7 Chapter 7 - Caroline King

The phone rang and I woke up pouting at it. It's 10pm and I needed my rest but when I saw who was calling, I had no choice but to answer. My manager, Anita Debaria, would give me hell if I didn't answer her call.

"You know what time it is? I was sleeping you know." Groggy and still sleepy, that's how I felt.

"I can almost hear the pout in your voice." That's just like Annie, she didn't even apologize for waking me up. We've been together for so long we were practically family. Anita treated me more of a little sister than as a talent and I preferred it that way. "I called because I need to remind you about your fan meeting for tomorrow which I had to re-schedule in the afternoon right after the photoshoot for Beauty Matrix."

The photoshoot was nothing more than a job, it was the fan meet I was looking forward to. "Okay, just make sure we'll have plenty of time for the fan meet. You know how photoshoots bore me."

"Yes, yes, don't worry about that. Also, Nica will be there tomorrow to talk to you about the secret gig for Saturday." The gig was another thing I've been looking forward to. "I won't keep you up, go back to sleep sleepyhead."

"You could've at least said goodnight." I complained to the dead line and went back to sleep.

I woke up from a dream during my early days as a performer. It was during the time when I was just starting out and playing club gigs to promote my music. I've never felt so alive when I was singing. Looking back at my career, I never felt any regret. I wouldn't be here if not for the constant ups and downs when I was still struggling to be relevant.

I went down to eat breakfast, a club sandwich and coffee. I remembered Nica telling about a meal they named after it, Caroline's Forevermore, it made me smile.

After breakfast was work, which consisted of numerous phone calls to directors, to my agency, and a couple of other inquiries. Normally, I would let Anita answer them for me but I couldn't help noticing that her workload has increased ever since the release of the current album.

"It's your fault for being such a good singer." I remembered her scolding me when the new album was released and the critics were raving about it and she had received endless phone calls from magazines and other media outlets.

Honestly, it thrilled me that a lot of people love it, for me it means that some way, somehow they could relate to it and it was what mattered in music. When I was writing the material for the album, I wasn't really worried about what the critics would say about it, rather it was the opinion of my fans, the people who have listened to every piece of music that I've released. When you've been in the industry for so long, you learn to appreciate how important the fans are in your career because without them you are nothing. What good is a song if no one listens to it? And so when the album was released, it was the fans's reception I was worried about.

After the phone calls, came my preparation for the photoshoot. I checked myself at the mirror, a pair of dark green eyes were staring right back at me.

Upon arriving at the studio, I was met by my makeup artist who got to work as soon as she saw me but didn't really do much. "There's really nothing much I can do other than highlight what's obvious, you're beauty." She remarked. I suppressed a smile.

The photoshoot was over in an hour and I had plenty of time to prepare for the fan meet. I decided to call Anita and told her to go back to the agency and grab some merch, I wanted to do a giveaway while I was at it. She told me she'll have it delivered.

The venue for the fan meet was at an event center in Cerulean City's largest shopping mall, Discordia. Just when I thought I've gotten used to the number of fans who'd line up for these sort of things, sometimes it's still an overwhelming experience.

One of the things I love about fan meets are the stories. Hearing fans tell you their stories on how they got into your music, it was the biggest motivation for an artist to keep going. I remembered a fan telling me that she's been listening to my music ever since I've started releasing them and as proof showed me a picture of me during my early days, the warmth and the love, it was one of the most beautiful thing to live with in this world.

I was still signing an autograph for a young girl when Anita came from behind and motioned to her watch. I knew exactly what it meant. "Ten more, please?"

She shook her head firmly and gave me an exhausted smile. "Ten would become twenty, and then thirty and by then you'd have signed up another hundred before I could pull you out."

I knew she only cared for my well-being but seeing the amount of fans who were still in line, I couldn't help but feel bad. Annie took me by the arm, a gentle gesture of telling me it was over. "Nica is waiting at the cafe, you still have plenty of things to talk about right?"

I nodded. The event coordinator handed me a microphone as I said my goodbyes. I could see a lot of disappointed faces in the crowd and that made me feel a bit sad.

When it was over, I went to see Nica at the cafe. I had to use the back entrance to avoid causing a commotion and to make sure that I didn't cause any, I wore a face mask. I was greeted by Angela whose adorable puppy eyes never failed to make me smile, I gave her a hug and I thought she'd die in my arms.

"She's in her office." She said rather breathlessly, still recovering from my embrace.

Nica was seated in her office desk, on top of which was a pot of coffee and a pair of sandwiches. When she saw me enter, she gave out a squeak.

"You'd think that us being friends for some time now would fix that squeak." I said grinning.

Nica, who was one of the first few who listened to my songs merely smiled. "I can't help it."

I shimmied over to her and gave her a hug. I felt the same feeling as I did when I hugged Angela, that she might faint. "Do me a favor and don't pass out please." I said jokingly and we both laughed.

We discussed about the upcoming Saturday gig, with Nica giving out a few suggestions. One of them about putting it up for live stream if it's okay with my management.

"It'll make those who are unable to come to the gig happy, I know a lot of them will be." She said rather shyly.

"I think we can do that." It was an excellent suggestion. In fact, I know a lot of people would be happy with it especially since it's a secret gig.

I asked her about setting up the venue.

"Oh, it's no big deal. I just had to ask a few volunteers from the club to do grunt work."

"And they're okay with that?" I asked.

"On the contrary, I'm pretty sure they are more than happy to help." She stuck her tongue out at me, that made me smile.

Time went by whenever I was with Nica. We could talk about anything. She seemed to understand a lot of things that I felt whenever we were together. One of her particular favorite is love. I couldn't help it, she's always been a hopeless romantic since I've known her. This evening, instead of talking about her ideal man which she does most of the time, she asked me about my take on romance.

To me, it sounded like an alien word. I've never fallen in love, people I've known have a hard time accepting the fact that I've never had a boyfriend since birth. It was often a hot topic since I've made the mistake of uttering my lackluster romance in a magazine interview I did a few years ago. A few weeks after the release of the issue that featured that interview, I was bombarded by numerous would-be suitors. One of them was from someone who was already at the top of the industry, promised to make sure my career would be successful if I went out with him. I rejected them all however, to Anita's delight. Back then I wasn't ready for entering a relationship because I was too focused on my career. My dreams were starting to unfold in front of me and I wasn't about to throw it all away in exchange for the fickle thing they call love.

But now that I've reached the top, I've felt the loneliness that accompanies success. It's a feeling I've become too familiar with whenever I sleep alone in bed. It was then when I realized that I am searching for something, whatever it is, I'm sure I'll know when I find it.

"Romance? I guess it's an inspiration? I don't know and I won't pretend to be an expert on that field." As far as I'm concerned, love is just something to write about.

"Don't you ever feel lonely?" Her eyes looked concerned, as if me being single was a problem.

I've met plenty of men that I thought would make good boyfriends but they just weren't the man I've been looking for. Most of them were confused and so was I. I had no idea what it was that I was looking for. "Sometimes I do, but it passes. And I'm in no rush for love, I leave that to fate."

After that, Nica decided to let it go and we talked about other things, particularly about the secret gig.