DL Fiction
An illusion is an erroneous perception of reality according to the freedictionary.com
In other words, an illusion is Fake.
A representation of something that isn’t real.
“Maya” is a Thai word used to represent the Entertainment industry;
The world of fame & stardom
The English translation of Maya is illusion
Please be advised that the following content is FICTION and was written for entertainment purposes only. The story is not based on true events and the celebrities mentioned have not consented to the use of their names.
This is purely FICTION, read and enjoy!
Chapter 1
PARN’S EVENT PLANNING OFFICE
“I’m hot!” announced famous actress “Kwan” Ausamanee Waitayanon.
No, she wasn’t referring to her fame status or her exquisite good looks. She was referring to the current temperature of her body.
Overheating in the blazing sunlight, Kwan is shouting to her mom Pranee Waitayanon, urging her to hurry. Kwan has been waiting outside in the heat for more than 7 minutes. If her mother doesn’t come out soon, her beautiful skin is going to burn like nobody’s business.
Why is she taking so long?! How hard is it to collect money?!
The heat is making her agitated. She could see her mom giving her the ‘You just wait woman!’ look from inside the window of a small Event Planning Office.
Pranee is in the middle of collecting Kwan’s pay cheque from yesterday’s promotional appearance. It’s her job to collect her daughter’s money. Kwan’s job is to go to work and look pretty, a job in which she managed to do very successfully.
At only 22 years of age. Kwan’s name is listed as one of the country’s A List. She’s got fame wrapped tightly around her little finger, it appears nothing or anyone can bring her down. Not even a string of scandals from her many years of ongoing bad press and alleged misconduct.
In spite of it all, Kwan’s fame has always managed to escape bad rumours unscathed.
“Mom!!” Kwan’s shouted to her mother with more intensity than before.
A throng of people in the small office were startled by the piercing sound of her voice, her mother included.
“JUST WAIT!!!!” Pranee shouted back fiercely.
The famous celebrity mom is way too annoyed to pay attention to her daughter right now. She is in the midst of demanding for a new cheque and the event organizer is making her wait for the cheque a little longer in retaliation.
When the cheque was finally signed and handed to her. Pranee took it and looked over the sum to make sure it was exactly the amount asked for. When she was satisfied, she thanked the organizer and gave everyone in the office an overly sweet smile before heading out the door to join her daughter in the blazing sunlight.
“C’mon! What took you so long?!”
Kwan was annoyed. She waited outside instead of going into the office because her mother insisted that a famous celebrity such as Kwan should not be the one to talk money or business.
Pranee prefers to deal with these financial matters herself.
“They wouldn’t pay me the extra 30,000 baht I asked for. The job went over the time limit by 20 minutes, I had to charge her extra but she wouldn’t have it. Tightass! I had to force it out of her” snapped Pranee.
Fighting with Event Organizers is a typical occurrence in Pranee’s life. She can never understand why she can’t just add extra charges on top of her daughter’s agreed pay rate.
Most importantly, it amazes her why they bother to throw up a fight about it. It’s not like they’re going to win the fight anyway. Pranee always win, why people can’t just surrender in the beginning and save themselves the trouble, she’ll never understand.
“You got the money right?” asked Kwan
“Of course!” Exclaimed Pranee, offended with her daughter for doubting her skills
As a mom and manager to a famous celebrity, Pranee takes great pride in her managerial role, especially when it came to money.
“Can I spend some of it today?” Kwan asked sheepishly.
She hasn’t been shopping for almost a week, her clothes are starting to feel out-dated.
Pranee thought about it for a moment. She has to make sure all the bills are paid before any money can be passed on to Kwan
“Okay..” She finally agreed.
Kwan has two more promotional jobs lined up for this evening. Financially, this month her daughter is on a roll.
This week is Kwan’s lucky week with over three appearances under her sleeve, raking in an impressive sum of almost 300,000 baht. Kwan’s mother is counting their blessings.
Promotional work is one of Kwan’s favourite jobs in show biz.
It’s where she makes the most money. Thus, it is also Pranee’s favourite.
After Kwan gained the approval from her mother to spend her own money, Kwan’s mind is wholehearted occupied with shopping ideas.
There’s a dress at the mall she had her eyes on. The dress would go perfectly well with her gold stiletto.
