"Apologies for the interruption," the pilot's voice crackled over the airplane intercom. "We are due to begin our descent down to Hong Kong International Airport in a few minutes. The weather in Hong Kong is at a pleasant 23 degrees Celsius, and we anticipate that we will land in Hong Kong in about half an hour and will disembark shortly after."
Charlotte fluttered her blonde eyelashes open, and lazily listened to the rest of the pilot's landing debriefing. She stretched her long legs, covered in gray sweatpants, in the exit row of economy class. '
At least my model agency got me exit row seats in economy with some leg room,
' Charlotte thought to herself with mild annoyance. She was a beautiful girl, and she knew it. She stood at around five foot nine inches, and often flaunted her glistening, forty-inch long legs with short mini-skirts and tight dresses. The light blush she applied on her face accentuated her high cheekbones and gorgeous face. The only trouble she had in her native France was that the model agencies considered her body, which boasted 34C-28-31 breast measurements and firm peach-shaped buttocks, to be too voluptuous for the high fashion runway world.
"Why don't you try going abroad? I know that Hong Kong has a lot of demand for foreign models. Maybe you'll find more success over there. We also have offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai as well." Her manager in the fashion agency, QM Modeling Agency, tried to lay out the possible options Charlotte had. "Otherwise, you may have to start doing less high fashion work, and do more swimwear modeling and possibly some Maxim-style shoots."
Charlotte was always drawn to the wondrous possibilities of Asia, and now that she had fulfilled her obligations to her parents and recently completed her university degree in physics at Cambridge, Hong Kong seemed like a good start.
Her model agency set up girls like Charlotte in co-living apartments in the Sheung Wan neighborhood. It was a twenty minute walk from the Central district, where high-powered businessmen and their financiers and lawyers deliberated on and decided on multi-billion dollar decisions, and where the big fashion labels unleashed their creative juices. Central district was also where the hard partying areas of Lan Kwai Fong and SoHo neighborhoods were located, where tipsy party goers would partake in the festivities, and live out Hong Kong's reputation to ''work hard, play hard.'
*************
"Hey Billy, can you take a look at the financials of QM Modeling Agency, and let me know if you think it's a good investment?" Luke instructed his investment analyst, Billy, over the phone, as he sat in his Central office.
Luke Lee had dropped out of Stanford, and founded his own company before selling it to Alphabet, Inc. for a cool $300 million six years later. Flushed with cash, he enjoyed his mini-retirement for a few months - partying with friends, traveling the world, and hooking up with different girls - before reading up on a group of monks in the Himalayas who could allegedly perform amazing feats. Intrigued, and a bit bored with his hedonistic and materialistic lifestyle, Luke entrusted his assets to his wealth managers at Credit Suisse, and set off to the Himalayas to live with and learn under these mysterious monks for three years.
*************
After three years of living in the Himalayas, one of the elder monks took Luke aside before the morning ritual of walking meditation in the unprotected elements of the Himalayan cold. "Namaste, Luke."
"Namaste, Master Nan," Luke replied with some surprise, before remembering to bow before Master Nan.
"It's a nice day today, huh?" Master Nan commented, as his eyes looked up to his right at the rising sun, shining its magnificent rays over the snow-covered Himalayan mountains. Master Nan and Luke, along with the other monks, were clothed only in monk robes made of yak fur. Through their training in meditation, breath control, martial arts, and willpower focus, these monks possessed enhanced abilities allowing them to perform superhuman feats. For example, they were able to control their physiology, including their body temperature. As a result, neither Master Nan nor Luke felt the slightest discomfort as they conversed in the freezing cold of the Himalayan mountains.
Luke paused for a moment. It was odd for Master Nan, or any monk, to talk to anyone before the morning ritual. Something was up. Luke responded deferentially, "Yes, Master. There is nothing quite like the morning rays shining on top of the snow-capped mountains."
"How many years have you stayed here?"
"Approximately three years, Master."
Master Nan turned to face Luke with kind eyes, "Your presence here has been a gift to us, and we would love for you to stay indefinitely. However, we both know your path leads you back to the secular lifestyle for a few more decades. You have much to contribute to the secular society, especially in this region."
Luke sighed. Deep in his heart, he knew Master Nan was right. Luke relished the peace and quiet in the Himalayas, and he didn't have to deal with all the shallowness, materialism, and bullshit of modern-day society. He also knew what else Master Nan hinted at. While commentators proclaimed the twenty-first century to be the "Asian century," there was still a lot of work left to be done to overcome the damage wrought by the white colonialists in the Asian region, especially the Asian minds.
After staring at his sandals for a few moments, Luke looked up at Master Nan and nodded. "You're right, Master Nan. But I will miss you and everyone here." Luke clasped his hands together in a prayer position in front of his body and bowed deeply.
*************
Flash. Charlotte struck another pose and tilted her head further to the right, as a team of photographers kept snapping their cameras at Charlotte.
"Perfect!" Yelled the head photographer in an Italian-accented English. "Lift up your chest a bit, and look at the camera with a seductive look."
Charlotte followed the instructions and arched her bountiful C-cup breasts forward, artfully exposing her cleavage for the photographers to capture. She was dressed in a beautiful, red Vera Wang dress, which featured a plunging neckline and a dangerously high slit which stopped just underneath her right hip, exposing the bare, smooth skin of her forty-inch long legs. She looked seductively at the camera lens held by the main photographer, who looked like a gay Italian fashionista.
Less than a week after arriving in Hong Kong, word quickly spread of the French beauty's arrival and Charlotte's schedule was quickly booked out by modelling jobs from top fashion labels. She was currently modelling for Vera Wang's latest Spring collection, which already surpassed her wildest dreams of what she could achieve in Hong Kong. '
Hong Kong is so dynamic with so many opportunities!
' Charlotte mused to herself as she struck various poses in front of photographers and assistants who attended to her every whim and need.
Luke stood in the back observing the photoshoot. He had come to this industrial building in Causeway Bay to conduct some onsite due diligence in QM Modeling Agency before making an investment in it. After meeting with the senior management and major shareholders of QM Modeling Agency three floors above, Luke excused himself and wandered down to the photoshoot area to get a look for himself.
After returning back to Hong Kong from the Himalayas, Luke continued his daily meditative and martial practice. It was a mix of disciplines he combined from his time in the Himalayas and Taoists masters he had studied under over the years. His practice in the ancient Eastern arts gave Luke the ability to control his body and mind in ways mere human beings could not. In essence, Luke Lee possessed enhanced abilities and attributes. One of the effects of these enhanced attributes was that Luke's body naturally emitted pheromones at a higher rate than the normal human male. Any human females near Luke breathing in his pheromones would subconsciously be drawn and attracted to Luke, like a female animal biologically drawn to mating with the alpha male during mating season.
"Charlotte, why don't you slip one of the straps off your shoulder? Let's try a really sexy look." Vera Wang and her team had told QM Modeling Agency and the photographers that they wanted their Spring collection to be sexier than usual.
While Charlotte was no prude, having had her fair share of sexual experiences growing up in France and in the UK, she couldn't help but blush a little bit, as she slipped off one of the straps of her dress before striking a pose at the camera.
