At the end of April, YBY called me to pick up Aaron from the airport. His concert was scheduled on Labour Day at the national stadium. All these parts of my new scope, call the Digital Marketeers, go to the printers, order food for the team, becoming a company's driver...previously, I had a team who did these for me, and now, I am doing it for others. Hard to swallow at times, but I was glad that all these manual and brainless work tired me out.
Despite his popularity, Aaron was a very reclusive singer and performer. Didn't post much on his social media even though he was debuted in 2010 when he was 27 years old. Slightly build and wears an uncle specs, he still managed to amass a strong following with his acoustic folk genre.
After picking him up, I took him and his entourage to a famous Chinese restaurant. With his ear pods on, other than a polite nod to me, he was in his own world.
The restaurant that YBY picked was very well known for their small portion and high-priced food. Dressed prettily, each dish only amounted to one bite, two, at the most. They were busy discussing about the concert arrangement and I found out that I was assigned to be Aaron's escort for the week.
After the luncheon, had to drop him off to his hotel to refresh himself, before driving him to the site for his sound check and practice. Seeing him on the stage, sure brought back memories for all the times that I was performing on stage.
Even though he was very still in real life, he came alive when he was on stage. Just him and his acoustic guitar, sitting on the high stool, with the stage light focusing on him. His voice, sandy and husky, jarring at times, and yet, very enticing.
That was how the whole week passed by. Pick up at 8:00 am, to one spot or another. Live stream, radio talk show, interviews and then, back to practice, sound check and meetings, more meetings. Somehow, we ended having dinner together most nights.
He was a small eater, not picky, but I noticed that he didn't like spicy food. One night, he told me that he would like to try the local street food. I was a little worried, how durable was his stomach. I promised him, after your concert, I would bring him to visit Petaling Street and he could have all the street food to his heart's content. He just looked at me, "Let's do."
On his concert night, it was packed like sardine, both his fans and his schedule. I was busy like a mad man, making sure that he arrived safely and sticking to his schedule. Press conference and interviews, final rehearsal, and sound check.
The next thing I knew, YBY approached me to whisper, "Jun came, he is in the front row with your sister." Nonchalantly, I shrugged off YBY, and walked behind the screen. There he was, walking to his VIP seat with his light beige blazer and wind-swept hair, nodding his head, as he was chatting with Dil, Yang Yang and one more female. Didn't knew that he was into double dating. Worst was that my traitorous sister and Dr Ian were smiling and greeting him.
After not seeing him for a month, he looked good. His bashful and polite smile, putting on what I called, his politically correct face, smiling and charming everyone.
I stood there for a moment, trying to recall, when was the last time we went to a concert together, so openly. Was it four years ago, before the whole Vicky's issue blew up to our face? Did he even attended my last fan meet? Nope, I didn't think so. I did invite him, but he said that he was tied up with his shooting that day. He did send me a huge boutique of flowers though. It was gorgeous. Halfway during the concert, when I was singing "Uncontrolled Love", I cried, missing him, and wishing that he was there in the audience, watching me.
How was it, the stadium was full, but I felt so empty?
He didn't sense me at all, didn't even look up, just seated, looking pretty and happy. Because of their height difference, he bended down to chat with Dil. Once the show started, he was engrossed with Aaron's performance, looking straight at the same, smiling and laughing, like a young boy watching his favorite anime.
YOU ARE READING
I'll tell you in 30 years
Romance"I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it." - Maya Angelou What would you do, when you lost everything, career, family, money and self esteem? This is a story of fall from grace with a (un)healthy dose of smut.