“Where did you park the car?” Pranee asked
“Just in the next street, we’re almost there” said Kwan
As the mother and daughter walked further down the street to meet their parked silver SLK 200, a small crowd of 4-5 fans approached Kwan for autographs and photos.
“Kwan! OMG can we take a photo with you?!” screeched a young tween girl
“Of course” replied Kwan as she turned to pose and smile gracefully for the photographs.
“Thank you, please don’t forget to watch my lakorns” She said to her admirers in the sweetest tone.
Pranee tried to separate the fans from her daughter after the swift photo and autograph session explaining politely to each of them,
“Sorry girls, Kwan would love to stay and chat with you all but we are so, so busy right now. We have another job to go to in 10 minutes!”
Kwan’s next job is not for another 5-6 hours.
The fans reluctantly waved goodbyes and went on their way.
When the fans were out of sight, Kwan reached into her hand bag to pull out a bottle of sanitizer to clean her hands, arms and pretty much all the parts where she was touched.
It’s better to be safe than sorry she thought. God knows where their hands have been.
Don’t get her wrong. It’s not that she disliked fans. In fact, she loves fans. She loves the way they make her feel, the attention they pay to her whenever they meet. Also, being overly nice to them is a big part of her job.
Kwan is good at being famous because for most of her life, she has always been famous.
Before she became an A-lister, she was a child actress, continually in the spotlight from an early age.
Kwan doesn’t even remember what life was like before she got here.
“Are we going home first?” Pranee asked as they got inside the car
“No mom, we’re going shopping” said Kwan with a mischievous grin
There’s still 5 more hours left before her next job tonight at Crystal Park Mall. Enough time for Kwan to squeeze in some me time, shopping time.
********************
CRYSTAL PARK SHOPPING MALL
It’s been almost a year since Todd Sina graduated from university and broke up with his older celebrity girlfriend Aump Patcharapa.
Life has been very different since. No more headlines in the gossip rags or stalking paparazzi. Life is starting to feel ‘normal’ for a change, or as normal as life can be for a former model and son of a successful business man.
Walking along at a high end department store in Bangkok, Todd is enjoying a day out without being noticed. He liked it, the joy of going out in public without people gawking at him is a refreshing sensation. Luckily for Todd, he’s been given this luxury ever since he ended his romance with his ex.
Being with her had always put him in the spot light. People always noticed them whenever they were together.
It’s not really her fault, she was too damn famous, and she couldn’t help it. But then again, Aump was always dressed in such a way that begged for attention. Without her by his side, Todd can easily walk around unnoticed.
In his plain black T-shirt, jeans and flip flops, the former teen magazines pin up boy ambled through the aisle of a bookstore undetected.
Todd is looking to buy a travel book of Europe. He’s heading to England in three months to study Masters. It was always the plan for him. Grabbing the book he wanted off the shelf, Todd headed straight to the cash register to pay for his purchase. He’s not much of a shopper.
“350 baht please” says the young female shop assistant, blushing from the familiar sight of him.
Oh crap, she recognized me thought Todd. He smiled shyly and handed her the cash. Sometimes it happens. Although he doesn’t consider himself to be ‘famous’, but as a former teen model and ex boyfriend to a famous actress, his life was constantly in the spotlight, no matter how much he tried to keep a low profile.
“When are you coming back to showbiz?” the shop assistant asked.
Todd wanted to walk away, there were people behind him waiting in the queue but somehow the shop assistant didn’t seem to care.
“Umm..” Todd was hesitant; he turned to the girl behind him and gave her a weak smile as a gesture of apology for holding up the queue.
The girl didn’t appear to mind, she smiled at him flashing her metal braces. It’s not often you run into a celebrity waiting in the queue of a book store.
“Are you Todd Sina?” she asked
He laughed, suddenly feeling awkward from the attention.
“When are you coming back to showbiz” the shop assistant asked again “You know, I used to watch your show all the time”
By ‘your show’ she was referring to a Teenage Music Video Show that Todd hosted over 6 years ago, when he was still a teen. Todd can barely remember it but the shop assistant has one hell of a memory.
“Thanks…but umm, I’m going overseas soon” He replied briefly and tried to make a run for it.
“Wait!” The girl behind him grabbed his arm “Can I take a photo with you?”
