MASON HAD MADE a wrong assumption. Blake didn't want an update on his music progress. In fact, their manager seemed almost distracted when the four members strode into the room. They were precisely on schedule; not a minute too soon and not a minute later.
A towel sat cozily around Mason's neck, soaking up the residual water dripping from his hair though a few still occasionally snuck their way past, dribbling down to his tee.
Blake had already seen himself in. Seated at the table, the brusque male with broad shoulders and an austere face framing his golden eyes had never suited his role as a manager more.
Not for the first time in three years since he had signed them, Mason wondered if he ever wore anything other than formal garments. He was beginning to doubt he ever did.
"Morning, Blake." Mason greeted first, followed by similar acknowledgements from the rest of the band members.
"Morning Mason, Xander, Kayden, Noah." Blake nodded his head at each of the members respectfully. His hands were clasped together, a single ring adorning his fourth finger — though Mason knew it was mainly for appearances to ward off any unwanted propositions. If there was anyone Blake was married to, it was his work.
Blake himself had been a musician previously but that had been a short-lived career. He quickly switched into the managerial aspect of things after realising he was far more adept at the latter than the former.
Before founding Chaos Ensues, he managed other small artists but none of them were ever able to break the global charts or make any big waves in the industry. Discovering the boys during a summer solstice concert had changed that — it had been his big break.
The boys had been fourteen then, but young age was little of a deterrent for Blake. Sensing the inherent aptitude the four boys possessed, he persuaded their parents to allow him reign of their future careers, whipping them into shape before finally debuting them at seventeen.
Attempting to decipher his expression, Mason couldn't deduce from it any probable reason why he had called the surprise meeting based off of the impassive expression on his face. Nothing about his appearance revealed anything out of the ordinary for him to poke and inspect to uncover the ambiguity either.
Each of them took a respective seat around the circular marble table. Blake frowned disapprovingly at Noah who was spinning in his chair gleefully. If it weren't for the concrete evidence that was his birth certificate, none of the members would have genuinely believed that Noah was twenty at all.
"You wanted to meet with us?" He initiated the discussion.
"Yes, it's about the world tour. I have new updates to share with you all."
Blake took a deep breath before continuing. "Foressa Leighanna Tan is to join us."
Noah stopped spinning his chair abruptly. Coldness seeped its way into Mason's fingers as a discomforting silence settled over the group.
"You invited Foressa to join us on our world tour." Noah parroted aloud, as if to consolidate what Blake had just uttered.
"I did." Blake said simply, as if that single syllable would suffice to the numerous questions each individual member had building up beneath the tips of their tongues.
Before either Kayden or Xander could start an uproar, Mason, recovering from his initial shock, quickly interjected.
"Start from the beginning," he said, simultaneously lifting two fingers to rub the foreskin of his nose. A deep sense of trepidation had started to accumulate, he simply knew that the life he had gotten accustomed to for the last three years was about to be thrown into suspension.
Foressa had a way of making one's world spin in the opposite direction, always.
Blake's hands clasped together, his knee bouncing against the table repeatedly. "Do you remember the viral tweet I brought up to you a few weeks ago?"
Snips of a viral tweet from a week ago broke out from the depths of Mason's memory as it resurfaced. He had forgotten about it entirely — buried it like how he had always done with matters pertaining to her —until Blake brought it up again.
Despite being half-distracted by the memory, he scavenged the ability to give him a terse nod.
"Well, we had a board meeting last week. That same tweet was brought up and a large majority of the duration was spent contemplating contingency outcomes of that tweet. All of us agree that it's gained far too much traction for us to simply pretend as if it never existed."
Mason humoured himself with a simplified, diluted translation : The board is tying my hands together for this one. You're doing this tour together.
Blake paused, allowing the words to settle before continuing. "The final conclusive agreement was the same, that none of these possible outcomes appeared to be favourable. Losing revenue worth millions from dissatisfied fans, possibilities of a bad album turnout in the future, lower attendance ratings at performances— these only scratch the surface of what could occur. Hence, the board unanimously decided to resort to the only other option we had : abiding by the tweet's request."
"I assume you never told them about our history together, then." Mason's voice was punctuated with a scathing dryness.
"Of course he didn't." Kayden released a humourless chuckle, an undertone layer of anger coating his words.
