For Your Eyes Only

Chapter 3: Starting Over

Kenya wakes up and goes to get ready for the day. Saturdays meant she gets to sleep in and write in her journal during the day, instead of at night. She pulls it out from underneath her pillow with a pen and starts writing.

April 19th, 1997

Well, the surprises just keep on coming. The infamous Rob is now my next door neighbor! Things were already a little rocky with us, now I live next to this guy. He's going around telling people I was trying to blind him. Really?  It's lemonade, the only ammunition in that is a few seeds and some pulp! What did he expect? People don't go around asking people sex questions when they just met. I could have punched him in the face, but then why would I put myself in trouble?

Then he thinks I would steal his scarf? What would I do with it? His head is already pretty big, he doesn't need it. I guess he still needs to bring attention to himself. I can't help but wonder if he gets lonely sometimes..." .

Kenya hears a knock on her door. She gets up to open it and sees Rob. "I come in peace" he says, waving his bandanna. "OK, seriously I want to talk to you. Can I come in?". Kenya lets him inside.

"So, what can I do for you?" Kenya asks. Rob takes a moment before responding. "I just wanted to say I'm sorry for messing up your evening for the last two nights. It's not my intention to cause any problems with you". Kenya listens, then responds. "OK, I accept your apology. I admit I did ask questions that rubbed you the wrong way, so I'm sorry too". "No worries. I guess I should have given you the flowers myself".

Kenya remembers the delivery from yesterday. "You sent the roses to my job?". "Yeah, did you get them?". "I did, but I didn't know they were from you. The delivery girl said the sender wanted to be anonymous". Rob is in shock. "No, she must have misunderstood. I said I wanted the roses to be...um, what's the word where the colors are all next to each other?". "Analogous?". "Yeah, that's the one. I wanted the roses to be analogous, instead of just one color". "Well they were very pretty, thank you".

Rob smiles. "It's no problem. I came by to tell you that, so I should get going". He goes to the door. "Rob, wait. I want to ask you something. What's your life like?". He goes back and sits down. "You don't have a recorder on, do you?". Kenya shakes her head and Rob tells her everything.

Rob starts at the beginning, where he grew up being the only black kid and adopted into a German family. While trying to find a black community to identify, he takes up break dancing and playing sports. He eventually meets Fab, while visiting a friend and the two get a tight bond through music. They both started their own group and worked odd jobs when they met their producer, who promised them they would sing one song for his upcoming project. This project would turn out to be the lip syncing scam that they had no intention of going through, but since they had no money to give back in order to cancel the contract, Rob and Fab decided to stay in until they can recoup the funds that got spent.

Fast forward to their single becoming a hit, Rob and Fab find out the contract they signed was for 3 albums, not 1 single. Things have blown up so quickly and everyone wanted to be a part of the mania that rivaled the Beatles at one point. At the same time, Rob and Fab got high on their own hype and on drugs and alcohol to cover their secret. They were even afraid to speak out of fear of being found out, even though many people already knew.

Frank the producer felt he was losing control of the boys when they were demanding to sing and get more money, since they weren't getting much. It all came to an end when Frank exposes everything, leaving Rob and Fab to deal with the mess.

Rob notices Kenya's expression change to anger, as she expresses wanting karma to strike Frank at full force. He assures Kenya that God will have to deal with Frank and not her or anyone else as he continues the story.

Rob also tells the story of the backlash and how he just wanted it all to end, but ends up in the hospital. He and Fab put together their own album and it sold just a fraction of what sold when they were with Milli Vanilli. The outcome was so devastating, Rob abused drugs even further and ended up with more trouble. Everything became such a mess that he and Fab stopped hanging out and speaking to each other. After doing some drug rehab and treatments. Rob moved up here to start again.

"Oh my God. This is so much. I'm sorry you had to go through this, Rob" Kenya tells him. She admits to being one of the people who claim that he and Fab should have read the contract thoroughly, but at this point it's beating a dead horse. Not to mention, the guys probably couldn't afford a lawyer to look through and explain everything at the beginning. This could happen to anyone.

"That's why I came out here. I want to keep kind of a low profile until things get better". Kenya understands and agrees."That's also why I want you to promise me that you won't tell anyone I'm living here". Kenya gives a quizzical expression. "OK, that's a huge request. I can't keep that to myself for long. Why would you ask me to do this for you?".

"Well, I gave some thought of what you said the other night, about not liking anyone invading your privacy after you doused me in lemonade. I guess not everyone is into super stardom. You can't just do whatever you want here". Rob says. "So, will you do it? Will you keep this a secret for now?" 

Kenya sighs. "All right, I'll do it".  "Great! I'm heading downtown for a few hours. It looks like you were doing something before I came over, so I'll see you later". Rob leaves and Kenya goes back to writing in her journal.

"...If he does feel lonely, then the way he carries himself makes more sense. He's someone who wants to be seen, someone who wants to be admired...someone who wants to be loved." .

Kenya closes the book and goes on with her weekend.