Bloody hell, I hate public places.

Simon himself did not fully understand why he had agreed to this adventure. His old childhood friend (one of the few with whom he remained in contact) was a teacher at the Academy of Art and asked Simon to become a model for students in one of the lessons.

"No offense, but you have a lot of scars and burns. It is important for them to portray the skin structure correctly."

"Isn't the Internet full of photos like this?"

"They don't pay big money to draw from the Internet."

Well, his friend was right about that.

And Simon had no choice but to take a deep breath and nod. It was his day off, and he had nothing to do anyway, so he could spend time away from his couch and the TV.

Simon climbed onto a small podium, in front of which sat students with easels, who were clearly intrigued by his mask. That was one condition he set – the balaclava stays in place. And he took off his shirt, immediately flexing his shoulder muscles instinctively.

He tossed the fabric of his shirt aside, and that's when his gaze caught on you. You were sitting on Simon's left side, with an easel in front of you, and your gaze…

You weren't looking at him like a starved animal. You didn't even look disgusted at the sight of his disfigured skin, which had seen many wounds and even surgery. You just... looked at it as a work of art that was about to be examined, and put on paper.

And that was exactly what got Simon so hooked on you.