“You know, you shouldn’t frown like that. Men would be all over you if you smiled.” The man thought for a moment. “Actually, if that were the case, I’d have to kick them all out of the way to get to you. Perhaps, this is for the best. Anyway, if you smiled now, I’d know that I did that, and there’s no better feeling than making beautiful girls happy. Would you…?”

  His sentence unexpectedly got cut off as a tune rang through the park.

  “Excuse me.” He told the woman before taking the phone from his pocket. The screen read ‘Unknown’.

  “And, who might you be?” He cheerfully asked the caller as he answered.

  “Is this Mark?”

  “Of course.”

  “Hi. This is Chris from Exorcist. Let me be the first to congratulate you. Welcome to the team.” As she spoke, Mark smiled to himself. Of course, he made it. Before hanging up, she also provided him with the meeting time and location.

  Slipping his phone into the pocket, his attention moved back to the female waiting for him.

  “You’re looking at the next biggest star. Want to go on a date with me?”

  “Your father did it again. I knew he would; he can’t keep his hands to himself.”

  The man sipped his coffee while his mother released her annoyance.

  “Your brothers keep telling me that I should forget about him, but...”

  “They’re right.” He interrupted. “You get wound up whenever he does something. I don’t want to see you hurt anymore, mother.”

  “I know. I know.” The woman took a big mouthful of her drink. “What’s vibrating?”

  The man was puzzled for a moment, but then realising what it was, he stood up and left the room, returning a few seconds later with his phone in hand.

  “Hello?”

  “Yue? Hello. This is Chris from Exorcist.”

  “Oh. Hello. I presume this means you’ve chosen the members.”

  Yue’s mother put her cup down and stared at her son, hoping for the best.

  “Yes.” Chris continued. “You’ve made the team. Congratulations.”

  “That’s great news. Thank you.” He spoke calmly in response, giving a thumbs up to his mother. She swiftly moved around the table to hug him while he finished the call.

  Placing his phone on the table, he returned her hug.

  “I can’t believe it. This is going to change things for us.”

  “And you, Yue. You can make a new start for yourself.” He nodded happily in agreement.

  The song the blond man played while sat alone held a hint of sadness. He kept his eyes closed as the emotions poured through his fingers and projected outward through the music.

  When the phone rang, there was only one person it could be. He sighed. Gently placing his guitar next to him, he sat up and answered the call.

  “Yes? What’s the result?”

  “Ah, Sasha, hello. H-how did you know it was me?”

  “Who else would ring me?” The flippant way in which he replied almost made it seem like he wasn’t bothered that no-one else did. “So, when are we meeting?”

  The woman gave him the necessary details, and then he hung up.

  He picked the guitar back up and continued playing while he waited for his father to return home.

  “I made the cut.” The young man proclaimed as soon as the front door opened.

  “Good.” An older man responded with little enthusiasm. He walked straight through the room and into the kitchen, not even sparing his son a glance.

  Sasha carried on plucking notes as if that situation were normal to him.

  “Who’s this?” He rudely asked as he answered the phone.

  “Hi, this is Chris. From the audition at Exorcist.”

  “Oh. Hi.”

  “Welcome to the team, Lio. Everyone’s getting together next week to get to know each other, and soon after, we can start rehearsals.”

  “That’s brilliant. Thank you so much.” After Chris provided the address and time, he hung up and sighed with relief. Then, Lio rang someone. It didn’t take too long for them to answer.

  “Mum, I got it.”

  “Oh, that’s wonderful news!”

  “Yeah. It’ll be enough, so you don’t have to worry about me anymore.”

  “You’re still doing it until you get the money, right? I’ll worry about you until then.”

  Lio lowered his voice. “I know. I’ll see you later.” He ended the call and continued walking to his destination.

  Roughly ten minutes later, he knocked on a door. A man in his mid-thirties answered.

  “I haven’t got it! I asked for an extension!”

  “We don’t grant extensions.” Lio replied coldly, shoving the man into his house. The door closed behind him.