With Leonardo's appearance and his skyrocketing fame, picking up girls should have been a breeze.
However, there are always exceptions, even for the biggest stars.
What one woman perceives as handsome, another may see as effeminate.
As Ronan observed the woman, he could sense that she genuinely disliked Leonardo's advances, rather than playing hard to get.
Her expression of disgust was becoming more pronounced.
Nevertheless, Leonardo seemed oblivious to this fact. Now a box office sensation with a 1.5 billion dollar hit under his belt, he strutted around like a peacock, eager to display his dazzling feathers.
The Leonardo of today was worlds apart from the man he would become in a decade or so.
Ronan had no intention of getting involved in this peacock's antics, though the slender woman was quite attractive. He had no interest in playing the knight in shining armor.
But sometimes, circumstances thrust themselves upon you.
Leonardo immediately spotted Ronan and recalled their public altercation from before.
If this had happened a year earlier or two years later, Leonardo might have been mildly disgruntled. But now, with everyone singing his praises, even people in their twenties or forties could easily lose their sense of direction.
"Ronan Anderson!" Leonardo abandoned the girl he couldn't hook up with, his eyes widening like copper bells, emitting a lightning bolt of shrewdness. "You're here too!"
Seeing Leonardo's typical angry expression, Ronan glanced at the black suit he was wearing and suddenly remembered a name: Black Cat Sheriff.
"Good evening, Leo," Ronan said casually.
The slender woman glanced at Leonardo, then at Ronan, clearly surprised: who was this man?
Was he charming? Just passing by, he managed to divert Leonardo's attention away from her.
Her agent had said that any man who could captivate Leonardo was a terror akin to James Cameron.
But she quickly realized she was overthinking things.
Leonardo saw Ronan ignoring him and remembered the last time he was publicly refuted by him.
If this had happened a year earlier or two years later, Leonardo might have been mildly disgruntled. But now, with everyone singing his praises, even people in their twenties or forties could easily lose their sense of direction.
"Ronan Anderson!" Leonardo spotted Ronan diverting his attention to the target he had just eluded, instantly incensed.
"Ronan Anderson!" the woman, Carmen Case, looked at Ronan's indifferent behavior towards Leonardo with some surprise. "Are you Ronan Anderson?"
"Call me Ronan," Ronan said as if Leonardo didn't exist.
"Good evening, Ronan," Carmen responded, also treating Leonardo as if he were invisible.
Ronan politely invited her, "Carmen, shall we find a quiet place to talk?"
Carmen, who had been irritated by Leonardo's pursuit, saw Ronan's invitation as an opportunity to escape. "Sure."
Ronan gestured, and Carmen hooked her arm through his. They walked towards the rest area with small round tables set up, leaving Leonardo behind.
Carmen was not yet twenty, lacking experience in social interactions. She thought it was a reasonable way to escape Leonardo's persistence but failed to notice that Leonardo's face was turning red.
The girl he was pursuing had been taken away right in front of him, and the person who had taken her had publicly ridiculed him before...
Suddenly, he realized that everyone's eyes were on him, and those looks seemed mocking.
How embarrassing! Leonardo felt like he couldn't show his face anymore. As a prominent male lead with a 1.5 billion-dollar hit, being thwarted by a loser like this would surely become a joke within the industry.
He quickly lowered his head, walked along the side of the terrace, and focused on Kate Winslet, who was just a short distance away.
Ronan watched Leonardo leave, then turned to Carmen and asked, "Why don't you like Leonardo, given his popularity among women?"
Carmen smiled. "Imagine seeing a man passionately kissing a woman, only for him to come over and flirt with you three minutes later, suggesting you go to bed together. How would you feel?"
Ronan touched his chin. "Any man who dares to flirt with me would end up sleeping with the fishes in the Pacific Ocean."
This remark served as a reminder to him not to make advances on two beautiful women in one night, especially in public.
"You're quite witty," Carmen chuckled.
Ronan was about to reply when he noticed Leonardo pulling Kate Winslet aside. "Jack's going to confide in Rose."
Carmen watched as Jack led Rose to a terrace, looking a bit excited. Rose seemed to be soothing him in a low voice.
"Shall we?" Ronan gestured towards the terrace.
Carmen agreed. As they walked, she asked, "Could Jack and Rose be having an affair?"
Ronan entered the rest area, which was less crowded. "Probably not."
In the past life, there were many rumors about these two. The relationship between Jack and Rose was more profound than that of close friends; they were practically family.
"You seem to know a lot," Carmen said curiously. "What do you do?"
Ronan replied honestly, "I'm the owner of a small film company, the kind that only produces videotape movies."
Then he asked, "And you?"
"I'm a model," Carmen said simply.
Ronan nodded and asked, "You don't sound American."
Carmen answered honestly, "I'm from Estonia, here in Los Angeles for a brand event. I often do runway shows in the UK and the US, so I've learned English."
As they passed several tables with people, Ronan prepared to find a place to sit down and have a good conversation with Carmen about the future.
In the previous life, he was a part of the entertainment industry, and upon hearing Carmen's name, he remembered who she was.
In the eyes of many supermodel fans, there were three or four gods or goddesses in the modeling world at the turn of the century. Among them, the most renowned were: G Goddess, K Goddess, and D Goddess.
Carmen Case was known as K Goddess.
Suddenly, Ronan saw someone familiar sitting not far away to the left. It was a burly man with a stubbly beard, whom he had seen when entering the banquet hall. He was Kate Winslet's boyfriend, Jim, if he remembered correctly.