Asmo's Love

Impromptu

THE BLINDING FLASHES OF the cameras instantly enamored and captured me into a dreamy fog as I eagerly preserved a steady composure and kept a delicate smile pasted on my lips. The overflowing attention focused on me left an extremely flattering feeling as I stood beside Leo in the midst of this sea filled with luxurious individuals.

This was all just a part of the strategy tonight. It was one way to bring my value up in the market. And it seemed that I was bounded to play the part of the aspiring novel attraction to draw interest from producers and well-known designers like Leo in this party.

I have to admit, the inherent skills that I had developed from the last two years of parading myself on various auditions, castings, and commercial shoot projects really did its magnificent work to this very moment. I almost forgot who I really was in front of these dazzling people who immediately took notice of my newness and peculiar anonymity. But I don't think my mere appearance really had something to do with their sudden inquisitive glances, their entire curiosity just all boiled down to the mysterious affiliation I have with Leo.

Relevantly, he is a huge deal in this whole scene of social extravagance. And as we engrossed ourselves to this overwhelming absurdity, eyes continued to follow us around and groups of affluent people flocked all over Leo like birds asking to be fed with familiarity. My appearance with him had also brought up blunt inquiries from a few as they pestered Leo with questions about who I was.

"He's my rookie model," he simply told them in lazy disregard and he would turn to give me a sidelong glance while he smirked with subtle mischief. "I just brought him here so he will get accustomed to the industry and meet people in the field."

I used to think that the rich society would never give a spare of curiosity to something that does not give them the feeling of significance. But as I got indulged in the briefest experience of meeting these people in this event and witnessed them wonder who I was, I eventually concluded that any unfamiliar existence would perk their fickle interests. These rich people, who had been lounging under the limelight for most of their lives, seemed to display a comical behavior of greed and thirst for the smallest attention of any kind. It was amusing to watch them even try to impress me. Yet I knew that it was all just because Leo was there with me and his strong aura of superiority just made them more eagerly desperate to be acknowledged and be a part of his social circle.

"You're probably thinking how stupid this party really is, aren't you?" Leo asked me after a while as we sat beside each other on the deserted tall seats by the bar counter where no one seemed to take interest of. We chose this spot so that we can also put a reasonable distance from anyone who could hear our conversation now.

I turned to Leo upon hearing his question and simply smiled, not actually trying to reply.

"But then, receiving that insurmountable amount of attention, you have to admit, it really did excite you, didn't it?" He went on.

"I can't believe you have to put up with all those kinds of superficial pleasantries for so long and not feel like exploding," I bluntly stressed out as my words earned a sly chuckle from him. "But yeah, I have to agree, it was totally satisfying to get all those flippant compliments directed to me."

"I know," Leo laughed back and sighed, "But that is still just a small peek of the entire madness. I have to warn you," He remarked with an evident sternness and paused to take a sip on the glass of bourbon on his hand before continuing, "The rest of the iceberg down below could severely traumatize your untainted mind, just so you know."

"Well, it's not like I don't really know it all yet," I said to him, bitterly smiling, "My parents are insanely rich so I used to go to gatherings like this before. Though it weren't as annoyingly vain as this one but I totally got the whole gist of it. I mean, there's nothing wrong with being extremely rich. Having the resources to buy and run a company yourself is completely okay, I have nothing against it. It's just that I've already seen what it was like to be part of this world and I honestly found it a little bit unnerving. From what I had experienced after dealing with these kinds of people in the past, I actually felt how meaningless the sense of humility and fairness was to them after I saw how they used their money to win and manipulate people with worth and materialism. Money and dominance drove them to feel like they're always entitled to do anything they just want even when it's going past logical reasoning. And it actually happened to my parents. Both are big shots in their own jobs and they even think too highly of themselves. It was really annoying, watching them try to run their lives with their money as if it was a god. They really believed that having so much power and wealth could actually buy them anything in the world even human emotions."

"Wow. That's kind of harsh and also kind of true, I must say," I heard Leo commenting after a moment. Then I felt him shifting on his seat to look at me. He gave me a warm grin and said, "But you, my friend, have one hell of distorted philosophy about rich people."

"Funny that you say that now," I snorted back, chuckling, "I used to be one of them."

"And you're saying that you're not anymore?"

I paused and turned to stare back to Leo, mulling over his question as I let a smile formed on my lips.

"I want to believe so. Yes."

"Fair enough," Leo only replied, his voice sounded with vague finality. Shrugging, he then added, "But tonight, you have to let that extreme animosity go out of the window. Because starting at this point, you will again become a part of this whole absurd, self-conceited, highly narrow-minded circle of elitists that you've just blabbered on about. And you have to act that you really loved everything about it."

He was right.

"I'm prepared," I told him, staring back at those sea-green eyes as I confidently sat up and coolly fixed my tie that had gotten loose from all the casual talking a while ago. Leo still kept his gaze at me for a few more seconds and a playful smile slowly crept across his face as his eyes crinkled with apparent delight.

"Then, why don't we start fishing now?"

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