The After of Everything

A Warning

Third Person's P.O.V

"Hey, did you hear? He's coming with us." Jaden said, nudging Solemn using her own elbow. Solemn, turning her head towards Jaden, tilted her head in confusion.
"Who? Where? What?" Jaden scrunched her nose, completely forgetting that Solemn was forgetful, but sighed in the end. That was just how Solemn's mind works.

Thinking that it's probably why Solemn was so smart in class. They say that forgetful people are smart.

"Our batch's one-week trip, remember?" Solemn's eyes lightened up in excitement when she remembered that she had an event next week.
"Oh, yeah. I completely forgot about that. And who? Who's coming with us?"

Nine sat beside Jaden with knitted eyebrows, exchanging looks with Jaden.

"Him."

Solemn pursed her lips together.

"Why is he coming with us? Isn't he on tour?" Solemn got back to scribbling on her notebook. She was writing notes for their last quiz tomorrow before their summer will start.
"I'm not so sure. You know just as much as we do." Nine shrugged, searching for articles regarding his tour and career.
"Do you not want to see him?"
"And why do I want to see him?"

Nine and Jaden could hear the bitterness in Solemn's voice. She was slowly getting irritated with how they were directing the conversation. Nine shook her head at Jaden to stop talking about him.

People knew about "before", but not "during", and "after". It was a mystery for everyone.

"All we know is that he's coming. Nothing more, nothing less. So, I guess we'll know next week." Nine concluded the conversation.
"Okay,"

Solemn couldn't help but thought long hard about it. It has been almost three years since she last saw him. She saw him on social media, but that's about it. He was nowhere near anywhere Solemn was at. He avoided everyone when they broke up.

But it was no surprise for Solemn when they told her that he disappeared so suddenly. She knew he hated people, and she knew how much he disliked the attention that he was getting whenever they were together. What surprised her was that when she finally heard of him again, it was when he was already on stage.

"Are you sure you want to take some time off? Your career is skyrocketing, and your popularity is off the charts."

Maize sat down and looked straight into his manager's eyes. He looked as if he didn't have a soul and as if he was tired. His manager always wondered what made Maize look so devoid of happiness. Even some of his fans thought that he wasn't really happy.

"We already had our talk, Keith. I don't see any reason why we should talk about it again."

Maize was straight to the point, as always. He finds it tiring to talk to people who refuse to listen to what was being said, thinking that they know what he wants.

"Alright then. We've already published it anyway. You'll be coming back after a month, right?"
"Did I write that there? One month? You should take a look again."

Keith kissed his teeth, then hurriedly rummaged the paper that they signed. As he was searching for it, Maize grabbed his keys and walked to the door with a smirk on his pink lips.

"See you after three months."
"Hey! Wait-" Maize didn't even wait for Keith to finish his words when he closed the door.

He wore his mask, his cap and his black jacket. He walked through the crowd as if he was one of them and walked to the parking lot. He looked back at the arena where he performed and smiled a little.

"I didn't know having your heart broken could lead you to the stage."

He got inside his car and drove off to his penthouse. At such a young age, he was successful. He owned a penthouse and he was investing his extra cash so he could have passive income. Three years worth of investing and his passive income was already on par with his family's salary if out together.

He owns condominiums and he owned restaurants that featured live bands every day, giving those fresh starters the spotlight they needed in order to kickstart their band.

One could say that he was already successful enough to retire early, but if he did, what would he do? Mourn over his broken heart? Cry over his buried humanity? Sulk when the sky rains? Reminisce the good days where he only needed her and only had her?

Whilst waiting for the traffic light to turn green, his phone rang. He looked at who it was before answering with a monotonous tone.

"Yo! You done with your concert?"
"What is it, Baks?"
"Nothing, just wondering what time you'll be arriving at the venue?"
"Why can't I meet up with you guys?"
"Dude, people will see you. We can't have a catastrophe before another heartache."

Maize rolled his eyes at how dramatic his friend was.

"Pain seems to follow me everywhere, including you. I'll be fine. I'll come meet you guys at the front of the museum." Maize could sense some hesitation on Baks's tone, but shrugged it off.
"Alright, man. If you say so. I can't promise that I'll be able to hold everyone off though. They know you're coming."
"And who's the genius that told them that I was coming?"

Maize started driving again and went straight to his penthouse to finally start drinking.

"My mouth slipped, okay? They were already up my ass before I slipped. Give me a break." Baks sighed exasperatedly, making sure that Maize heard that he was tired.
"Does she know?"
"Well, based on her expression today when we saw each other, I think she does." Maize laughed.
"Alright, as thanks, tell me what you want when we meet." Maize could hear the grin on Baks's voice when he mentioned a prize.
"Gotchu! I'll be sleeping now. See you tomorrow!"

He gripped his steering wheel tightly, contemplating if he was either digging his own grave or just plain stupid for wanting to see her again.