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The first time Lev steps foot in an airplane he is five years old. They are visiting family in Russia and before Lev can walk through the small door and into the aircraft his sister takes a hold of his shirtsleeve and holds him back.
“You have to knock”, she says, “three times on the outside of the airplane.”
“Why?” Lev asks, it sounds more ridiculous than his father's refusal to keep the spider-man sticker Lev put on his cheek while they were browsing the tax-free stores.
“For good luck,” Alisa answers, demonstrating by knocking three times before entering and bowing respectfully to the airplane staff.
Lev follows her example, knocking as hard as a five year old can manage.
His knuckles hurt until they are safely up in the air.
Since that first flight, Lev has been on countless others. Sometimes it feels like he spends more time up in the air than he does on the ground. He’s not complaining —the movies, free champagne and tiny toothpaste tubes more than make up for the toll it takes on him. His skin doesn’t agree with it, and in turn his stylists get annoyed, but that’s not on Lev, that’s on physics (or something, don’t quote him on that).
The point is that Lev is used to flying, to traveling all around the world and spending more time on airplanes and hotels than in his Tokyo apartment. He wouldn’t even call that place a home, it’s more of a glorified storage.
When he says these things, about not having a permanent residence, about living in the moment and letting his career take him wherever it needs him, people sometimes look at him with pity and worry.
Lev hates that.
The notion that you have to get married, have a stable job and kids by the time you’re thirty is one that Lev has always despised. He’s still got at least five years until he meets that unspoken deadline, but he’s got no plans to meet it at all. He’s got no rush to settle down and he’s not sure he even wants kids to begin with. They seem like a lot of work, and Lev himself is already work enough.
Why would he need a designated spot to call his home when he could have the entire world?
His one solace is working alongside his sister, who lives by a similar philosophy.
Alisa has always been a role-model, a trendsetter and Lev’s number one supporter. Whenever anyone questions her age or whether she’s planning to take a step back to focus on family life any time soon, she promptly shuts them down. She might show off her body for a living, but it’s still hers, and she decides when it’s time for her to do anything with it.
Lev thinks it’s unfair how reporters will focus more on Alisa’s love-life and possible pregnancy rumors than her actual work. Lev doesn’t have that problem, probably because he physically can’t get pregnant. They still inquire about his romantic endeavors, but not nearly to the same degree.
To answer their questions though, Lev’s love-life is pretty much non-existent. Sure, there are some flings here and there, but due to his constant travels he can never keep anything going for very long.
He’s fine with that, more than fine actually. It comes with the job, and Lev loves his job.
He was in Paris last weekend, ate a croissant at a Café and scrolled through a fashion magazine in French, just because he could. He does a lot of things just because he can, like dumping five spoons of sugar into his coffee even though he prefers it black. The taste of the famous pastry wasn’t to his liking and he didn’t understand any of the words in his magazine, but that was okay. This weekend he’s going to Berlin, he googles German sweets and makes a list. He isn’t supposed to eat unhealthy things in the amount that he does, but he’s always had a fast metabolism. People hate him when he mentions that, which only makes him want to bring it up more.
Sometimes it feels like the earth spins way slower than Lev can make his way around it, but instead of slowing down he just wants to go faster.
Faster and faster.
He wants to make his mark on the world, he wouldn’t call himself particularly ambitious, but that’s something he’s always wanted.
Back in high school, that want manifested itself as wanting to become the ace of his volleyball team, the coolest position in his teenage selfs opinion.
Now, he just wants to be remembered in one way or another. To have someone walk past one of his many advertisements and think, “wow, that Haiba Lev guy sure is cool,” or hot, or sexy, or any other positive adjective. He’s not very picky.
The point is that he wants to work harder, go to places further away than his imagination can take him and leave his mark on the world. He wants to do that until the day comes when he’ll knock three times, step on a plane, and feel that this is it. Now he’s done.
Maybe not with traveling, Lev can’t picture himself living out his old days in only one country, but with doing it for a living. Plus, he’d miss the free sleep-masks and mini toothbrushes.
But right now he doesn’t feel the need to fret about the future, because the day he retires and settles down is far, far away.