I had never been so nervous as I was when I went through the doors at TEN music group's office. My heart was beating so much I could feel it in my chest. A woman greeted me at the reception.
"Hi. My name is Simon Eriksson. I was supposed to see Victoria," I said. The woman sitting by the computer asked me to wait for a moment.
"Victoria will be here in a few minutes. You can take a seat there," she said and gestured towards a sofa and a few armchairs further in. I sat down and looked around. There were posters of all their current singers, songwriters and dancers. I imagined myself on that wall one day. It was a crazy thought.
"Hi. You must be Simon?" A woman said. She stood in the doorway to a corridor.
"Yeah," I said. She nodded.
"I am Victoria. A pleasure to meet you," she said and shook my hand. I smiled and told her the pleasure was all mine. She led me into her office, where a man also was sitting.
"Hi, Simon. I am Anders," he said and shook my hand. I smiled.
"Nice to meet you," I said. I sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the desk to them. They were really nice.
"So for how long have you been into music?" Anders asked.
"For as long as I can remember," I said. I had really loved music since forever. "I have been singing since I was little. And I am now in the school choir."
"You are attending Hillerska boarding school, right?" Victoria asked. I nodded.
"I am from Bjärstad. Hillerska was not my personal first choice though," I said. "But they offered a mix of the natural science programme and music and sports, so it has turned out okay anyway," I said.
"Why did you transfer to a school that was not your first choice?" Anders asked.
"My sister Sara was bullied at her first school, so when I was to transfer for highschool I offered to transfer to Hillerska with her," I said.
"What a good brother you are. My brother would never do that," Victoria said with a laugh. I smiled.
"Do you have any more experience of singing on stage than with the school choir?" Anders asked. I shook my head. I did not.
"No, I mostly sing on stage with the choir. Otherwise I mostly sing in my bedroom on my own or when my boyfriend is there," I said. Victoria and Anders looked at each other and smiled. They probably knew who I was in a relationship with.
"Your boyfriend is a lucky boy who can hear you sing whenever he wants to," Victoria said. Ayoub and Rosh had called me a siren. The boy who seduces boys to fall in love with him by his voice they always said. I had laughed so much at them. "Would you like to sing something to us now? We have heard about your incredible voice." I nodded.
"What do you want me to sing?" I asked.
"Sing something you are comfortable with, please," Anders said. I thought about it for a minute. I wanted to show more of my register so that they could get an idea of my voice. I went for a song that I had written myself. It did not have a name just yet. I sang. The lyrics were in Swedish. And it was about Wilhelm. About our relationship. The fight we had fought to be together. And I had a feeling we had not fought the final battle yet. When I sang I got a weird feeling in my stomach. I could not describe it. It just felt wrong. But the lyrics came out flawlessly anyways. Thank God.
"We can definitely work with that. Don't you think, Anders?" Victoria said.
"Definitely. It was beautiful, Simon. Did you write it yourself?" he asked. I nodded. I felt my phone vibrate in the pocket of my trousers. Something was wrong. I could just tell. I did not know what. It kept vibrating. I could tell Victoria and Anders noticed.
"Yes I did," I said.
"Are there any problems? Your phone has been ringing constantly. Would you like to take it?" Anders asked.
"If you don't mind," I said. They smiled and told me I could get back into the office after I had taken the call. I saw my mother's name on the display. She and Wilhelm said they would sit at a café nearby and wait for me. What had happened? She knew the importance of this meeting. She would not call if it was not an emergency.
"Hi mom. What has happened?" I asked.
"They have taken Wilhelm, Simon," Linda began. Who had taken him? Kidnappers?
"Who has taken him?" I asked. I did not understand. Who would want to kidnap him? Anyone who knew him knew to not keep us apart. Wille became a bit sulky without me. He would not shut up about missing me. Maybe he could annoy them into letting him go.
"His mother's guards came and carried him out of the coffee shop. It was awful, Simon," she said. So they would not let him go then. No matter how much he complained about missing me. They would not care. I sighed.
