26 Live an Interesting Life

“The basic line will be human rights, but let's take sexual harassment as an example - sorry it is, but I recently saw an interesting program on this subject. I have the right to wear only my swimming trunks on the beach. If a woman looks at me with desire, if she looks at my manhood, and maybe even says I'm handsome, sexy, that she would like to, you know, does it will be a compliment, a pick-up or sexual harassment?”

“You know” Damian didn't know what to say “I never thought about it.”

“I have the right to freedom, to dress for the beach as it suits me. However, I have to reckon with the fact that someone has the right to express their opinion. So if I heard an unfavorable comment instead of a compliment, for example about size, would this person violate my personal dignity? Or was it a form of sadistic sexual harassment because the comment was about my masculinity?”

Completely by accident, completely unintentionally, Damian's gaze went between Rafał's legs and Radosz tried to imagine the size based on the bulge in his pants. It was not easy, but he decided that Brylski probably wouldn't have anything to be ashamed of.

"I didn't think about that either," Damian grunted, blushing, looking away and wondering how Rafał could be so bold, so direct?

“You see” continued Brylski “when I decided to become an actor, I realized that people will see me more and more often through the prism of my physicality, commenting on my face and my body. I may have to play a beach scene. Millions of people will be watching and judging me. Some will say that I am beautiful, others will laugh at me. I have seen on the internet that some even make pornography involving celebrities. To what extent will I have to tolerate it? If I were an ordinary person, I could have demanded that any offensive comments about my appearance be removed, but as a public figure I will have to put up with them, no matter how painful and humiliating they are. After all, these people also have freedom of speech and the freedom to express their opinion.”

"But that doesn't mean they can trample on your dignity! A public figure is also a human being and has its rights. Nobody is so mean and so low as to humiliate someone in public just because they have their own whim...”

“For sure?” Rafał entered his word and there was bitter resignation in his voice and face.

Damian remembered all those cases where hating actresses and actors, female and male singers, caused them severe depression and even attempted suicide. Some cases were reported in the media, others were covered up, and Radosz only knew about them because he entered the Asian entertainment world a few years ago. How many promising, more or less talented artists have been murdered by online warriors who felt they had the right to say anything?

Radosz wanted to assure Rafał that this would not happen to him, because he has talent and is very beautiful, but the more talent and beauty someone had, the more he aroused hatred and jealousy, and the more he was spat at and humiliated. He wanted to reassure him that such things do not happen in Poland, but Damian himself wanted to push Brylski out and promote him in Asia, and such cases were common there. They could have entered here at any moment, if they hadn't already done so...

The only thing Radosz could say was:

"As long as you are associated with my production, I will protect you," he said confidently. “I will not let such comments or hobbies of some people damage your reputation and your heart.”

“Thank you. I appreciate your words. But will other producers be so eager too? Do you know the saying: ‘Let them talk badly as long as they keep talking’? However, even negative advertising is advertising. If I want to get into this business, I have to be ready for this subject treatment. So harsh treatment on the part of Różycki is not something terrible in view of what may happen to me in the future.

True, this conversation started with the fact that Różycki treats Rafał badly on the set! Damian forgot about it completely, he was so engrossed in the current topic!

And Radosz had promised a moment ago that he would protect Brylski's heart!

But what does it mean to ‘protect’? Does it mean that Damian should lock him in a golden cage, completely isolate him from the dirty world? Or should he fight the whole world to get rid of this dirt that would hurt this man?

At the beginning he should somehow solve the problem between Brylski and Różycki. And what next?

Then, if there is a problem, Damian will just fix it on a regular basis.

As long as he is able to devote so much attention to Brylski. It is true that he was preparing him for a star, but Rafał was not his only investment and the whole The Fifth Capital needed his attention and not only he...

Meanwhile, there was something he very much wanted to know.

“But, if it is already so difficult now, and you predict it will be even more difficult, why did you decide to act anyway?” He asked, sincerely interested but also feeling deep sadness. What happened to the days when acting was a beautiful, joyful profession?

“I think I already told you. Only as an actor can I live so many interesting lives.”

***

Damian rolled restlessly to the other side. The conversation he had with Rafał Brylski today was very disturbing in many different ways. Too many for Damian to fall asleep on this hot and steamy night.

It was going to be a storm all evening, but it didn't come. There was a strong wind, there were black clouds, and there was even electricity hanging in the air. There were even lightning bolts that split the sky practically all over the horizon for several hours, but there was no storm. Not a single drop of rain fell, and as the wind subsided, it was stuffy again.

Perhaps it was the weather, not the conversation with Rafał that prevented Damian from falling asleep. Perhaps both of these factors came together. Clothed with his own sweat and immersed in uneasy thoughts about what Brylski had told him, Radosz could not find rest for himself.

Rafał Brylski was certainly not as weak and as naive as he seemed at first glance, and yet he evoked in Damian a previously unknown desire to surround someone with the most careful care. Rafał was understanding, gentle and trusting, but this trust did not result from naivety, but from... Well, what?

Although Brylski did not say anything directly, Damian got the impression that there was a wound somewhere inside him and that trust was a choice rather than a natural instinct. It was a strange feeling, actually not supported by anything specific, yet certain nuances of Rafał's voice, certain individual words in his speech suggested to Radosz that there is something more to the young actor than it seems. And something more painful. A bit as if Rafał decided to trust people, although he had serious reasons not to.

Rafał wanted to trust people, despite the fact that he had suffered some harm from them, unknown to Damian, and it was extremely heroic and admirable, and Radosz probably wanted to do everything so that Brylski would never be disappointed with people again.

Of course, Damian was not sure that it was happening, that Rafał actually carried pain within him, but he was ninety percent sure. He just sensed it by instinct, otherwise how? These suspicions were confirmed by Radosz's determination with which Brylski decided to become an actor, although he was aware of all the difficulties of this profession.

He wanted to be an actor because that was the only way to live a life that he couldn't really live.