Todd wanted to say no, posing for a photograph in the middle of a bookstore attracts way too much attention than he could handle. Instead of asking for a photograph, she may as well ask him to hold up a giant sign saying ‘HELLO! LOOK AT ME’
“Please?” She insisted
Todd didn’t want any trouble. The last time he said no to photographs turned out to be a complete tragedy. His so-called fans chased him down the shopping mall, shouting his name and calling him a jackass.
The memory of that last incident pretty much left him with no choice but to just pose and be done with it.
“Thank you” He said to her after she took the picture. It was out of habit, he didn’t even want to be photographed in the first place let alone thank her for taking his picture. But back in the days when he was working in showbiz, it was customary to say thank you after a photograph.
Once Todd’s Kodak moment with his girl fan was over, everyone in the store are now staring at him. Some stared with recognition while others stared with incredulity, probably thinking something along the line of ‘Who the hell?!’
While all eyes were fixed on him, Todd looked around in discomfort. To some people, fame might be satisfying. But to Todd, fame is a dark thought, a form of handicap preventing him from the liberty of a private life.
With all this uninvited attention clouding his personal space, Todd figured now would be a good time to leave.
As Todd tried to make his way out, the shop assistant threw a magazine in his hand from the cash register and told him to read page 6
“It’s about your girlfriend, oh! Ex. Girlfriend” She yelled out to him from the counter
“I don’t read gossip magazines” he tried to give it back
“No, have it, my treat. The article is about you”
He didn’t want to argue so he just took it and dashed out of the store as fast as he could.
Stepping out from the store, Todd thought he was safe. Until he spotted someone from the corner of his eye, a man who looks like a paparazzi from some gossip magazine followed him from the bookstore.
The paparazzi-lookalike was holding a professional camera in his hand. It’s obvious to Todd now, the man is a paparazzi. The same paparazzi that used to snap pictures of him and ex girlfriend together when they were still an item.
“Todd!!” The man shouted his name
Todd turned away ignoring Mr Papparazzi instantly. He knew if he turned around, the man would take his picture and write a fabricated article. Todd wasn’t going to wait around to give the man his fake gossip opportunity.
Walking away is the best option. Walk away very, very fast.
The paparazzi tried to follow; he wasn’t going to let Todd get away that easily. He’s been hanging around the shopping mall all day hoping to snatch a shot of some celebrity and no one showed.
Todd Sina will have to do for now.
Seeing Mr Paparazzi following his trail, Todd zigzagged his way out of the building in a fast and confusing motion.
No Paparazzi or anybody could possibly keep up with his path and speed. Crystal Park is his hood, he knows this place better than anyone.
As he got further and further away from his follower, Todd looked back to make sure he completely lost the man. While his legs are pacing forward, his head was constantly turning backwards to check for Mr Paparazzi, Then BAM!
A loud thudding sound in conjunction with an unknown force knocked Todd’s 6Ft frame against the hard surface of the concrete ground.
He had no idea what hit him but when he looked up, an obvious Mercedes Benz logo was right in his face.
It’s a car. Todd realized he was hit by a car, Mercedes Benz SLK200 to be exact.
Kwan Ausamanee rushed out from the driver’s seat; the look on her face conveyed the reaction of someone caught in acute shock and distress.
Her expression troubled Todd. He felt a mixture of emotions between guilt and empathy toward this visibly beautiful young woman, possibly stressed by the apprehension that she had run over a human being.
It was his fault, he walked in the middle of the road without looking. Suddenly Todd felt the urge to comfort her. He struggled to get up despite the pain, hoping to at least reassure this gorgeous girl that she didn’t kill him and that he would be okay.
Before he could find the strength to let the words come out of his mouth she shrieked;
“MY CAR!!”
*******************
Chapter 2
A loud thudding sound in conjunction with an unknown force knocked Todd’s 6Ft frame against the hard surface of the concrete ground.
He had no idea what hit him but when he looked up, an obvious Mercedes Benz logo was right in his face.
It’s a car. Todd realized he was hit by a car, Mercedes Benz SLK200 to be exact.
Kwan Ausamanee rushed out from the driver’s seat; the look on her face conveyed the reaction of someone caught in acute shock and distress.
Her expression troubled Todd. He felt a mixture of emotions between guilt and empathy toward this visibly beautiful young woman, possibly stressed by the apprehension that she had run over a human being.