Blake pantomimed a knife slicing across his neck, eyes pleading as he looked at each of the boys. "I was a sitting duck even before I entered. Even if I told them the story, it wouldn't have made a difference; their minds were already fixated on one outcome."
"But look on the bright side —" he started.
"There's a bright side?" Xander interrupted, lifting his head up from his hands temporarily.
"Don't let your contempt cloud your judgement Xander." Blake reprimanded, the slightest edge of annoyance creeping into his tone at the unfavourable reactions of the band members.
"Her talent is unrivalled, corrugated by her success as of late. Getting nominated for four Grammy's as a relatively new brokered artist is practically unheard of. The both of you collaborating has potential to demolish the internet."
"Yeah, only if we don't kill each other first." Xander seethed, unleashing a loud reverberation across the table as he slammed his palms down onto the marbled table.
"Mr Dane," Blake snapped, "Control yourself. If it is anger you want to unleash, please feel free to go to the gym to do so."
Mason had to admit Blake made a decent argument for his point. He couldn't even throw the blame on his manager; everything he did was for the benefit of the band. It didn't mean he was any happier about it, though.
"And she accepted? Just like that?" He arched a brow in scepticism.
He still vividly remembered the last words she uttered to him that fateful day three years ago : I hate you. Her final words to him had corroborated that she harboured less than genial feelings towards him. So why would she accept the ludicrous deal?
"Given she has been duly informed of the potential contingencies of what would occur if she doesn't, she has. She arrives this weekend."
Mason leaned back into his chair. Of course; her privacy. That was the only factor that could push Foressa into accepting. The same privacy that the fans would relentlessly dig into to expose if the tweet was ignored.
Foressa was desperate to keep her life out of the media's eyes, it was why there was barely any information on her life outside of the music industry available on the internet. She was the equivalent of Jane Doe in terms of that.
Crackling sounds of paper being crushed befell upon the otherwise silent group as Blake turned to ruffle in his briefcase for the contract. Shifting away from the focus of Foressa's privacy, Mason focused on him.
Like it was an after-thought that had almost slipped his mind to mention, he added, "She's bringing someone else too."
Mason groaned. "Who?"
"A girl by the name of Lara Tang." Blake said flippantly, turning to ruffle in his briefcase for the contract.
Kayden registered the name uttered at an unbelievably lightning speed. The entirety of his physique ossified further, hands clenching the table as his eyes flashed with an indecipherable emotion.
"Did you just say Lara Tang is coming on this tour too?"
Blake cast an odd expression in Kayden's direction, repeating himself. "Yes. That was Foressa's only condition which I had no qualms to agreeing to as long as Lara agrees to sign a non-disclosure agreement."
"Do you realise who she is?" Kayden levelled a furious glare in Blake's direction.
"Of course I do," Blake undertook a defensive tone. "I did my research on her background before anything. She's a researcher and activist, and a jolly good one at that. Her dissertation about climate change is riveting and aiding in stimulating discussions across the globe. She's clean as a whistle, Kayden so I don't understand why you're uttering her name as if she's the spawn of the devil."
Mason registered who Lara Tang was shortly after Kayden, the recognition slamming into him like a wrecking ball aiming for destruction. Kayden's ex-girlfriend.
Amidst the entire catastrophic calamity three years ago, Lara had chosen Foressa's side. It went without saying that their relationship ended promptly, and Kayden had never been the same since.
"Lara is Kayden's former partner." Mason informed, seeing that Kayden refused to inform Blake of the fact himself. Mason eyed Kayden warily, his knuckles were turning white from the exerted strength he was putting into clenching them, a vain attempt to keep his temper at bay.
Blake's eyes widened to the size of saucers.
"Clearly," Mason mused. "This had been one aspect he had forgotten to consider; personal relationships."
"Ah..." On a regular day, Blake's inability to articulate a proper response would have elicited bouts of laughter but as of the moment, nothing was humorous. Nothing of what Blake had said in the last five minutes felt laughable.
Everything he had delivered felt like heavy iron chains shackling them to position with the key thrown away.
"It's too late now for me to do anything about it." He supplied weakly.
Kayden stood up, facial expression thunderous. Mason sensed he was barely maintaining a hold on his sangfroid as it was.
