Rise To Stardom - Chapter 100

Chapter 100: Cages or Wings…
“Yes. No problem. Thank you.”

Cutting the phone call from ViewTube’s PR department, Oliver stared at Kyle who was humming his [Saturday Mornin’] song while prepping ingredients in the kitchen without a single care in the world.

Considering ViewTube, at least by the standards of this world, weren’t really used as a streaming platform due to the plethora of others which were focused, purely on streaming-based content, they hadn’t expected that much traffic on their streaming servers.

“They had to activate a lot of previously offline servers, all because of you.” Oliver calmly said.

“It was that bad?” Kyle had a genuinely surprised yet concerned look on his face as he asked.

“Yeah. Some people couldn’t even access a single function a few minutes to the end of your stream. That’s how bad it was.”

“Yikes!” the young man finally realized the extent of what he had done.

“Next time I’m planning to do it, I’ll have to inform them in advance.” Kyle stated, pouring the battered eggs into the mix.

‘There’s gonna be next time? Good Lord…’ Oliver couldn’t help but massage his temples.

He literally had to fend off a crap ton of Talent Agencies, Variety TV Shows and Big Media Publications, all of whom instantly began to bombard him with their offers again during Kyle’s streaming session.

It literally meant that the young celebrity, at the moment at least, was heavily in demand.

And although it was a good thing for Kyle, it was literal, heavy workload for Oliver.

In a month or two though, all the hype around the young man would die down.

That was until he probably did something that would get the general public interested in him again.

Maintaining fame as they say, is far harder than achieving it.

Kyle who was unaware of Oliver’s predicament though, simply stared in mild confusion at the man’s gesture.

‘What’s with him…’ the young man couldn’t help but tilt his head in slight curiosity, while the agent, simply sighed in resignation.

“By the way Kyle, Widescope Records have requested for another meeting with you.” Oliver soon stated a few seconds later.

To that, Kyle let out a tired sigh as Oliver continued;

“At this rate, I think its best if you give them an audience. They just don’t seem to believe me when I say it.”

“Alright. I’ll handle it.” Kyle nodded in understanding.

* * *

(The next day…)

Currently seating in a fancy restaurant in the early hours of the morning was Kyle, his attire, casual.

And seating just across him, was a well-dressed man in a tuxedo, one that stuck to his body like a second skin.

His black hair was slicked and parted sideways, giving him an exotic look while his similarly black irises, reflected the assertiveness in his demeanor.

The man, who went by the name Gabriel Smith, was an agent for Widescope Records.

It was one of the biggest, if not, the biggest record label in the US.

To say they had the most popular musicians under them in the US, wouldn’t even be an understatement.

That was exactly, just how popular they were.

Even Carl Finch had been previously signed to them before he broke off due to a huge disagreement that was well documented by the media, after which he then created his own record label.

“Mr. Kestis, please, reconsider the offer.” Gabriel firmly stated, gesturing to the contract placed in the middle of the table separating them.

It was not the first time Widescope Records, among many other labels, would be contacting the young man himself and not his agent but, considering Kyle’s days had been mostly hectic these past few months, it was only in recent memory, that he had finally taken the time to start responding to their messages.

Basically, he had put their requests to grant them an audience on the backburner till he was chanced or available.

Lowering his gaze, his sapphire irises settling on said contract, Kyle simply shook his head in denial while stating;

“I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

“This proposition of yours, it’s fantastic. Absolutely, fantastic.” Kyle kept speaking respectfully, leaning forwards a bit this time as he continued;

“But, it’s a contract that also requires me, to focus solely on my music career for the next four years. I apologize but I can’t do that.” the young man concluded.

Listening to that, Gabriel, inwardly sighed.

His outward demeanor however, was unchanging, although there was a slight hint of resignation in his eyes, one that Kyle caught onto.

Honestly, this particular contract they were handing out to Kyle, was something that they would only ever give to established musicians whom were more mainstream than indie.

Yet, there were rare cases where this was how they would approach new artists who had the potential to be the next big thing.

Kyle Kestis, was one of such people they saw becoming a superstar but, unfortunately, at least in their own opinion, he was also an actor.

The Widescope Execs who were keeping tabs on his career, although acknowledged that he was a good actor, still felt like him acting, was more or less holding him back from fully reaching peak potential with his songs.

In their own minds, they wanted him to release and album quickly.