It was his fault; he walked in the middle of the road without looking. Suddenly Todd felt the urge to comfort her. He struggled to get up despite the pain, hoping to at least reassure this gorgeous girl that she didn’t kill him and that he would be okay.
Before he could find the strength to let the words come out of his mouth she shrieked;
“MY CAR!!”
Her high pitched screeched almost made Todd fell on his face. He held on to the front bonnet of the silver Mercedes for support while he tried to gain his balance.
“OMG! Look what you’ve done to my car!” She yelled, outraged from witnessing the sight of her slightly damaged vehicle from a close distance.
From where Kwan is standing right now she could see the dent in her Mercedes, a dent that’s going to require a visit to the mechanics for repairs, a job that will cost her money. She didn’t like the thought of that.
The thought of forking out a hefty mechanics bill mortified her. This is not how she envisaged spending her hard earned pay cheque.
This is all his fault! Kwan eyed the injured man in front of her with fury.
Pranee rushed out from the front passenger seat to observe the situation. Her expression just as devastated as her daughters’.
“Mom, look!” Kwan pointed to the direction of the dent.
“Oh my!” Pranee exclaimed, simmering with frustration.
Although the dent is small, it could cost a good 5 digit figure to fix.
The celebrity mom eyeballed Todd from head to toe, scrutinizing whether or not this man had money.
She hoped to god that he would have some money, or at least enough to pay for the damages.
“Beep!”
The car behind them honked their horn. Kwan’s vehicle was holding up traffic.
Uh oh, the sound of the honking horn startled Kwan. The famous actress immediately retreated back into her vehicle for fear of being recognized.
“Ok, we have to move” stated Pranee,
Todd wasn’t quite sure if the woman was talking to herself or to him. He was in too much confusion and pain to care.
When the mom grabbed hold of his shirt and ushered him to the back seat of the car, he didn’t resist.
Todd had no idea where the mother & daughter duo were taking him.
But where ever they were heading, Todd was certain the nearest hospital was not on the agenda.
Seated in a small meeting room at the Head Office of Channel 3 Television Network, actress “Taew” Nataporn and her manager, Joy sat quietly waiting for a PR representative to enter the room.
While they were waiting, no one spoke. The atmosphere of complete silence is a direct result of a brawl they had in the car on their way to the office.
Today’s meeting is about Taew’s promotional appearance tonight; A job in which Taew had accepted with the channel’s consent and without the manager’s knowledge.
The fact that her client didn’t inform her about accepting the job is not her main concern. Joy would’ve been okay with it if the nature of the job fell within Taew’s usual standard. But it was not, this job was something else.
“Sorry I’m late” Pimada said as she sauntered into the meeting room.
The bubbly looking public Relations Assistant put down a yellow manila folder on the table as she sat down to conduct the meeting.
“This will be a quick one” she reassured them, suspecting that something wasn’t quite right from the tensed expressions on both of their faces.
Pimada took it as a sign that they were probably worried about the 10,000 questions that could be thrown at Taew during tonight’s appearance.
“Here’s a script of answers for some of the questions you are most likely to be asked tonight” She handed the content from inside her folder to Taew.
Taew skimmed through the first few paragraphs. The answers were well written.
“Can I see it?” Joy asked, speaking to her client for the first time in the past 30 minutes.
Taew handed the script to her manager, relieved that Joy is talking to her again.
Joy eyed the content in front of her prudently. The scripted answers were pretty good. They were the kind of answers guaranteed to appease.
Nonetheless, she is still not happy.
Tonight her client is going to take on a whole new image. Tonight Taew is going to attend a promotional appearance for a new healthy beverage.
‘It’s so good you can bathe in it’ was the product slogan – and bathe in it is exactly what Taew planned to do that night.
The thought of her client stripping down to a skimpy outfit and taking a bath in the middle of a shopping mall disturbed Joy.
Taew’s appearance tonight will ruin everything; Taew’s perfect reputation will be over for good!
Before the party fiasco, Taew had always had an immaculate reputation, the prim image of a leading heroine – on and off-screen. People love her for a lot of reasons. She always played the good girl on television and she had that sweet & innocent kind of face, you can almost see the halo on her head when she smiled.
Taew is supposed to be prim and proper. This was the image that Joy moulded for her client from day 1.
