At this point, reality hit Lilith like an iceberg, and she opened her eyes wide, astonished by the circumstance she had found herself in.
"This was definitely a one-minute of fame." She thought to herself, her panic increasing as the seconds passed.
The men standing before her smiled brightly as their hands grasp Lilith's gown.
Lilith, with no other option, resolved to flee the situation she had found herself in so she squatted down quickly, surprising the men in front of her.
Before the men could register what was going on, Lilith crouched down and interlaced her hands. "Oh, gods of the artist brush. Please grant me a gorgeous lady to draw." Lilith uttered.
At first, she thought everything she was saying was being heard by just her brain alone, but as she heard her own voice, she began to reflect on herself, and then she noticed that the handsome mysterious man was standing amidst the crowd.
Lilith smiled brightly as she rose from her squatting position. She was aware that her ability to talk was due to the fact that he was close by.
'Why does he have such an effect on me?' Lilith questioned herself, but because the answer was quite far from her, she opted to concentrate on the task at hand.
"Everyone!" Lilith began by raising her voice to the top of her lungs. "I'm just a mere nude model who loves being a canvas for artists to capture every delicate, sensual part of my body," she continued, her voice trembling slightly but growing more confident with each word.
As she made her way to the stage she nodded briefly at the lady who introduced her as a nude model before taking the microphone from the lady's hand.
"Fflll…"
She tried to continue her sentence, but gibberish was all that came out of her mouth. She could still see the enigmatic stranger in the crowd, but she was a little farther away from him.
Lilith began to walk towards the audience, trying to get closer to the stranger so she could be able to speak.
Standing a few steps away from him, she smiled at the crowd as she opened her mouth to speak, deeply praying that her mouth would produce understandable words.
"Umm… Hi." She muttered, and as she heard her own voice, her eyes lit up with delight, and as she winked at the audience, a small chuckle began to escape their lips.
They were first enthralled by what she had to give, but after seeing Lilith's funny side, they began to relax as they watched her.
"Today, I want to plead with all you great artists and likewise those who are inspired to be an artist." She uttered before pausing for a while to check everyone's expressions and ensure that she had their whole attention.
"I want to plead with you all to give a nude model like me an opportunity to take part in drawing someone because…"
Lilith's words hung in the air, a challenge and a plea that pierced the silence of the room. Her grip on the microphone tightened, her knuckles turning white as she mustered the courage to continue.
"I'm asking for an opportunity to express myself," she declared, her voice filled with conviction and determination. "Who among you is willing to be a nude model for the first time in their life, so that I may draw you?" she asked, her eyes scanning the crowd for a willing participant.
The reason why Lilith had to pretend that she was a nude model was so that she won't be stared with an awkward gaze by the audience.
The entire crowd became quiet as they currently stare at her, almost as if her statement had provoked their very existence.
And then, a man who happened to be 5 '3 feet stepped out of the crowd as he glared at Lilith with a snarl on his face. "Young lady, I suggest you drop the microphone," he growled, his words as frigid as the glare that locked her in its icy grip.
Lilith's eyebrows shot up in surprise, a single syllable of confusion slipping past her lips. "Huh?" she murmured, caught off guard by the man's confrontational tone.
The man's derisive snort sliced through the silence, his voice, frigid with disdain, dripped with condemnation as he delivered his verdict.
"You have come in here and tried to disrupt a tradition that has been in place for decades. Therefore, you are hereby banned from attending any other art exhibitions," he pronounced, his words a gavel of finality that struck Lilith like a bolt of lightning, the impact reverberating through her bones.
"Wha... What have I done?" She whispered, stuttering, as she stared at the man, grasping the fact that she had brought her own doom.