ASHBOO Drabbles

Light On

Today, he is scheduled to have an online concert in cooperation with Tiger Beer (his endorsement) and Hapinoy, a social-enterprise that supports sari-sari store owners. The online concert aims to raise funds that will help support the sari-sari stores in the Hapinoy network.

Earlier in the morning, he, Sarah and his kids were busy setting up his living room as a makeshift studio. They had to change the look and design of the background so that it'd look different from her background when she is having her online shows.

She found a Thai scarf (a scarf he bought during his Tiger commercial shoot in Bangkok) and suggested that they cover the wall with the scarf. He agreed but when they tried to shoot a video, it was so dark. He doesn't want to use a ring light so he came up with the idea of creating improvised fairy lights.

His first attempt was a fail. It created a spark that it scared her so much. And she was insisting he'd better use a ring light but he doesn't want to. So he called up his best friend and asked for instructions on how to create improvised fairy lights. In a span of an hour he was done assembling the light bulbs as fairy lights. When they tested it, she nodded in approval. The lights gave a good mood and ambiance at the makeshift studio. They also added lamps on the side so that when the angle of the camera is changed, the mood and ambiance is still consistent.

Earlier that week, while they were idly hanging at his living room, a random song played from his playlist on Spotify. He heard her humming to the song.

"Ayan coach, maganda yan o, you can add it to your set list if you want to."

"You think so?"

"Yup, I like it, plus it gives a positive message, it sounds like a hopeful song." She answered.

"I was really thinking of adding it too, pero hindi ko alam kung kakayanin pa ng time para i-practice." He was doubtful.

"Sus naman coach! Ikaw pa ba! Kayang-kaya yan. Tapos let's make Isabelle and Lucius sing the kids' part, parang sa Ikot ng Mundo."

"Ooops, I don't think they'd want that." He was doubtful if his kids would want to.

And boy, he was so wrong.

Sarah has that irresistible charm that when she asks for a favor, you can't say no, and that applied to both his kids. She even volunteered to coach them. So while he was busy finalizing his set list and rehearsing with his village, she was busy coaching and teaching his kids.

And since this is Sarah's idea, he also asked her to harmonize with him in some parts of Ikot ng Mundo.

"Coach, paano kung mabosesan nila ako?"

"That won't happen, we'll add an effect to your voice" He assured her.

——

It was his first time doing a cover of the song: Light On by Maggie Rogers. And at an online concert, so he can't help but be a little bit nervous. Of course he wants it to come out well. They rehearsed the song several times earlier in the afternoon and he only wishes it'll come as good or even better as they rehearsed it.

He was now back in his makeshift studio, while Sarah and his kids are at the back of the camera. He can see the excitement on both his kids faces. This is just a few of the times that they're seeing what he is doing and they are more than willing to take part in it.

He sang the first verse and come chorus, Sarah was beating and giving both kids cue on when to sing. After the chorus he mouthed 'Verse 2'.

Sarah just smiled at him, still concentrating on her job of giving cue to both kids. Coming to his adlib part, he again looked at the three of them as a signal. She smiled and gave him a thumbs up. In her mind, 'We got this babe!'

They were able to finish the song without any trouble.

After the song, on his way to his area where he is chatting with the online concert's host, he saw Sarah, Isabelle and Lucius in a group hug while jumping with glee. Sarah then raised both her hands for a high five and both kids reached for it. He smiled at the sight. 'How hard it could've been for them to have a quiet celebration of their victory.'

He saw Sarah give him a sign that they're leaving the living room. He nodded, he sure knows they went to the kitchen to prepare for dinner.

He can't wait to finish his set so the four of them can eat dinner.

The host was asking him if he would want to thank those who are supporting him. Pancho sent him the list and he can't help but smile on the first one on the list. 'If they only knew..' was running in his mind.

"I wanna say a big shout out to..here we go," he looked at the camera. "AshBoo." He smiled. "What's up AshBoo?" He can't help but smile again. And then continued to thank his other fans who had been there for him. "Bamboo Global, Bamboo International Angels, the BML Fanatics, the Pandas, team Extra Rice.."

His last song was Tiger Beer's theme song: "Here I Am" in which he helped arrange and added some adlib.

He thanked his village, his Kamp Kawayan team; then sent a tweet thanking everyone who watched and supported the online concert. He then hurriedly went to the dining area to join Sarah and his kids for dinner.

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A/N: Again, Wattpad  and AU po ito. Reel ito, hindi Real. So while watching coachdad at the online concert last night, these thoughts kept running in my mind so sinulat ko nalang, haha! This is supposed to be a chapter in TDKAU pero dahil na-writer's block ako doon and I started writing IABU, I decided to put it here in AB Drabbles. I can't find in youtube a version of the Light On cover by coachdad, so sad. But you can watch the whole online concert here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0iDY3Q4-zJs&feature=youtu.be. Light On starts at: 1:01:06.

Fun fact: Light On (Bamboo's cover) lang yung on the loop ko while writing this drabble. Just sharing. :)

Oh and yeah, my What If? What if Sarah got stuck at Bamboo's  home during the pandemic (for some reason), hahaha!