One that would rake in cash and propel the young man to reaching superstar status overnight.

That was something they had all the money and connections to do.

As a result, despite the contract details offering some of the best in the business, it also had one that kept Kyle on a leash to prevent him from exerting his acting prowess.

Still, the Execs figured, that with enough persuasion and an insane amount of money upfront, they could rope the young man in.

Unfortunately for them though, there was one fatal flaw in their thought process.

And that was the fact that they were dealing with Kyle Kestis.

For starters, the young man wasn’t money-oriented.

The fact that he was now rich, simply came as an added benefit of him, simply putting in a lot of work into his craft.

Secondly, Kyle was smart enough to understand that contracts from record labels, especially the more popular ones, usually had some form of predatory practice or the other.

That was a trap he was never going to fall for.

And last but not the least, Kyle was never going to leave Oliver in the lurch.

Never.

Realizing that Gabriel was as at a loss of what to do, especially since he wasn’t persuasive like he had previously been when this meeting of theirs had started, Kyle spoke;

“Look, Mr. Smith. I understand that you are probably required to do whatever it takes to rope me into your record label but, I’d like to ask you a question instead…”

“Cages or wings? If you were asked to choose one, which, would you prefer?” Kyle inquired, a thin, subtle smile on his lips.

Hearing that, Gabriel’s assertive demeanor, drastically toned down as the young man’s question, one which he had instantly answered in his own mind, rung in his head.

“I thought as much.” Kyle slowly stood up from the chair, extending a handshake to the man.

Staring at the extended arm, realizing that no matter what he did, no matter what any other record label for that matter did, they would never be able to rope the young star in, Gabriel’s expression softened as he received the handshake with a respectful smile;

“Thank you for your time Mr. Kestis.”

“Thank you for your understanding, Mr. Smith.” Kyle reciprocated with a respectful smile of his own.

No sooner had both parties done that, Kyle left the restaurant and Gabriel, contacted WideScope Records, or more specifically, the Executives whom had been interested in roping Kyle in.

Explaining to them that he wasn’t able to persuade Kyle, Gabriel’s expression, turned a bit sour after each call.

‘These guys are the worst…’ he sighed after the last call ended.

Yet, there was nothing he could do as he was honestly powerless in this part of the field.

Kyle on the other hand, having gotten out of the restaurant, casually made his way over to Oliver’s van.

“So, how’d it go?” Oliver casually questioned, igniting the engine the moment Kyle got in.

“It’s me and you against the world, Oliver. Just me and you.” Kyle responded with a light smile, one to which his agent simply chuckled and drove out of the sideway.

* * *

“Um, why is his name being removed from all the brackets?” an interning employee at a popular award show, questioned with an immensely deep frown.

Considering she was a fan of Kyle’s music and had been following the young man since the inception of his music career from Rising Voices, she was already getting salty about whatever propaganda the award show was up to.

“Look, when you’re in this line of the business dear, you don’t ask questions. You just do as you’re told. That’s the only way you get to keep your job.” her boss, a woman in her late fifties told the lady.

“It’s unfortunate that he won’t be given any because he deserves it but, when the big wigs interfere Lucy, their decisions are absolute.” the elderly woman stated with a tired sigh.

Lucy on the other hand, groaned in annoyance for a few seconds and then, after a short while, let out a deep sigh of resignation.

“Hollywood’s quite the vile place, isn’t it?” she soon asked her boss whom had already updated the brackets.

“Yes, dear. It absolutely is…” her boss responded with a gaze of acceptance.

As this was happening though, at another company, one which was very well renowned, the CEO of said company whom had just returned from a long business travel, was commending his daughter on a job well done.

“You proved them wrong Alicia. You showed them, that you aren’t just my daughter but a competent young woman. I’m really proud of you.”

“Thank you Dad. I couldn’t have done it on my own though. It’s thanks to everyone’s efforts that we made it a success.” Alicia replied with a curt, formal and respectful smile.

Hearing his daughter, feeling the competence and maturity that came with her words even at her young age, the old man nodded in acknowledgement of it.

That was how an Executive of a company should behave even if they were the driving force behind the success of a venture they were tasked with.

However, for Alicia, she really meant those words.

As a result, after having rewarded her employees for a job well done, there was still one more person she was yet to reward.

And although said person wasn’t part of their company, she felt it, imperative upon herself to return the favor.

No matter how long it took.