In the spotlight

17

Matteo Rodriguez

"Wait, so you can now speak fluently in up to three languages?" I asked in disbelief, continuing our conversation. We were both sitting inside the prestigious restaurant already, waiting for our orders to arrive.

The glass orbs covered lightbulbs illuminated the stylish wooden-covered walls next to us and the brick arch not so far from our table. I rented out a whole room separated from the main part of the restaurant to make sure that nobody could disturb our date in any way.

"Up to 5." She hid a mischevious smile behind a wine glass she lifted up to her mouth while taking a sip of the red liquor. She placed the glass right back down on the white tablecloth, moving the bottom of it with two of her fingers. As she snapped her head back towards me, seeing the shocked expression on my face, she chuckled.

"Norwegian and Russian as mother tongues from my mother and father; Korean from the University of Seoul; English from school and Stanford; and now French from Paris." The girl explained briefly.

"You went to two different universities?" This part caught my attention instantly. I remember her telling me she was a full-time model since the age of 13, but managed to finish university not even in the same place. The amusement in my tone was clearly audible.

"Mhm. Bachelors in Seoul and Masters in San José." She nodded, examining my features and probably thinking that she was boring me with all this school-related stuff. Quiet the opposite was happening however, I admired her intelligence and hard-working nature.

"Wow, I barely had time to finish one bachelor, let alone a masters." I laughed softly, which put a smile on her face as well. I couldn't have just missed out on an opportunity to talk about my scholar past after all.

"What did you major in?" Sofia leaned back on the chair slightly, crossing her legs under the table. Curiosity was dancing in her blue and brown eyes, as the light from above us was glistering in them. This look aroused unfamiliar feelings in me. I don't remember the last time when I could have a conversation about so much random stuff with someone I met not so long ago.

"What do you think?" I have never mentioned my degree before and wanted to see if she could guess it or not.

"I would say that it is definitely related to either medicine or biology." She didn't name it specifically, but her guess was very spot on.

"Great guess. Health sciences." I nodded a little before grabbing my own glass from the table, finishing off the white wine on the bottom of it. I maintained eye contact with the girl in front of me, who trailed her eyes up and down on my face, examining my features closely.

"Knowing your career, it wasn't a hard one, though." One side of her face stretched to a small smile as she traced her eyes back to meeting mine again. She leaned back towards me over the table, placing her right hand under her chin as she rested her head on it. The strong, flowery scent dulled my senses completely, as she was still waiting for me to say something.

"I would guess that yours is either related to law or fashion." I cleared my throat before continuing our conversation after placing the empty glass back in its place.

"Law?" She chucked softly, but very incredulously. To be fair, I had no clue why I said what I said. I just came up with two random degrees from the top of my head as I was still trying to clear my mind from the fog that she was causing me with her closeness.

"Was I a tiny bit close, at least?" I held my hand up, placing my thumb and pointing finger close to each other. From behind it, I could see that she was signaling the answer to my question with her head.