"Fuck. I will just finish my meeting and then I will come out, okay?" I said.
"Yeah. I will see you later," my mother said. I went back into the office. I tried to act normally.
"Is everything okay?" Victoria asked. I shook my head.
"I can't lie. Things are not great at the moment," I said.
"We could continue this another day if you need to go. Victoria and I want to offer you a contract," Anders said. I smiled.
"Thank you. Thank you so much," I said.
"Now go and do whatever you need to do. It seems important," Victoria said.
"Well you could say that. I will have to go and rescue my boyfriend from my evil mother in law," I said. Victoria and Anders looked at me with big eyes. They knew I spoke about the Queen.
"That's a way to refer to your boyfriend's mother who happens to be the Queen," Victoria said jokingly.
"Well I know her personally and she has just kidnapped Wilhelm," I said. "So I feel like I am allowed to say that." They laughed.
"Go and save your boyfriend. We will still be here when you have freed him," Anders said with a grin. I thanked them and ran out of the building and into my mother's car. We pulled out and went into the direction of the royal palace. I tried to call Wille, but to no avail. Had they really taken his phone as well? God how I hated the royal family. Well except for Erik. He was the only decent one. I decided to call him next. Maybe he knew how I could save Wille from their mother.
"Hi Simon," Erik said. He sounded a bit surprised by my call.
"Hi Erik," I replied. "Do you know where they are taking Wille?"
"What?" Erik asked.
"They have taken Wille," I said. He did not know. What a surprise.
"Who?" he asked. "Who has taken my brother?"
"Your mother and her security guards. Wille and my mother were waiting for me at a coffee shop while I was having a meeting with the record label," I said. "And apparently some security guards came and carried him out of there and put him in a car and drove off."
"Oh my God. Mom is too much sometimes. I will go and look at what is going on. I will call you back when I know, okay?" Erik said.
"Thanks. We are on our way to the palace as well," I said. "Can you please tell him we are on our way if you meet him?"
"Of course, Simon. He will probably be hysterical. I have not heard him scream his lungs out yet, so he is probably not at the palace yet. If they did not take him to the dungeons," Erik said. He hung up and I breathed slowly in and out, trying not to lose my mind. I looked out on the road.
"Look, mom. Doesn't that car further down the road look like a royal security car?" I said. There was a black car with what seemed like tinted windows.
"It does. Do you want to check?" mom asked.
"Yeah," I said. She pulled over and parked behind the black car. I got out and opened the car door. Wilhelm sat there with his head between his knees, hyperventilating. What had they done to him? He had a full blown panic attack.
"What the hell have you done with him?" I asked the security guard that sat next to him, not knowing what to do.
"We are just taking orders from the Queen," he said. I put a hand on Wille's shoulder. "You are not allowed to take him away. We will call the police and report the prince kidnapped if you do."
"Wille wants to be with me. He wants to go home with us. You know so," I said.
"We can't refuse orders," he said.
"I can call crown prince Erik and see what he has to say about it," I said. I called Erik again. I told him what was happening. He asked me to put him on speaker and he told the security staff that he wanted them to let his brother go with us.
"That is an order, Per. I will have you fired if you don't let Wille go," Erik said.
"Your mother will fire us if we don't return with him, crown prince Erik," Per replied.
"I promise I will take full responsibility and that she won't do that. Just let him go home with Simon and Linda," he said back. Per nodded and told me to get him out so they could go.
"Baby, it is me. We can go now. Just get out of the car," I whispered. I helped him out of there and picked him up bridal style. He cried uncontrollably. I carried him back to mom's car. I got him inside and helped him put his seatbelt on.
"You are safe now," I said. "Mom, go before they change their mind." She pulled out and we went the other direction, towards Bjärstad. Towards our home. I wrapped my arms around him and put my lips on his neck. He wrapped his arms around me too.
"I love you," I said.
"Don't ever leave me again, Simon," Wille cried. "Don't ever leave me."
"I won't. I promise."