NOVEMBER GOT ME YOU

Chapter 3

CONNOR'S P.O.V

Oh, we're finally heading to Indonesia.

This trip has already been one of my favorites. We've been speaking with the promoter since day one this guy, Steve, contacted Anthony, who led him to James. Turns out James and Steve were friends, so it went very smoothly. My brothers and I have been expecting to go to Indonesia just because our fans there already deserve a good show.

Today was the D-day. Time check 7:35 AM EST on Wednesday. Telling from experience flying back and forth to the Philippines, this would take us quite two days straight.

See you on Friday.

***

DINA'S P.O.V

Good morning. It's rainy again in Jakarta.

Wednesday. Three more days to go. I have been preparing myself to sing some cover songs I did on YouTube for Saturday. All has set, except my heart it wouldn't stop beating outside my chest.

"Hey Dina, can we meet somewhere today?"

Steve. He sounded rush.

"Uh sure, yeah, where is it that you want?"

"Starbucks nearest to your house will be fine. I'm on my way already."

"That's fast. I need to change first."

"Take your time. See you in five."

And the call was quickly hung up. I could hear the tense in his voice. Steve was one of very cool people. No matter how busy he was, he would never drag it to a conversation. You could never tell how busy, or how not busy he was, because he's always good at managing the stress. Now the cool guy sounded so stressful. That's not a good hint.

I ran to the store. It was only a block from my house. Steve has sat there with confused face and disturbed gesture.

"Hello you." I sat in front of him.

"I'm so sorry." He shook his head.

"Wait. What is it?"

"You can't play the opening act."

My jaw just dropped to the floor. We've been practiced for a month and now it's cancelled. No wonder Steve looked distraught. He was the one who contacted me. He felt like taking the full responsibility.

"I feel humiliated."

"Steve, c'mon, it's okay. We're like friends. Don't see me as an act. All is totally fine. I can deal with it."

"You know what? They kicked me out."

"Whoa. You're no longer handling the fest?"

"For now? Not anymore. There's kind of this problem with my project assistant as he's trying to take over everything."

"But you're running the entire company."

"I am planning to take it back. But the thing is with the acts, he has added so many new artists and called them right away about the schedule. I can't do anything about it."

"Forget about me. Okay? We're good. Just do the fest justice. Take back the crown. You own it, you fight it."

"Thank you so much for understanding. I'm so sorry I have to put you on sacrifice..."

"No please don't say sorry. I still feel horrible too playing unoriginal music to people. I don't belong there."

"Yet." Steve rubbed my back. "You're such an amazing singer. I love your voice so much. It's about time."

"It is about time." I nodded. "Alright give me that smile, you one little kid."

"Haha. Thank you."

"Not a problem."

I let out a deep sigh and nodded to myself. Yes. It's meant to be. Deep down inside I knew I wasn't that ready to walk up to that stage and play for thousand pairs of eyes. I just came home. Jakarta was my home, but I even barely spoke Indonesian language again. I guess everything was going too quickly. Thought it was good, but actually it wasn't.

Steve and I spent a couple hours at the store, then he took me around with his car. Basically I was his company as he collected banners and flyers from advertiser office. We drove around til it's time for him to drop me off.

"Thank you for an exhausting day." I fixed my hair.

"Hahaha. Don't mention it. I'm good at making people exhausted." Steve smirked. "I'm so sorry again, Dina."

"Do not repeat that or I'll be mad at you."

"Okay. Okay done. Do not be mad at me." He copied my british style.

"Jeez, you suck."

"You suck."

"Hahaha." We both ended up laughing at each other.

"Hey do you still want to come to the fest? Please?" Steve begged. "I have one free ticket."

"One free ticket? I guess you have as many free tickets as possible because whose fest is that." I rolled my eyes. "Well yeah, I'd love to."

"Cool! See you on Saturday?"

"See you on Saturday." I smiled and hopped out of the car. "Drive safe!"

"Bye bye!"

His car slowly made a U-turn and disappeared at the corner of the block. I sighed. Now it's time to tell my parents that I wasn't going to perform on Saturday.

"Wait what? How could they cancel?" Dad, as I have predicted before, raised his voice high because he thought I was disappointed with myself.

"It happened like that. Chill, Daddy, that's fine. I'm happy I didn't have to play."

"But you have prepared everything."

"No, not just yet. I was busy preparing what I wanted to wear on Saturday. I forgot to practice my singing."

Liar. I was lying. Yes I have prepared everything and yes I was disappointed but there's nothing I could do. Maybe it wasn't meant to be.

"Mom, Dad, however, I'm still going to the fest. Because can't miss the amazing shows." I smirked to loose the tension.

"We're so sorry honey. You must have wished you're one of them." Mom hugged me.

"I'm okay. Trust me I'm okay."

We spent the night watching cooking show which actually Dad hated. Mom and Dad tried so hard to make me feel better. In fact, I told you, I was pretty much sad but accepting the fact that I wasn't in that position yet.

Yeah okay let's stop talking about it. Leave it there. I would still attend the fest and probably take some cool pictures from there. Good night.