Chapter 7

鈥淗ello, can you do a 10-minute interview with me?鈥?

Marlo, the host of X-Star, asked Aiden after pulling him into a corner for an interview just half an hour before his second-round auditions.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 fine with me, but isn鈥檛 it better to interview the whole group rather than only me?鈥?

Marlo had just dragged him when he was sitting with the rest of his teammates. He still remembered the jealous eyes of Sam on his back.

鈥淚nterviewing the whole group would take more time. Moreover, as you know, not every member will go to the next round. So, I鈥檓 just interviewing the more interesting candidates.鈥?

鈥淎nd you think I鈥檓 one of them?鈥?

鈥淵eah.鈥?

Marlo said with a thin smile, and Aiden didn鈥檛 ask any more questions and just gave the nod to start the interview. The experienced host didn鈥檛 waste any time, and as the camera focused on both of them in one frame, the interview began.

鈥淪o, how are you feeling? A bit nervous?鈥?

鈥淵eah, a bit. But I鈥檓 confident too as the group has practised a lot in the last week, and we are confident in performing well.鈥?

鈥淒o you think it would be enough to impress the judges?鈥?

鈥淵es, I think so.鈥?

Aiden said, trying not to show any emotions. In the past week, they have practised day and night. Rachel was really serious about it, and in her words, she didn鈥檛 want anyone to drag her performance down.

So, she was rather hard in practice. At first, they were often missing the tempo or just forgetting their lines or ruining a note.

But slowly, they had learned to work together, and although it wasn鈥檛 the best they could do, they still reached a great level in just a week.

鈥淔rom what I heard, you tweaked the song a bit? Can you tell me about it?鈥?sub>.

Aiden didn鈥檛 know how Marlo got to know this, but he still answered.

鈥淚 changed some lyrics because I felt like it suited the song and the group more. It鈥檚 just a way to make the song feel more like ours.鈥?

鈥淒o you think the change will make the song better or worse?鈥?

Marlo asked, and Aiden lightly shook his head.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 for the judges to decide. For now, I can just try to give my best.鈥?

Marlo liked that answer and moved on to some more questions. As they had less time, the questions and answers were kept short and simple, perfect for editing into a 30-second clip before the performance during the broadcast.

He asked one final question and the hardest one in the end.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a high chance only one person in your group will qualify for the next round. Who do you think it will be?鈥?As Aiden was going to take his name, Marlo added. 鈥淵ou can鈥檛 choose yourself.鈥?

Aiden didn鈥檛 answer right away. It was a hard question, and if he could, he didn鈥檛 want to answer it. But, if he was being honest, there was only one person who would logically pass to the next round.

鈥楻achel鈥?

She had the best skills in the group, and he knew it better than anyone else. He had heard her singing from a close level, and he could guarantee that she would reach the finals.

It was to the point that he felt a bit inferior to her.

鈥淵ou are thinking too hard about it. Just take a name.鈥?

Marlo urged him, and finally, with a frown, Aiden opened his mouth.

**

鈥淗ello, how are you all? I still remember some of your performances very well.鈥?

Andrew welcomed them as the group entered the stage. As decided beforehand, Sam answered him on behalf of the group.

鈥淲e are all good.鈥?

鈥淗ow鈥檚 being in a group for you all? Any fights or arguments?鈥?

Alyssa asked because a lot of other groups had fights and arguments. One even got physical, and they needed to change the group members.

鈥淣o, thankfully, we didn鈥檛 have any fights. And since we didn鈥檛 have a lot of time before the performance, our sole focus was on practice.鈥?

鈥淥kay, let鈥檚 hear you.鈥?

Alyssa nodded and signalled the performance to start. Aiden took a deep breath and tried to focus. The others were looking nervous, too, especially Michelle, who he feared would mess up just because of nervousness.

鈥淛ust remember what we did during practice,鈥?Aiden said and patted Michelle鈥檚 shoulder.

