The Masked Girl

Chapter 6

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Next Saturday found (Y/n) and Luka in the Panic Room. Luka was on his phone, scrolling through his feed, while (Y/n) was leaning back on his side, snacking on some sweets Tom had brought them. She reached for one, absentmindedly feeding it to Luka as she stared at nothing in particular.

"Good evening. I am Nadja Chamack and this is 'Face to Face'."

(Y/n) straightened up and twisted her neck to peer at Luka's screen. It's Serenade's interview with Nadja. She hasn't watch it yet, she's too nervous, she said. Tapping Luka, she settled herself in a comfortable position, "Hey, turn it up." The sound resonated in the silent room as Luka turned up the volume.

"For our guest tonight, we invited a rising star. You also know her as 'The Masked Songbird'. Let's welcome Serenade!" Nadja spread out her available arm as she gestured to the person opposite of her.

"Oh, it's Serenade."

"You know her?" She hoped she sounded casual and totally not nervous. It seemed to have worked since Luka just nodded.

The masked woman, Serenade, waved at the camera. "Hello, Paris! And thank you, Nadja. It's an honor to be in this show."

"Well, a lot of people have been wanting to see more of you since the release of your debut extended play, Missing You. Especially in the past few months where you've become an international sensation when your latest song, Right Now, was released. It reached the top charts in just a few days. Care to comment about that?"

Serenade sheepishly rubbed the back of her neck as she slightly shied away from the cameras. "Well, if I'm being honest, it really shocked me when I heard about it. But I guess a lot of people could relate with the song."

"We've also discovered that before you officially debuted, you have your own channel where you post your original songs." Nadja asked, swiping her screen. The large screen behind them changed from a background to Serenade's aforementioned channel.

"Ah, yes. As you can see, I have a channel on the internet called "The Masked Songbird". It's also where my other name came from. It's a bit cheesy, in my opinion, but hey, 13-year old me thought it was cool."

"When and why did you start your channel?"

"I started this channel a little over two years ago. The reason was that I just wanted to share my music to others outside my family."

"So your family knows that you're Serenade?"

Serenade chuckled, shaking her head. "No, actually. They know I like to make music but they don't know about my channel or my..." she paused, largely gesturing to herself and laughing quietly, "...alter ego."

"Does this mean that no one, not even your family knows about your identity?"

"My manager's the only who knows. And besides, if my family ever suspects, they could easily find out who I am. Now that I think about it, my best friend would easily find out too if they want. They're smart like that."

The interview continued on a little bit more like that until the part where the fans asks questions came up. Nadja swiped her tablet, a face appearing on the screen.

"Hi Serenade!" The caller, a girl that looks to be a young adult, waved enthusiastically. "My name's Avvi and I've been you're fan since you started your channel. Which makes me very curious about one thing -well, I want to ask many questions but I can only ask one. Anyway, my question is "Is your song, Right Now, about a certain someone? If so who and what's the story behind it?"