Chapter 111: Walking down a (small) red carpet
Journalists and photographs gathered around like a flock of curious, loud birds. Amid them fluttered the staff of the event and guests that gradually arrived at the event according to their schedule. Security guards stood at the key points around the area, keeping an eye out on anyone who tried to approach without checking for their ticket.
Compared to the huge red carpet events held for blockbuster movies, this event was very small. Counting all the people around, there were two hundred people present at the highest estimate.
The earlier guests came, the lower was their relative social rank here. Those who came later will gather the most attention from the gathered media.
Tristan and Nel stepped onto the red carpet almost the last, and were immediately assaulted by flashes of the cameras.
Today, after hours of priming, both men looked their absolute best!
They both wore formal suits, but Tristan\'s was pure black with a white shirt and black tie, evoking a faint feeling of danger without being obnoxious.
In contrast, Nel\'s was pure white, standing out in an entirely different way—but also tasteful, with a light blue shirt and white tie.
Both of them were practically glowing after all the spa treatments and careful work the stylists made with makeup to make it look like they had no makeup and were just naturally so perfect.
Even compared to all the actors gathered here, the charisma these two exuded made women swoon a little! At the same time, journalists were already coming up with future headlines about the couple in their head. Things like, \'Demon and angel—how fast will those new stars rise?\'
Tristan showed the cameras a practiced devilish smile and waved with fake casualness, making sure to hold the most striking poses he could as he walked. Even through the bright camera flashes, he managed to meet eyes with a few people present, striking an even better impression!
Nelson just grinned and waved with both hands, showing with all his face how glad he was to be here. But that heartfelt attitude, compared to the more refined of most other Hollywood people, was immediately endearing to many observers.
After walking down the carpet, Tristan and Nelson were asked to take a few photographs in front of the logo backdrops, which let Tristan pose for the cameras even more.
These poses were casual, and unlike women who came to those events in flashy and fashionable dresses, men rarely had notable opportunities to show off here.
But Tristan could just stand there and evoke the same stage presence as when he held a guitar in front of an audience. It was almost palpable.
[Ding!]
[You had impressed an audience of 54 people of varying status and skill. Reward: your CP increased by 900.]
Tristan flashed another smile at the journalists and stepped away from the backdrop. Nel followed him like a lost, but very enthusiastic, puppy.
Around them, the press was taking interviews with the movie actors, each of whom Tristan immediately recognized from the promotional information about the movie. However, he was surprised to not see the film director anywhere.
Then a stray journalist, who probably already interviewed everybody else he wanted, approached Tristan and Nel, sticking his microphone at both. A cameraman hung awkwardly behind the journalist\'s back.
"Greetings! I\'m Josh Backinston from the Liveline online newspaper. What do you expect of today\'s movie premiere, Mr. Gemello, Mr. Mayar?"
"I\'m sure it will be great!" Nel said immediately. "The trailer was awesome. I\'m usually not a fan of sad movies, but there was so much feeling in this one."
Tristan nodded and hummed, tapping his chin. "I agree. The director of his movie must be a true artist at heart. His previous movie was even cheaper than this one, but got excellent reviews from both critics and viewers, didn\'t it? He—"
A movement in the corner of his eye, and a gaze more intense than most others, suddenly attracted Tristan\'s attention. He turned in that direction and saw at least 6 feet tall man with long, not braided dark hair move along the edge of the event crowd.
That man was familiar—Tristan saw him in photos.
"It\'s that him? Asher Ilom?"
Josh the journalist gasped and looked in the same direction.
"He is! Huh, why is he moving like that? Artists can be eccentric sometimes, of course, and I heard some things like these about Mr. Ilom, but—won\'t he walk on the red carpet at least?.."
From what Tristan saw, the man clearly wanted to avoid the red carpet as much as possible. However, he was a head taller than most gathered people and stood out despite his best attempts.
In no time, the man was surrounded by journalists and cameras, and forced to reluctantly speak with them. Even Josh swam through the crowd toward Ilom, clearly finding him a more interesting target.
"How weird. This is his own opening event—shouldn\'t he be glad that there\'s all this attention? Instead, this guy seems like he\'s in huge trouble," Nel commented, staring at the ring of people around Ilom. "I want to help him out, but I have no idea how."
Stay connected with m-v l|e\'-NovelBin.net
Tristan tilted his head slightly.
"Well, this man was the one who invited us here despite having no connection with us, so he sure deserves some gratitude from us. And, we are supposed to just be networking and meeting new people, as Mr. Derek asked. Might as well start with this guy."
Nel\'s eyes lit up.
"You have a plan?"
"Not yet," Tristan said, grinning. "But I will come up with something, absolutely."
With those words, he marched toward Asher Ilom. His powerful aura made ordinary staff members and guests move from his way before he even approached them, but was this going to be enough to break through the hungry for news journalist sharks?