鈥淭-thank you.鈥?

After that, they took their positions, and soft music started to play out from the speakers. The sound of bass increasing in tempo slowly made Sam and Michelle shake their legs lightly as they prepared themselves.

The first verse came 15 seconds into the song.

?????

鈥淚 had a pretty bad week, work was taking over.鈥?

鈥淔elt like my body was breaking over.鈥?

鈥淭ried to keep out the things that make me stressed, but I was already depressed.鈥?

鈥淚 know I should not have given a damn but I was already messed.鈥?

?????

Their voices mixed pretty well as they tried to keep up with the song鈥檚 tempo. The first verse was simple and had low notes, with an incredible catchy tone.

The soft and shy voice of Michelle and the rather husky voice of Sam mixed surprisingly well together. After that, other instruments came into the song as Eric sang the pre-chorus.

When Aiden had listened to him, he had felt like his voice was rather ordinary, something you could find anywhere. But he liked music, and his special quality was that he could lose himself completely in it.

?????

鈥淚t was then that I saw you in the bar.鈥?

鈥淭hought you were with the guy with a fancy car.鈥?

鈥淏ut I was already imagining your name written with mine in the stars.鈥?

鈥淥h, I had nothing to lose, so I went to the floor and just pulled you up.鈥?

?????

It was then the pace of the song completely changed as the chorus started. The catchy music immediately became louder but still kept a softer touch.

Waiting for the right moment, all five of them came together and started singing with Michelle鈥檚 voice in the middle, and it was also what stood out in harmony.

?????

鈥淲e just danced all night, low and up.鈥?

鈥淎nd I just asked, why can鈥檛 you and me be close?鈥?

鈥淟etting nature run its course.鈥?

鈥淲hen I鈥檓 with you, I just feel the time froze.鈥?

鈥淥h, we will surely go up and down in our time, that鈥檚 how it flows.鈥?

鈥淏ut for now, why can鈥檛 you and me just be close?鈥?

?????

As he sang the song, Aiden felt an electrified feeling running down his body, and all the nervousness died down. It was the feeling of the music.

He could see a white light flowing out from Michelle and enveloping the other four around her. And then, the light travelled to every part of the room 鈥?to the judges, the audience and even Marlo, who was listening from backstage.

They were feeling and listening to a unique sound resulting from harmony.

Rachel took over after the chorus ended, and the note went way higher than Aiden had ever imagined. She was really good at maintaining notes and making them go high.

Even if the notes were going higher, there was no scratchy feeling and only an elegant voice. And, along with that, there was the catchiness in it.

?????

鈥淲hen I look into your eyes, my troubles die down.鈥?

鈥淲ith you around, everything was fine.鈥?

鈥淪o, can we just dance all nightttt鈥︹€?

?????

The last part was stretched high as Rachel tried to show off her skills. It was so spectacular that even the judges looked at her like she was a monster. Steven was even smiling a bit which was a rare thing in itself.

The remnant of the white light left by Michelle never died down due to Rachel, who added another layer to it.

鈥業t鈥檚 my turn now.鈥?

Aiden thought as Rachel鈥檚 part came to an end. He automatically took a step forward and tried to slowly bring down the song while leaving a lasting impression through the emotions in his singing.

A white light gushed out of him, meeting with the already present ones in the room.

?????

鈥淚n the end, the week ended up being great with you in my arms.鈥?

鈥淲aking up to the sound of your alarm.鈥?

鈥淚t still felt like a dream but with you and me being so close.鈥?

鈥淓verything just felt all right.鈥?

?????

As he slowly finished the song, the white light emanating from him was everywhere. Aiden had never seen such strong light, and he knew that it was also because of Michelle and Rachel鈥檚 special skills.

These three skills coming together had created a great impact, and if he tried to focus on the light, he could see the one that had come from Michelle was in the middle, holding his and Rachel鈥檚 light together.

For the first time, he felt such beautiful music.