“So Taew is going to be more ‘versatile’ now? Show more skin, do some sexy photo shoots and attend more social events to prove she’s all grown up?” Joy concluded after reading some of the scripted answers on the page.
The disapproving tone in the manager’s voice was obvious. Joy was not happy; it didn’t take a genius to figure that out.
“Taew is a grown up now. She’s not a kid anymore and she can’t keep up with her prim & proper image forever. It’s not who she is”
There. Pimada said it.
“Taew’s party photo fiasco last year already put an end to her prim reputation” The PR stated bluntly.
Yes, Taew was prim. She had the reputation of a saint.
But that was before the leak of her partying photos.
“Party photos?!” Joy blurted in disbelief, “That is so 6 months ago! Taew already clarified everything; it’s all over now, forgiven & forgotten”
“Forgiven, maybe, but forgotten? Not a chance, you can still see the photos every time you google her name”
Pimada had a point. In the world of today’s modern technology – nothing can truly be forgotten.
However, the manager is still not convinced.
To her, Taew’s partying photos are miniscule compared to the shenanigans of today’s celebrities. Her client can still pull off her old image. No need for Taew to step over to the ‘naughty side’.
“I don’t see the need for Taew to do this, to put herself out there, bathing in some skanky outfit..”
“Ok hold up!” Taew interrupted Joy before she could finish her sentence, “I am NOT wearing a skanky outfit”
“Who said anything about a skanky outfit?” Pimada asked.
“Oh C’mon! I’ve seen pictures of Pei Parnward and Aump Patcharapa when they took on similar ‘bathing’ jobs. I think I know what to expect”
“Okay. I think there’s some misunderstanding here” Pimada said calmly “Yes, tonight’s job will be a little sexy. Taew will definitely be stepping out of her comfort zone. However, I can reassure you that it’s all going to be very tasteful”
“I’m wearing a peach coloured dress. It’s adorable” said Taew
“The product is aimed to sell to teenage girls. The theme is more cute than sexy. But yes Taew will be showing more skin than usual and there will be a lot of hungry paparazzi there to snap her pictures while she’s bathing in peach flavoured water”
With all the facts laid before Joy, the prospect of tonight’s appearance doesn’t sound too bad anymore. But Joy can only hope that her client is not making a mistake. Sometimes when you’re renowned for being prim for so long, you can’t really make it as anything else.
“I think tonight’s appearance is going to be great. It’ll make headlines for sure” Pimada let slip the channel’s ultimate goal; Publicity.
+++++++++++++
CAR REPAIR SHOP, RAM INTRA
Todd was right about one thing, they were not taking him to the hospital. The status of his injured wellbeing is the least of their concern.
And to think all this time Todd thought a person’s life was more important above all things, the famous starlet and her mom proved him wrong. Apparently a 4 million baht SLK 200 is worth more than his life.
For a moment Todd wondered how he would have treated the situation if he had run over a pedestrian and they have dented his black Maserati at home. Would he have cared more for his 15 million baht vehicle or for the wellbeing of the pedestrian?
Of course he would care more for the latter – born into a family of abundance wealth, money came easily to him. Todd never had to work for an income. Money is something he took for granted and it meant little to him.
On the contrary, Kwan actually has to work for her money. Todd can see why she would value money more than he does. He tried to justify her behaviour in his mind.
Kwan Aussamanee, Todd established her identity after a short moment in her car. It was while the mother and daughter were debating about what to do with the damage to their vehicle.
They debated back and forth with each other about him like he didn’t exist when he was sitting right there in the back seat.
Eventually they worked out what to do – They want Todd to pay for the damages.
Pranee turned her face toward him from the front passenger seat to inform him that she had connections with the police. She was trying to threaten him.
She went on to explain how he was the one who came out of nowhere and barged in front of her daughter’s vehicle. She said it was his fault.
Before she could go on naming every reason under the sun of why he should be the one to pay the repairs bill, he concluded;
“I’ll pay for the damages”
Pranee appeared a little startled. Even Kwan turned around to look at him.
“Remember this car is a Mercedes, the repairs for this car will cost more than ordinary vehicles. Can you afford 30,000 – 40,000 baht?” Pranee asked
“I’ll manage” he said simply
Now here they are, parked in a nearby Car Repairs shop in Ram Intra.