"Excuse me." he muttered darkly, exiting out of the living room. The forceful slam of a door elicited a wince from Mason. He was surprised the door hadn't fallen off its hinges at the aggressive departure of Kayden from the shared house.
"This is officially going to be the worst year of my life," Xander declared dramatically. Mason was tempted to agree.
Wisely, Blake chose not to comment on Xander's pessimistic declaration. Instead, he finally found what he was searching for, extracting a thick booklet from his brief case. He placed it on the marbled table, sliding it towards the three remaining members.
"Here's the contract. I will leave it up to you to inform Kayden about it once he's back."
Blake stood up, prepared to leave.
"When is she coming?" Noah asked calmly, halting his hasty exit. He had been the only one with a somewhat neutral reaction to Blake's news, not that Mason had expected anything less. Noah and Foressa had always shared a sibling-like connection; it had killed him inside when she had left.
And given everyone else, he was likely to harbour the least hostility towards her.
"This Friday." That was in four days.
As if sensing the protests arising within the band members, he hurried out the next few words. "I suggest warming yourselves up to the idea."
🎵🎶🎵
BLAKE'S HASTY DEPARTURE left a gaping hole of silence, the remaining three band members stewed in the discontentful atmosphere, none too eager to replace.
An rebellious ray of the descending sun escaped, filtering through the window and casting a halo-glow over the table they were still sedentary at.
Kayden had yet to return. Mason sincerely hoped that whatever it was that he had chosen to release the majority of his anger on, that it wasn't of the human species. Kayden's pugnaciousness for a fight — and his ridiculous adroitness at it — meant that there would be blood shed on at least one of their parts.
"He ran out faster than a cat with a tail between its legs." Noah commented, breaking the terse silence.
"A most prudent decision on his part, I couldn't have guaranteed he'd leave without injuries if he had stayed any longer." Xander responded, his voice taut.
"He's just doing what's best for the band, Xan."
Noah's attempt at placating was a failure.
"The best for the band?" Xander said incredulously. "Are you hearing yourself right now? Does this not seem like a catastrophe waiting to happen to you?"
At Noah's silence, Xander continued. "We toyed with fire once and narrowly avoided getting burnt. This," he waved his hands wildly, gesturing abstractedly towards their entire circumstance. "Is just begging for a repeat of that. And the worse part is we're doing this of our own volition."
"What difference does it make if we do?" Noah riposted, sighing. "It's already a done deal. What the label says, goes. You know that as well as I do, Xan."
Xander grumbled noises of discontent as Noah looked over at Mason who was engrossed with the contract, eyebrows creasing together every few pages as he digested the contents.
"Seen anything out of the ordinary, Mase?"
Mason didn't look up as he replied. "No, it's an iron-clad contract. Blake hasn't mentioned what songs she's choosing to play, though. I assume that will be discussed in-person at a later meeting."
Noah drummed his fingers against his lap, buying himself time as he scoured for courage to attempt a bold request.
"Do you guys want to listen to her albums?"
At this, Mason did glance up. Xander was quick to shoot a reply on his behalf.
"You're joking right?" A high-pitched squawk elicited itself out from Xander. The sunlight was momentarily blurred out by a passing cloud, casting an ominous shade over the table.
"We're already going to be spending ill-wanted time together from Friday onwards for the next year or so. If you want to willingly subject yourself towards more of that — be my guest. But I want to savour the remaining freedom until then; I'm out."
Xander stormed out of the room, his crisp footsteps against the tiled flooring fading as he moved further away.
"And then there were two," Noah exhaled wearily, looking over to Mason who had paused his analysis of the contract. "I suppose you share the same sentiments as Xander."
Mason heaved an inward sigh, scanning Noah's deflated posture. Even if he did share Xander's sentiments, none of the boys couldn't avoid her music forever. Listening to a few of her tracks now could better prepare him for what to expect.
These persistent thoughts were what made him shake his head outwardly. "No. You can play it, I don't mind. It will be a good opportunity to assess her growth and gauge where we stand."
If Noah was shocked by his response, he didn't show it. Instead, he swiftly fished his phone from his back pocket, fingers flying across the screen as he typed in her name. The search results were instantaneous.
Each of the two albums contained five tracks. The first album — her debut album — was titled 'Lessons in Life' and her most recent was titled 'For Posterity'. Noah glanced up,
"Which album should we listen to?"
