Imperfectly Perfect

"If only I wasn't this way", Zainab muttered, running her hands on the patches in her face. The weight of her insecurities overwhelmed her as she stared at herself in the mirror. The rays of the early morning sun upon her skin like highlighting the patches on her beautiful skin.

She wore baggy jean pants with a white pair of sneakers and a black t-shirt with the logo 'Lagos Fashion Week' boldly printed on its breast pocket. And at the back of her t-shirt was the word 'photographer', a work she had done for the past seven years. She had opted for photography in the fashion world after giving up on her dreams of trying to be a model because she felt she was imperfect in a world where beauty was regarded.

Zainab had vitiligo.

Today was part of those days when she got to cover a fashion show and watch other models live the dream life she had wanted while she captured their flawlessness from behind a camera. Today was the Lagos Fashion Week show.

"Zainab, are you ready?" Lila, her friend, called out from the other side of the room. Cutting her off her thoughts.

"Almost", she replied, grabbing her make-up bag and applying some finishing touches to her face, trying so hard to cover the patches as much as she could. But the more she tried the more the patches remained there, reminding her that that's who she was and couldn't hide it.

"Girl, don't tell me you're trying to cover your uniqueness with make-up again. How many times are you going to try that till you realise that it can't be covered because that's what makes you unique?" Lila said, walking into the room.

Zainab quickly dropped the makeup and grabbed her camera bags; then she walked out of the room, dragging Lila along. "Please don't say any other thing, let's just go", she said, her face drawn with disappointment.

They arrived at the venue of the fashion week and everywhere was buzzing with activity. The event hall had a large number of people, and the backstage was flooded with a lot of models getting prepared to walk the runway.

Zainab tried so hard to avoid going backstage. She didn't love what it made her feel

"Come on, we have to get a good spot by the stage," Lila asked, dragging Zainab closer to the stage.

And with each model that walked the stage, they clicked their cameras, nodding at the beautiful pictures they were getting.

While Zainab was engrossed in getting a clean shot, Lila tapped her from behind. She spun around to see her friend all smiles and ticklish.

"Is that handsome guy flirting with you with his camera?" she asked, pointing to a handsome photographer at the other end of the stage. He had his focus on Zainab.

Zainab turned to see who Lila was referring to, and truly, the guy had his camera on her. She began to panic "Oh my God" she exclaimed.

"What?" Lila asked, focused on the stage and still clicking pictures.

"He's mocking me, Lila. By tomorrow I might be in the blogs and.. and people will get to make fun of me" Zainab replied panicking

"Come on Zainab. What if he likes you?" Lila turned to look at her friend, who by now was walking away. "Where are you going?" she yelled, the loud music drowning her voice. Realising Zainab was off to confront the photographer she couldn't stop her even if she tried. She simply shrugged her shoulders and continued taking pictures

Meanwhile, Zainab marched up to the photographer, who smiled at her as he saw her approaching.

"Hey," he said, smiling.

"I'd like you to stop taking pictures of me and delete the ones you took", Zainab ordered, folding her arms with all seriousness.

"Okay", the photographer mumbled, shocked at Zainab's reaction. "I'm Andre; you know I meant to come show you how beautiful you look in those pictures", he replied, still surprised.

"Or to tell me how you plan on setting me up for drags on the internet tomorrow because of my skin", Zainab replied without an atom of a smile on her face.

"Woah. Why would you even think that? I mean your skin, it's unique, exactly why I had to take the pictures, not to mock you but to show you off," he explained, raising an eyebrow.

"Just delete it, Andre!" Zainab yelled.

"Okay, I'll. But before I do that can you at least take a look?" He pleaded.

Zainab was reluctant at first, but then her curiosity heightened. Andre proceeded to show her pictures of her he had taken with his camera, and there she was, beautiful, laughing and being just herself, with every detail of her skin standing out.

Adre could see the surprise on her face, he asked "I guess you don't take many pictures of yourself"

"Not really," she muttered, looking down.

"And here I was thinking you're perfect and will do well as a model" he replied

Zainab didn't say a word. She just let those words sink into her. If only he knew how she wanted to be one so badly, and she wasn't going to explain to a stranger that modelling was once a dream.

She looked at him. "Just delete them", she said and walked back to Lila.

The rest of the show was a whirl of emotions for her.

A few days later, Zainab huddled up in her bed, editing some photos. She had her earphones on and loud music playing the cool evening sun creating a natural background drop in her room. She looked up to see Lila barged into her room all smiles. Quickly, she pulled off her earphones.

"What's wrong, Lila?" She asked, scared.

"Girl you need to see this. You're trending!" Lila announced.

Zainab panicked and got off her bed and paced up and down. "I asked that guy to delete my pictures. Now he has set me up for internet drags. I'm going to be a meme," she bit her teeth together.

Lila looked at her, squinting her eyes. "Girl, stop being childish. You're trending for good reasons" She handed the phone over to Zainab "Read out loud I want to hear them"

Zainab took the phone and She couldn't believe her eyes. The comments were overwhelming “Why does she have a camera! She should be on the runway! ” one person wrote. “Gorgeous! That skin!” another commented. Zainab looked at her friend, speechless.

"That's not all. A modelling company wants to work with you" Lila replied taking her phone back and walking out of the room "If I were you, I'd be checking my emails now for offers that might be rolling in"

A few months later, Zainab was backstage, this time not as a photographer but as a model. She had checked her mail and taken up an offer sent to her to a model from a renowned company. She still couldn't tell how it happened but she knew André must have leaked those pictures even with her warnings.

Well, now she was grateful he did, it had brought her luck. She just wished to see him again to thank him and ask how it all happened.

Prepared and ready to strut the runway, she stood backstage waiting for her turn when she felt a tap on her shoulders.

"See I was right. You're perfect" a voice said from behind

She turned to see Andre standing there with his camera hanging on his shoulders. He still had a smile like last time on his face

"Andre" she called.

He smiled. "Okay, first I'll have to say I didn't leak your pictures. I mean, I did, but not the way you're thinking. I just submitted the pictures I took to my company. Little did I know that one of your pictures that I missed while deleting was among them. The company uploaded it," he explained.

Zainab chuckled, she wasn't angry at him. She was grateful the pictures got out. Finally, she was living her dream with fear of her skin
"It's crazy that I'm not angry that they got out. I'm happy they did. I'm finally living my dream"

"Your dream?"

"Yeah, modelling has been my dream. That was why I took a job as a photographer to be close to what I wanted to do." She explained.

"So why didn't you," Andre asked interested in her story

"Well, I thought I wasn't perfect for it", she replied, a tiny tear in her eye. "Isn't it stupid sometimes how we let our insecurities limit us?" she asked, blinking hard to hold back the tears

Andre nodded "It is. You know I didn't really get your name"

"It's Zainab," Zainab replied in a low tone.

"See you around, Zainab," Andre said.

"Sure," she replied.

Andre turned and walked away.

"Hey, Andre!" Zainab yelled at Andre as he walked away. He turned to look at her. "Thank you," she added.

Image source

This story was inspired by prompt 56- perfection