Chapter 16

He was waiting for Bethany’s reply when Kevin sheepishly laughed, pointing at Bethany.

“You don’t remember our batchmate anymore? Bethany Waters?”

Napoleon blinked a few times and was stunned at his realization. His hand retracted and went to cover his mouth in a pleasant surprise, wanting to hit Kevin but could not do it.

“Wait, really? Are you really the Bethany Waters?”

“I am not the anything,” Bethany answered him with a raised eyebrow. “I am just a secretary right now, serving Kevin and the company.”

“Really, now?” Napoleon reacted to her answer with a bored expression and shifted it into a teasing one as he looked over to Kevin, smirking. Kevin, on the other hand, cleared his throat and invited himself inside his studio.

“Let’s go inside.”

“Oi!” Napoleon called him out, trying to reach him but he could not. He looked back to the waiting Bethany and welcomed her inside. “Come inside, let me get you two some refreshments.”

The studio was already small from the outside, but she was surprised on the inside. It was spacious even though there was so much furniture and belongings. Posters of different artists he worked with were stuck on the walls and several books were compiled on one side of the desk found in the corner of the living room.

Napoleon chuckled, scratching his hair while looking at the poster that Bethany was also looking at. “That was my first collaboration with. Those guys were not easy to work with at first, but I am glad that my music was accepted by them, and it became a hit. They are now the top group in this country, after all.”

Silver Age. The name of the group that he was talking about. Bethany, among millions of people in the country, knows about them. They came from the top company, TOP, and seemed to will be reigning over for another five years or so. A familiar figure was seen as she squinted her eyes. She could not recognize him at first because of his thinner appearance and the different colors of his eyes.

James Wilson.

“That is also the song which Kevin would have debuted with, making them five members in all,” Napoleon shared a tidbit of information on the already known and exposed past of the CEO. Bethany was startled and looked at him and he seemed to be also surprised, stunned at her reaction.

“Wait. Did Kevin not tell you about it? I already assumed that every one of you in his company knows it by now.”

She slowly shook her head, denying any knowledge of the full story. “I know that he was supposed to debut in this group, but that is just about it. We don’t know what happened fully at that.”

Napoleon realized what he said and immediately stopped, holding out his hand in front of Bethany with a sad smile on his face.

“It means that this is my limit on sharing that kind of information about him. It is better that he will just open to all of you some time.”

“I doubt he will do that. He is too… objective in his work lately.”

“Really? He is like that now?” Napoleon clicked his tongue and cocked his head to the side, feeling unbelievable about what Bethany said just now. A smile of relief was then shown on his face afterward.

“I guess it is a nice thing to see, after all those years.”

By the time he finished saying those words, Kevin appeared from the kitchen, bringing three cans of ice-cold beer with him, raising it in the air with an excited expression, then looking over to Bethany and Napoleon.

“You guys up for a drink?”

“Wow, a CEO drinking in the middle of daylight,” Napoleon made a remark on his position, grabbing one can and opening it with a satisfying sound as the cap was being undone. “Now, that is something new to the sight!”

“I just had a change of title, I can still drink these kinds of drinks if I want to,” Kevin replied with slight annoyance, offering Bethany a drink. Bethany, even though she had doubts, took the drink and sip. She knows that the drink she was having has a low alcohol content. When everything was set and done, the CEO clapped his hands.

“Let’s get to work already. What do you have in store for us, Napoleon?”

“Now, we’re talking,” he answered and quickly grabbed a seat on his setup. “Since you told me in advance that you wanted to repackage the group you are handling, I figured that it could be better that we are going to give them a lighthearted tune and vibe.”

“But that sounds like what they have been doing for the past year and being unable to even raise on their charts.”

“That is where you’re wrong,” Napoleon raised a hand to him and continued on his explanation. “A lighthearted one, but you can certainly feel that they are already mature enough, you know?”

Both of them looked at each other and rubbed their chins while nodding in curiosity. Kevin pointed at the monitor where the file of the music was ready, and Napoleon immediately played the melody that he thought of. It was sudden, but Bethany could certainly feel that the song will fit the group and is surely a step up compared to their other songs.

Without hesitation, she snapped her fingers and could not contain her excitement and delight at Napoleon. “This will do. I think they will like it.”

The music producer then looked at the CEO, smirking and confident in his work. “Bethany agrees with me. What do you say we make it work, Kevin?”

Giving it a few moments of thinking, Kevin then agreed with Bethany and snapped his fingers on his friend. “Go ahead. As long as my secretary approves it, then I will too.”

The conversation went on for about half an hour until all of them decided that they would end their meetup already. Kevin received a message from the music producer and forwarded it to the manager, who in return, let the girls hear it and say their thoughts about it.

“Are you free tomorrow, Napoleon?”

Napoleon put a finger in front of his mouth, thinking of the question until he shook his head. “No, I think I won’t be doing anything tomorrow. What’s up?”

“I would like you to come to the office. I want to be hands-on in this project, and I need any help that I can get. Plus, the girls said that they want to write their own lyrics, I figured that you could help them do that.”

“Sweet, all right then. I will go there tomorrow.”

Bethany felt that her battery was already close to getting drained, hence she was silent for the rest of their conversation, zoning out on the important details. Her awareness was restored when Kevin called her name, instructing her to do something, and she immediately grabbed her tablet and wrote it down.

“Tomorrow, ten in the morning, we will meet with Napoleon and bring him to the studio. We will have a short meeting with him. I need my schedule to be cleared at that time.”

“All right,” she shortly replied, and Napoleon agreed. He stood up from his seat and bowed to the two of them and walked them outside his door. The afternoon breeze and the warmth of the sun made her feel refreshed and her energy slowly came back. She must have been becoming sleepy in the cold temperature of his studio.

“I will see you two tomorrow then,” Napoleon said to them and waved goodbye. He locked eyes with Bethany for a second and gave a smile.

“Bear with Kevin.”

“Hey, what does that mean –” Kevin was about to retort when the door already closed in on him. Scratching his head and walking one block away to the parking lot and to the car, they were surprised and exchanged awkward looks when their stomachs suddenly gave off rumbling sounds of starvation.

“It seems that we have forgotten to take our lunch.”

“Yes, it looks like we were focused on our work too much,” Bethany replied with a sheepish laugh.

“Why don’t you say we have a quick bite over to a convenience store I used to eat?” Kevin pointed his finger in a direction that was nowhere to end as Bethany followed her eyes through it. “It is just a five-minute ride from here, anyway. What do you say?”

She wanted to refuse, but her body is already giving up on her due to the hunger she is feeling. What would Gwen say to her when she sees the two of them?

Bethany then would be tangled in their issue, making Kevin’s position even worse.

She was about to decline his CEO’s offer when a familiar voice called to them from beside the pavement.

“What are you two doing here?”

Kevin and Bethany turned around to see James wearing the same disguise, but this time with a hat, mask, and shades to further cover his identity.

“I should be asking the same question to you, James.”