Mason waved his hand that was gripping a pen carelessly in the air. "I don't know — the latest one?"
Noah obliged the request, pressing on the album that was untitled 'For Posterity'.
"This is the first, 'Paradise' is what she called it," Noah informed as soft hums filled the room accompanied by an underlying layer of guitars and flutes. It was an acoustic cover.
Mason sucked in sharply as the hums metamorphosed into words.
As the song sputtered out its final tunes, Mason released a breath that he had been unconsciously holding. The hairs on the back of his neck had risen to attention, chilled from the melodious siren-like voice that moments before had enraptured the audience of two, cocooning them.
"Holy shit," Noah blew out a breath of awe at the level of technique Foressa's voice had reached.
"She's grown tremendously," he murmured, staring at the phone in admiration. "This is a testament to her skills. Blake was right; she's unrivalled."
"As we've established from before." Mason pointed out, unable to stop the bitter edge seeping into his voice.
The words Noah were about to utter in response slipped away as a pair of heavy footsteps entered their auditory vicinity.
Kayden.
Even curled, Mason could see the darkest shade of red peeking out from his clenched palms, purple-black welts already beginning to form at the tips of his knuckles.
"I'll be fine," he muttered gruffly at their concerned gazes. "What were you guys talking about?"
Noah cast a cursory look in Mason's direction, exchanging a non-verbal question.
Should we tell him?
Mason tipped his head down. Yes.
"We were listening to a track from Foressa's latest album."
"For research purposes." He added hurriedly, afraid to incur the wrath he had earlier seen from Xander. Eliciting Kayden's anger would made Xander's look like a walk in the park.
Kayden pursed his lips but didn't voice any of his dissent, which Noah responded gratefully by crossing his chest in a silent reverential pose. Kayden's lips flattened as he rolled his eyes at the exaggerated act.
He turned his head to acknowledge Mason, sitting down on the seat in front of him.
"Are you going to be okay?" he asked, black eyes gleaming with an indiscernible emotion.
Mason pushed back the contract he had been avidly studying, clasping his hands together.
"I should be asking you that question," Mason said jokingly. Kayden wasn't dissuaded by his deflection, pinning the caucasian-male with a hard look.
Mason's smile faltered as he blew out a breath, leaning back in his chair, overcome by a sudden bout of fatigue.
Kayden understood Mason's internal conflict better than Noah did; after all, both the members were cut from the same cloth of heartbreak.
Noah pocketed back his phone, exiting the room quietly. This wasn't a conversation that he felt privy to, only Kayden and Mason had ever experienced the act of love beyond it just simply being a chemical reaction.
Noah's childhood taught him to repulse the very idea of it and Xander simply had grown tired of always ending up with artificiality and had stopped searching, resigning himself to a life of solitude.
It was a hard truth that Xander had struggled to come to terms with. Underneath the spotlight, everyone threw themselves at the boys' but very few were willing to look under the surface, to accept their demons — because despite of the media's portrayal, they were nowhere near perfect — that came with them.
"It was inevitable." He settled for saying.
For the last three years, both groups avoided each other to the best of their abilities. Choosing magazines to read that didn't have each other's faces on the covers; ensuring that their schedules never coincided; purposefully being absent in galas or events that mentioned either's presence would be warranted, they had done it all.
Xander had even resorted to ripping out his earphones whenever the song inevitably came up on the ad breaks — Spotify Premium was a luxury that the boys were skinting on.
Ironic, Mason mused, considering they were practically millionaires.
"Again, that doesn't answer my question. Are you okay?" Kayden reiterated. Mason shot him a hot glare that would have seared through an ordinary person, but Kayden had grown up with him and was all too used to his glowers.
He smirked. "Doesn't work on me, and you know I won't leave you alone until I get a verbal response."
"Just peachy." Mason grumbled out.
"We'll deal with this together," Kayden said. "One day at a time. Before we know it, it will have ended. We will be fine."
"We'll be fine." Mason repeated monotonously, the words that left his mouth lacking the conviction that Kayden's possessed.
Because frankly, Mason didn't know if they would be fine. There was no predicting how things would play out, and whether they would remain intact by the end of the tour was all up to the deities and fate.
Only time would tell.