You have to help her make it to the throne, support us with the #vote4thebeautybelle, and among all helpers, I will raffle a prize. Of course, I will also be filming everything from start to finish, just 4 fun, isn't that a nice play on words? Today we are going to put together the application portfolio and therefore we are at Mary photos and Model GmbH. #noproductplacement." She grinned and made a cut: "Let's go inside you beauties." As soon as we were inside and I could see again, because of the glare, I was put on a chair. We're going to turn you into a beauty," Leopold smiled at me in the mirror. Don't push it," I hissed between smiles. "Oh Belle, every girl would like to be a princess," he teased me. , "I'm not every girl though, once I get these naughty nails I'll scratch you next time." He smiled amusedly as if he didn't take me in his stride, as he did every time: "Sure." He left and I was "beautified", then placed in front of a white screen. "Oh, isn't she cute," Madame whispered to Leo. He looked at me as if I were the ninth wonder of the world. "He's so embarrassed, your brother has probably never seen you looking so adorable." The photographer spoke up: "If you don't mind, I'd like to get started." Madame pulled her camera out of her pocket and started filming again. Be natural, think of yourself winning and the prince standing by you." I almost started laughing, that was the most disgusting thing ever. Belle, pull yourself together, you have a mission to fulfil, be believable, I said to myself. I started to pose without thinking much about how and why, but according to the shouts and the flashes I seemed to be doing a good job. I looked at the result on the monitor, I had to admit I didn't look bad. Madame was talking to the photographer in a corner and I remained seated with Leo, of course leaving plenty of distance between us. "Who were you thinking of when you stood there?" I didn't have to think long: "No one!" I see, are you sure about that?" he asked. I felt my cheeks start to glow, but I put it down to the heat in the room. You're turning red," he said mischievously. "Nonsense," I dismissed it, "I'm just warm, that's all." I stood up and went to the others. "Darling, we were evaluating the perfect picture and came across this one." She showed it to me. I stood there all confident, with a smile on my face. My green eyes were shining at me. I didn't know I could look so beautiful, I nodded: "Yes, that's perfect."