Chapter 27

Bethany was stunned by the revelation and could only look at the man with already tired and almost dead eyes, not meeting with Kevin’s raging ones, even if he himself had the same expression as James, only with his mouth apart in surprise.

Nobody said a word. The silence slowly swallows the three of them until a heavy step from Kevin took a chilling sound on the two of them as he quickly grabbed James’ collar and started yelling at him. It was so loud that the few people parking where they at started to look at them, thinking that there was a huge commotion already. Bethany immediately tried to back him off, but the two men simply won’t bulge: Kevin in his unexplainable rage and James simply looking down even further, pretending to be a statue.

“Damn it! Why did you have to give it all up!” Kevin screamed at James’ face. This is not the Bethany she knew when she was in high school; this is a different side of him. Something that she did not want to know, and she knew that she was going to get sandwiched once again in someone else’s agenda.

“Do you even know the lengths that I went through while you were there shining on the stage? The shame that I endured on those days to make you good. What even was that – the promise that you made to me?”

In a shaking voice, James could only say the words sorry, and he continued. Those words were audible enough for her to hear despite the vulgarity that Kevin’s mouth was saying.

“I’m sorry if my promise will never be fulfilled. I am just tired.”

Kevin stopped and distanced himself, already hearing what he has said. Bethany looked below and saw his clenching fist, wanting to be close to him for a punch, and she held her ground, putting him in a staredown. Eventually, the CEO’s eyes traveled to hers, and they glared at each other until he gave up and walked away, leaving her and James among the small crowd that they had drawn.

“I’m sorry for what he has said to you,” Bethany started to apologize and looked around, realizing the people that flocked and slowly walked away with murmurs to each other. She was quite annoyed by what her boss did, but only closed her eyes and blinked a few times, trying to be calm and collected.

“You yourself are trying hard not to be stressed,” he commented.

“Well, yes,” she nodded and distanced from him, putting her tired hands on her waist, and shaking her head. “I just can’t understand it. I have been always, always in between some issues I am never supposed to be dealing with. I already told myself that I will never get involved with other people other than myself.”

James only bit his lip and looked to the side, knowing that this was rooted in that time when they were both grilled by the media until it magically disappeared. Knowing his circle, James knew immediately that it might be because of him and Kevin’s mutual friend Lee, the aristocrat that had the power to do so.

“Sorry for dragging you into this,” he just replied, taking responsibility for the mistake that he made. “I will try to make up for this.”

“No, no, it is all right. There is no need to make that for me,” Bethany said, putting her hands up and waving them in front of him. “Besides, I may not be in front of the spotlight like you, but I am still working in the entertainment industry. It is bound to happen anyway, dragging us to these dark secrets.”

“Indeed,” James agreed and put his hands in his pocket, started to step away. “Well then, I will take my exit. I did not mean to destroy Kevin’s day. I didn’t know that the past still affected him that much.”

“That, I could not understand what he is so mad about,” Bethany commented to him, curiosity written all over her face. “What does he mean about it anyway? Those shameful acts that he committed?”

“It may not look like it, but from what he said earlier,” James said to her and remembering the times that both of them shared the times before this very moment. “But it looks like Kevin still wants to shine on that stage, perform like an idol that he was supposed to be.”

Her eyes widened. Curious for more and wanting to ask, she took a step forward, but she forced herself to stop asking any more questions and let James leave. It seems that she will have to ask the man himself, Bethany said to herself and hurried to the office where his boss must be at.

Upon entering the office, Bethany heard a beautiful singing of a man. She paused from what she was doing and listened to him. There must be only one person capable of entering this room and singing this well.

Kevin.

Bethany slowly twisted the knob to prove that it was Kevin, looking behind, and she was in awe to hear him more clearly, as he hit the notes of the song in their right tones. She tried to listen to him longer, but her hands unconsciously slipped from holding the knob and the door made a sound from being locked, making Kevin startled and turned around swiftly, turning red upon seeing Bethany.

The singing immediately stopped, and it was replaced by a silence. Neither spoke on the hidden talent of Kevin’s until she pointed it out.

“You have a good singing voice there,” Bethany said and nodded slowly, looking away. Kevin only sighed and let out a slight chuckle, fixing his suit, then returning to his seat.

“Thanks, but next time, I will lock the door first before singing.”

“You have that kind of voice, but you won’t let anyone hear it?”

“No one is going to listen anyway,” Kevin noticed the encouragement behind the words of his secretary but turned them down almost instantly. “I already threw away this dream of mine, and I am just singing for the sake of releasing my stress.”

Bethany only stared at him and silently watched him open his computer and check on his unread emails and sort some of his documents during his absence. She still wanted to say something, or even compliment his voice just now, but it seemed that it would be a little too much for now.

With a sigh and refocused herself to work, she took a step and grabbed some of his paperwork to be filed and arrange her boss’ schedule for the day.

The day became dark, and James had not moved from his couch of his condominium unit, staring at the television this whole time. He was watching his group’s past performances. Together with Silver Age, they accomplished a lot and made over a hundred songs that he still knew as if it was at the back of his hand. From the upbeat performances and the ballad, he also believed that no one topped them for years.

He noticed his phone vibrated again beside him. It was the nth time of the day. Since he announced that he was going to leave the group earlier today, James did not even bother explaining to everyone what the cause behind his decision was. He took a look at the notification, and it was his member, Silva.

James chuckled dryly, and closed the phone again, putting it back on the desk. He then asked himself: what was it again that drove his decision to leave the group?

Was it Kevin as he witnessed that he was being freer than before when they were both trainees? Was it the fatigue and the burnout that he just felt recently when they are going to release another song, that is surely will be talked about for weeks like before?

No.

It is when he met Bethany, the woman that got dragged with him and was made a fuss by the media afterwards. He felt bad and wanted to clear things up with the news outlets himself but got shushed by his own management from saying anything. The lack of freedom that he experienced was enough reason for him to get out of the group and be in his own way.

Even if it meant crushing the promise that he made to Kevin just before when James was accepted to the group, and he was not.

The phone rang for a call, and he already had enough and answered it without looking at the caller ID.

“What do you want? Don’t you see that I am already tired –”

“Ah, is that how you greet an old friend now?”

The voice was familiar. It was Lee’s, a friend of theirs. James was shocked, but was able to compose himself, apologizing to him.

“It is all right,” Lee told him. “I heard that you are quitting. Rumors are circulating around.”

“It already reached there, huh?”

“I am not the best listener around, but would you like to talk about it?”