Chapter 206 - Czapter 9 Human Goods

Marek Marczak was not a bad man, Dominik really wanted to believe it, and yet...

If Marek wanted to sell Dominik, the man he allegedly loved and slept with, for a film role, would he have qualms about someone he was indifferent to?

Five years ago, Dominik was naive and did not understand certain scenes happening in front of his eyes. But now he felt a great shame that he had been so stupid and would not respond when needed.

What happened to Adrian Amon? Why had he never seen him again after the party?

Why has Dominik never been interested in his fate?

Śliwiński climbed the stairs hard and threw himself on the bed in his bedroom. If it weren't for these two CBA agents, he would never have thought of Adrian, and they were once colleagues. They were not close, Dominik was close only with Marek, but they knew each other.

The young actor took out his smartphone and put 'Adrian Amon' in the search engine. The search engine thought for about a second and threw him several dozen pages of search, but on the very bore the message was clearly visible that there was no one that would contain both words.

But Amon was a nickname. Adrian could have changed him or simply existed under his real name, which is why Dominik found nothing. Adrian could just lead a perfectly normal life.

Are you sure it is completely normal?

Adrian was so excited that night! Big party with influential people. He had to smile nicely and made himself known to people. He was supposed to be polite and not to complain. He could have expected comments about his beauty, but they were spoken in good faith, because Adrian really was a pretty boy...

Today, enriched with the experience of last year, Dominik realized that at such parties a beginning actor or actress is little more than a living currency in which you pay for someone's favor. A currency that has no right to pride, honor or even tears.

Marek Marczak was the largest trader in the country.

Dominik should probably be glad that Marek did not want to sell him right away. What would happen to the young Śliwiński if he were told to pay for the role with his own body? Would Dominik be able to keep his heart?

Oh, Andrzej, how good it is that you found yourself next to Dominik when a painful understanding of what he really was for Marczak appeared in the heart of the young actor.

'I love you' Dominik sent this message without thinking. At this point, he just needed to tell his Andrzej about his love.

'I love you too' received an almost immediate reply, and his heart beat happily. This joy, however, brought tears to his eyes.

Did Adrian have someone who loved him?

***

Sylwia, Andrzej Nowicki's assistant, approached him with a half-face smile and, holding out his 10x15 photo and marker, asked:

"May I ask for an autograph?"

Andrzej looked at her speechless.

"Are you well?" he asked as he cooled down a little. "Besides, where did you get my picture from?"

"From the Internet," she replied. By J. Acutti. And I'm fine, thank you. Autograph!"

Sylwia shook the photo and marker in front of him. It was the first time he had been asked for an autograph, so he felt rather strange and awkward about it.

"Why do you need my autograph?" Nowicki frowned. "I'm not anyone famous."

"And here you are wrong, boss. Well, don't get asked again, because I'm starting to feel awkward."

"Me too," announced Andrzej and signed the photo. He felt so weird doing this, as if he was kissing a guy other than Dominik. "Just don't make me a celebrity," he pleaded, "or I'm going to die of shame."

"Don't worry, I won't. But you have to expect our models to want you even more."

Andrzej sighed loudly and heavily.

Even if he didn't have Dominik and he was still attracted to women, he wouldn't be dating models. It's not because he doesn't respect these girls, because he respects them very much, but Andrzej was just that terribly honest type who would absolutely not allow himself to have an affair at work.

At this point, admittedly Nowicki was in a situation where he happened to work with a person with whom he had an relationship, but it was something completely different. After all, he will not break a beautiful relationship with the person he loves, just to fulfill the terms of the contract. Besides, Andrzej never decided to hire Dominik. Their cooperation was imposed in advance. If he had an affair with one of the models, people might chatter and he favors her, or she might complain that in order to avoid suspicion of favoritism, he discriminates against her.

Of course, many models have had affairs with photographers or managers. Some did it for a career, others, like Dominik, because of love. Girls (and boys) who spent a lot of time with someone found it easier to fall in love with photographers and managers quite easily.

Andrzej Nowicki did not announce that he was dating someone, but his relationship with Dominik was an open secret. Their legend was mysterious and romantic, so beautiful that Andrzej felt like a prince from some fairy tale who saved the princess by defeating the dragon.

I wonder what Dominik would say knowing he was the princess that was saved.

He would probably flutter his eyelids and stick his asshole out to Nowicki.

Andrzej shook his head, chasing away the tempting prospect.

By the way, it was a little unbelievable how much Nowicki still craved this beautiful man. Since Andrzej accepted Dominik as his partner in bed, they both used to do all kinds of things in him, always hungry for each other. They made love so often that it was downright indecent, and yet Andrzej constantly had to shake off the obsessive, dirty thoughts about Śliwiński's delightful body. Was there any sense in that?

If it was, Nowicki did not see him. However, he knew that Dominik was making him happy.

"And you, Sylwia, when will you start applying for a job as a photographer? You know your photos are very good."

"I know," she admitted without false shame. "But I decided to start with what you have done now, which is to get to know the job from a different perspective first. It is true that not as a model, but as an assistant. I can learn a lot about the photographer's work from the kitchen and the whole business."

Andrzej nodded understandingly.

"I wish I had thought about it sooner," he said.

"I think you have gone through even better school," Sylwia replied quite seriously. "While working as paparazzi you got to know what really interests people, what they want to see. You don't work for some art studio, but for a company that makes money from sales, so you need to know what's in demand. With paparazzi experience, you know what people want to buy, so you know how to sell goods."

It was probably meant as a compliment, but Andrzej felt no pleasure or pride. He felt something very bitter and heavy.

The goods he was selling were yoghurts, handbags and clothes, or the models advertising them?

What was Andrzej really selling, things or… people?

***

This was show business and this was the market. In order for some to feel content, others sold them their talent and their beauty. It was normal, acceptable for thousands of years, and yet a little… tasteless.

Andrzej left work depressed. Since the public transport in Warsaw was very well developed, Nowicki used only its services for many months. He only took the car when he was planning major purchases or taking Dominik from somewhere. So while traveling on the SKM train, which would take him straight to Przystanek Wola Grzybowska, i.e. to the estate where he lived with Dominik, Andrzej looked thoughtlessly out the window. At one point he saw himself on a large LED screen.

Make-up artists, a hairdresser and appropriate clothing did their job, and Nowicki had a hard time recognizing himself. He was handsome and cool, and there was something alluring and seductive about his eyes. Pretty good, he said, looking at an advertisement for a new eau de toilette for men. The advertisement had elements of Roman holidays and Italy in general, combining the scent of sun and sea. The ad was done really well.

At that moment, Andrzej noticed that a couple of teenagers were watching him. The girls were glancing at him, at the advertising screen that was just passing. Apparently, they decided that the guy driving in the same car looked like the one outside the window. Nowicki felt uncomfortable and turned to hide his face.

He persuaded Dominik for a long time to dare to leave the house, but now he wanted to hide from the eyes of the world.

But he wanted to hug Dominik even more and apologize for not being able to put himself in his shoes so thoughtlessly.

He'll do it as soon as he gets home.