24 What is Impressive and What is Disturbing

“You really surprised me dealing with these boys” Radosz said appreciatively as they slowly moved forward, cooled by the evening gusts of wind. “I thought they were going to beat you up.”

“Why?” Brylski was surprised.

“Are you kidding? Three against one?”

“No, no” corrected Rafał. “Why did you think I was in trouble?”

“Through the window I saw you walking away with them and they didn't look very friendly.”

“Have you seen us?” Asked Rafał, looking at him more carefully. “Is that why you're so sweaty? You weren't running to my rescue, were you?”

“What? No!” Damian replied defensively. He will not admit for any treasures that he was actually rushing madly to save the young actor!

“Thank you!” Rafał beamed and something melted in Damian's heart.

“I just thought that three against one is a bit unequal chances” Radosz admitted feeling that for some reason his cheeks flushed with a blush. “It turned out that I was right, but you had the advantage. You really can fight.”

Rafał wonderfully innocently shook his head. He acted as if facing the three big attackers wasn't a challenge for him. But that doesn't mean he was arrogant. On the contrary, Brylski exuded even humility.

“I already told you that I learned a little at school” Rafał reminded Damian. “As a child, I was very small, so sometimes I was teased by my larger colleagues. In order not to get hit, I've learned to dodge.”

“You must have been a really diligent student to deal with the three attackers. It is really impressive.”

Damian did not exaggerate an iota. He was not a guy who gets into fights, but in his youth he passed his and although he always won one-on-one, he had problems with two attackers. There was nothing to mention about three - they would make a pulp out of him.

“It's just a group of high school students who get bored during the summer holidays, not any gangsters. Such an opponent is not dangerous.”

Is that why Rafał did not try to escape or call the police? Was he fully aware that these unskilled boys were no threat to him? If Rafał had only trained in self-defense, he would have known that the best defense was to run away or seek help from the crowd, not to go with the attackers to a secluded place where more threats could be lurking, because under the cover of an isolated place one of them could pull a knife or a club. So Rafał was able to fight better than he admitted, or he simply did not assess the potential threat well.

“Have you ever heard the expression” Damian became interested "”even Hercules is in shit, when there is a lot of enemies?’"

“No” admitted Rafał and lowered his eyes innocently. “But I can find out what that means. I guess I need to be more careful in the future. If I had been hit in the face, even accidentally, or bruised my hand or sprained my ankle, I would have caused trouble for the show crew again. I'm sorry, I didn't think...”

"That's not what I'm worried about ..." Damian blurted out, and when he realized what his words had sounded, he cleared his throat. "My point is that you should be more careful just like that, not as an actor, as a human. You don't want to end up in the hospital again.”

“Oh no! I definitely don't want to!”

"It was an extremely strong reaction," Damian remarked, not knowing if he felt more curiosity or amusement.

“I had an accident as a child. Nothing very dangerous, but I was lying in the hospital for a few days and I developed some kind of hospital phobia” Rafał confessed and it sounded like a little boy was talking about how he had eaten asparagus, then vomited and that's why he dislikes them so much.

“But you behaved normally in the hospital. You didn't have to be tied to the bed so that you wouldn't run away” Radosz laughed. Brylski was absolutely incorrect and amusing.

“I'm already an adult” sighed Rafał “and I've learned to accept some necessities of adult life. Besides,” he added in a quieter resignation, “they gave me such drugs that I didn't have the strength to run away.”

"Okay, okay," Damian continued to laugh. “then we must make sure that you do not have to visit hospitals anymore. Mońka said that you are very responsible during the stunt scenes, but I noticed that you have one thing that is dangerous for yourself...”

Brylski seemed extremely intrigued, and perhaps even worried.

“Yes?” Rafał asked, staring at Damian with his eyes as green as a spring meadow. “What is that?”

Perhaps it was tactless on Radosz's part to speak to Brylski so directly about his defect, but he felt that Rafał should hear it. Maybe he just wasn't aware of his weakness, or maybe he didn't think it mattered. But she did.

"You can't tell when you have a problem with something," said Damian. “You unnecessarily exposes yourself to situations that you could avoid.”

"I don't know on what basis you made such conclusions," Brylski's tone grew colder. Who among us likes to hear criticism from a stranger? “You only saw me on the set for a moment.”

“But today I spent most of the day on set. I watched recordings, talked to people. No, no, I didn't ask about you” Damian lied, seeing that Rafał was getting dissatisfied. “I was talking very generally. In every job, people complain. They will blame conditions, wages, other colleagues, bosses, but not you. You never complain, do you?”

“I am not complaining because I have nothing to complain.”

“Exactly. People complain and complain not only because they are really suffering, they just want to vent their permanent or temporary dissatisfaction. They may be very satisfied with their working conditions, but will complain that the coffee in the machine is either too sweet or not sweet enough. But you not.”

“Maybe I'm just less capricious."

On the other hand, Rafał was definitely intimidated and confused.

"Maybe," Radosz agreed, seeing that this topic clearly did not suit his interlocutor. "But my point is to keep you safe on set and avoid further accidents. Everyone was hot and they were looking for shade, and yesterday everyone was busy with their own affairs. People have lost track of time and have forgotten you've been in the sun for so long. In the future, if a similar situation happens again and you find yourself in discomfort, just yell that you want a break. You have the right to it. No, you have a responsibility to take care of yourself!”

“But such a break... It would slow down the work on the set...”

“Rafał, people are living organisms that feel discomfort. Sometimes ten minutes or even an hour's break is just a necessity. Today your partner asked for a ten-minute break, and you know what? Everyone on the set was relieved to be able to hide in the shade, replenish fluids or take advantage of the air conditioning.”

Rafał sighed.

Looking at him, this tall, slender and handsome man, Damian got the impression that Brylski was a bit too delicate. No, he wasn't like flower petals, light and airy so that any breeze would lift him into the air. His delicacy was not a sensitivity bordering on hypersensitivity. Rafał's delicacy lay in his attitude towards the world and towards other people, whom he treated with such care as if they were the flake.

Anita Janiszek, Rafał's assistant, was right to say that he cares more for the welfare and feelings of others than for his own.

It was perhaps a beautiful, noble trait, but if it was not kept in check, it could do Rafał a lot of harm. And Damian was just too good a man to let that happen. Everything in him rebelled at the thought that Rafał could suffer again...