✎1.1 | a song for you

02 | Chapter Two

  "How's Mr Morris?" Foressa asked once she had recovered from her fitful of laughter.

  'Mr Morris' was the oldest Kiwi in New Zealand —not to be confused with the fruit. He was one of Lara's favourites at the laboratory that she often volunteered at.

  "He's his usual demanding self, I swear he's more pampered than most humans are," she lamented.

  Lara paused, shifting her jovial tone to one of wariness. "And you? How are things?"

  "Things are... good," Foressa said slowly.

  "I sense a but on the way," Lara mused.

  Foressa exhaled a breath. "You'd be right about that."

  "Candance offered me a proposal today," Foressa began carefully. "The proposal was sent by Blake Tan. As in, the manager of Chaos Ensues."

  There was a pregnant pause after her statement. Foressa shifted in her position uncomfortably at Lara's lack of response.

  "Lara? Did you hear me?" She wondered if the line got cut off.

  "Ah, yes, I'm still here. Just buffering. Though, I feel as though I missed a chapter. Care to explain from the beginning?"

  Foressa obliged her request, beginning to explain the entire predicament in intricate detail, initiating from when Candance had dialled her in the morning and finishing with her abrupt departure from Brewer's.

  Lara hummed in a bid to buy time to articulate a breve response.

  "That's... interesting," she said lamely, internally wincing at her sub-par reply.

  "Interesting is one way to put it," Foressa commented wryly. "My internal choice of words were far more colourful."

  "Candance has a point though," Lara pointed out pragmatically. "She's looking out for your future."

  "I know, I know." Foressa sighed, "but this is a big deal. It's not merely a one-day situation that can be accomplished and done with, it's an entire year."

  Lara expelled out a breath of weariness.

  "Well, let's weigh out the pros and cons. Rejecting this proposition would result in : breaches of privacy, potentially falling sales but avoidance of the band. Accepting this proposition would result in : satiated fans, retained privacy but constant interaction with the band," she enumerated.

  "Both options aren't particularly attractive at the moment." Foressa deadpanned, running her fingers through her ebony locks and fisting them in a painfully tight grip. The cross-road she was at served no desirable destination at its end.

  No matter which direction one looked at, Foressa was as good as a sitting duck.

  "Yes well, it's the set of cards fate's dealt you with. Either forgo your privacy or forgo your contempt for them."

  "You say that as if my feelings are akin to a switch; something that I can easily flick on and off on command." The sarcasm was evident in Foressa's tone but a layer of hurt simmered beneath.

  "How about I bury myself underneath my blankets and avoid my problems in hopes that they'll resolve themselves?" She suggested instead.

  Lara muttered something that sounded eerily similar to 'don't we all' but over the line, the sound was muffled, causing the words to be indiscernible.

  "Not exactly the most feasible solution."

  "Let's re-evaluate this again," she instructed. "Firstly, let's look at the duration: one year. At the end of the day, 365 days isn't that long of a stretch — it'll be over before you know it."