Work is hard.
It's hard when you don't really get along with people. It's even harder in show business when you're surrounded by people and things more fake the reputation these management companies make you out to be.
Life is hard.
It's hard when your company of so-called friends and people you should be having close relations with are almost as fake as the concern they have when you decide not to go to a party.
So that's how it felt for James.
He felt that everything was insincere and fake around him. All his friends were only into the hype of things that weren't permanent in this world. They indulged in relationships that didn't last, which made him start to think that love wasn't real.
He reflected on his previous relationship with Ericka and if she was only with him so she could brag about shagging him, what more the people he worked with or the people he called his friends on live television?
Life felt like he was just going day-to-day trying to find the next big thing that will distract him from the emptiness he feels being in show business.
Reflecting on his current life, he realized that he would go to work with people who didn't have souls. They just needed him for his face and his voice, but they didn't really need him. He would spend his leisure times with people who were even more soulless (if that was even possible) and were content drowning in as much alcohol they could get their hands on because being drunk and fake was better than being sober and fake.
The only real good thing in his schedule was the girl.
Nadine.
As much as she had grown up in this industry, he could feel that everything she said and did towards him was genuine. She had this sparkle in her eyes and laugh that should be an ailment for angry people.
Soon after, if he didn't see the the twinkle in her face, it made him want to hurt the reason that she was unhappy. Everytime he saw her cry, he felt it and it affected his work.
It wasn't supposed to be anything, but he found himself falling for her.
And boy, did he fall for her.
With more than just the laugh and the twinkle in her eyes, he fell in love with everything Nadine stood for. For the way she thought, mind and soul. For the way he fought for things she thought were worth putting up a fight for. For the way she loved, emotionally, whole-heartedly (and physically).
When he allowed himself to realize just how much he was in love with Nadine, he couldn't help but want to give her the world. He wanted to see the world with her too because everytime she looked at him and smiled, knowing that he was the reason for it, it made his heart grow more in love — with himself, with her, with the idea of him and her forever.
And that's what helped fill the hole in his heart while simultaneously dispelling the fears he used to have about love. Being with Nadine allowed him to see that there was more to life than just dragging your feet day-to-day. That the voices that used to haunt him with thoughts of forever being surrounded by hypocritical people were just lost souls who never found true love.
At least, even if this was just temporary (although he knows it in his heart that they're going to make it), he'll be forever grateful that he gets to experience a love as great as this with a woman as incredible Nadine.
~~~~~~
"Happy Birthday, Pumpkin," he whispered before placing a kiss on her forehead.
Nadine snuggled into him closer as she stretched her body a little. She tilted her head up and smiled at him.
"My birthday was yesterday."
"We're still in Japan. Everyday is your birthday."
She giggled as she moved up the bed to give him a quick kiss on the lips.
"Thank you... For making me feel loved everyday."
"Thank you too. Your happiness is my happiness."
They both sat up in bed, Nadine reaching out for her laptop on the beside table. She opened it up to see that all the files they had filmed yesterday had loaded. James scooted in closer to her to take a look at the scenes.
She kept clicking around and putting numbers as notes for each split video clip. He didn't question her and just rested his head on hers, squeezing his arm in between the headboard and her back so he could bring her closer to him (as if they weren't close enough).
After a few more minutes, Nadine spoke up to explain what she had envisioned. She already told Petersen what she thought, but James had the ultimate say since this was his music video.
"So I was thinking, since you want to incorporate our videos from last year, we put all these scenes on those old school TVs. Stack them up and each TV has a different scene playing."
James nodded in agreement, knowing she still had a lot of ideas running through her head.
"When we get back, we'll film the scene with the cars you rented out for the day. Show us meeting up on the plane runway to get into a plane. All we need to know now is which clips you want displayed on the TV."
He scrolled through the video files and saw she had notes for those too.
"Which ones were you thinking of putting?"
Nadine blushed a little and clicked through them one-by-one, allowing James to piece together that she had thought of everything and where to place them. He saw that she chose scenes that were similar to the first music video they ever did together. There were spinning scenes, scenes of them running together while holding hands, or of them taking selfies. He saw that a lot of their travel video clips weren't from Nadine's main camera.
"What happened to the camera 1 clips?" scrolling through to find that only a few were marked for use. "I thought you said you wanted to use them in here."
"But the perspective is different from camera 1. It doesn't create the same feel if I use all the footage from there. I want people to see the scenes and see and feel how much you love me."
James looked at her, closing the laptop so nothing was in his way of fully engulfing her into him, her body instantly melting into his.
She giggled, "Whaaaaat? You said I could direct this?"
He laughed along with her, "And I trust you the most with this project because this song was my gift to you."
"I thought IL2LU was?" eyebrows furrowed.
"Nope," shaking his head and wagging his finger before tapping her on tip of her nose. "This song is my way of telling you, and the world, that you're the one. That you're the only one I can picture myself spending the rest of my life with. That since I've been with you, being with you continues to be the greatest adventure I've ever had... more than our trips around the world. Even though it's a nice bonus. That's why it's spelled with the 1. And you're also my life, in a healthy way of course."
They laughed because their relationship taught them that making someone the center of your universe would end in toxicity. They learned not to centralize the other, but their relationship as a whole, still keeping themselves a focal point.
"All the ideas sound great, Love. I trust you 100% with this. Just remember, my life, my love, my pumpkin, Nadine..." listing off her nicknames. "I just wanna life the life with you."
Nadine slapped him on his chest and laughed even harder than before as he continued to whisper sing the song to her. "Corny mo."
A/N:
*cries a million tears because I know what's left and juskopo, there's no way around it. It's smut. It has to be. Either that or I'm not a good enough writer to make a smut song kilig HAHAHAHA.
Shoutout to ilove2loveyou