Kwan passed him a handful of wetwipes;
“Clean yourself up or you’ll scare the hell of everyone, wipe off all the blood!” She told him
Todd did as he was told; there is some blood on his forehead and all over his arms. But he’s not too badly hurt, possibly a minor concussion, scratches and bruising.
When he was decent enough, she allowed him to step out of the car along with her mother to sort out what needs to be done to the dented vehicle.
Todd and Pranee went over to talk to the mechanics about the repairs while Kwan trailed off for a little stroll around the street in her huge hat & sunnies disguise.
Pranee would call Kwan on her cell phone to come back when everything is done.
After a quick observation, the mechanics gave Todd a quote for the cost of repairs. He was told the car will need to be kept at the shop for a day.
“No car for a day?” Pranee was outraged; her and her daughter will need a car to get around.
Todd understood her reaction. He asked the mechanic whether or not they had a car for him to hire for the day.
The mechanic pointed to some parked cars at the Garage of the shop.
“You can hire anyone of those for an affordable daily rate”
Todd was pleased they had a hire car service at the shop, save the hassle of travelling elsewhere to hire a vehicle. He smiled at Pranee hoping she would be pleased with it too.
“I have to call my daughter” said Pranee
Moments later Kwan joined them, Pranee explained the situation to her daughter and pointed to the selection of hired cars.
Kwan looked at the choice of vehicles available – Toyota, Mazda or Subaru.
“Eeee!” She expelled in horror “We drive a Benz mom, if we’re going to hire a car, we’ll need to hire a Benz or a BMW, not a Japanese car. Ughh!”
Todd was peeved. He asked the mechanic to point him to the nearest luxury car hire place and he was directed to take a half an hour cab ride to the next few suburbs.
When the meeting was over, Taew said goodbye to her manager and they parted to their own cars. The pair agreed to meet again in 2 hours so they can arrive to Crystal Park Shopping Mall together for Taew’s appearance tonight.
Once seated inside her vehicle, Taew turned on the radio and sigh deeply.
Alone again, she thought to herself.
Coincidently, the song on the radio was “Ngao {Lonely}” By Peacemaker.
Taew hastily changed the station to something more cheerful.
This is pretty much her lunch break, she should be happy but she’s not and she knows exactly why. Recently, her boyfriend left the country to study abroad and ever since he’s been gone, she’s been keeping busy with work to try and forget the distance between them.
Despite her prim reputation. Taew always made sure her relationship was public. Although she kept it all very low key, but it wasn’t a secret. She respected her boyfriend enough to tell the world she’s in a relationship and with whom.
Her manager and channel always opposed the idea of her telling people she had a boyfriend. They thought the fact that she’s taken could prevent her from gaining the hearts of young male fans.
But they were wrong. It turned out her relationship with her boyfriend became one of her greatest charm.
It made her appear unshallow.
Her boyfriend “Ton” is not a celebrity nor is he incredibly handsome. He is just an average looking guy from an average middle class family. But somehow he managed to win the heart of a famous actress.
Taew loved him. Even when he left the country to study abroad she agreed to wait for him.
Now she misses him.
Being busy makes it easier to have a long distance relationship. She thought it would make her too occupied to miss him, but even so, even in her tightest schedule she could still manage to think about him.
Like right now, she’s got an hour to herself with absolutely nothing to do. Oh gosh, I’m going to miss him again she cried in her head, dreading the thought.
Not knowing where to go, Taew drove herself home and quickly logged on to the internet hoping to catch Ton on msn. But he was offline. Disappointed, she sent him a text.
“Where are you? Chat with me on webcam?”
She waited for his reply.
A minute later he texted back
“Sorry, can’t come online. Talk later xx”
She didn’t text back, just sat in silence for a while thinking, how can I survive the next two years living like this?!
She hated being apart from him. Before he left, he offered her the option of breaking up with him. But she wouldn’t. She loves him too much. He’s the first man she ever loved, her first real serious boyfriend.
In her mind there’s no way she could ever love anybody else.
Ton’s leaving is by far her biggest misfortune. At least, to her it was a misfortune. To the rest of channel 3’s public relations team, her boyfriend’s departure opened a whole new world of opportunities.
If only she knew what they had in store for her.
To be Continued….
