Emerald Eyes

9 - The Lab

A few days later, it was the weekend, I woke up early to a facetime call from Martijn. I quickly hopped out of my bed and into the bathroom to take the call, as I didn't want to wake Anna up. I clicked on "Accept" and Martijn's face appeared on the screen. "Hey beautiful.", he said, "Did I wake you up?" "Of course you did, idiot. It's Saturday and 7 in the morning. Nobody except for you is awake by that time. On a weekend.", I laughed. "Ooops.", he said and looked at me with his big, blue eyes, "Will you forgive me?" I nodded and said: "What's up? Why are you calling?" "I've been up all night, working on new music. And I finished a buuunch of tracks. I'm having a few people come over to my house to listen to them and pick the best tracks so we can release a few soon.", he explained. "That's nice.", I said, "I hope you find a few suitable ones." "Hey, you don't get it, right? I want you to come, idiot. I want your opinion.", he chuckled. "Me?", I asked surprised, "I mean, I have no clue about music. You have your experts for that, haven't you?" "Yes I have. But I want you, too. First of all, I care about you and I value your opinion. And second, my fans are just like you. Normal people, not experts. That's why your opinion matters a lot. So will you come? Pleeease.", he begged me. "Alright.", I agreed, "I mean, I have to admit, I am curious where you live. Just a liiiittle." "Amazing!", Martijn screamed happily, "So just come over when you're ready. The others will arrive in the next few hours, I didn't get to wake most of them haha. I'll text you the address, alright?" "Great. I'll be there, just getting breakfast first. Can't wait to see you.", I smiled. Then we hung up and he texted me his address. It was one of the better areas in the South of Amsterdam. I couldn't wait to see how he was living, what he called his home. I went back into our room, put on a comfortable hoodie, a pair of jeans and sneakers and quietly walked out the room to get an early breakfast at the dining hall. Then I got back to our room, grabbed my purse and soon I was on my way to Martijn's address. When my phone got me there, I looked up to the tall building in front of me. It was huuuuge. Was that really it? I snapped a picture of the house and send it to Martijn.

"Hey Tijn! Can you please wave out of the window if that's your house? I need directions!"

"Hahaha. You will need eagle eyes. I'm all the way up here. Wait, I'll come and get you, so they don't think you're a fangirl haha."

So I decided to just stay where I was and wait for him. When he got out of the main door of the apartment complex, I smiled. He gave me a hug and said: "Heyy. I'm glad you came." "Thanks for inviting me.", I said back. We then walked inside the lobby together and Martijn grabbed my hand to hold it. When we passed a reception desk, he smiled at the receptionist and said: "Morning Jacob. How are you?" He was always so kind to everyone! The receptionist, who was wearing a classic black suit and white shirt, smiled back and said: "Thank you, I'm good. Have a great day Sir!" "Thank you!", Martijn replied, "Oh and by the way, let me introduce Line. She's a good friend of mine, just so you're aware she's not one of these fangirls." "Thank you for letting us know! Nice to meet you, Line!", the receptionist said politely. We then hopped into an elevator and went up all the way to the top floor. "Woooow", I said, when he opened the door to his penthouse apartment with his keycard, "This place is amazing." I was speechless. The apartment was luxurious, no question, but the best thing was the view. You could basically see the whole city of Amsterdam from up there. Somewhere on the horizon, you could see the planes starting from Schiphol airport and you could even see our campus close-by. I put off my shoes and walked towards the window. I just couldn't get enough of the view. Martijn followed me and put his arm around my shoulders: "It's amazing, right? The view is super peaceful. I just love it." "It definitely is. And you are really living here? Wooow.", I said in awe. Martijn nodded proudly: "Yep, I moved here about a year ago. Now it's my home." "I've actually walked by this place quite a couple of times, I've also been to the shopping center next door. You know, it's not far from campus. But I never guessed you'd be living here. Nobody guessed.", I told him. "And I ask you for the favor not to tell anyone. I don't want to get run over by fangirls haha. But you can tell Anna. I don't mind her.", he asked. "For sure, I never would, you know that.", I promised. He nodded in agreement and then suggested: "So, do you want to see the lab? Where all the magic comes from?" "For sure.", I replied and followed him into his home studio.